Heard this almighty crash from the living room and found that a glass dome cover from one of those round fluorescent lights had fallen down and smashed to a million pieces on the floor.

Luckily no one was in the room or worse underneath the light when the accident happened as it could have been very nasty, as it is we'll probably be finding little splinters of glass for a very long time.

After having cleared up as much as we could I had a look at the fitting and discovered that the plastic gizmo that's connected to the screw that holds the glass dome up had failed and the hole in the glass was larger than the screw head that remained so the whole thing just fell to the floor.

Seems to be a major design fault, if the plastic gizmo breaks or the glue holding the screw fails there is nothing to stop the glass dome from falling.

A simple solution is to just add a washer that is larger than the hole in the glass so if the gizmo or glue does fail the glass dome will not fall.

This obviously only applies to this type of fitting. Other types of the round fluorescent have better fittings and would not have this problem.

Just thought I'd share.

I used to have them in my last condo and always thought they looked a bit of a death trap. They're really heavy and held up with really flimsy connections. Definitely something to avoid.

Edited March 5, 201412 yr by edwardandtubs

I had a similar experience some years ago. I initially thought the kids had knocked over the Telly but when I looked I found the entire bathroom ceiling had collapsed due to termites in the roof!

We moved

Edited March 5, 201412 yr by evadgib

I had a similar experience some years ago. I initially thought the kids had knocked over the TV but when I looked I found the entire bathroom ceiling had collapsed due to termites!

We moved

another good reason to rent ,not buy

losing a 2 months deposit is not much of an issue when u read about the knightmares of owning some

place thats driving you insane for whatever reason but you cant get out easily ........

Philips is now selling brand new good round lights, check at homepro.

Have you ever seen the damage done by a ceiling fan which came down or lost a blade while rotating? When checking the lights, check the fans as well.

Edited March 5, 201412 yr by Carib

We have a lot of those round lights, ours have three plastic balls that support the glass dome by the edge.

Not had one fail (yet) but I've replaced the plastic washers with metal due to them appearing rather (ok, very) flimsy.

Edwardandtubs, they are supposed to be screwed to the ceiling (using cavity screws), not hanging from the connections.

In the last house I removed these units after one of the electrical ballasts blew. It sounded like a shotgun blast and the force practically disintegrated the light shade. If anyone had been in the bedroom (where the light fitting was) I reckon they would have been shredded, badly cut at least.

Still don't know why the ballast went or where the spike came from.

Have you ever seen the damage done by a ceiling fan which came down or lost a blade while rotating? When checking the lights, check the fans as well.

Having been in a few hotels rooms that have those I have never switched the things on.

Have used those round lights before and never had any problem with them. They are cheap and cheerful and save having to make complicated decisions about what lighting to put where, just bung one of those up in the center of the ceiling

Previously AFAIR they had a metal gizmo with a proper thread and screw that could not just fall off, though a good idea to occasionally check the screws are not coming loose due to vibration.

As I said in the OP the metal screw holding the dome up was just glued into the plastic gizmo so something had to give at some time

"Crossy" - Got one of those fittings with the plastic balls in the girls room, they wanted something more girly, and yes it does seem to be a safer option, but I still check the tightness of the balls occasionally.

Philips is now selling brand new good round lights, check at homepro.

At the last quick visit to Hompro noticed some of those round fluorescent units that didn't have a ballast or starter just some sort of electronic box that the wires connected to.

Didn't have time to look at closely but is that what you mean?

Any one know about these new "electronic" lights are they better, cheaper to run?

Used some fluorescent tube fittings that had electronics instead of ballast and starter but the didn't last long. Think they did not like the fluctuations in the local power supply.

Philips is now selling brand new good round lights, check at homepro.

At the last quick visit to Hompro noticed some of those round fluorescent units that didn't have a ballast or starter just some sort of electronic box that the wires connected to.

Didn't have time to look at closely but is that what you mean?

Any one know about these new "electronic" lights are they better, cheaper to run?

Used some fluorescent tube fittings that had electronics instead of ballast and starter but the didn't last long. Think they did not like the fluctuations in the local power supply.

