Posted by clare on January 23, 2010, 4:33 pm
wrote:
>Jim wrote:
>> I am just experimenting with solar panels, and have several of the
>> Solsun CFL lamps which are really nice lamps, having a standard base
>> just like a regualr light bulb.
>>
>> Well, I bought some of the lamp fixtures from Lowes, the only ones
>> they had in the electrical department, and yes, they were cheap,
>> plastic (not porcelin) and worked OK for the first few hours.
>>
>> Well, apparently whatever material the socket contacts are made of
>> develops some kind of oxide or coating where the lamp contacts touch
>> the metal lamp base , and the 12VDC is not enough to get through this
>> buildup. Result: the lamp goes out and no amount of wiggling will get
>> the lamp to light. It requres a cleaning of the contact points with a
>> pencil eraser to get the thing to light again. And yes, it only
>> lights for a few hours before the same thing happens again. I'm
>> thinking that spraying the socket with WD-40 might prevent the
>> buildup, but I just wante to pass it along that if you need
>> reliability don't use these Chinese junk sockets.
>>
>> Any recommendations from others who have experienced this problem?
>I bet an electrical supply store would have a special grease for this. Perhaps
>the stuff they use for connections to aluminum wire.
Aluminum oxide is a pretty good insulator, and using aluminum for both
the bulb shell and the socket almost guarantees low current 12 volt
devices will have a short service life without some kind of mechanical
or chemical intervention.
Try some No_Korode on the threads and terminals.
Posted by Gene S. Berkowitz on January 24, 2010, 1:13 pm
nospam@nospam.com says...
> I am just experimenting with solar panels, and have several of the
> Solsun CFL lamps which are really nice lamps, having a standard base
> just like a regualr light bulb.
>
> Well, I bought some of the lamp fixtures from Lowes, the only ones
> they had in the electrical department, and yes, they were cheap,
> plastic (not porcelin) and worked OK for the first few hours.
>
> Well, apparently whatever material the socket contacts are made of
> develops some kind of oxide or coating where the lamp contacts touch
> the metal lamp base , and the 12VDC is not enough to get through this
> buildup. Result: the lamp goes out and no amount of wiggling will get
> the lamp to light. It requres a cleaning of the contact points with a
> pencil eraser to get the thing to light again. And yes, it only
> lights for a few hours before the same thing happens again. I'm
> thinking that spraying the socket with WD-40 might prevent the
> buildup, but I just wante to pass it along that if you need
> reliability don't use these Chinese junk sockets.
>
> Any recommendations from others who have experienced this problem?
As another poster pointed out, you've got aluminum oxide forming,
which is a very good insulator. There's another risk, which is
that an aluminum base and an aluminum socket can form an oxide
"weld" which can require so much force to break that the bulb can
sometimes break from the base first, leaving you with base+glass
shards stuck in the socket. I use "Tri-flow" spray lubricant on
a paper towel to wipe down the base before I install the bulb.
--Gene
Posted by Ralph Mowery on January 24, 2010, 1:35 pm
> nospam@nospam.com says...
> As another poster pointed out, you've got aluminum oxide forming,
> which is a very good insulator. There's another risk, which is
> that an aluminum base and an aluminum socket can form an oxide
> "weld" which can require so much force to break that the bulb can
> sometimes break from the base first, leaving you with base+glass
> shards stuck in the socket. I use "Tri-flow" spray lubricant on
> a paper towel to wipe down the base before I install the bulb.
> --Gene
I have found that spraying some penetrating oil (Kroil) and waiting only a
minuet or so will free many of the 'stuck' bulbs .
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>> I am just experimenting with solar panels, and have several of the
>> Solsun CFL lamps which are really nice lamps, having a standard base
>> just like a regualr light bulb.
>>
>> Well, I bought some of the lamp fixtures from Lowes, the only ones
>> they had in the electrical department, and yes, they were cheap,
>> plastic (not porcelin) and worked OK for the first few hours.
>>
>> Well, apparently whatever material the socket contacts are made of
>> develops some kind of oxide or coating where the lamp contacts touch
>> the metal lamp base , and the 12VDC is not enough to get through this
>> buildup. Result: the lamp goes out and no amount of wiggling will get
>> the lamp to light. It requres a cleaning of the contact points with a
>> pencil eraser to get the thing to light again. And yes, it only
>> lights for a few hours before the same thing happens again. I'm
>> thinking that spraying the socket with WD-40 might prevent the
>> buildup, but I just wante to pass it along that if you need
>> reliability don't use these Chinese junk sockets.
>>
>> Any recommendations from others who have experienced this problem?
>I bet an electrical supply store would have a special grease for this. Perhaps
>the stuff they use for connections to aluminum wire.