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Post by wvengineer on Aug 29, 2020 1:59:59 GMT
I have a basic chandelier in my dining room. It uses 5 normal light bulbs. I have LED bulbs (GE brand) in it, but they don't seam to last long before they start to flicker when I turn the fixture on. The flickering goes away after a while. These bulbs are only 6 months old or so.
Do I just have bad bulbs or is there something in the light fixture that could be causing the bulbs to fail early?
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Post by the light works on Aug 29, 2020 5:04:50 GMT
the flicker could be caused by the bulbs being slightly backed out of the socket, so they don't have solid contact until they warm up. it could also be caused by having a dimmer with non-dimmable bulbs. it is possible the bulbs are defective; but I would expect GE to have a little better performance than that.
first test would be to put a problem bulb in a completely different fixture. that will establish whether it is the bulb or the ficture.
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Post by GTCGreg on Aug 29, 2020 5:41:53 GMT
Are the bulbs enclosed in any way in the fixture? Even partially. LED bulbs, especially the general purpose ones, do not like any excessive heating. Almost every LED bulb that I ever dissected failed for the same reason. There is an input filter capacitor that filters the AC line voltage to DC to run the emitter diodes. These caps fail after a short time if they get too hot. A dimmer or electronic smart switch can also cause this capacitor to heat up even if the bulb label says it can be used on a dimmer. The non-sinusoidal waveform from a dimmer or electronic switch can cause excessive ripple current in the input capacitor and cause heating. Take a close look at the bulbs packaging. Many say "Not for use in enclosed fixtures." And the bulb manufactures consider anything short of a table lamp to be an enclosed fixture. Notice the last fact on the label.  |
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Post by the light works on Aug 29, 2020 12:33:42 GMT
Are the bulbs enclosed in any way in the fixture? Even partially. LED bulbs, especially the general purpose ones, do not like any excessive heating. Almost every LED bulb that I ever dissected failed for the same reason. There is an input filter capacitor that filters the AC line voltage to DC to run the emitter diodes. These caps fail after a short time if they get too hot. A dimmer or electronic smart switch can also cause this capacitor to heat up even if the bulb label says it can be used on a dimmer. The non-sinusoidal waveform from a dimmer or electronic switch can cause excessive ripple current in the input capacitor and cause heating. Take a close look at the bulbs packaging. Many say "Not for use in enclosed fixtures." And the bulb manufactures consider anything short of a table lamp to be an enclosed fixture. Notice the last fact on the label. note that most decent qulaity newer dimmers are made to be LED compatible. I wasn't thinking of a heat question, since, the bulbs settle in as they warm up. |
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Post by wvengineer on Aug 29, 2020 12:56:57 GMT
I have no dimmers in my house. Ripped them out years ago when CFL's came out due to the fire hazard. Had a couple house fires in my area attributed to CFLs on dimmers. All bulbs are in as far as they will go, and are not loose. I should have a picture below. It's open on the bottom. Maybe not the best for minimizing heat buildup, but should it shouldn't be bad.  |
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Post by GTCGreg on Aug 29, 2020 13:28:11 GMT
I don’t see how that fixture would present a heat problem. I think maybe you just have a bad batch of bulbs. In the early days of LED lighting, I bought a four pack of GE bulbs. Everyone of them failed in the first six months or so of operation. Again, that was back probably eight or nine years ago. My kitchen chandelier uses six bulbs and it is on a lot. I’ve had Sylvania brand bulbs in it for at least five years now and I have only had one of them fail.
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Post by the light works on Aug 29, 2020 13:29:27 GMT
I have no dimmers in my house. Ripped them out years ago when CFL's came out due to the fire hazard. Had a couple house fires in my area attributed to CFLs on dimmers. All bulbs are in as far as they will go, and are not loose. I should have a picture below. It's open on the bottom. Maybe not the best for minimizing heat buildup, but should it shouldn't be bad. View Attachmentthe other question would be how old the sockets are. I have occasionally run into older fixtures where the sockets don't make good contact any more. it is sounding more like premature bulb failure, though. I'm guessing you don't get the kind of deals on bulbs we get, here - I buy Greenlite brand bulbs for a dollar each, and have a failure rate of maybe one in 50. (better than incandescents, actually.) |
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Post by the light works on Aug 29, 2020 13:32:43 GMT
I don’t see how that fixture would present a heat problem. I think maybe you just have a bad batch of bulbs. In the early days of LED lighting, I bought a four pack of GE bulbs. Everyone of them failed in the first six months or so of operation. Again, that was back probably eight or nine years ago. My kitchen chandelier uses six bulbs and it is on a lot. I’ve had Sylvania brand bulbs in it for at least five years now and I have only had one of them fail. interestingly, the last time I bought Sylvania bulbs, it was six Halogen PAR 20s, and all six burned out before I finished trimming out the house. the standard I use is the fixture in the foyer of my church, which has been burning almost continuously with Phillips bulbs for about four years, now. I think after 5 or 6 years, I am finally having bulbs reach the end of their life in my house. |
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Post by wvengineer on Aug 29, 2020 13:33:24 GMT
The fixture is around 10-12 years old. I put it in not long after I got the house. That said, it was a cheap fixture then.
