arrrghhh 250w bulb change

[gilmour01]

am i the only one who hates the way the 250w bulb holders and bulbs are designed. why is it such a pain to insert new bulbs. i shouldnt have to worry about breaking bulbs everytime i do a bulb change.

 

[Amici]

Are you referring to 250w DE bulbs? I really dont like them either, You just have to push very evenly and gently on each ceramic end part until it pops in. Ive found that used bulbs are a lot more likely to break as well.

 

[benny z]

you MUST be talking about de bulbs...!

 

[juiceguy]

that is why i switched to SE

 

[Amici]

that is why i switched to SE

I switched because the bulb choices are much better!

 

[gilmour01]

sorry...yes, DE 250w bulbs. i've only ever broken one bulb, but i'm on pins and needles with every bulb change. the guy i bought the bulb from (the one i broke phoenix 14k) was kind enough to replace it for free even though it was my fault.

 

[H@rry]

I was telling someone in our reef club about that and she gave me some dielectric grease that is supposed to help them slip in a little easier. I haven't tried it yet but I will when the time comes. I had tried to find it at Home Depot and Lowe's and they acted like they had never heard of it. I suppose you could find it at an electrical supply store.

 

[Supreme Reefs]

lol i feel the same way... i just chipped the ceramic holder on my DE putting it in :/ im going to go SE soon though!

 

[Amici]

FYI Ive seen DE bulbs with parts of the ceramic chipped and it didnt have any bearing on the performance of the bulb. As long as the bulb is still able to be seated firmly it should still work.

 

[H@rry]

I think I broke the ceramic "ears" off both of mine when I installed them and they're still working fine. I think I'll just install the next ones with a rubber hammer! :cry:

 

[amt68]

This has been working for me. I insert a small flat head jeweler screwdriver into the ceramic retaining clips of the holder. This spreads the clips and the bulb drops right in.

Bob

 

[Paul_N]

I have one generic DE bulb that has no ceramic on the one side and still works fine. I have two that I use as emergency bulbs.

 

[mikedelgado]

This has been working for me. I insert a small flat head jeweler screwdriver into the ceramic retaining clips of the holder. This spreads the clips and the bulb drops right in.

Bob

I did the same thing when I had de bulbs, works great. Just make sure the fixture is unplugged from the ballast

 

[Curtie44]

I was telling someone in our reef club about that and she gave me some dielectric grease that is supposed to help them slip in a little easier. I haven't tried it yet but I will when the time comes. I had tried to find it at Home Depot and Lowe's and they acted like they had never heard of it. I suppose you could find it at an electrical supply store.

Any auto parts store will carry this. It's the stuff you put on your spark plugs to make it easy to remove the wires after 80K-100K miles of driving. Just ask for it, they will know what it is.

 

[J&O'sdad]

You also use it for tail lights.