L
Lxnxjxhx
Guest
How would I troubleshoot this?
Last edited:
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The first thing to check is the wattage limitations of the fixture itself. Installing a 200 watt bulb in a fixture rated for 60 watts not only will cause the 200 watt bulb to burn out too quickly, but it also becomes a fire hazard. This is due to the excessive heat that will build up in the fixture and surrounding area.
If you?ve made sure you?ve got the correct wattage of quality (not no-name 8/$1.00 jobs!) bulbs installed and you still are replacing them too often, it may be due to excessive vibration. Some bulbs are subject to shaking simply due to their location. Fixtures near a door are a prime example. Another source of vibration may be the occupants of the building, such as a childs bedroom, or equipment such as an exercise room. The constant movement of these items shakes the walls, floors & cielings, and that vibration is transferred to the bulb's filament. If the fixture can be outfitted with 'rough-service' bulbs, that would be one option to try. Rough service bulbs may also be called garage-door operator bulbs, appliance bulbs, or ceiling fan bulbs. They are designed with additional support for the filament than a standard bulb. Another option to look at is Compact Fluorescent (CF) bulbs, which have no filament. And with todays' advancing technology, you may want to look into Light-Emitting-Diode (LED) lights as well.
If none of the above suggestions seem to help, there?s one more thing to try.
And it comes as a surprise to many that there actually are right and wrong ways to proverbially, ?screw in a light bulb'. You may be twisting them into the socket too tightly.
By ?cranking down? on a bulb during installation you may be causing the most damage to the bulb and socket. Premature bulb failure is often caused by bulbs that have been installed too tightly into light fixtures.
Look into the base of a light fixture socket and you will see a brass tab. This tab is bent at an angle when the fixtures are new and will spring back and forth if depressed slightly. Now take several new light bulbs and inspect the base of each one. You will quickly notice that the bottom of most light bulbs has a small dot of solder in the center of the base. More importantly the size of this drop of solder is not exactly consistent. It is close in size, but not always the same size or height.
If the brass tab at the base of the socket does not make firm contact with the bottom of the light bulb, two things may happen. If there is a poor connection between the brass tab and the base of the bulb, the connection may heat up, and this heat cause the filament to burn out too soon.
If the connection is extremely poor, a small electrical arc can occur that starts to melt the solder and eventually burn a tiny hole through the bottom of the bulb. This hole breaks the vacuum inside the light bulb. When this happens, the gas inside the bulb is replaced by the air in your house and the bulb filament rapidly burns out.
To prevent this arcing you must be sure the brass tab is always at about a 30 degree angle inside the bottom of the socket. People who twist bulbs in tightly will depress and flatten the tab so it does not spring back when a bulb is replaced.
If you discover the tab is flattened, then you must turn off the power to the lights at the switch. As an additional safety measure, turn off the circuit breaker to the lights. Use a needle-nose pliers and carefully grasp the sides of the brass tab and slowly pull it up so the end of the tab is about one quarter inch off the base of the socket.
When you install a bulb always do so with the power off and the light switch on. Screw the bulb in enough for the thread to hold the bulb in place. Turn on the power, and continue turning the bulb. As soon as the bulb comes on, turn the bulb one-eighth of a turn. If you screw the bulb in too tightly, you will once again flatten the brass tab.
If you?ve made sure you?ve got the correct wattage of quality (not no-name 8/$1.00 jobs!) bulbs installed and you still are replacing them too often, it may be due to excessive vibration. Some bulbs are subject to shaking simply due to their location. Fixtures near a door are a prime example. Another source of vibration may be the occupants of the building, such as a childs bedroom, or equipment such as an exercise room. The constant movement of these items shakes the walls, floors & cielings, and that vibration is transferred to the bulb's filament. If the fixture can be outfitted with 'rough-service' bulbs, that would be one option to try. Rough service bulbs may also be called garage-door operator bulbs, appliance bulbs, or ceiling fan bulbs. They are designed with additional support for the filament than a standard bulb. Another option to look at is Compact Fluorescent (CF) bulbs, which have no filament. And with todays' advancing technology, you may want to look into Light-Emitting-Diode (LED) lights as well.
If none of the above suggestions seem to help, there?s one more thing to try.
And it comes as a surprise to many that there actually are right and wrong ways to proverbially, ?screw in a light bulb'. You may be twisting them into the socket too tightly.
By ?cranking down? on a bulb during installation you may be causing the most damage to the bulb and socket. Premature bulb failure is often caused by bulbs that have been installed too tightly into light fixtures.
Look into the base of a light fixture socket and you will see a brass tab. This tab is bent at an angle when the fixtures are new and will spring back and forth if depressed slightly. Now take several new light bulbs and inspect the base of each one. You will quickly notice that the bottom of most light bulbs has a small dot of solder in the center of the base. More importantly the size of this drop of solder is not exactly consistent. It is close in size, but not always the same size or height.
If the brass tab at the base of the socket does not make firm contact with the bottom of the light bulb, two things may happen. If there is a poor connection between the brass tab and the base of the bulb, the connection may heat up, and this heat cause the filament to burn out too soon.
If the connection is extremely poor, a small electrical arc can occur that starts to melt the solder and eventually burn a tiny hole through the bottom of the bulb. This hole breaks the vacuum inside the light bulb. When this happens, the gas inside the bulb is replaced by the air in your house and the bulb filament rapidly burns out.
