Lights blowing ?

[ChippyJoe]

I've been asked investigate why some lounge room (only) lights keep blowing. 4 uplighters in the room, every week or so one of the 40W candle bulbs keeps failing - any hints to work out what is going on ? If it's a bulb rather than circuit issue, maybe a change to another type ?
Cheers, Joe

 

[Spark123]

Try a reputable brand of lamp such as osram.

 

[wingcoax]

Cheap bulbs?

 

[EFLImpudence]

every week or so one of the 40W candle bulbs keeps failing

Use a different one.

 

[Porque223]

Not ranked in order of likelihood:

Bad connection
or
someone stamping around on the floor above when the lights are on and so the filaments are mechanically weaker
or
fixtures don't dissipate heat properly
or
periodic or continuous overvoltage in the system and these are most sensitive to it.

I don't remember the rest.

 

[ChippyJoe]

Many thanks for all replies, very helpful. I shall endeavour to check type and replace with Osram to start with. These should of course all be wired in parallel. Just wondering if the modern low energy bulbs which may have a 'slower start up' would be less likely to surge/blow and last longer ?
I will check all connections and how hot the fittings are getting and any venting for the air to cool.
cheers

 

[ban-all-sheds]

... uplighters ...

someone stamping around on the floor above

 

[ericmark]

I bought expensive Philips bulbs 8W for my lights when I changed to compact florescent (energy saving) however they started to fail quite soon after fitting around the 4 months mark. My wife found some really cheap bulbs which were slightly larger but same wattage so bought 8 to replace all in one room then use the good bulbs for other room.

Now around 3 years down the line and of the 18 original expensive bulbs just 8 left in use. But of the 8 cheap bulbs bought 4 months after the expensive ones all 8 still working.

From that experience I would say cheap and expensive bulbs does not relate to life of bulb.

With tungsten bulbs one would expect rough service bulbs to last longer but where there is voltage variation discharge or LED lighting (Energy Saving) will likely increase bulb life and since with up-lighters the radiated heat from the bulb does not reach people in the room directly likely they will save energy.

The problem with energy saving is to get same light output its not just a case of changing the bulb but often more bulbs more spread out are required as the light does not bounce as well of the surfaces. Also with LED lighting the light is often directional which also causes problems.

I changed to discharge lighting because of the problem in bulbs always seeming to be failing but in order to maintain the same light the three bulb fittings were changed to five bulb. Really the two lighting points should have been changed to four.

Many say the new energy saving lamp is not equivalent as shown on the packet but it would be if all bulbs evenly spaced through out the room. But what we do is replace the original pair of 100W lamps for a pair of three lamp fittings with three 40W lamps. Then we swap the 40W for 11W all very close together, and the lamps are just not bright enough to reach corners of the room. But if we were to use just four 11W lamps even spaced instead of the two original 100W lamps even spaced then the 11W lamps would light the room better.

So your problem, and really only way is to try, is will the existing lamps give out enough light with energy saving bulbs, which will fit in the space available?

 

[Porque223]

From that experience I would say cheap and expensive bulbs does not relate to life of bulb.

The Internet seems to say there is no correlation between price & quality but this idea is also controversial. Maybe somebody with an MBA can chime in and post their opinion.

 

[JohnW2]

From that experience I would say cheap and expensive bulbs does not relate to life of bulb.

The Internet seems to say there is no correlation between price & quality but this idea is also controversial. Maybe somebody with an MBA can chime in and post their opinion.

I'm not at all sure that an MBA would help, but anecdotally (FWIW) I think that a good few of us (including myself) have had fairly similar experiences to eric. It is certainly not my experience with such things that paying 2-3 times more gives one 2-3 times more life or reliability.

I think one of the factors, as compared with a decade or two ago, is probably the much greater prevalence of acquiring things (including lamps/bulbs) by mail order. Given the way mail is often handled, it's perhaps somewhat of a miracle that any of them arrive intact - in my experience, it's not at all uncommon for some of a batch to arrive with their glass evelopes smashed, let alone more subtle problems that may reduce life!

Kind Regards, John

 

[333rocky333]

Be aware that if the lamps are dimmed then its not always as simple as changing to low energy lamps they need to be compatible