Incand Bulb experts come in!

Look at this Surefire MN60. What heppened? I never used it for some time and when i got to use it again, it has a horrible beam in my Turbohead. very yellowish. When i took out the bulb, i saw this. Misty stuff stuck to the glass from the inside.

A fellow Singaporean CPFer suggested that it might very well be tungsten. Its a high proberbility.

I did ran the bulb with that horrible beam for 30min and it stilll works.
If its tungsten, wouldn't it burn out since there is alot of tungsten on the glass?

2 Things i did the last time i had a gre8 beam out of it.

1 - I wiped the glass envolop with tissue
2 - Due to the way my Aluminum tube is bored out, the bulb's spring get stuck to the body without anything (like batteries) to help push it out from inside the tube. Then I tried to unscrew the turbohead without offing the bulb to play around to see what sort of beam would i get. Would this encourage cooler air to rush into the turbohead and cool the glass envolop to cause any disturbance to the bulb cycle?

I am no expert, but I know you should use not it anymore even though it still could be lighted up, but it won't be for long.

It looks like a leak, do not use it anymore, because if it burst, you ruin your reflector. I get these all the time when my WA1185 bulbs blows.

Tungsten is what the filament is made of, I believe the disposits on the bulb isn't tungsten.

That doesn't look that healthy at all, did you at any time handle the bulb glass with your fingers at all? There are oils on your fingers that will seriously mess up high temp bulbs (all SF incans pretty much and car HIDs of course).

Try getting a lint free cloth and some rubbing alcohol (not the drinking kind) and using that to clean your bulb glass...
That photo looks like that the deposits are on the inside of the glass in the bulb, it could be that the bulb has a little leak in it so that the Xenon has leaked out a bit and let in some air...

<snip surefire tatical products catalog>
Xenon Gas — High filament temperatures (over 5,000°F) cause
tungsten atoms to "boil off" the filament and migrate to the
cooler glass wall of a lamp, where they condense to form a dark
light-blocking layer. Adding a high-pressure inert gas inhibits
tungsten boil-off, which reduces the rate of tungsten atom deposition
and lengthens the operating life of the lamp. The gas
also permits increased filament operating temperature, which in
turn increases light output for a given power consumption rate.
Argon and krypton are often used as the inert fill gases, but
they don't work as well as xenon. Although xenon is much more
expensive, SureFire uses it exclusively to provide optimum
lamp performance.
</snip>

it doesn't look like a tungsten deposit though, looks like your bulb has sprung a tiny leak, it looks like a bit of condensation even...

Good luck :shrug: :shrug: :shrug:
but i think your bulb pretty much gone :sick2:

It looks like a leak I had a MN21 do that a few months ago.
Topper

Ah crap..... Money flying out of the window.... I didn't touch it directly with my fingers at all... Guess its a leak then...

I think that this is what happens when air (oxygen?? not sure?) gets into the bulb. Eg. it wasn't properly sealed in manufacturing. It should not be happening. In your situation I would suspect that it is not your fault. Why not contact SF and see if they'll make it right?

Hmmm.... Sure. Hope they can help. I didn't touch it after wiping it with tissue and playing around with it. Think it most likely happened during the period i didn't use it. Most proberly a bad bulb

PM Size15s, bet you he knows heaps more about this than I ever will

That bulb has had a leak and some oxygen has gotten in. Stop using it! Stop using it immediately!

Would you rather replace a $30 lamp or a $150 millenium turbo head? Take your pick.

Because I guarantee you that if you continue to use it, especially for longer constant on periods of time, it will explode, unless you are lucky enough that the filament burns up first.

That stuff is an oxide of tungsten. I am all too familiar with it, having had to clean it off one of my Carley 1940 reflectors and TL UCL's due to an 1185 explosion.

And, BTW, it is not necessary to have touched a lamp for this to happen. Halogens are under rather high pressures when operating, so an occaisonal structural failure is inevitable. That's why you should never run a halogen lamp bare, because in the event that it explodes, you want something between your eyes and the molten fragments of glass.

Ok... Its in my SC carrier. SF didn't reply me yet. Resending. They muz be hiding from me. LoL

I don't know if I'm exaggerating with fingerprints but after replacing a bulb I clean it with aceton before using it. No bulb explosions so far...

WBR, Nereus

Sir,

Just remove the bulb and put it in the normal trash bin, in a paper bag. If you have any further questions please call us at 800-828-8809. SureFire strives to provide World class customer service to all of our customers.
SureFire technical support
1-800-828-8809
1-714-545-9444
1-714-545-9537(FAX)


[/QUOTE]

Sweet

Did they say they are sending you a new bulb? Or you mean they just asked you to dump it and thats all? :shrug:

Thats the mail i got. wait a min. New mail!

Quote From Mail :

Sir,

What model bulb is it? If you have any further questions please call us at 800-828-8809. SureFire strives to provide World class customer service to all of our customers.
SureFire technical support
1-800-828-8809
1-714-545-9444
1-714-545-9537(FAX)



I did send in this picture of the MN60 as above on 1st post


EDITED:

Sir,

If you E-Mail us your mailing address we will send you a replacement MN60 out. If you have any further questions please call us at 800-828-8809. SureFire strives to provide World class customer service to all of our customers.
SureFire technical support
1-800-828-8809
1-714-545-9444
1-714-545-9537(FAX)



Cool... was a bit confused at first