dirty halogens

Post by **regtubby** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 10:49 pm

I have a pair of halogen bulbs that have been knocking about for a while and despite my best intentions have thumb prints (and worse) on them. I was planning on giving them a good clean with meths before fitting. Does anyone have any better suggestions (for the bulbs not the meths)?

Post by **minor_hickup** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 12:19 am

I believe this is what you're supposed to do with them when they get finger print and dirt on them.

Post by **8009STEVE** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 7:21 am

I normally use thinners to clean them

Post by **Kevin** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 8:25 am

Well that explains why it says not to handle the actual bulbs.

Post by **regtubby** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 9:56 am

Thanks, bulbs now good as new.

Post by **8009STEVE** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 10:04 am

If you do not clean the halogen bulb before fitting, the oil from your fingerprint will make the bulb explode! We used to do this at the youth club where there were halogen bulbs fitted to the outside lights. 40 years ago, this seemed to be good fun.

Post by **bmcecosse** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 8:35 pm

Had halogen been invented 40 years ago ?

Post by **aupickup** » Sat Oct 07, 2006 9:38 pm

Had halogen been invented 40 years ago ?

not sure if halogen bulbs, but i did have a pair of halogen sealed beam units in 1968

Post by **8009STEVE** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 8:37 am

We used to do this at the youth club where there were halogen bulbs fitted to the outside lights. 40 years ago, this seemed to be good fun.

Thet were 500 watt floodlights.

Post by **alex_holden** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 10:19 am

bmcecosse wrote:Had halogen been invented 40 years ago ?

The earliest type of halogen light bulb was patented in 1959, but I don't know when they came into widespread use.

Post by **moggydriver62** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 6:14 am

check with joseph lucas,prince of darkness.

Post by **alex_holden** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 9:08 am

Why do Americans always seem to have such a downer on Lucas electrics? ISTR there was even a movie where the car-mechanic protagonist made jokes about how unreliable Lucas ignition is...

Post by **lowedb** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 1:03 pm

Why do Americans always seem to have such a downer on Lucas electrics

Same reason as anyone else. They were **** (Insert your own four letter word). The semiconductors in the alternators were unreliable with rectifier packs giving up the ghost all too often. The brush wear on rotating machines meant they gave up way too soon. The mechanical bits of the distributors wore out and gave poor timing. When they started doing automatic jokes (meant to be chokes) the control units used to fail at an alarming rate. Need I go on?