New One on Me

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Little Bill

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Tennessee NEC:2017
Occupation
Semi-Retired Electrician
I went on a service call to check nonworking outside lights. I went as a favor for an electrician that wired it but lives too far from the area. Was told it was probably a bad photo cell. I don't just take someone's word without checking so that's what I did.

I found the PC had been taped up and was not functioning. I replaced it with new but still the lights didn't work. There were (8) gooseneck lights with Par38 bulbs and (8) wall sconce lights. The sconce lights all worked but none of the gooseneck lights.

I traced the wiring from the lights to a junction box. All the lights were connected from the PC under one wirenut. Figuring I had a bad connection, I re-did all the splices and replaced the wirenuts. Still no gooseneck lights.

I decided to check at one of the lights, I put in a regular bulb and it worked. I checked the flood bulb with my meter and it showed bad. I then checked the light next to it and found it was also blown. Since the lights were extremely hard to get to I didn't check the remaining lights. Just hoping (assuming) that they were blown as well since two of them were.

I don't think I have ever had so many lights not working and it be the bulbs. My thinking is:
Since the PC was taped up that the bulbs stayed on too long and all blew
or
They took a surge and blew
or
They went out one (or more) at a time (over time) and no one noticed until they were all out.

Thoughts as to what might have happened?
Also, this building is only a year or two old.
 

hbiss

EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
Location
Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
Occupation
EC
Likely they were on all the time and just burned out. Since they were probably all originally installed at the same time their end of life was all at around the same time.

-Hal
 

Dennis Alwon

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
Occupation
Retired Electrical Contractor
Customers tell me all the time that the lights went out in their fixture all at once. Usually there are 2 or 3 bulbs and the customer never noticed that they were using only one bulb for a while.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Incandescent bulbs can be expected to last 1000 hours.
Halogen bulbs can be expected to last 2500 hours.
A year is 8760 hours.

+1

However I have PAR30 halogens in the soffit around my house which are on photocell, run every night, but have never replaced a single lamp yet in about 13 years since the house was built. But they are all on dimmers and are usually set at a fairly low light level.;);)
 

gar

Senior Member
Location
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Occupation
EE
180313-2412 EDT

I have incandescents in my front hall on a dimmer 24 hours/day. Only about 2 out of about 12 have failed in 30 years. Sometimes turned off during the day, but that adds fatigue stress.

.
 

JFletcher

Senior Member
Location
Williamsburg, VA
a few years ago I got a call to a bar where all of the lights over the bar top were out. 14 CFL bulbs. I checked the breaker and switch both were good. just for grins I pulled a bulb and check for power at the fixture there was power. I replace that bulb and it came on. all 14 CFLs were blown out. none of them had the telltale marks of end-of-life lamps like blackened glass near the joint.

all I can figure was that a surge took them all out. the bar had just reopened after being shut down for 6 months, they could have blown out one at a time without someone noticing.
 
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