bulb weird behviour and possibly overheating

[richardw1234]

Hi there,

I had a 3 spotlight ceiling light in the kitchen, it had been in the kitchen for a few years but the lights started to flicker and the bulbs would blow quite often too. One day when I went to replace a bulb I noticed it was hot when the light had not been on, the other two bulbs were cool, i swapped it round with one of the other bulbs and it came on, so I decided to replace the light completely.

I now have another celing spotlight with three light halogen GU10 bulbs, and I noticed the other day when I switched it off one of the lights took ages to cool down (it was glowing alot more than the others), two days later the light blew.

I have open up the light switch to find the earth cable not pinned down to anything and just sitting loose, could this be the cause or do I need to check the junction box to see if they are earthed at either end? Or is it a wiring problem elsewhere?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

If the light needs earthing then you absolutely must do that, and check that the earthing is continuous all the way back to the CU.

But lack of it won't cause bulbs to fail. It might kill you, but the bulbs will be fine. Sounds more like problems caused by a C&N fitting. Is it mains or 12V?

 

[richardw1234]

It's mains, I have earthed the cable now, I also found one of the other cables loose so that's been sorted too. I will replace the bulb and see if these changes make a difference.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

What you have done is to connect the earth conductor at the switch.

Not checking that you have true earth continuity all the way back to the CU for both switches and light fittings is trusting your life to the quality of work done by the sort of person who didn't bother to install switches properly.

 

[richardw1234]

BTW,

[/quote]But lack of it won't cause bulbs to fail. It might kill you, but the bulbs will be fine.[/quote]

Great

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It's a fact.