Re: How to improve electrical connectivity in a brass to ? contact

Bruce L. Bergman <blPYTHONbergman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>On Fri, 09 Dec 2005 16:00:56 -0600, George
><george@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>OK, this is barely metal related.
>>
>>I have a couple of photofloods. The bulbs have two pins that go in two
>>little holes. very much like a 110V plug in the wall.
>
> Gee, sounds like a G-series bipin Quartz Halogen base.

OK Bruce. You got my attention. Yes, that's what they are. The lights
are Lowel DP Floods. The bulbs come in three flavors: 500 Watt, 650
Watt and 1,000 watt.

I don't want to knock the lights because other than this, they are
really great. Especially now that it's 16 degrees outside.

> Available in
>both 12V and 120V lamps, and other odd voltages if you want to run off
>batteries. There are many different pin diameters and spacings, so
>hopefully you won't plug a 12V lamp into a 120V socket. (It is not
>idiot-proof, only idiot-resistant...) ;-P

>>The problem is that the contact is really unreliable. I'm sure that
>>the problem is that the juice flowing across the connection is too
>>high causing the contact to corrode. Of course, when that happens the
>>light goes out.
>>
>>I take the bulb out, steel wool the little contacts and put it back
>>and it works for another day or two.
>
> You need to replace the lamp socket, bottom line.

You're really sure about that aren't you? You didn't hesitate on that
or put any qualifiers in there did you?

Nuts.

> They are usually
>a plated steel, and once the plating goes they will quickly corrode
>right back up and make a bad connection. Any effort to repair the old
>socket is a waste of time unless you simply can't find the replacement
>part.

I found it on Lowel's web site. It's not as expensive as I'd thought
($23.00), but it's going to be a minor pain to replace it.

> Most replacement sockets are a ceramic body with the special
>silicone/fiberglass high-temp lead wires factory installed. Take the
>fixture to a specialty lamp shop, they can find a standard industry
>socket that can work, though you might have to make minor mods like
>drilling new mounting holes.
>
>>It looks like the socket is made of brass but I'm not sure what the
>>little prongs are made of. If they are brass, then they are a very
>>light colored brass.
>
> No, the pins are a special steel alloy lead wire that has the same
>COE as the quartz glass of the lamp envelope, so thermal expansion
>doesn't crack the glass or any air is allowed to leak in.
>
>>Is there some liquidy kind of something that I could put on the prongs
>>to get better connectivity?
>
> Nope, gets far too hot. Anything that might work would boil away -
>or contaminate the quartz glass of the lamps and cause early failure.
>
> You wouldn't like that, the lamps tend to shatter and explode in a
>failure like that.

They sure do. Scares the devil out of the cat. He's taken to sitting
on the photo shoot table because it's nice and toasty warm. But when a
bulb blows he carves a straight line to the door knocking over
everything in his path in his mad dash to get out. An episode like
that can really wake you up on a sleepy morning!

> On a little 20-watt fixture, they just crack and
>go pfft and die... But the big 500W, 1000W and up stage lights go off
>like an M-80, watch the News Anchors jump three feet when a lamp pops
>on the news set and they're on the air.
>
> --<< Bruce >>--

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Bally Vector GI lighting too bright to look at
    ... measure hot to common at the socket, you don't measure AC to ground. ... through a board and right out to bulbs. ... TP4 on the rectifier board with respect to ground (braided wire inside ... Both lamp drivers are for the Controlled Lamps, ...
    (rec.games.pinball)
  • Re: Bally Vector GI lighting too bright to look at
    ... measure hot to common at the socket, you don't measure AC to ground. ... through a board and right out to bulbs. ... TP4 on the rectifier board with respect to ground (braided wire inside ...  Both lamp drivers are for the Controlled Lamps, ...
    (rec.games.pinball)
  • Re: How to improve electrical connectivity in a brass to ? contact
    ... You need to replace the lamp socket, ... drilling new mounting holes. ... the pins are a special steel alloy lead wire that has the same ...
    (rec.crafts.metalworking)
  • Tech: Lamp circuit board question
    ... circuit board that is near the skill shot values. ... bulbs and know its not the bulb. ... I tested the socket voltage with my ... check the solder points on the board associated with each lamp ...
    (rec.games.pinball)
  • Re: IJ connector question and lamps issue
    ... dark divots shouldn't be there) and the connector for the lamp board. ... You could have a bad socket. ... Well two of the bulbs I replaced are now ...
    (rec.games.pinball)
Loading