To prevent this arcing you must be sure the brass tab is always at about a 30 degree angle inside the bottom of the socket. People who twist bulbs in tightly will depress and flatten the tab so it does not spring back when a bulb is replaced.
If you discover the tab is flattened, then you must turn off the power to the lights at the switch. As an additional safety measure, turn off the circuit breaker to the lights. Use a needle-nose pliers and carefully grasp the sides of the brass tab and slowly pull it up so the end of the tab is about one quarter inch off the base of the socket.
When you install a bulb always do so with the power off and the light switch on. Screw the bulb in enough for the thread to hold the bulb in place. Turn on the power, and continue turning the bulb. As soon as the bulb comes on, turn the bulb one-eighth of a turn. If you screw the bulb in too tightly, you will once again flatten the brass tab.
- Location
- Windsor, CO NEC: 2017
- Occupation
- Hospital Master Electrician
Nuts. My guess was going to be that the burned out ones have more frequent use than the others. 
- Location
- Windsor, CO NEC: 2017
- Occupation
- Hospital Master Electrician
Is this one of the "new guard" rules? I am just now getting to where I can see the Dark Side of the forum, much less understand it.
captaincrab55
Senior Member
- Location
- Maryland
Check to see if the filament is broke or signs that it evaporated...
- Location
- Wisconsin
- Occupation
- PE (Retired) - Power Systems
For what its worth.
Average life of a light bulb is not average, it is really the mean. Turn on 100 bulbs, when 50 of them have burned out that is the average life.
So, if 49 bulbs burn out when you turn them on but it takes 750 hours for the fiftieth to fail the bulb is listed with an average life of 750hrs.
Average life of a light bulb is not average, it is really the mean. Turn on 100 bulbs, when 50 of them have burned out that is the average life.
So, if 49 bulbs burn out when you turn them on but it takes 750 hours for the fiftieth to fail the bulb is listed with an average life of 750hrs.
Make sure that the bulbs that you are installing are rated for 130-volts. In this area, residential power is usually measured at between 122 and 125 volts. A bulb rated at 110, 115, or 120 volts has a very short life when operated at a higher voltage. Most "bargain" bulbs are rated for 120-volts.
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
Word! :grin:jdsmith said:
hi, just a ideal
hi, just a ideal
I see that your a handy man, probally tired of going up and down the ladder to change the lamp, and im sure your client doesnt care as long as the light is on,
i have 3 options
the first would be to get a 130 volt lamp with a brass base 5 points of contact or more on the filament, the lamp will be dimmer but last much longer
companct flourescent ( im not impressesd a filament lamp can last a lot longer)
for the 3rd i need more info
hi, just a ideal
I see that your a handy man, probally tired of going up and down the ladder to change the lamp, and im sure your client doesnt care as long as the light is on,
i have 3 options
the first would be to get a 130 volt lamp with a brass base 5 points of contact or more on the filament, the lamp will be dimmer but last much longer
companct flourescent ( im not impressesd a filament lamp can last a lot longer)
for the 3rd i need more info
jim dungar said:
Most people don't know the statistical definition of 'mean,' so 'average' is used. And most people substitute the word 'average' with 'minimum.'
If a bulb has an average life of 750 hours, and they buy two bulbs... one burns out at 700 hours and the other 800. They deem the first one defective.
stickboy1375
Senior Member
- Location
- Litchfield, CT
Stop buying cheap lamps...:grin: Nothing better than half off at the dollar store...
- Location
- Wisconsin
- Occupation
- PE (Retired) - Power Systems
jghrist said:
I was wondering how long it would take for someone to notice.
Still it is an interesting tidbit of information, especially if people purchase a case of bulbs at a time and wonder why most of them are "bad".
L
Lxnxjxhx
Guest
Only some incandescent bulbs burn out frequently
Good stuff! Thanks, folks. . .
This reminds me that NASA used to make a diode that fit in a lamp socket and ran the lamp at half the RMS power, for a way, way long life. Thing is, it used to catch fire and I don't think anyone else has done this since.
But, if you like taking risks in your own house you could put a 400v 2a or 3a diode inside a short copper tube (for fire protection and heat sinking) and then this assembly inside the light fixture.
Watch out sizing the diode; a bulb pulls about 13x the normal steady state current for a few dozen milliseconds.
Or I guess you could wire two-bulb-fixtures so the bulbs are in series.
Enough weirdness. . .
Good stuff! Thanks, folks. . .
This reminds me that NASA used to make a diode that fit in a lamp socket and ran the lamp at half the RMS power, for a way, way long life. Thing is, it used to catch fire and I don't think anyone else has done this since.
But, if you like taking risks in your own house you could put a 400v 2a or 3a diode inside a short copper tube (for fire protection and heat sinking) and then this assembly inside the light fixture.
Watch out sizing the diode; a bulb pulls about 13x the normal steady state current for a few dozen milliseconds.
Or I guess you could wire two-bulb-fixtures so the bulbs are in series.
Enough weirdness. . .
quogueelectric
Senior Member
- Location
- new york
Are these lights that constantly burn out near a door that slams frequently??
L
Lxnxjxhx
Guest
No, there doesn't seem to be a pattern, but an earlier post told me about vibrations being transmitted through the building structure.
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