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Warbo
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2015 12:26
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So I have my cabin hooked up with 12 volt. I use 2- 6 volt batteries hooked together for the power. All switches are fused. I have had this same set up for over 4 years. Been working great. Recently 1 of my lights when switched on can take 5 to 10 minutes before it lights up. My friend has the same set up in his cabin and the same thing is starting to happen to him. Any ideas as to why this may be happening??
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MtnDon
Member
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2015 13:10 - Edited by: MtnDon
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Perhaps it is the fault of the light unit. Do you have a test meter? See if there is power available at the light immediately after the switch is turned on and before the lamp illuminates. Or maybe it's the switch. Test for power going out of the switch right after the switch is turned on. A test meter is invaluable when troubleshooting this sort of thing. Virtually impossible to see what is wrong and where it is wrong w/o one. You can buy cheap multimeters for less than $8 at Harbor Freight; does both AC and DC. Everyone with a DIY power system should have one.
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FishHog
Member
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2015 14:16
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Don's advice is dead on, but if you don't have a tester switch the light bulb out with another one that is working (assuming you have more than one in the cabin). If the problem follows the bulb, its the bulb. If it stays with that light fixture, then at least you have narrowed the problem down.
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creeky
Member
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2015 15:34
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this made me laugh out loud.
two years ago I had a terrible time getting my studio lights to stop flashing. I had just dug new power lines. rewired. A 'rocket scientist' had come by to help me. still. flash flash flash. we could not work things out.
eventually I got the lights to work. but never figured out what had actually happened.
a year later I grabbed a bulb to use in an outbuilding. suddenly the same problem. flash flash flash. i almost fell off the deck laughing.
i had bought a brand new led bulb with a bad controller board. that was the problem. I had had two identical bulbs. bought at the same time. when the bad bulb was in. flash flash flash. when I rewired and by chance used the other bulb. no problem.
man. how often do we find it's not the hard solution. it's something easy we just hadn't thought of. i mean a brand new led bulb. that couldn't be the problem right?
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razmichael
Member
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# Posted: 7 Aug 2015 18:17
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I'd say Fishhog and Creeky are right on - bad controller in the bulb. LEDs are not simple (well the actual bulb is) but they need some electronics to work. An actual LED maylast for years but the controller built into every light often fails in weird ways - especially the cheap ones.
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groingo
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# Posted: 8 Aug 2015 02:34
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I had the same problems with mine as well, they did the flashy thing just before they went poof....something inside the base, got two replacements and two years later same thing, flashy then nothing.
Also learned the hard way that they get very hot too, after I grabbed one but only did that once.
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rayyy
Member
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# Posted: 8 Aug 2015 16:47
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One of my first LED bulbs that I bought 5 years ago had started to fail.One row of led's started to blink on and off witch you would see out of the corner of your eye.Drove me nut's so I replaced it with another 201 LED corn light bulbs.I now have 6 of these bulbs in use and absolutely love them.Just like light from an 80 watt incandescent bulb but only uses 13 watts each.(My lighting system is all 12 volt DC)
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pizzadude
Member
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# Posted: 8 Aug 2015 21:03
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To the op... are the bulbs you are using led? If so, then the guys that posted above are most likely right. Swap bulbs. See what happens.
If not, could be a number of different things going on. I'd start with checking the positive tab inside the light socket. A lot of times the tabs get smashed down, making for a bad connection, sometimes arcing can occur too.
Take a slim screwdriver and pry up the tab inside the socket, switch in the off position, obviously.
Good luck. Let us know what you find......
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Warbo
Member
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# Posted: 11 Aug 2015 08:45
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Thanks for all the advice. My light is an led so Ill pick up a new one and check it out. My buddys cabin uses regular 12 volt bulbs so Ill meter his and see if there is a problem with the switch or the light socket.
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