My friend has a standard (B&Q) PIR light at the front of her house.It actuates fine but the lamp blows regularly about every 3 months, the lamp is all burnt and blackened inside, it is 500 W I think. I measured the mains at the unit and it's c244V, at upper end of spec but not outside. Any ideas why it blows regularly and any suggestions for a cure? Mark Atherton
It's important to make sure when you change the lamp that you don't touch with your fingers. That leaves a grease stain on the lamp, which under the tremendous heat for the lamp can cause early failure.
Lamps are provided wrapped in a cotton-type cloth, and that cloth should be used to fit the lamp.
PoP
Those vbulbs are notoriuosly fragile and VERY prone to attack by heat and finger sweat. Never touch them with your bare hands when re-installing.
I got through dozens of em as temporary lighting when rebuilding the hose. Hate em.
getting water on a hot bulb is instant death too.
The blackening shows that oxygen has got in. Cracked tube, or faled end seal maybe. Thermal shock, chemical attack, mechanical shock or plain bad manufacture.
"Mark Atherton" wrote | My friend has a standard (B&Q) PIR light at the front of her house.It | actuates fine but the lamp blows regularly about every 3 months,
They do.
| the lamp is all burnt and blackened inside, it is 500 W I think. I measured | the mains at the unit and it's c244V, at upper end of spec but not outside. | Any ideas why it blows regularly
Because they do.
| and any suggestions for a cure?
Replace it with a
Your friend should remove the fitting. A 500W flood light is not appropriate in a domestic setting. It is likely to cause light pollution, nuisance, global warming and road safety problems.
Christian.
"Christian McArdle" wrote in news:3f86c6ad$0$248$ snipped-for-privacy@reading.news.pipex.net:
Hear, hear
mike (wanna see the milky way again) r
Erm, no they dont.....
No, really, they dont..!
Yup! first thing, another poster noted 500w is a touch high for a front yard, I agree. Drop it down to 200w, less heat, lamps live longer.. Only use quality branded lamps, the cheapo import jobs are rubbish, dont touch the lamp AT ALL with bare fingers, and make sure the fitting is level on the wall as if the lamp sits at an angle this will kill it in no time at all!
I have a PIR flood in my garden that sees a lot of use and I have used 2 lamps (1x sylvania, 1x crompton) in 5 years....
Trust me on the above, ive been working in electrical wholesale for 10.5 years ;)
Terry
A 500W PIR is fine for a large garden *providing* it's aimed correctly (ie. with beam cut off at the perimeter of the property) *and* it only goes on when needed, rather than false trigerring all the time, or just being left on.
PS. You aint' seen light pollution until you see our local golf driving range - you can see the white haze on the horizon for miles. This council approved abomination makes all PIR lamps and streetlighting insignificant around here!
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