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Post by the light works on Aug 29, 2020 13:54:52 GMT
The fixture is around 10-12 years old. I put it in not long after I got the house. That said, it was a cheap fixture then. it is possible the sockets are getting fatigued. as I said the first time around, though - check a bulb in a different fixture and if it still flickers, you know it's the bulb. |
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Post by GTCGreg on Aug 29, 2020 14:39:01 GMT
I don’t see how that fixture would present a heat problem. I think maybe you just have a bad batch of bulbs. In the early days of LED lighting, I bought a four pack of GE bulbs. Everyone of them failed in the first six months or so of operation. Again, that was back probably eight or nine years ago. My kitchen chandelier uses six bulbs and it is on a lot. I’ve had Sylvania brand bulbs in it for at least five years now and I have only had one of them fail. interestingly, the last time I bought Sylvania bulbs, it was six Halogen PAR 20s, and all six burned out before I finished trimming out the house. the standard I use is the fixture in the foyer of my church, which has been burning almost continuously with Phillips bulbs for about four years, now. I think after 5 or 6 years, I am finally having bulbs reach the end of their life in my house. I'm not endorsing any one brand over another. In fact, except for Phillips, I don't think any of the major brands make their own bulbs. They just import them from some factory in China and slap their name on them. From my experience, the cheap off-brand LED bulbs seem to be just as reliable as the name brand bulbs. |
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Post by the light works on Aug 29, 2020 22:06:13 GMT
interestingly, the last time I bought Sylvania bulbs, it was six Halogen PAR 20s, and all six burned out before I finished trimming out the house. the standard I use is the fixture in the foyer of my church, which has been burning almost continuously with Phillips bulbs for about four years, now. I think after 5 or 6 years, I am finally having bulbs reach the end of their life in my house. I'm not endorsing any one brand over another. In fact, except for Phillips, I don't think any of the major brands make their own bulbs. They just import them from some factory in China and slap their name on them. From my experience, the cheap off-brand LED bulbs seem to be just as reliable as the name brand bulbs. yeah, sylvania also doesn't have a presence where I usually buy bulbs, so I almost never use them. my supply house sells Phillips ans TCP, and the local hardware store sells Greenlite and Maxlite. |
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Post by wvengineer on Sept 2, 2020 14:37:32 GMT
Out of the 5 sockets in this fixture, 2 of them are flickering. I swapped bulbs from one of the flickering sockets and one of the non-flickering sockets. The flickering and non flickering locations stayed the same. So to me, it is sounding like the problem is in the fixture and not the bulbs themselves.
I checked and the bulbs are screwed in firmly. The contacts in the fixture are clean as far as I can tell. Is there anything that can be done to fix the future or should I just plan on replacing it?
Any recommendations a good fixture?
