Ouartz Halogen 500 Watt lightbulbs - short lifetime

[wayned]

When I built my house 18 years ago I installed 3 outdoor fixtures using these, 4.5 inch bulbs.  The light in the front of the house is seldom used but the two on the back are on from 2-4 hours everyday, I work outside very often before daylight.  For years the bulbs lasted a long time and I rarely had to replace them.  Recently, the past few months, the ones in the back are blowing out in 3-7 days after a new none is installed.  They are properly replaced where I never touch the glass with bare hands, and the voltage supplied is correct, rarely ever exceeding 240vac ( I have a meter permanently installed in the kitchen).    The lights are the waterproof type and installed under the eaves (1 meter) of the house, so water intrusion is not a problem and I "rough up" the connecting rods in the lamp with a file when I replace the bulbs to remove any corrosion.  I have also replaced the switch in the kitchen.  I changed manufacturers , Phillips to Matsushita, but the problem persists.

 

My only option, I guess, is to replace the lights with LEDs but getting ones with equivalent lumen output as the 500W halogens seems to be a problem (I live in the boonies)  so I'll have to install more fixtures to achieve the same level of light output.  I have zero experience using LED fixtures other than flashlights.

 

Has anybody else experienced this problem?  Any suggestions?

[Crossy]

I would have done with it and install 100W LEDs, use 1/5 of the power, similar brightness (fewer Lumens but the whiter light makes up for it to the human eye).

 

Halogens can be very fussy of power quality and under running them can be as bad as over voltage.

 

240V on a 220V lamp is 10% over voltage, could be enough to significantly shorten the life of a "budget" lamp.

 

We have two 1500W halogen floods which get used once a year for the Christmas party, they invariably need new lamps every year. Probably going to replace with big LEDs before the party this year (if I don't spend the budget on beer and food)

 

 

 

 

[wayned]

Thank.. 

 

The reason that I replaced the switch was the voltage problem - the suicidal ants are really bad here.  They took out the Ethernet connection on my desk top last week and I replaced 4 switches yesterday, all chock full of ants.  The plug on the computer is trash and I was not able to clean it successfully, sealed unit but big enough holes for the little buggers.  I managed to get a PCI Lan card rather than have to replace the mother board, but we spent hours on the internet trying to find a driver but was successful in the end.

 

I'd buy a box of candles and spend the budget on beer and food!

[Crossy]

When you've cleared out the ants drop a mothball (naphthalene ball) in the back box of switches and outlets, they seem to discourage most types of wildlife from entering.

 

Candles, beer and food sounds like a plan Maybe forget the candles

 

[Litlos]

The 100W LED's fittings are quite large.  The 50W are about a quarter of the size at the moment.  I have been buying them from the local Thai Watsadu store at pretty good pricing.  The same is also available through Lazada at similar pricing.  The equivalent for the 500W Halagon is about 60W in the LED according to the guides, but is 50W or 100W only available.  The Natural/Cool white LEDs seem to give out more light than the warm white.

 

Cheers

[wayned]

I replaced my two 500 Watt halogen lights with three 50W LEDs that I bought from Lazada. 790 baht each.  None of the local shops around here had anything bigger than 20 watt.

 

The light output is certainly not as bright as the halogens, but is acceptable.  I added the third after only installing two.  The light color is white, unlike the yellow of the halogens.

 

I took apart the old halogens and basically there is nothing to go wrong with them other than corrosion on the connector pins.  I cleaned them up and they both work fine, so I guess I can mount them on some movable stands and have ample light anywhere and anytime that I want it. Unfortunately a brighter light won't help my failing eyesight.

 

What I did discover was  a high percentage of defective new halogen bulbs, new, right out of the box.  The last time that I bought lights, I bought 10 Mitsubishi's.  I had 6 left and out of the six 3 would not light.  They looked Okay but on closer inspection there was a defect in all of them  at the connection inside the glass tube.  So maybe my past problems of bulb life actually have actually been caused by defective bulbs. 

 

I guess that I will now see how the life of the LEDs are.  Hopefully better than the halogens at 790 baht a pop!

[impulse]

Halogen bulbs don't do well with moisture.  Like the humidity in Thailand.