NEXT Lighting Problems...

[RivendellProductions]

Hi.

I had a NEXT 5 lamp ceiling lamp (halogen capsule bulbs) up in my living room, which has always been fine. I had the lamp on until pretty late the other night, and when I switched off to go to bed, I had forgotten something in the room, so I turned the light back on, and BANG! All 5 lights went on & off with a loud electrical crack & flash. They no longer come on at all.

I assumed that the turning off then back on again a few seconds later had blown the internals so just turned it off & went to bed.

I ordered a new lamp, 3 bulbs ("normal" screw in bulbs) again from NEXT.

I have just fitted it in accordance with the instructions, and turned it on. 1 bulb blew immediately again with a fairly loud crack. A 2nd bulb blew a couple of seconds later, and the 3rd stayed lit. Looking at the bulbs that blew, there is scorching & a hole in the base of the bulb, on the side of the screw section, and the filaments have burst.

This doesn't sound like duff bulbs to me, but what do the pro's & knowledgeable people think? I normally avoid wiring anything up, but this seemed very simple to do, so I am confident I have it wired correctly.

Any ideas? Or is it time to call in a professional?

Gary.

PS

I didn't replace the bulbs, to try again, as TBH I am scared of doing damage to the house if there is a problem elsewhere in the circuit.

 

[mikhailfaradayski]

my guess is the light fitting has expired.

Unless it was a particularly expensive fitting, its probably not worth saving, sorry.

 

[RivendellProductions]

Do you mean that you think the new light is faulty then? It wasn't particularly expensive, but seems funny that the new one has blown too...

 

[mikhailfaradayski]

Sorry, mis-read your first post.

Sounds a bit odd.

Don't suppose you can post a photo of the fittings and the wires coming out of the ceiling?

 

[RivendellProductions]

Yeah, will get onto that shortly, will remove the lamp fittings & start again...

Is it possible with the new unit blowing like that, that I have wired it up wrongly?

There were 3 wires coming out of the ceiling, 1 red, 1 black & 1 bare copper wire with a green sleeve.

I wired blue to black, brown to red, & green to green as per the instructions.

Will be later on before I can get the pic.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I'm confused...

Hi.

I had a NEXT 5 lamp ceiling lamp (halogen capsule bulbs) up in my living room, which has always been fine. I had the lamp on until pretty late the other night, and when I switched off to go to bed, I had forgotten something in the room, so I turned the light back on, and BANG! All 5 lights went on & off with a loud electrical crack & flash. They no longer come on at all.

So a light went bang.

I ordered a new lamp, 3 bulbs ("normal" screw in bulbs) again from NEXT.

And you bought a whole new replacement light?

I have just fitted it in accordance with the instructions, and turned it on. 1 bulb blew immediately again with a fairly loud crack. A 2nd bulb blew a couple of seconds later, and the 3rd stayed lit. Looking at the bulbs that blew, there is scorching & a hole in the base of the bulb, on the side of the screw section, and the filaments have burst.

And the new one went partially bang as soon as you fitted it?

It was all new, not a replacement part for the original?

 

[RivendellProductions]

Hmmm, not sure where you are going with those comments...but yes, a whole new lamp.

The NEW one is this one here...http://www.next.co.uk/x501094s2
(Cheap & cheerful)


All of the lights went bang & no longer worked (all 5 halogen capsules popped at the same time)



I rightly or wrongly assumed that the unit had gone faulty as I had never had any issues with it previously. I figured maybe I had blown it's internals by switching it on a few seconds after putting it off.

It wasn't an expensive lamp so rather than try & strip it down, I assumed that if I changed the blown bulbs it would happen again, so I bought another, different style of lamp unit. (which has 3 screw in "globe" shaped bulbs, rather than halogen caps.

2 of these bulbs blew with the same noise that the original one made, I am now not sure if I have a faulty unit, dodgy bulbs, or a more complex problem here.

Any suggestions would be helpful.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Sounds like a fault with the wiring to me, rather than the fitting.
Did the MCB/Fuse trip/blow at the board?
Are any of the conductors at the ceiling point damaged or burnt?
If the circuit did trip, does it trip when lamps are out?

 

[RivendellProductions]

Hi prenticeboyofderry,

Nothing blew other than the light. I haven't replaced the bulbs as yet (truth be told electricity scares me a bit & I don't want to risk further damage) as where the bulb screws into the bulb holder is slightly melted & doesn't look like a "normal" blown bulb.

Strange that bulb number 3 didn't blow. Maybe I turned it off in time.

Is it likely I will do damage if I bung another couple of bulbs in?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I figured maybe I had blown it's internals by switching it on a few seconds after putting it off.

I'm afraid that that theory falls into the category of utter b*****ks.

2 of these bulbs blew with the same noise that the original one made, I am now not sure if I have a faulty unit, dodgy bulbs, or a more complex problem here.

Could be a faulty unit, although a brand new one being faulty not long after one which had been OK for a long time also suddenly going faulty does seem to be an unlikely coincidence.

Got problems with any other lights? Any seem to be a lot brighter than usual?

 

[RivendellProductions]

Haha that's kinda what I thought deep down too, zero electrical knowledge breeds b******s theories!

To answer your question, no - all the lights appear to be working as normal, although I do have 1 bulb blown in my kitchen which has been out for a few days, haven't gotten around to replacing it.

Basically I have 1 ceiling lamp in the living room, on a normal non-dimming switch.

2 in the attached dining room, 1 on a dimmer, 1 on normal switch.

Kitchen has 1 5 halogen bar-array, of which 1 bulb is blown.

Also have 1 bare bulb in a downstairs cupboard, which is also ok.

I assume upstairs lights are irrelevant?


Other than that, I think they are all ok.

 

[RF Lighting]

Get some new branded bulbs for your new fitting and it should be ok. Manufacturers like to keep costs down by buying the cheapest lamps they can, and cheap lamps are not going to last. It's not unusual at all for the lamps that come with fittings to fail very quickly, especially with all that vibration on the slow boat from china.

 

[RivendellProductions]

Thanks RF Lighting,

Will give that a try. Any idea as to why all 5 of the old ones burst at once? Also is it normal that a new bulb (generic own-brand) would have a hole in the side of the screw-in part which looks like it has been melted?

 

[RF Lighting]

I suspect your old fitting used 12V lamps, and had a transformer in it which failed causing all the lamps to stop working at the same time.

Not quite sure what you mean about the new bulb, but if it's something like in the middle of this picture, then that is where the wire to the filament is soldered on to the thread of the lamp to make the electrical connection.

 

[RivendellProductions]

Here's what I am on about...

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• RivendellProductions
• 26 Aug 2012
• 1