I used to own a disco and stage lighting company and I worked on a lot of
halogen fixtures using several hundred watt bulbs.  Oxidized sockets were a
leading cause of getting low bulb life.  Try cleaning your sockets with some
Scotchbright or fine sandpaper.  Might be a good idea to turn the light off
first.

I imagine that we will all be buying $10.00 LED white light bulbs in a few years
instead of the compact flourescents.  White LEDs have not been out all that long
and the price should drop a lot in the next five years.

michael brown wrote:

> I've noticed that certain sockets in my house seem to cause bulbs to blow
> more often.  It doesn't really seem to be just related to hours on.  I guess
> it's possibly a combination of # of times switched and hours on.  I've heard
> that a crummy (old) socket will blow bulbs more often, possibly from minute
> glitches of high resistance from oxidation in the socket.  Maybe even the
> extra physical stress exerted upon a new bulb when screwing it into a dirty
> tight fitting socket causes some instant life loss from miniscule fractures
> in the seal.
>
> What really bugs me about the whole thing is that you can buy an LED that
> puts out blinding light using milliwatts of power virtually forever, yet we
> still think nothing of putting 100 watts into a bulb that has a relatively
> short life span.  Is it possible that there is not a more efficient way?
> Traffic lights are all becoming LED based, why cant I just buy a light
> source built onto a pcboard that just screws into the socket.  With the
> variety of LED colors available now, simulating a basically white light with
> LED's shouldn't be that hard.  I realize the "quality of whiteness" might
> not be ideal, but in your basement, shed, garage, or attic, who cares?
>
> Michael Brown
> Instant Net Solutions
> www.KillerPCs.net
>
> "In the land of the blind, he who has one eye is king"
>
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