Mercury Vapor

Originally Posted by zzzdanz

Well...are ya sure? j/k...I bought all mine at the same time,and they all died with-in a week of each other...never again.

Well, I suppose it depends on who you ask, ha ha. I bought all three of mine at the same time too, none of them lasted longer than a few months, the longest one lasted six months.

Originally Posted by bsash

Thank you, at least I know I am not crazy.

You're not crazy but it just seems like it is so weird for one of two competing companies to have a product that apparently for some people is not working correctly. I of course, actually bought a Zoo Med Deep Dome prior to reading the rest of the thread

It the fixture croaks prematurely, Zoo Med goes on the BOI. I'm glad you posted your info,

Originally Posted by lucille

You're not crazy but it just seems like it is so weird for one of two competing companies to have a product that apparently for some people is not working correctly. I of course, actually bought a Zoo Med Deep Dome prior to reading the rest of the thread

It the fixture croaks prematurely, Zoo Med goes on the BOI. I'm glad you posted your info,

You're welcome. I hope you have better luck than I did...

While price is a guiding factor for most of us when purchasing bulbs and lamps the difference in price is often justified.

Sometime while in a shop that carries a variety of brands and bulbs pull them out of their boxes and look inside the globe. Better quality bulbs will have more "arms" supporting the filament. The cheaper ones often only have one on each end. The best quality will have as many as five. The quality of the filament itself also comes into play. Is it heavy gauge tungsten? Light gauge? It could also be Ni Chrome and not tungsten at all. The diameter of the filament coil is important also. Better bulbs have a larger diameter to the spiral of the coil. Small diameter coils overheat faster therefore burn out faster. Smaller coils use less material so are cheaper to make. Consider if you make a million bulbs and can save 1" in the coil of each bulb how many more bulbs can you make?

Look at the base is it aluminum or brass? Brass makes a much better bulb base as it is not as severely affected as aluminum with heating and cooling. Aluminum becomes brittle in time and will shorten bulb life. The same applies to the "arms" and filaments.

Ceramic dome fixtures can have cheap parts too. Although from the outside they may all look the same the metal tabs inside the fixture can be made of poor quality materials of lighter gauge. Most likely those ceramic fixtures you had that failed had light gauge tabs inside and these become depressed with repeated heating and cooling. You can extend the life of these some just by unplugging the fixture and reaching inside the screw portion and bending the tab back up. The screw base of the bulb can only go in so far and if the tab gets flattened you lose contact and the fixture seems "burned out."

Even if burned out or you're just tired of the flimsy tabs it is cheaper to find a replacement ceramic unit than to buy a completely new fixture. Most home centers have the correct replacement sockets that will work in most dome lamps. Often for a small fraction of the cost of a new Flukers or Zoomed. Don't be surprised when researching in your home center you can find all the parts to make your own dome lamps of better quality than those you buy in "specialty" shops.

Been there, done that. I had a pet shop and one of my biggest expenses was bulbs and fixtures for maintaining my livestock. I learned a lot the hard way, through my wallet. LOL

Great info, thanks!!! I appreciate the fact that I'm going to have better choices and save money because of your hard won experience.

Originally Posted by BigTattoo

You can extend the life of these some just by unplugging the fixture and reaching inside the screw portion and bending the tab back up. The screw base of the bulb can only go in so far and if the tab gets flattened you lose contact and the fixture seems "burned out."

Dave

Thank you. My fixure stopped working and I did not want to go to the pet shop or spend a bunch of time messing around replacing sockets today. I remembered that you had posted some advice and took a look, your tab idea is working well so far!

Happy New Year Lucille. Glad to hear it helped.