MegaRay blown out on first use ???

[luvthydragon]

Hi there-

So we FINALLY got the glass doors put on the new viv....my husband says he screwed the MegaRay SB 100watt into the brand new zoo-med deep-dome fixture, turned it on and the light blew out. Came on for a second then blew out immediately. Both the bulb and the fixture are brand new....never used. :shock:

The fixture is rated good for 160 watts and I tried a regular household bulb and it worked fine so I suppose it's the bulb and not the fixture.....

Anyone have this happen to them - experience customer service with ReptileUV????

Any thoughts appreciated

Best wishes to you and your dragons....

 

[NegativeCreep]

I don't know a lot about these bulbs.. but..
I work for a newspaper, in the design/production/pre-press area. Back in the day, before we were printing to negative, we used to shoot the pages on a big camera. The bulbs on the camera were these big, bright bulbs (I really don't know anything about cameras, either!), but I knew that we, at all times, had 3 spare bulbs. This was because when you put one it, there was a great chance at it blowing.

I hope that these aren't the same way.. but there is something about hallogen lights. Are the megaray's hallogen? Maybe it's something similar.. just like headlights, maybe you can't touch the glass or something...

ETA: I hope that you can get it exchanged. I'm sure you can!

 

[luvthydragon]

I don't know a lot about these bulbs.. but..
I work for a newspaper, in the design/production/pre-press area. Back in the day, before we were printing to negative, we used to shoot the pages on a big camera. The bulbs on the camera were these big, bright bulbs (I really don't know anything about cameras, either!), but I knew that we, at all times, had 3 spare bulbs. This was because when you put one it, there was a great chance at it blowing.

I hope that these aren't the same way.. but there is something about hallogen lights. Are the megaray's hallogen? Maybe it's something similar.. just like headlights, maybe you can't touch the glass or something...

ETA: I hope that you can get it exchanged. I'm sure you can!

All I know is that it is a Mercury Vapor bulb.....???

It's a bummer....I really wanted to move him into his new viv this weekend

Thanks for the reply

 

[NegativeCreep]

That does suck! I hope you get him settled in soon!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Did you get a 100watt Megaray, correct?
The rule of thumb on mercury vapor lamps, as well as other higher wattage bulbs, is you absolutely need to have at least 2 to 3 times the amount of wattage rating as what the bulb is. So, if your Megaray is a 100 watt, you will need at least a 250-300 wattage rating on the ceramic fixture of the light dome.
Does that make sense?
I suggest you call Bobmac, he is very good with customer service & is very nice. He may work with you on that, & just send you another one, but you will have to pay to have it shipped back to him.
I am pretty sure that is why it blew on you.

Tracie

 

[boxers]

thats really weird.. we ordered our megaray lights from online, and when we turned them on, they worked fine, and stile are working great.. the only thing i can think of is a faulty bulb

 

[luvthydragon]

Hello,

Did you get a 100watt Megaray, correct?
The rule of thumb on mercury vapor lamps, as well as other higher wattage bulbs, is you absolutely need to have at least 2 to 3 times the amount of wattage rating as what the bulb is. So, if your Megaray is a 100 watt, you will need at least a 250-300 wattage rating on the ceramic fixture of the light dome.
Does that make sense?
I suggest you call Bobmac, he is very good with customer service & is very nice. He may work with you on that, & just send you another one, but you will have to pay to have it shipped back to him.
I am pretty sure that is why it blew on you.

Tracie

Hey there-

I heard a lot of conflicting info on the wattage of the fixture for this bulb.......I can not find a dome fixture deep enough to acommidate this bulb with a 250-300 watt rating......If you know where I could get one I'd buy it right away. I've found others with higher ratings but they have no dome ???

Thanks Tracie...

 

[npedersen]

The rating of a fixture has to do with the gauge wire used AND the material the fixture socket is made of. The ceramic socket can handle more heat produced by the bulb, no worries there, or risk of fire. The wires on the hand can get hot and essentially turns into a fuse because of the wattage draw the bulb creates.

