Strange question here — since halogen bulbs get so hot so fast, does turning them on in a near-freezing environment hasten their death? Wednesday, I flipped the switch on my work light when the shop was a little over 32* — it flickered a little but came on fine, then within a minute or so, died (liquid oozing out of one end of the bulb). Was this just coincidence?? The shop had been in the mid- to high-20’s for several days.
forestgirl Another proud member of the “I Rocked With ToolDoc Club” …. :>) you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can’t take the forest out of the girl 😉
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I would not consider this to be a problem. Consider that halogen bulbs have been used in cars for some time. I had them in 1979. Cars are subject to all kinds of temp extremes, yet halogen head lamps last for many years in this application.
Also consider that the filament goes from ambient temp to over 2000 deg f. The difference between 30 deg and 70 deg is minor as a percentage of nearly 2000 degrees.
OK, coincidence it is.forestgirl Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>) you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Forestgirl,
Halogen bulbs are just glorified filament lamps and are unaffected by low temperatures.
What you are describing, the flicker and especially the liquid leaking out, don't sound at all like a halogen bulb. Are you sure of what you've got there? The failure sounds more like that of a compact fluorescent which won't work well, if at all, in cold temperatures.
John W.
Yeah, that liquid oozing out got my attention, too. Tell us more about this bulb.
This is your usual halogen work light on a tall stand. The extra bulbs I have are "Tungsten Halogen Lamp"s, 250W, 78mm long. The oozing consists of what is now a hardened glob of very dark substance at the end of the glass tube, on the ceramic post that fits in the light fixture. It's real small, say a dab's worth. Only reason I noticed the dab was that it smoked when it died.forestgirl Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>) you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
F G,Probably some sort of sealing cement oozing out?
Most bulbs will last much longer, if turned on slowly, as from a dimming switch or a rheostat that gradually increases the voltage.
It's the sudden surge of full 120 + volts that shocks the filaments into a short life. Stein.
Edited 1/9/2004 4:56:45 PM ET by steinmetz
Hah! Should I plug it into my router speed control? Hmmmmmm, maybe not.forestgirl Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>) you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Logic has gotten me in trouble before, but logic tells me that given the temperatures that a halogen lamp operates at, a couple thousand degrees F at the filament and I don't know what the temperature on the exterior of the bulb is, and the stresses it goes through as it heats up, the difference between starting at 32F or 70F is negligible. I'd call it a coincidence.
Edited 1/9/2004 8:02:42 PM ET by Uncle Dunc
I'm with Uncle D on this one. The small delta between 0C and 30C ain't hardly enough to make an impact when one considers the operating temp (or so it would seem). I've used QH lamps on my cars for ahhh, well, geeee whillikers, it's been a long time, hasn't it. Even 100 watt jobers (the normal high beam is 55 W IIRC.)
Now, having said that, there are QH bulbs, and there are QH bulbs. I fear today we're getting more marginal stuff from across the Pacific, and I've seen that with car bulbs. SWMTMH's Jeep has headlights that date back to 85, and I think they're on their third set of bulbs. The second set, from across the Pacific, burned out in no time. The first Jeep went 150K, and this one, believe it or not, has gone over 200K.
That liquid was (I said was) molten glass..they all get hot enough to melt glass but the halogen gas replaces the oxygen when they fry oxygen lets the filament oxidze rapidly and with an INTENSE burn off...a bit if the glass will melt before the filament burns through..and ceases to make contact with both insulated poles..the bulb usually takes on a grey, smoked appearance.
Temp. has no real consequence on the life (unless you are in liquid nitrogen) JARRING a just shut off bulb DOES,due to the filament coming in contact with the inside glass. Also sebaceaus oils from your fringers can 'etch' the bulbs when they reach operating temps and weaken the glass to a point of breach in the halogen barrier gas.
Ditto on QH bulb quality. I have (4) 500W HQ work lights and the original equipment bulbs don't last very long compared to the name brand replacements. The first worklight I bought has 2 fixtures on a telescopic stand with a folding tri-pod base. It was so cheap that the little soldered-on contact dimples for the lamps fell offfrom the heat This was easily remedied with small pan head screws BTW. Every thing about this el cheapo worklight is well, cheap - except for the sealing of the waterproof switch and cord glands on the fixtures. We were having torrential rains and the pool was going to overflow one night so I had to drain it down a couple of inches. I set up the worklight and proceeded to set-up my submersible pump. As I was laying out the hose I managed to knock the operating worklight into the pool with my big fat butt. I watched in amazement as it sunk in the deep end to the bottom without shorting out!John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid - John Wayne
wish I coulda seen THAT..ooops..in the pool..lol
Interesting...thanks for the info.
I have lots of experience with this situation and yes turning on and off halogens at very cold temps drastically shortens thier life span. Some bulbs can go out in as little as 10 on /off switches.... but the quality of light they give is by far the best.
Philip
You can buy halogen bulbs that have a more durable filament. I bought them at a lighting store and I believe some homedepots mights sell them, or at least they did in SoCal4 years ago. Not sure about in Wash. though. Seems like everything is different up here. Mostly in a good way ;~)
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