Electricians and Light people in here!

[AllGoNoShow]

Ok I bought this light for my room, 3 lights go in it, move to wherever you want and such, lights up the room nicely, except for the fact one of the sockets burns through a bulb in 2 weeks.

Bought another one, does the same thing, so we thought maybe its the bulbs, so we upgraded to some over light bulbs, like hell, everyone has them, they never seem to burn out, they stand up to heat and other elements good, so they should work, well, it burnt out.

But I noticed now, as the other bulbs where white normally, couldnt tell as much, but these were clear. After it dies, half the light bulb becomes white and foggy. Never seen it before, all the filament and everythign is white, its wierd :nut:

What causes this, maybe I can figure out why its happening if i know what ti is and why it happens.

[Xtrema]

Do you mean something like this with halogen bulbs?

http://www.rona.ca/img/product/full/3378018.jpg

[AllGoNoShow]

NOt halogen and in a circle not on a track.

[ZorroAMG]

The light is faulty...take it back get a new one and use only the bulbs recommended by the store.

[schmooot]

check the wiring to that particular bulb, IB one of the wires is frayed or barely shorting or something. If the other lights in the unit are working fine then its definately something with the one socket or wires

[Zero102]

Please, stop the spread of mis-information.

The most likely cause is that you are over-tightening the light bulbs into the sockets.
The ceramic of the socket is cutting the glass near the base of the bulb, after repeated heat cycling, the cut will turn into a crack, and once air enters the bulb, the filament will burn up very shortly.

Barely shorting.... don't even go there.
Faulty light? Excuse me? There are 2 wires and a socket for each light bulb, just what could be faulty?
I worked in the lighting business for a number of years, I quickly grow tired of lines like this.

If they are a standard incandescent socket, turn the switch off, pull the tab in the middle of the socket out a bit, then turn the switch on, and only turn the light bulb in until it comes on, then just a bit farther, don't screw it in as far as it will go.

A lot of cheap sockets are too deep, and if you screw light bulbs in all the way, you can cut the glass of the light bulb with the socket itself (since most sockets in lights like this are made from ceramic)

[schurchill39]

whoa kind of a snappy response hey? Well you seem to know what your talking about maybe tone it down a bit next time, not everyone knows about this sort of stuff

[danno]

i've never seen a light burn out because of it being to tight, and cracking the bulb.

my first guess is to check the wiring. make sure all the connections are good and tight. go from there. most likely it won't be the actual fixtures if only the one light goes out. also if you can check the wires going to the one bulb that always burns out.

if you want a hand i could help out i'm a electrician. shoot me a pm if you want help

[AllGoNoShow]

Actually now that he mentions it, there is a slight crack on this bulb, don't know about the others as I've thrown them out already but I will try it again.

schurchill39, if you don't know this sort of stuff, don't f***ing post.... simple as that. I have to specifically ask in some posts that at the bottom, if you dunno wtf you are talking about, don't post... and look I didn't for this one and i got a bunch of other people posting... MMMHMMMM...

[AllGoNoShow]

Thanks Zero and danno, I'll letcha know if it works or not.

[frostyda9]

danno pretty much covered it all, the only other thing I can think of that could possbly cause a problem is if somehow you have the one socket placed in a way that it gets a lot of vibration from an external source. I've seen it a few times (in basements usually) where bulbs continue to fail prematurely because of people walking around and doing whatever else on the floor above them. Unlikely though. I would just replace the fixture and see it the problem persists.

[AllGoNoShow]

Already replaced it once...

[Zero102]

Yep, seen a lot of bulbs burn out in basement fixtures, happens in my house, replaced all of the ones that frequently burned out with compact floursecents, saved a few bucks over frequently replacing bulbs, and eventually I'll save on the electricity (although they're used maybe 2-3 hours a month, so it will be quite some time). Other than in basements, it's rather rare that I've seen a fixture affected by excessive vibration, especially only on one socket. Although, I have seen it here and there.

I wasn't trying to be snappy, it's just that I can't count how many people's houses I've been at, where I've been told that a particular fixture keeps burning out light bulbs, so they want it replaced, so I go to remove the old light bulbs, and it's like a gorilla tightened them in there. IMO it's the #1 cause of bulb failures like this. Hearing people say to take the fixture back just rubs me the wrong way.

The thing to remember is, the filament is enclosed in an argon filled glass bubble. Which is at a significantly lower pressure than what is outside of the bubble, so as long as everything stays sealed, the argon does not allow the filament to oxidize (hence, no oxygen), and it will last for quite some time. However, when there is even a small crack, since the pressure outside is much higher than inside of the light bulb, outside air forces itself in, and when the filament heats up, it rapidly oxidizes, which causes the white/green/grey/whatever smoke/fog you get inside the bulb, kind of cool to watch really :)

[AllGoNoShow]

Ok I found another bulb, 60w 120v like the oven one, not the same shape but bah I've blown enough bulbs, if it works I'm happy I dont care.

I bent the tab in the middle out more, only screwed it in a little and hit the switch to see if it turned on, worked so I left it, didn't bother tighting on anymore, its going good so far :P

[danno]

oh yeah bulbs will burn out real quick if there is a vibration in the near area.

good luck to ya

[AllGoNoShow]

No vibration except for subs but Im barely ever home to turn them up anyways