Halogen lighting

ellie82 · 10-01-2009, 18:04

Hi,

I have three halogen light fittings in my bathroom. One has stopped working, i swapped the bulb and much to my annoyance the problem hasnt been solved. Any ideas?

Has been fine the past two years.

Ta. .

DIY Guy · 10-01-2009, 18:27

Hi Ellie

Welcome to The DIY forums..

Have you checked the electrical connections to the light fitting if your able to do that yourself?

I had the same thing in my bathroom with the 4 halogen GU10 spotlights in there, 1 went out, and as I reached up to change the bulb, it came back on, so I had to get up in the loft and re-secure the wiring as it was just a loose wire.

Now its fine and hasnt gone off ever since.

I'd say, switch your lights on, then if you can reach, just see if you can move/nudge the light fitting to see if it comes back on. If it does, you have a loose wire, if it doesnt, then a wire may have come out of the fitting completely.

If none of that works, then the 12v transformer might be knackered and need changing, which is fairly easy to do if the light fitting and transformer come out of the ceiling easily?

Either way, its a fairly easy fix, as you know your other lights in the bathroom are all working.

Are you in a house or a flat? Bathroom upstairs under the loft at all?

ellie82 · 11-01-2009, 19:00

Hi,

I live in a flat, which is a conversion of a house. So my flat is at the top and I have access to the loft space.

I can get up there via a loft ladder. However, previously my dad found a live wire up there which was not attached to anything. So maybe this will be a job for an electrician that knows what they are doing. Not worth getting electrocuted! Although i may go up there and have a brief look from a distance to see if it is anything obvious!

Thanks

Ellie

DIY Guy · 11-01-2009, 22:03

Hi Ellie

Indeed, if in doubt, call a pro out.. But its still worth just giving the actual light fitting a nudge too, see if it comes back on. At least then you know its going to just be a loose connection.

12v transferomers are actually extremely easy to change if it is that, but obviously before venturing into any space like the loft to look at wires, the lighting circuit should be switched off at your consumer unit (Fuse box)

Let us know how you get on with it too, its hard to find honest tradesmen these days.

verne · 10-05-2009, 17:36

just a matter of interest... my local electrical supplier told me the fashion for using 4 or 6 way transformers has passed because respectable quality ones are an horrendous price and all the others are rubbish so now it is one transformer per light. i must say that it seems more economic that way but what about running costs? with a fair percentage of the power used being turned into heat by the transformer itself does a 4 way transformer produce four times the heat of a single?
any boffins out there?

lesteremrick · 01-07-2009, 06:20

Use of halogen Lamp is not good, Halogen lamps get hotter than regular incandescent lamps because the heat is concentrated on a smaller envelope surface, and because the surface is closer to the filament. also, it is possible to get a sunburn from excess exposure to the UV emitted by an undoped quartz halogen lamp..