Exploded bulb

[Anyfoot]

No doesn't look burnt or damaged in any way just the bulb

I mean the solder on the bulb. This image shows one on right is no good, it's arked across to the copper/brass connection in the bulb holder. The bulb doesn't have to look this bad though. I may be barking up the wrong tree, but overtightened bulbs reduce bulb life regular if it makes the copper connection go limp(lose its spring).

 

[Anyfoot]

Any loose connections will cause the bulb to blow too, for example a loose wire in the plug.

 

[Yvonne G]

You really have to strike a happy medium when tightening down a bulb...not too tight, not too loose.

 

[cryspow]

I don't know how much I've been doing that for me today so I'm sorry for you sir/lady

 

[saginawhxc]

First off they may be right and it could be a bad batch of bulbs.

The next thing I would look at here is the light itself may be arcing out.

It could be as simple as the threads are messed up and when you screw a bulb in it is shorting out. There could even just be something jammed up there for some reason doing the same thing.

It could also be experiencing some sort of mechanical failure.

If you are using a 160W bulb in a socket rated 100W, it will work and will not blow up the bulb, but the socket will over heat and eventually fail. If it fails it could cause some sort of direct short or even cause a fire. This is why this is such a danger. Think of it as trying to force too much water through a pipe not rated for the pressure. It may work... for a while... but eventually it will fail. In this situation this lamp may have failed and may be arcing out and blowing your bulbs.

It could always be an electrical problem with your house, but lets rule out the cheap and easy before we go calling electricians.

So if it was me I would replace the base immediately. They are much cheaper to replace than bulbs and if you replace the base and you still blow another bulb then at the very least we can rule that out.

 

[Guggie]

I remember with halogen lamps, you couldn't touch the bulb with bare hands, cause the oils would cause the bulb to fail. When you replace it, try using a towel to screw it in?

 

[saginawhxc]

The more I think about this the more I lean towards bad batch of bulbs.

It could be a manufacturing defect or they could have been handled roughly during shipping or stocking.

If there is even microscopic cracks in the bulbs the rapid heating and cooling could cause them to explode.

I stand by my musings about the base itself though as a second likely culprit.

I think electrical problems are unlikely if you have never experienced any other problems with surges in your house.

 

[Anyfoot]

I damaged 5 CHE's in about a week because of the base. CHE's don't blow like bulbs though. But I'm a nutshell I had squashed the brass fitting flat by over tightening. 1st 3 CHE's were cheap £7ers so I assumed it was those, I had 2 replaced. Next I bought 3 £20 komodo CHE's. Broke one within a day. This was in 2 seperate holders too. So 4 cheap and 2 expensive CHE at this point, after checking all wiring several times, even though the only common between the 2 holders was only at the actual main fuse board. Much head scratching later I googled this problem, yep sure enough there are experts in screwing bulbs in lol. What I had done on 2 out of 3 of my holder was over tighten the very 1st CHE, this flattened the brass connection making every CHE after that ark across a small gap rather than a perfect connection between che base and brass connection.
The actual holders were also komodo that I managed to get cheap, like £2 each off eBay. My last thought was these were either rip off or reject holders with the brass connection bit being too thin with no spring in it.
After this experience I am now bold.

It may not be the holder/base but don't rule it out.
I am now an expert bulb screwer and it's on my CV.

 

[Anyfoot]

Just read back it was only 1 expensive CHE not 2, out of a total of 8 CHEs I ended up with 3 left over.
To rub the salt in the wound, I never needed any in the end because when my enclosure is at 28°c the 3 caves are a perfect at 24°c without any extra heat in them.
To find all this out I wasted money on 6 CHE's, 3 holders, 3 proportional stats, 3 electrical boxes (IP66) and about 30mtrs of wiring. Huh. Live and learn.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Has water touched the bulb(s) in any way while they were on? Like, changing a water dish and it splashed? That's the only time I've ever seen bulbs explode.

I agree. Even with the wrong wattage fixture, a bulb actually exploding would be rare. I was thinking that heat from the bulb coupled with some sort of water or mist from maybe a humidifier would fracture the glass of the bulb.
An exploding bulb and a bulb that burns out quickly are two very different things.
The glass of the bulb gets very, very hot and even something as simple as a greasy fingerprint could cause the glass to fracture.

 

[saginawhxc]

I've blown up two bulbs associated with my enclosures. One was simply because I accidentally let a little bit of overspray hit a bulb while misting the enclosure, and one was because I placed a water dish too close to the basking spot. It worked for a couple of hours and then "boom". Both times I was lucky I didn't cause any damage to my tort.

I will note though that it was said there was no water sources near the bulb in this case.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I've blown up two bulbs associated with my enclosures. One was simply because I accidentally let a little bit of overspray hit a bulb while misting the enclosure, and one was because I placed a water dish too close to the basking spot. It worked for a couple of hours and then "boom". Both times I was lucky I didn't cause any damage to my tort.

I will note though that it was said there was no water sources near the bulb in this case.

Thanks. I missed the part about no water present.

 

[saginawhxc]

I remember with halogen lamps, you couldn't touch the bulb with bare hands, cause the oils would cause the bulb to fail. When you replace it, try using a towel to screw it in?

This is also true. I always handle MVB'S with a paper towel.