At our lab we changed out all conventional ballasts to electronic ballasts. Probably 50% failed within 1-3 years, some definitely due to power fluctuations as one day we had a power surge due to failed mains transformer and a whole bunch had to be replaced. When they fail now, we put conventional units in now.

replaced all the ones downstairs when we re-did the ceilings but still have them upstairs, I just removed the glass covers as they are barely held on and all the weight actually is pulling them away from the seiling so they are on a lean. Before I removed the glass if you just touched them they would start to fall, have no idea what happened with them before I moved in, guess the upstairs one will be replaced when I get these ceiling replaced as well. If you havent guessed thai manufactured fittings, hell thai manufactured most things are very poorly and cheaply done, they do not allow for after they are sold. Two of our beds collapsed within a week and another 3 shortly after in the units, they were made with no support what so ever and they had used 5mm chipboard as the bases on king size beds , go figure.

I had a similar experience some years ago. I initially thought the kids had knocked over the Telly but when I looked I found the entire bathroom ceiling had collapsed due to termites in the roof!

We moved

mate we just replaced all our downstairs ceilings due to the same thing, when the sparky went to check the wiring the ceiling collapsed and they all started to come down. At least now we have decent wiring and lights(plastic ones, Philips I think) so they wont fall on us.

We have a lot of those round lights, ours have three plastic balls that support the glass dome by the edge.

Not had one fail (yet) but I've replaced the plastic washers with metal due to them appearing rather (ok, very) flimsy.

Edwardandtubs, they are supposed to be screwed to the ceiling (using cavity screws), not hanging from the connections.

Yep, have one like that in our kitchen.

Two months ago the glass dome came down whilst I was sitting at my PC in an other room, luckily.

Thousands of pieces of glass everywhere.

We have more light now....will need to replace with something more secure...

Falling lights do have serious consequences.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/woman-sues-government-after-light-falls-injures-her-in-hotel-room-will-having-sex-on-work-trip/story-e6freuy9-1226102305894

Actually she won the first case but lost on appeal. Personally I do consider that she should have won as the employer is responsible for a safe environment in the acomodation she was given and the fitting was faulty.

Philips is now selling brand new good round lights, check at homepro.

and where are they made?

I had two very nice light fittings that crashed to the floor. Reason, they did not drill and bold them to the ceiling metal work frame, they used bits of wire.

Same with my ceiling fans.....

Falling lights do have serious consequences.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/woman-sues-government-after-light-falls-injures-her-in-hotel-room-will-having-sex-on-work-trip/story-e6freuy9-1226102305894

Actually she won the first case but lost on appeal. Personally I do consider that she should have won as the employer is responsible for a safe environment in the acomodation she was given and the fitting was faulty.

Harry, I'd have to go against you on that. The employer cannot possibly be expected to know that state of fittings in a hotel. If anyone should have been sued, it would be the hotel.

Falling lights do have serious consequences.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/woman-sues-government-after-light-falls-injures-her-in-hotel-room-will-having-sex-on-work-trip/story-e6freuy9-1226102305894

Actually she won the first case but lost on appeal. Personally I do consider that she should have won as the employer is responsible for a safe environment in the acomodation she was given and the fitting was faulty.

Harry, I'd have to go against you on that. The employer cannot possibly be expected to know that state of fittings in a hotel. If anyone should have been sued, it would be the hotel.

Contract between the hotel and employer. Employee sues employer. Employer sues hotel. Employee cannot directly sue hotel as no contract between them.

Edited March 6, 201412 yr by harrry

Perhaps I'm not understanding the OP but the below are how all the fittings for holding the glass in place looks on both the last two houses I lived. There is a large hollow threaded (outside) tube that goes through the hole in the glass and a brass washer (retainer) and a screw on head that screws to the threaded tube. Not possible for it to give way like that.

"Tywais" - Your light fittings are obviously more substantial than my Cheap Charlie ones.

The gizmo on the outside is made of plastic and has a ordinary screw glued to it on the inside that goes up through a hole in the glass to hold it in place. If the glue holding the screw into the plastic gizmo fails there is nothing to keep the glass up.

Yes pretty silly engineering design flaw there if that's glue attaching the threading.

Should all be one piece of metal if they wanted to get that integral look.

Anything electrical in Thailand is dodgy. There are No safety standards and no one gives a shit..

Heat generated in these lights also deteriorates the plastic over time combined with the high temps in general I should think.

Most arent "really" attached to the ceilings anyway, why use 3 good fixings when one badly done will do etc

I had two very nice light fittings that crashed to the floor. Reason, they did not drill and bold them to the ceiling metal work frame, they used bits of wire.

Same with my ceiling fans.....

thai workmens moto "what goes up must come down"