Problem with lights

[hyphenex]

Hi, I have not been on this forum for a long long time as I've given up with my Pic stuff. But now I come back seeking advice on a compleatly unreated question.

We've had quiet a few lights that blow up. And I mean litterally blow up, you turn on the switch and pow... The light has shattered into pieces. More common is when you turn on the light then the bulb seperates from the metal part you screw into the socket then shootes out when you turn on the light and hits the floor leaving red ambers behind it. Is this a common problem and is there a common cause/solution for this?

Thanks in advance for your input, Scott

 

[audioguru]

Are you connecting 12V car light bulbs to the 120V or 240V mains?

 

[hyphenex]

Nope, the standard lights in my house that have been there for 20 years. They've just started really doing it once every few months lately though

 

[audioguru]

Your electrical utility company could help you solve your dangerous problem.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

A common failure mode of incandescent lamps is that they go short as they fail, this often blows the fuse feeding the lights (or takes out the triacs in sound to light units for discos!).

Certainly I would consider the glass envelope bursting as very unusual (although not unknown). I wonder if your mains is running too high?, I'm presuming you're in the USA? (although you don't have your location filled in) - and the USA seems prone to mains problems?.

 

[akg]

More common is when you turn on the light then the bulb seperates from the metal part you screw into the socket then shootes out when you turn on the light and hits the floor leaving red ambers behind it. I

:shock: :shock:

 

[stevez]

If you are talking about "mains" powered lights and you've got the right light bulbs I'd look at the voltage coming in to the main panel.

My son had this problem (Florida, USA) and I suggested he contact the supplier of electricity. Turns out they had made some voltage adjustments in the area which left some customers with abnormally high voltage. They adjusted the tap on the transformer and things were fine.

 

[hyphenex]

Nahh, Sydney Australia. Thanks for all your posts guys. I'll be contacting the electricity company. We've got a lot of new housing development around our area so that might be a good bet. Once again, Thanks for your help