Inspection lamps and water don't mix...

[Andrew Gabriel]

See:

[bigcat]

Sometimes its poss to operate them like that continuously. Im not sure why, but the pic I was looking for on that site shows a row of 3 or 4 outdoor glass globe fittings, each half full of water, that was in regular use at a hotel/restaurant... they worked. I dont know how, as surely the temp gradient on the bulbs would break them, but work they did.

If your water had been 3/4" lower you might just have got away with it. Until the water boiled :)

NT

[Andy Dingley]

If you fill with water, _then_ turn the power on, they'll usually work. It's adding cold water to a hot fitting that breaks them.

My inspection light is a "jam jar" type, not a wire cage - I just got fed up with one drop of rain landing on the bulb and killing it.

[mike]

Reminds me of our lab about 10 years ago.

We werere testing a new type of low energy bulb. Had working samples from the manufacturer but the glass bulb kept getting too hot causing premature failure. Until that problem could be fixed the solution to allow us to carry on testing was to cool the bulb with water. There's a picture around somewhere of a row of illuminated bulbs each held in a retort stand with the bulb in a beaker of water! Surreal or what.

[Rob Nicholson]

Mine *was* both, now it's just a wire cage :-)

[Rob Nicholson]

Rob.

[Terry]

Fluorescent tube inspection lamps work well, don't get hot and are fairly robust. At Wal Mart (Canada) the 115 volt type costs around $15 (roughly six quid?) or somewhat less if on sale. Presume there is a 230 volt UK version; probably all made in China anyway!

[bigcat]

Do you rememebr what technology they used?

NT

[Andrew Gabriel]

Strange, they're much cheaper than that here (and you can pay a lot more too).

There are China ones here, but traditionally ours come from Eastern Europe, which tend to be better quality.