Ah bugger. Fancy ceiling light bulb problem

[Batbear]

We moved into a house with a fancy branch like ceiling light a year ago.

There are 20 little bulbs and I replaced 4 this afternoon. I used 20W little halogens as i couldn't see the Wattage on the old ones (worn away), and now the damn thing doesn't work at all.

I've overloaded haven't I? Should it have been 10W?

Is it fixable?

[wowfudge]

Can you post a photo of a bulb, not one of the new ones and also the light fitting? Someone may be able to identify for you and from there you can find out what bulbs it takes. Is there no code on the metal part of the bulbs?

[Batbear]

Bulb

[Batbear]

Stupid fancy light

[Batbear]

Close up of fitting

[Testificateman]

My feeling is that there might be a lose wire in the light and as you've been changing the bulbs, it has lost the connection. If the previous owner has fitted it themselves, you might be better off checking it out in daylight.
I have come across a lot of dodgy electrics over the years done by people who are, lets just say, not very good at DIY.

[Testificateman]

Leave the light off until you can switch off the electric and check the connections.

[Batbear]

Thanks Testificateman

This was a new build home and we are second owners so the light came with the house (a few others in the development have them I think).

Should i call our someone to look at it? Was really hoping it might be something i've over looked. Bugger

[wowfudge]

Found your light fitting online by googling images of "metal twig light fitting". The spec is G9 LEDs 10 watts.

[Batbear]

Thanks Wowfudge you did lots better than me. what will i have done with the wrong bulbs?

[wowfudge]

I am still trying to get my head round lumens, etc. I don't think the wrong LEDs would cause a problem, but you've used halogens so maybe you don't have all the same bulbs and there's overheating?

[Batbear]

The ones i used look identical to the ones I took out. LEDs look different don't they?!

I wish I'd just left it alone. A few missing bulbs was better than a dark hallway.

[Testificateman]

Take the ones that you have put in out and see if the light works. If not, see above.

[PigletJohn]

if it's meant for LEDs and you fitted Halogens, you have overloaded it.

Depending on the sophistication of the power supply, it might or might not work if you fit the correct ones.

[Batbear]

If I have overloaded PigletJohn is it something that is repairable?

The fittings seems exactly same whereas the LEDs online look quite different. Thats not to say I haven't screwed it up at all.

I am a fair bit nervous at playing with electrics so I expect getting someone in is going to be the answer.

Simple stuff i can do although apparently not changing lightbulbs

[mineofuselessinformation]

If you've overloaded it, it's likely you will have tripped the whole circuit. Are other lights working?
If not, the circuit has tripped. Replace with correct bulbs and see what happens next.

[Batbear]

Nothing else went in the circuit, purely just the light. I immediately removed the new bulbs so now there are empty slots. Could that make a difference?

[Testificateman]

Have you tried taking the new bulbs out and just leave the original ones in?

[PigletJohn]

that round can in the ceiling probably contains the power supply. It is possible to protect against overload with electronic devices, or with an internal fuse, or not at all and just let the thing go wrong. I don't know about yours. The manufacturer probably says "no user serviceable parts inside" but you might be lucky and find it can be reset or re-fused. There might be something in the instructions.

I doubt it will be worth paying for a repair.

[PigletJohn]

the lamp in the pic seems to have straight pins rather tyhan the looped wires I expected on a G9.

You can check the lamp by measuring the space between the pin centres. G9 pins are 9mm apart.

GU10, unsurprisingly, are a different shape, but 10mm spacing.

G4 are 4mm and G12 are 12mm

I bet you can see a pattern here.

[PigletJohn]

p.s.

Very annoyingly, certain lamps do not fit this scheme.

MR16 mean the front lens is two inches across (because it is 16 eighths of an inch) and it has a Multifaceted Reflector.

Perhaps devised in some backward country that hasn't yet adopted IS units.

[llangennith]

A friend moved in to a house with this light fitting three months ago and the bulbs keep blowing and tripping the mains fuse. They've now replaced the light fitting!

[hollinhurst84]

I may have ranted about fancy lights recently and what's wrong with a good old shade on the ceiling
Mine that triggered the rage is a sort of half dome. It's surrounded by 3 circles of glass and has three half domes. You have to hold the dome, unscrew three metal bits each with teeny plastic washers and then remove dome and circular glass whilst not losing the washers. Repeat X 3, but the biggest dome my hand span won't stretch to hold
Then repeat in reverse
I asked my dad to do it and he went "nooooooooo I did it last time. Never again".