For example if you put a 100w bulb in a fixture rated for only 60w, eventually you could start a fire as the wires in the fixture can not handle the electrical draw and gets hot, melting the insulation and eventually the wire itself.

The fixture isn't broken. One of two things happened. Either the bulb is bad, or you did not buy the right bulb. Make sure you purchased the "SB" or self ballisted bulb. These bulbs work similar to flourescent, they need a starter and ballest. Because they only sell the 60w, I doubt this happened. (In reality that is all the light portion draws, the ballest internally draws the extra.

Try this, take the dome part off the fixture, if you can, and try the bulb again. It is possible that the internal thermal shut-off is being tripped from the heat created inside the dome. Either way it is not performing as advertised and you should get a new one.

Nick

 

[boxers]

We have the same bulbs with the same fixtures, and it works great for us.
As my boyfriend previously stated, it might have just been a bad bulb.

Or maybe, you screwed it in too tight??
I was told very sternly that I was not to put the bulb in the fixture, because the chances of me doing it wrong were higher than him doing it wrong :lol:
As simple an action as it is, I do agree with his statement. I would have twisted it tighter than I watched him do.
Just a thought..

 

[luvthydragon]

We have the same bulbs with the same fixtures, and it works great for us.
As my boyfriend previously stated, it might have just been a bad bulb.

Or maybe, you screwed it in too tight??
I was told very sternly that I was not to put the bulb in the fixture, because the chances of me doing it wrong were higher than him doing it wrong :lol:
As simple an action as it is, I do agree with his statement. I would have twisted it tighter than I watched him do.
Just a thought..

Hey there-

Good thought.....something I hadn't considered .....too late now though ....the next one we will be more carefull.
I contacted them and they will be sending me another one....hopefully it was just a fluke....

Thanks for the tip.

Take care andd best wishes to you and your dragon(s)

 

[RioReptiles]

I am using 3 different MVB's, and they are very sensitive to fluctuations in electricity, movement, overheating, etc. They will reset for different reasons so you should always try them again after 15 minutes or so. I have one that doesn't always come on with the switch, but about 30 to 60 seconds after I turn it on, the bulbs lights up. And it always takes 5 to 10 minutes if the power goes off or if there is a surge or dip in voltage. You will get used to it. I was thinking of trying a large uninteruptable power suppply so that I wouldn't have problems during lightning storms during the summer. Cheryl

 

[LittleRob]

I too have had bulbs MVB and regular basking bulbs burn on their first installation. I ended up going to home depot and getting a 300watt extra heavy duty rating dome light fixture. Only bad thing is its silver looking. Haven't had any problems since. Thats sweet of them to send you a new one.

 

[luvthydragon]

I too have had bulbs MVB and regular basking bulbs burn on their first installation. I ended up going to home depot and getting a 300watt extra heavy duty rating dome light fixture. Only bad thing is its silver looking. Haven't had any problems since. Thats sweet of them to send you a new one.

Wow - I haven't seen one rated that high with a dome on it.....I might look for it....thanks for the heads-up.

I am using 3 different MVB's, and they are very sensitive to fluctuations in electricity, movement, overheating, etc. They will reset for different reasons so you should always try them again after 15 minutes or so. I have one that doesn't always come on with the switch, but about 30 to 60 seconds after I turn it on, the bulbs lights up. And it always takes 5 to 10 minutes if the power goes off or if there is a surge or dip in voltage. You will get used to it. I was thinking of trying a large uninteruptable power suppply so that I wouldn't have problems during lightning storms during the summer. Cheryl

Our power doesn't go off too much but I wonder now if maybe I should try it again, like you said.

Thanks for the tips

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I get a 300 watt rating ceramic fixture from Home Depot. I believe that they also sell higher rated fixtures, too for heavy duty use.
That is great they are sending you a new one, they are very good about customer service though. :mrgreen:

Tracie