Why would our 50 watt halogen bulbs (transformer-less) keep blowing within a few weeks (days in some cases)?
2 year/1500 hours lifetime - not even approaching it. Many thanks- posted
18 years ago
Halogen bulbs still blowing
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18 years ago
check what voltage is getting to the bulbs (when they are running)
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18 years ago
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18 years ago
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Also, I guess you know this, you must not touch the glass envekope of the bulb at all with your fingers ever. If you do, they need to be cleaned with meths. This is because grease from your fingers causes localised heat build up and early bulb failure. TonyB
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18 years ago
get a multimeter, set it to an AC range of 20 volts or so, and connect it across the bulb with the bulb still in (a couple of pins can be handy here) turn the lamp on and check the voltage (somewhere around 12 is ideal) Sometimes when transformers fail they can give out substantial extra voltage, before dying completely.
mrcheerful
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18 years ago
ROFLMAO!!!!
oh dear!
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18 years ago
Should I call an ambulance now or wait for the post asking for help?
Adam
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18 years ago
We could club together for a new multimeter, or start a faq about Repairing Your Multimeter. :))
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18 years ago
sorry, my mistake, didn't read transformer LESS
mrcheerful
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18 years ago
If you have energetic kids like ours, every now and again antics in the kids bedroom (not what you might think!) were causing a vibration in the ceiling and I noticed the bulbs had a tendency to blow when that happened. Quite a few bulbs went until I had words. Of course it might be totally unrelated to your problem.
Paul
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18 years ago
I've had same problem, 240V halogens costing a fortune a year to replace.
Improved things greatly with softstart units
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, but eventually ripped whole lot out and replaced with 12V halogens and torrodal transformers. That was 5 years ago and all 18 halogens are still working, not had one go.
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18 years ago
I had similar problem, both transformer (12V) and transformer-less (240V) bulbs were blowing. Mains voltage too high, if I recall right it was 245V. I fitted an autotransformer to the lighting circuit, 100VA, about 10V reducing voltage.
Jozef