What does the lamp look like? Take a photo and from
Mark to I or many people can start to analize the problem by way of that due to experience. Would also help to say if just plain lamp to old. This assuming you didn't change the lamp.
Lamp pins are an indication of condition of lamp
socket. If the pins on a lamp are overheated it also indicates a bad
socket it was plugged into.
Terminal screw tension or bad crimps can also be the cause in trashing such things and causing failure - this as with putting a perfectly good lamp into a bad
socket if the case. Or the reverse of it - exchanging lamps between fixtures short of inspection is always a bad even if quick solution for now. Voids any sense or warranty unless you can completely
track lamp hours
etc. necessary, and should you put a bad lamp from bad
base with into a
fixture with good
base but other issues - you just spread the bad
base virous to another
fixture in compounding the problem due to now
continuity issues added on.
You can after inspection at times re-use lamps in another
fixture if not bad otherwise and even if they had
power supply issues, but not in the same
fixture and only after inspection as to cause and condition. I
call this
ballast signature. A lamp only somewhat destroyed say in an old
Mac 2KE might work just fine in a new VL-3K SP.
Halogen effect... Every
ballast goes bad and all have a different
power signature in how a lamp in a bad one might react in another. Good to if not bad lamp to re-task, but bad short of real inspection with notes per that lamp's serial number that would fit warranty rules for
return the lamp just lamp swap between fixtures.
How does a lamp company remove ability to
return tracked lamps? Remove the serial number... How does the customer continue serial numbers - if
porcelain base to it, graphite pencil and your own tracked serial number for the lamp.
Not mentioned but frequently a cause: are your cooling fans working correctly?
Fixture cannot know if the fans are working correctly and frequently - possibly more frequently than a
ballast or other cause a fan is to be looked at.
Finally atmosphere. Recently had a bunch of fixtures in from another company that were having overheating problems. Gee, when is the last time you cleaned them? Filters were totally clogged up with
fog goo and dust in the cause.