If you were Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options
|
Posted by Arkadiy on January 15, 2007, 12:06 am
Hi all,
I had recessed lighting installed in my family room a few month ago,
and I have a few problems with them. The burnout rate is very high: I
have 12 cans, and I already had to change about 10 bulbs in this few
months.
The fixtures are 4'', bulbs -- 50W, and I have 2 dimmers -- each
controlling 6 lights. The bulb goes in very deep -- almost all of it
is above the reflector (is it normal?). Maybe I am bying wrong bulbs?
Maybe I have to use a socket extender?
Also what's the deal with energy-saving bulbs? Would you recommend
them?
Thanks a lot for your help.
Arkadiy
|
 
| |
Posted by Paul M. Eldridge on January 15, 2007, 12:40 am
Hi Arkadiy,
You didn't mention the type of bulb. Are these 50-watt PAR20 halogens
by chance? Are they a name brand (e.g., Sylvania, GE or Philips)?
At one time, I had used an off-name brand PAR20 (Globe) and found they
burned out all too frequently. When I switched to Sylvania, the
failure rate dropped appreciably. I can't explain the difference in
service life, but it was unmistakable. These bulbs are exposed to
intense heat due to the design of these fixtures and perhaps this has
some bearing on their relative performance.
Energy saving compact fluorescents may be an alternative if they are
compatible with your dimmers or, if not, provided you replace these
dimmers with an on/off switch. Then again, heat build-up inside these
fixtures may shorten their life as well. Unless you live in a cooling
dominate climate and these lights operate several hours a day, I would
probably stick with halogens. And if you do use halogens, make sure
you run them at full brightness at least ten per cent of the time to
allow the "halogen cycle" to do its thing; unlike incandescent lamps,
constant dimming of halogens can actually shorten their life.
Cheers,
Paul
>Hi all,
>
>I had recessed lighting installed in my family room a few month ago,
>and I have a few problems with them. The burnout rate is very high: I
>have 12 cans, and I already had to change about 10 bulbs in this few
>months.
>
>The fixtures are 4'', bulbs -- 50W, and I have 2 dimmers -- each
>controlling 6 lights. The bulb goes in very deep -- almost all of it
>is above the reflector (is it normal?). Maybe I am bying wrong bulbs?
>
>Maybe I have to use a socket extender?
>
>Also what's the deal with energy-saving bulbs? Would you recommend
>them?
>
>Thanks a lot for your help.
>
>Arkadiy
|
|
Posted by Arkadiy on January 15, 2007, 10:48 am
Paul M. Eldridge wrote:
> You didn't mention the type of bulb. Are these 50-watt PAR20 halogens
> by chance? Are they a name brand (e.g., Sylvania, GE or Philips)?
It's Philips reflector 50R20. Any particular reason why halogen may be
better?
Thanks,
Arkadiy
|
|
Posted by Paul M. Eldridge on January 15, 2007, 1:03 pm
Hi Arkadiy,
Thanks for the additional info. A standard R20 has a rated life of
2,000 hours (the Philips DuraMax is 2,500 hours) and that's pretty
much in line with most PAR20 halogens (a 120-volt Philips
50PAR20/HAL/FL25 is rated at 3,000 hours).
The big difference is in terms of light output. A 50-watt R20 bulb
produces about 330 to 350 lumens whereas the equivalent halogen is in
the order of 520 to 550 lumens; that's more than 1.5 times the amount
of light of an incandescent reflector. This light is also cleaner and
crisper in appearance due to its higher colour temperature.
The downside is that the light spread is narrower (tighter beam), so
you'll have to determine for yourself if this would be a problem.
However, if it were my call, I would opt for the halogen.
Cheers,
Paul
>It's Philips reflector 50R20. Any particular reason why halogen may be
>better?
>
>Thanks,
>Arkadiy
|
|
Posted by Tom The Great on January 15, 2007, 1:29 am
>Hi all,
>
>I had recessed lighting installed in my family room a few month ago,
>and I have a few problems with them. The burnout rate is very high: I
>have 12 cans, and I already had to change about 10 bulbs in this few
>months.
>
>The fixtures are 4'', bulbs -- 50W, and I have 2 dimmers -- each
>controlling 6 lights. The bulb goes in very deep -- almost all of it
>is above the reflector (is it normal?). Maybe I am bying wrong bulbs?
>
>Maybe I have to use a socket extender?
>
>Also what's the deal with energy-saving bulbs? Would you recommend
>them?
>
>Thanks a lot for your help.
>
>Arkadiy
imho:
I found when I put in recessed lights in my house, I liked them so
much I was using them more often. Especially since i put them on a
dimmer. As a result, I was buring through bulbs. The life I was
getting, was only about 3-4 months. It seems that the continous hour
rating, is continous, and on/off operations seems to eat up hours.
What I did, I went to 'double life' bulbs. So far getting almost 6
months. With so many lights(9), it seems that twice a month I have a
dead bulb. Just luck of the draw.
As for CFL's, there is warnings about not using them on dimmers. As
for dimmible ones, I think the smallest is like a PR30 (for a 6"
can?), that I've seen.
Good luck with your results, please post anything that might help.
tom @ www.Consolidated-Loans.info
|
Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 > last >>
| Similar Threads | Posted | | Recessed Lights to Pendant Lights | April 15, 2006, 11:03 am |
| Recessed Lights | March 19, 2006, 8:18 am |
| recessed lights | January 5, 2007, 4:30 pm |
| Dimmer For LV Recessed Lights | August 3, 2005, 6:00 pm |
| Clips for recessed lights | December 13, 2006, 11:50 am |
| Outdoor recessed lights | February 18, 2008, 10:10 pm |
| Replacing non-IC recessed lights | August 27, 2008, 8:24 am |
| Which lightbulb for my recessed lights? | October 31, 2008, 9:18 am |
| NEC question on wiring recessed lights | August 30, 2005, 12:15 pm |
| Ceiling Wiring for Recessed Lights | April 10, 2006, 3:29 pm |
|
|
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML Sitemap