FAO Alcazar or other electrical/lighting Gods...
 

I recently bought a pair of s/h Cibie Oscars (H2 bulb jobbies) having given up on Scoobysport ever delivering some new lamps.

My problem is this - the offside lamp's bulb has never needed replacing and is as effective as it ever was. The nearside bulb, however, has to be replaced every ten to fourteen days. It seems to give out about half it's given wattage after about 7 to 10 days, before giving up the ghost completely.

Any ideas as to why this might be happening? I've been using 100w H2's and have it wired so that the the front fog switch is used as a master on/off. Cibies only come on with main beam, but I have the option of having them on or off. The fog switch thing is a very recent addition. Main relay to the main beam is a Hella unit with a 30a fuse. Switching relay to the fog switch is a Ring unit with a 15a fuse. There's lots of oxidization on the blown lamp and bulb contact bits, and the bulb itself is very discoloured when blown.

Cheers

Kev

Info on cibies
 

Do a search on cibies and you get a lot of info.
http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=60158
http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=88952
http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=98431
http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=249653
http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=167540
http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=267540
I think it is the clamping force of the bulbholder.
The force is reduced caused by to high temperatures.
the bulb starts to vibrate and and the connection starts to spark.
This will increase the interface resistance and will induce high temperatures in the connection etc.
So I think the bulbholder is the cause of you failure.
Replace it.
The H2 is not a good design and as far as i know mainly used by cibie only.
The hella H2 bulb holder is a better design and of course will not fit in the cibies :(
regards, Jan-egbert

Cheers Jan. Some good pointers there.

Kev

Once again, thanks for the above links, Jan. Changed another bulb this evening and found that bulb holder was a little rattly. one of the spade connectors that plugged into the bulb holder was also loose and oxidized. The plastic sheath was also slightly, erm, vapourised :eek: !!!

All cleaned, tightened or changed. We'll see if that makes any difference.

Regards

Kev

Just got back from France, and saw this. It's almost always the bulbholder/contact that's the problem. Scoobysport used to do some replacements, but since they are no longer trading, perhaps the importer for Cibie could help, or someone like Demon Tweeks who do Cibie spares?

Failing that, you could try re-tempering it yourself...........heat and quench, but do some research on how first, my metalwork was years ago, and only to 2nd year seniors!

Alcazar