cans heating too much

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southernboys#2

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hey guys went to ts a customers house yesterday. heres the setup. 4 cans in the kitchen controlled off of a 3way switch. cans on the left would cycle on and off. Thought maybe a bulb had gone bad. Changed bulb out other can turned off. the cans on right stayed on. as I was ts other problems the can came back on. So imho opinion I think its the heat sensor found in the cans. Customer said he had been told this before but does not understand why its only those two cans. Need some lit on this problem. ALso what can I do to alleviate this problem?
 
Re: cans heating too much

i cant help with the literature, but incadecent bulbs dont strobe.

sounds like it is definatly the thermal cut out.

either replace them with type IC cans, or move the insulation away from the fixtures.
 
Re: cans heating too much

Simple problem but its messy.Insulation is over the cans in question.They are i c thanfully or you would be going to an empty lot.Choices both suck.Crawl thru attic and remove insulation or drop the can guts and likely you will see insulation fall all over the place.If you can i suggest going in attic,turn the lights on so easy to find.Only one other posability and its not likely ,the bulbs might be the wrong wattage and type.
 
Re: cans heating too much

On the bright side we are having cool weather.I spent 2 hours in attic on tuesday and really not too bad.Blown in insulation is likely.Some times a big empty box under it catches most of it.Warn customer there will be a mess if you lower the cans
 
Re: cans heating too much

Originally posted by southernboys#2:
Let me clarify one thing the lights dont strobe they actually cut off for several minutes
Click to expand...
The electrical idea of strobing ... like with street lights, or other HID lighs.
 
Re: cans heating too much

The I C simply did it's job.It gets hot enough to open,then with bulb off it cools down,5 minutes maybe.Then it starts over again.I C are great they are saving many homes from fires.Do others here find that new offices are using large amounts of cans ? Like about 40 in a 2,000 sq ft office ?
 
Re: cans heating too much

ic cans are rated for zero clearance to insulatioin. other cans have to be spaced from the insulation.
 
Re: cans heating too much

Reading Halo destructions now.Seems your right they can be covered,but fact remains they will get hot and insulation holds heat in.Want blinking to stop ? Uncover it.Interesting note,it says 90 degree wire.Thought romex was 60 :confused:
 
Re: cans heating too much

that is a great point..

are the individual conductors rated 90?

334.80 Ampacity. The ampacity of Types NM, NMC, and
NMS cable shall be determined in accordance with 310.15.
The ampacity shall be in accordance with the 60?C (140?F)
conductor temperature rating. The 90?C (194?F) rating
shall be permitted to be used for ampacity derating purposes,
provided the final derated ampacity does not exceed
that for a 60?C (140?F) rated conductor.

Can they be wired to all those lights that say 90 conductors?
 
Re: cans heating too much

Originally posted by jimwalker:
"Can they be wired to all those lights that say 90 conductors? "
I sure hope so or i have thousands i gotta redo
Click to expand...
With that in mind is there anybody out there who tells customers you will have to pull a new switch leg because there older romex is not 90c.
 
Re: cans heating too much

They are i c thanfully or you would be going to an empty lot.
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Not at all.
More than likely that are not IC cans. I have seen this many times.
IC cans can be completely covered with insulation. Non-IC's will act exactly as the OP's situation.
It's the thermal cutout that is doing it's job.
 
Re: cans heating too much

Wrong lamp. Too high wattage or non ic cans in insulation. Those are the problems that cause this.

[ December 15, 2005, 09:46 PM: Message edited by: electricmanscott ]
 
Re: cans heating too much

I had exactly the same problem. I replaced bulbs and TCOs on two cans that would go off intermittantly (and independently). I was positive that it was a heat problem. It wasn't. I ended up disassembling the cans (Halo) to get access to the attached JB. Two of the eight cans had loose connections. On one of them the wire nut had fallen off.
It's a bit of a PITA but you can get to the wiring on 6" Halo cans w/o tearing up the ceiling.
BTW - You can run the light w/o the TCO to test it. I tried to buy TCOs from Halo - no luck. I ended up buying a couple of cans for the parts.

[ December 16, 2005, 11:45 PM: Message edited by: WMitch ]
 
Re: cans heating too much

I agree with Scott, too big of a lamp. Cans are listed for use with certain trims at different wattages, halo lists all the combos in their cans with the respective lamp wattages.
 
Re: cans heating too much

Nothing hard about dropping a can.I keep a short 1/4 inch nut driver to do this.But it is messy.The junction box was designed with 2 lids just for this reason.
 
Re: cans heating too much

I have seen halogens do the same thing,also halo cans tha adjust the height can set the edge of the bulb almost on top of thr thermal cut out.
ai assume that you did check the connection ?
 
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