Fix for halogen lamp socket?

I'd get a new pin contact assembly.

A nice designer desk lamp uses those l.v. (12v) 2-pin halogen lamps. Each pin contact in the socket consists of 2 C-shaped halves that are spring-loaded to hold the pin.

Over time, these socket halves have pitted due to the extreme heat. Connection is now intermittent. If I hold the bulb at an angle (usually twist it in the socket a bit), the bulb goes full brightness. But left on its own, it flickers and buzzes.

I removed the bulb and using a very small rat tail file, cleaned up the contacts, but this was only a temporary fix.

This is a nice (and expensive) lamp that I'd like to keep. What are my choices? I guess I could solder the lamp to the socket components now and whenever the bulb gives out.

oxidation and lower the temperature at point of contact.

Yukio YANO

Soldering is probably not a good idea for many reasons.

You could look around for a (cheap) lamp that takes the same bulb and swap the bulb-holder.

You may be able to build up the contacts again using electroplating. With time, patience and mask resist this can rebuild all sorts of irreplaceable items.

You could make up a couple of new connectors using a lathe (or a bench drill, if pushed) - a brass bar drilled to allow it to be crimped on to the wires and screw-fastened on to the bulb pin is easy to make and vry effective.

You could use a different type of bulb - eg a small automobile halogen type with long wire-ends. You can them move the connection point to somewhere cooler and easier to manage.

HTH

A replacement socket from a cheap fixture, or a screw connection. The metal bits from a 'kroonsteentje' (the nowadays plastic screw connectors used to connect lamp cords to the ceiling wiring) might work.

Thomas

On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 10:01:16 -0800, Yukio YANO wrote (in article ):

Hmm... don't want to get grease *into* the connection, do I? Silicon grease is an insulator.

Exactly how will this lower the temperature? The grease, as I understand it, is a conductor of heat, but without a heat sink to conduct the heat *to*, grease alone won't help, will it?

Or am I missing something important here?

So is air, but you don't mind having that in your connector.

As long as the grease isn't too thick, the metal will make contact.

The idea is that the pin and socket are heat sinks and the tiny point of contact is the heat source to be sinked. Not much power there, but a large energy density.

Also, reducing oxidation lowers contact resistance and lowers the temperature.

That being said, silicone grease is a band-aid for when you keep having oxidation problems in a connector you can't replace. Far better to have the right connector.

I've worked with these fixtures as well. You can clean off the contact points with a dremel and a wire brush. electro plating them can also help. gold plating will stop corrosion and help keep arc build up to a minumim. silver or chrome is a low cost alternative.

The pin on the lamp will displace enough silicoine to make an electrical connetion. The silicone will keep the metals from oxidising. My worry is the heat melting the silicone enough to cause it to ooze out.

grease

it,

I would just replace the socket personally, there's a few oddballs, but most of them are reasonably available.

Although replacing the socket with a better one is preferred, I do dare to say that I consider heat an unlikely enemy of silicone. If it is liquid enough to get in at room temperature, I expect it be only a little more liquid 500 degrees F or 275 degrees C hotter.

- Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)

Silicone grease + sparks = silicon dioxide = quartz, which is hard and will make bad contact.

Contact oil or grease is better. Dry, new contacts probably are even better still.

Thomas

-- Please, no "Go Google this" replies. I wouldn't ask a question here if I hadn't done that already.

DaveC snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net This is an invalid return address Please reply in the news group

pin

to

twist

own,

There is only one answer.

Replace the lamp holder AND the globe. You need super clean contacts with all that current going thru them.

:)

I like the solder solution, but these contacts are beyond fixing, I think:

i use Heat sink compound, seems to work.

the

A slightly less temporary but still temporary fix is to add some copper strands to the clean socket, between the pins and contacts. Hey, it works for the bases of 750w EHG bipin lamps ...

-Keith

Absolutely!

Go to your nearest electrical wholesaler/lighting store and get the spare parts. That lamp holder looks like a common garden variety (and is cheap) - AND pick up a new globe at the same time.

I think it would be the least hassle.

Cheers.

You can go to any lighting electrical supply centre, and buy these sockets new. It is not safe to start messing with these. A new socket would be guaranteed to work properly, and safely.

--

Jerry G. ======

Over time, these socket halves have pitted due to the extreme heat. Connection is now intermittent. If I hold the bulb at an angle (usually twist it in the socket a bit), the bulb goes full brightness. But left on its own, it flickers and buzzes.

I removed the bulb and using a very small rat tail file, cleaned up the contacts, but this was only a temporary fix.

This is a nice (and expensive) lamp that I'd like to keep. What are my choices? I guess I could solder the lamp to the socket components now and whenever the bulb gives out.

-- Please, no "Go Google this" replies. I wouldn't ask a question here if I hadn't done that already.

DaveC snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net This is an invalid return address Please reply in the news group