Porch Light Bulbs Failing

Franko

Active User
Registered
Joined
Feb 24, 2015
Messages
1,382
I have two motion sensor porch lights at my home. They've worked fine for 6-7 years. I use bug lights in them and they generally last about a year.

Recently, the lamp on my back door has started eating light bulbs. I replace the bulb and it burns out in a week or so.

I'm stumped. Why would a light fixture suddenly start burning out bulbs at such a fast pace?

It is on an original circuit that has always been on the house. For years, it worked fine, but has suddenly started eating light bulbs. The identical one on the front porch works fine.

Is it possible that a wire connection has become loose? I don't see any damage, or charring on lamp socket or connectors on the light bulbs. The lamp is probably working as when I go outside and it senses my movement, I can hear it click.
 
It probably has a bad connection in the fixture itself. Just replace it.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
You might also want to check the breaker that it's associated with in the main panel. I had lights flashing in the house, and it turned out to be a bad breaker. First time I've run across that. you could see it arcing in the panel. Mike
 
A major cause of early failure of incandescent bulbs is frequent switching on and off. The thermal expansion/contraction cycle causes mechanical stresses leading to ultimate failure. It's possible that you've had a parade of critters activating the sensors.

It also seems that light bulbs aren't as robust as they used to be. I have had name brand bulbs fail on the first power up a number of times. One way to get extra lumens/watt is to run the bulb at a higher temperature which unfortunately has the side effect of shortening the life span.

They are making led bug lights now which should give you extended service life.
 
Many of the generic incandescent bulbs are rated at a lower voltage, often 110V. Feit bulbs are stocked by many big box hardware stores, and the bulbs tend to burn out very quickly, especially if your voltage grid runs a bit high, mine is 124VAC. As RJ mentioned, the motion sensor switching on/off exacerbates there failure. I have had much better luck with brand name Philips and Sylvania bulbs, even though they are all made in China. Pretty much switched everything to LEDs at this point, although I still until purchase Philips and Sylvania brands, the failure rate of the Feit and generic LED bulbs has been high.
 
I know that you mentioned yellow. There are lamps (bulbs) rated for "rough service", often used in trouble lamps etc. They are rated at 130 vac and should last longer, but I think they are only white.

They are also better for garage door operators that subject the lamp to a jerk every time it operates. The filament in these lamps has more structural supports as well. Any chance the door closer is allowing the back door to slam?

David
 
Last edited:
What kind of bulbs? (incandescent, compact fluorescent, LED?)

I bought a pack of new LED bulbs that are supposed to last 22 years and save you hundreds of dollars over that life.
What BS!

After the third one died within months, I opened one up and found a bad connection inside.
I presume the entire package of 5 bulbs are built the same.

-brino
 
A major cause of early failure of incandescent bulbs is frequent switching on and off. The thermal expansion/contraction cycle causes mechanical stresses leading to ultimate failure.

The lamp is probably working as when I go outside and it senses my movement, I can hear it click.

It's interesting that you hear a click. All of the motion sensor lights that I have encountered have solid state relays with no audible click. If yours has a mechanical relay rather than solid state and it is failing, it may be stuttering causing early bulb failure like RJS describes.
 
Too many comments to quote everyone. Thanks for input.

These aren't cheap lamps. They are commercial quality porch lamps. I haven't changed the kinds of bulbs I've used in them.

RJ, I know that switching them on and off shortens the life, but I doubt that's what is happening here. If anything, what I've noticed is that the bulbs stay on longer than in the past. So, they aren't flickering — at least perceptually. At least on the last bulb I replaced, I didn't ever see it turn off. It seemed to just stay on at night, until it burned out in a few days.

Brino, I have used all three kinds of bulbs in the fixture. Incandescent seem to work best. CF are useless and one of the last bulbs it ate was a fairly expensive LED.

Rich, I hadn't thought of the motion sensor causing the problem. I assumed it was solid state but still utilized some kind of relay.

This seems to be a problem that is fairly common, but (not just here, but everywhere I've searched) I've yet to see any real explanation of how or why a loose connection or faulty relay would cause the bulbs to suddenly start to burn out prematurely.

So, here may be my real question. How does a bad connection cause a bulb to burn out? I can imagine how a surge would damage a bulb, but I don't see how weakened electron flow would.
 
So, here may be my real question. How does a bad connection cause a bulb to burn out? I can imagine how a surge would damage a bulb, but I don't see how weakened electron flow would.
in a word, RESISTANCE!
if the resistance rises, either amperage and /or voltage must increase to do the same work

i'd check the Neutral to the light .
you could have a faulty SSR or receptor

there is di-electric grease that you can put on a bulb tip to reduce resistance and prevent oxidation of the contact surfaces
 
Last edited:
Back
Top