Light globes keep blowing

Cabinfever · Jan 11, 2008 5:07 pm

I have one of those ugly multi-armed chandelier things. What really annoys me is that the bulbs in it keep blowing out. (three arms)

I've tried replacing them with lower watt bulbs, but that didn;t seem to make much difference. The blurbs last about a month. One blows, then the rest quickly follow within a few days.

Anyone know what causes this ? And if I replace the fitting will that make any difference ? Is it the fitting or the wiring to blame here ? I have other lights on the same circuits that never blow...

Any thoughts appreciated.

Casa2 · Jan 11, 2008 6:55 pm

Are these 240 V bulbs or low voltage bulbs?

Cabinfever · Jan 11, 2008 7:40 pm

Standard 'small bayonet' bulbs. I've tried 60w and 40w...

Casa2 · Jan 11, 2008 7:41 pm

The light bulb wattage won't matter. Only the voltage matters. The next question is do you have three phase electricity? I bet you do.

Cabinfever · Jan 11, 2008 10:57 pm

I don;t think I have three-phase (only moved in a few months ago). But only the voltage matters ?! Do tell.... :idea:

royalblue · Jan 11, 2008 11:06 pm

Obviously, the light fitting is NOT to your liking. So why try to fix it?

This is your opportunity to LOSE IT, ya goose! :shock:

Michelle · Jan 11, 2008 11:08 pm

I agree…..if you don’t like it, and it plays up, replace it.

It’s not worth the headache.

Casa2 · Jan 11, 2008 11:36 pm

Cabinfever

I don;t think I have three-phase (only moved in a few months ago). But only the voltage matters ?! Do tell.... :idea:

Changing the light fitting will not help. As far as whether you have three phase, assuming you don't have underground power wiring, count how many wires are coming into your house. If there are two wires then you have single phase electricity. If there are four wires then you have three pahse electricity.

Do you find that your lights get brighter and dimmer as you turn things on and off?

kiwi056 · Jan 12, 2008 10:00 am

I guess the first thing you need to decide is if the light fitting is staying or getting replaced.

If it is going to stay, then you need to address the problem.

If you are in a new estate with very few houses then you could quite easily be running at a higher voltage due to little load on the sub and it being set for additional load.

Buying cheap lamps from the supermarket is not a good idea as many of these lamps don’t have a long life expectancy.

Voltage, heat, and vibration, (besides build quality) are three of the major contributors to lamp failure.

If you’re after a quick relatively cheap fix, get a dimmer installed for the light, and go to an electrical wholesaler and buy some better branded lamps.

Cabinfever · Jan 12, 2008 4:30 pm

It's an older house (c1930) and the fitting looks like it could be maybe 20 years old. Vibration isn't the problem. Maybe I'll just ditch the fitting and see what happens....

Casa2 · Jan 12, 2008 7:11 pm

Casa2

Cabinfever

I don;t think I have three-phase (only moved in a few months ago). But only the voltage matters ?! Do tell.... :idea:

Changing the light fitting will not help. As far as whether you have three phase, assuming you don't have underground power wiring, count how many wires are coming into your house. If there are two wires then you have single phase electricity. If there are four wires then you have three pahse electricity.

Do you find that your lights get brighter and dimmer as you turn things on and off?

Cabinfever,

Did you see my questions (particularly how many wires are coming from the street to the house - 2 or 4)?

Cheers,
Casa

P.S. Changing your light fitting will not fix the problem.

Yak_Chat · Jan 12, 2008 11:44 pm

Cabinfever - sounds 2 me like you have some faulty wiring, excess heat, or a a bad fitting there.
The quickest way to blow a bulb is to vary and fluctuate it's input voltage.

If other lights on the same circuit and in other areas of the house are not blowing it's more than likely one of these.

Poor connections in the fittings wires.
Poor connections in the actual bulbs socket.
Excess heat around the bulbs.
Note: Poor quality bulbs reacte to the above more than good quality bulbs do.
Steve

Cabinfever · Jan 16, 2008 12:38 pm

Casa2

Cabinfever

I don;t think I have three-phase (only moved in a few months ago). But only the voltage matters ?! Do tell.... :idea:

Changing the light fitting will not help. As far as whether you have three phase, assuming you don't have underground power wiring, count how many wires are coming into your house. If there are two wires then you have single phase electricity. If there are four wires then you have three pahse electricity.

Do you find that your lights get brighter and dimmer as you turn things on and off?

Cabinfever,

Did you see my questions (particularly how many wires are coming from the street to the house - 2 or 4)?

Cheers,
Casa

P.S. Changing your light fitting will not fix the problem.

Sorry I didn;t answer before, it always seemed I was logged on late at night ! The answer is two wires.

And I've bought a replacement light fitting, but your post makes me wonder whether I should put it in yet... I think a few more experiments first.

Casa2 · Jan 16, 2008 2:54 pm

Cabinfever,

Try turning some things in your house on and off and see if the lights in question gets brighter and dimmer. Somethgn like a vacuum cleaner, hairdryer or heater would draw a bit of power.

I had a great hypotheseis, but it only applied to three phase power. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Do you know if you are close to the substation (those green things about 2 m x 1 m by 1.5 m high).

Cheers,
Casa

kiwi056 · Jan 16, 2008 3:25 pm

When you get the electrician out to change the light fitting, get them to check your supply voltage. Obviously being in an overhead area, sometimes the liney’s get a bit lazy and connect more properties on the red phase (being closest), i.e. don’t rotate the connections to even out the load. This can result in higher than acceptable voltages on the other phases; likewise a faulty transformer can create excessive voltages as well.

Well worth getting it checked!

Cabinfever · Jan 16, 2008 6:57 pm

Good suggestion, shall do

beach · Aug 02, 2008 2:29 pm

This problem won't have anything to do with input poweror voltage fluctuations. It is only one light fitting which is playing up, so the supply is irrelevant.

The problem will be either in the fitting itself or the wiring to it.

Cheers

beach