Hi there, so this is probably a pretty old dead thread at this
point. But I've been trying to figure out a
socket replacement situation with my cool beams and I feel like I'm banging my head against the wall. My new replacement sockets are smoking and I can't figure out why! I thought it was tiny
trace remnants of wd-40 from my cap disassembly process but I cleaned them again and still they
smoke. Looks like maybe its the new
socket's white
wire insulation sleeve as its seems to be turning slightly brown after several testings. But I'm only using 575W GLA bulbs .... I didn't think the heat would be an issue? Its hasn't been before!
As far as I can tell its the same sockets I've always been buying in the past : Osram 69006 TP-22XL.
Now Of course that Osram
socket is not what the caps were originally outfitted with (The original sockets had
porcelain heatsink bases) And
@derekleffew , I liked your advice about getting a bender and wirth
socket with a
porcelain base BUT I can't find anyone who sells something like that with a
porcelain base anymore. (I asked my Local
theatre gear supplier for replacement sockets for this and they sent me sylvania S4 sockets that look like they're for mini candelabra bulbs ...
)
I'd have loved to get that sweet looking TP-220 XL
Socket with
heat sink built in to handle the extra heat... but
@DELO72 explained in another thread that its already discontinued. (
Mark DeLorenzo you seem like a brilliant and wonderful guy and you would be my hero if you had any advice, especially about the
wire sleeving)
Any advice from anyone would be amazing! Thank you.
ALSO So Much thanks to everyone who has posted in this thread before! Over the last 6 years with your advice (and with some help from an old wise tech I knew) I've been gradually replacing the dead sockets in the caps of my
venue's inventory (which is unfortunately mostly
Strand cool beams).
P.S. In case it helps explain my situation here's a
bit of info on my process and troubleshooting:
All the caps I fixed this year
smoke when I test them out. They start smoking after being on at full for about 15 minutes, and it gets more and more smoky as I leave it on. By the time it gets to 20 or 25 minutes, it seems like just way too much so I just turn them off.
Now a lot of these caps needed a good shot of WD40 to encourage them to open. And this year I wasn't as intense about cleaning the wd40 off as I usually am, I just cleaned them thoroughly with cloths and I let them sit for months after that. So when I went to test them recently and they smoked. My first Guess was it was tiny remints of wd40 burning off. So I took everything apart cleaned and scrubbed it with alcohol and even soap and water (on the cap hardware.. not the
socket!) Dried it all, waited a few days. I had also replaced a lot of the original screws with new ones in better shape, but just to be safe I swapped back to all the original screws. Then tested them again. Still smoking. Hard to tell where the
smoke is coming from exactly. But after several testings I can see the new
socket's white
wire insulation sleeve is turning slightly brown. When I compare it to other sockets that have been in lights for 20 years, the old lights
socket's wires still have pristine white cable sleeves.