Surefire lamp explosion

[geepondy]

I have had many lamps blow on flashlights thruout the years and in all cases, the filament just broke/burnt with the glass lamp housing remaining intact. I had never owned a surefire until early this year and my 8AX lamp just blew only that is not the correct term I could use. It exploded just like a tiny grenade shattering the glass of the lamp into many tiny, tiny pieces. It also coated the pyrex lens with some foggy coating but that washed off easy enough and didn't do any damage to the lens.

Is this normal procedure on how surefire lamps burn out? The lamp was not that old, probably not more then ten to fifteen hours of use.

 

[Byron Walter]

While I haven't personally experienced it, I have read of others having bubls blow. These bulbs, I believe, are under very high internal pressure when hot.

Byron

 

[Tim Flanagan]

This isn't the usual format for lamp expiration, but it does happen. It is usually the result of a small imperfection in the glass globe of the lamp or a dropped light.

As Byron mentions, the lamps are under extremely high pressure (over 1,000 PSI) and if the heat builds up as the lamp is on, the pressure overcomes the small flaw in the glass and you get the exploding lamp trick. You oughta see a 500 lumen lamps explode behind lexan with a fixed reflector- lotta fun.

Ruins everything!

On the bright side, at least until recently, lamp problems such as this were limited to about 1/2 of 1% across the entire SF lamp line. Lately, there ahve been lamp issues with the supplier for a variety of reasons, this one included.

 

[PeLu]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by geepondy:
It exploded just like a tiny grenade <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Does that mean I need ear protection when using my Surefire?