Spotlight problems..... JC94001

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23 Mar 2007
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Hello chaps,

Would very much appreciate your advice on some problems we are having with the spot lights in our house. In most rooms there are 4/5 spot lights (50 watt), connected via a dimmer & transformer. They are JC94001 lights.

Over the past year are so, they are all slowly starting to have problems & fail (in all rooms except one).

I have had a look inside, and it appears that the blue wire connecting to the bulb holder have a burned/black appearance to them (look closely at wire in ceiling photo).

In addition, the metal connections to the bulbs are blackened as well (see photo). If I replace the bulb, the light starts working again for about a week, then the same thing happens over again.

my questions are:

1) What is causing this? (A friend has suggested that since the lights were installed before a lot of building work, a lot of dust got inside the connectors to the spot lights, causing heat build up, hence the burned appearance to the cables.(


2) What should I do? - ? replace the defect ones with new units? will the same thing happen again?

3) How on earth do you remove them from the ceiling?!


any advice would be much appreciated!


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To remove the fittings, hook your fingers inside the lamp aperture & pull down.

As for the burning, that is caused by arcing between the lamp pins and the lampholder.

Unless you change the lampholders, the new lamps will end up the same.

You do not need to replace the whole fitting, just the lampholder.

As an aside, check when you remove the fittings that the void is not stuffed with loft insulation, nor the fittings, lamps or transformers covered.
 
Check for insulation. (fibre glass and the like!)

These 12v lamps pull a good steady current and terminations can overheat very easily.
 
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Like said the 12v lamp connectors need changing, and I'd replace or make sure all the lamps are aluminium reflector/heat-forward types. the one in the pic looks (difficult to be sure) like a cool beam.

Basic 12v reflector lamps are "cool beam" in which most of the heat goes to the rear, and they tend to overheat in tightly enclosed fireproof fittings. Unfortunately theres not much visible difference between the lamps and nothing to stop unsuitable lamps from being fitted by the unwary. The heat-forward type cost a bit more so most places just stock the cheap option.
 
what type of cable are those blue ones?

why don't they use the silicone glass wires anymore?
 
thanks guys....

much appreciated.

Hoping I don't break the ceiling when I change the 20 odd lamps needing changing!

regards
 

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