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Post by the light works on Sept 3, 2020 0:49:06 GMT
Out of the 5 sockets in this fixture, 2 of them are flickering. I swapped bulbs from one of the flickering sockets and one of the non-flickering sockets. The flickering and non flickering locations stayed the same. So to me, it is sounding like the problem is in the fixture and not the bulbs themselves. I checked and the bulbs are screwed in firmly. The contacts in the fixture are clean as far as I can tell. Is there anything that can be done to fix the future or should I just plan on replacing it? Any recommendations a good fixture? make sure it is off, and then you can use a tool to try to pry the center contact out slightly. (better still to use a nonconductive tool) and yes, I've scorched a tool because my sniffer didn't register power, before. otherwise, you can usually feel that a fixture is built cheaply. otherwise, I've found that the highest priced fixtures relative to the amount of fixture you get are usually the most obnoxious to install. the ones that are economical without being cheap are usually pretty installer friendly. and they tend to all use the same sockets. |
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Post by GTCGreg on Sept 3, 2020 2:25:37 GMT
Out of the 5 sockets in this fixture, 2 of them are flickering. I swapped bulbs from one of the flickering sockets and one of the non-flickering sockets. The flickering and non flickering locations stayed the same. So to me, it is sounding like the problem is in the fixture and not the bulbs themselves. I checked and the bulbs are screwed in firmly. The contacts in the fixture are clean as far as I can tell. Is there anything that can be done to fix the future or should I just plan on replacing it? Any recommendations a good fixture? Not what I would have expected, but yes, it sounds like it’s the fixture. Kind of strange, but just after we started this conversation, one of the bulbs in my kitchen fixture started acting up. It’s really wired, it blinks three times then goes out for about five seconds comes back on, blinks three times again, goes out and keeps repeating. I think it’s trying to send an SOS. |
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Post by wvengineer on Jun 15, 2021 1:12:55 GMT
Surge protection. The Central AC at my sisters house is sensitive to surges. When they get a lightning storm they have to shut it off until it passes, otherwise it can trip out the unit. So I am looking at a multi-layed surge protection system for her house. A surge protector for the main panel is easy enough. So what can be done for the AC unit? Can I install something like this on the main power disconnect to the AC unit? www.lowes.com/pd/Square-D-SurgeArrest-25-KA-Indoor-Outdoor-Surge-Protective-Device/1000217397Or is there a better way to protect a central ac from power surges? |
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Post by GTCGreg on Jun 15, 2021 3:10:49 GMT
Surge protection. The Central AC at my sisters house is sensitive to surges. When they get a lightning storm they have to shut it off until it passes, otherwise it can trip out the unit. So I am looking at a multi-layed surge protection system for her house. A surge protector for the main panel is easy enough. So what can be done for the AC unit? Can I install something like this on the main power disconnect to the AC unit? www.lowes.com/pd/Square-D-SurgeArrest-25-KA-Indoor-Outdoor-Surge-Protective-Device/1000217397Or is there a better way to protect a central ac from power surges? What's probably happening isn't a surge causing the A/C to trip out, but a momentary dropout of power which is common in thunderstorms. If there is even a short drop out of a second or so, the compressor will stall and will not be able to restart until the back pressure is equalized in the system. If it's a capillary system, that could take a minute of two. An expansion valve system could take much longer before the compressor can restart. If the compressor keeps trying to restart before the pressures are equalized, it can cause the thermal overload in the compressor or even the condensing unit's circuit breaker in the house breaker box to trip. The compressor overload will reset itself in a couple of minutes. The circuit breaker in the house will have to be manually reset. A surge protector will keep a high voltage spike from coming down the line but will do nothing to prevent drop outs. On the shore powered HVAC systems we built for ambulances, even if there is a very short interruption of power, the compressor is locked out for 6 minutes to make sure the pressures are equalized and the compressor is able to restart. |
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Post by the light works on Jun 15, 2021 15:47:21 GMT
I've got no information on the specific device, but I know from experience, that things installed fitting up tend to collect water unless they are specifically designed to either drain water or to have a completely sealed fitting.
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Post by wvengineer on Apr 17, 2024 23:29:37 GMT
My parents are having trouble with their stove.
The voltage at the breaker is about 248V. Right where it should be. At the outlet, one leg is 128V, the other 40V, and the combined voltage is about 75V. So I replace the outlet. When I install it, voltage is 248V. Again, correct. However, when I plug the stove in, the stove won't work and the voltage is back to 75V when I check it.
Am I missing something?
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Post by GTCGreg on Apr 18, 2024 4:19:29 GMT
My parents are having trouble with their stove. The voltage at the breaker is about 248V. Right where it should be. At the outlet, one leg is 128V, the other 40V, and the combined voltage is about 75V. So I replace the outlet. When I install it, voltage is 248V. Again, correct. However, when I plug the stove in, the stove won't work and the voltage is back to 75V when I check it. Am I missing something? There's a high resistance connection somewhere. Since you replaced the outet, we can rule that out. I doubt that there are any splices in the line that runs from the outlet to the breaker box so that only leaves the connections to the breaker or the breaker itself. Make sure the screws that hold down the wires on the breaker are tight and then, with the stove connected, check the voltage on each output lug of the breaker. If the voltage is low at that point, the breaker is the problem. If you remove the breaker to replace it, check the connections where the breaker latches on to the buss bars in the breaker box. Check for signs of corrosion or overheating. If the buss bars are corroded, you will need to clean that up before installing a new breaker. The buss bars have voltage on them so be sure to turn off the main breaker before touching either buss bar. |
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