Flashing bulb

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guschash

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HO has dawn to dusk bulb that is flashing. She that a high wind had knock the bonnet on fixture off and smashed the bulb. This fixture is high on barn and not easy to get to for inspection. She used a pole to get old base of bulb out and screw in a new dusk/dusk bulb. The started flashing at night when it came on. Any suggestions on what to look for.
 
Is there a chance that the fixture has a photocell. And now she’s installed a bulb with its own photocell?
I’m not sure how it might behave?
 
Some LED's or CFL's just don't work with some photocells. The photocell is counting on some leakage current through an incandescent filament to run the electronics. LED's interfere with that by not allowing any leakage while they are off.

Just depending on the electronics and the exact combination, you can get weird things like flashing lights. If you have dual lamp fixtures, leaving one incandescent lamp in will usually make it work.
 
If it’s a sodium bulb that is a normal end of life action.
 
I put a regular bulb in and it works fine. Fixture wasn't dawn/dusk someone put in a socket that is dawn/dusk and she put a dawn/dusk bulb in which cause the flashing.
 
guschash said:
HO has dawn to dusk bulb that is flashing. She that a high wind had knock the bonnet on fixture off and smashed the bulb. This fixture is high on barn and not easy to get to for inspection. She used a pole to get old base of bulb out and screw in a new dusk/dusk bulb. The started flashing at night when it came on. Any suggestions on what to look for.
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Sounds like this once worked properly until wind storm came up.

Your mentioning of bonnet on fixture being effected might mean it is now in a position that it reflects too much light to position of the photocell (assuming a lamp that contains it's own photocell here), and that would make it turn on when it senses darkness, then immediately sensing light and turning back off.... lather, rinse, repeat.

If photo sensor on the lamp could even just be it is pointed at the wall of the barn and is getting reflected light off the wall causing same thing I described above where previously it wasn't pointed at the wall.
 
guschash said:
I put a regular bulb in and it works fine. Fixture wasn't dawn/dusk someone put in a socket that is dawn/dusk and she put a dawn/dusk bulb in which cause the flashing.
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I assume you left the photocell socket in and now it works fine?
 
guschash said:
I put a regular bulb in and it works fine. Fixture wasn't dawn/dusk someone put in a socket that is dawn/dusk and she put a dawn/dusk bulb in which cause the flashing.
Click to expand...
Somehow I missed this post, but still would think light being reflected back to one of the photocells is the real problem and not that they two cells can't play together electrically.
 
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