Underwater Light

I have a small pond and put in an underwater light last year(50W, Alpine).
It worked great for some months and then it stopped working. I went to
replace the bulb and found that water had leaked into its housing. What can
cause that? Is Alpine a defective product?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Paul

Never heard of Alpine brand lights, but no matter, if they leaked
water it had to be from a faulty seal between the front lens cover
glass / retaiing ring to body or where the wire enters the back of the
body..
Its also not uncommon for the retainer rings on some types to get
loose due to temperature changes. Harbor Freight sells a submersible
20 watt light with interchangeable colored lens that are hard to beat
for the money...they are routinley on slae for under $10 each, and are
very well made. I have 12 of them in use and have yet to have a
problem.

MOst often when a submersible light leaks, it ruins the socket the
bulb plugs into if it is not cleaned out right away. You can buy
replacement sockets.....but for the price of a HF light its not worth
the trouble to buy a new bulb, find and fix (hopefully) the leak and
possibly a new socket etc.....

30 watts difference may sound like a lot, but its not really. I run 50
watt bulbs in a few of the 20 watt lights from HF and they work just
fine. No way the additional wattage is gonna heat them up to cause a
proboem, and the wire gauge is the same as on my 50 watt submersibles
as well........so you can readily swap out bulbs if more wattage is
required.



On Sat, 15 Apr 2006 18:23:02 GMT, "Paul"
wrote:
I have a small pond and put in an underwater light last year(50W, Alpine).
It worked great for some months and then it stopped working. I went to
replace the bulb and found that water had leaked into its housing. What can
cause that? Is Alpine a defective product?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Paul


--
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( @ @ )
-----------oOOo(_)oOOo---------------


oooO
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\ ( ( )
\_) ) /
(_/
The original frugal ponder ! Koi-ahoi mates....

It's really easy to make a pond light out of a headlight, it will take
you an evening to make it, plus a day or two for the caulking to cure. You
can buy aquarium calking at orchard supply & hardware, or most petstores. Do
not use regular kitchen/bath/window calking, most of that specifically says
not for marine or aquarium use.

Before you begin the project, to see what kind of garden lighting system you
have. If you have a low wattage transformer from Intermatic or Malibu, it's
usually not grounded, The grounded transformers are rated at 300watts or
higher, for their product line. Next add up the wattage of all the bulbs
connected to the transformer, it should be less then the rating of the
transformer. Once all that's done, follow the directions below, and you're
done.


I purchased a sealed beam, Sylvania H4656, which is a combination of high
and low beam in 1 unit. A high beam only would have been desirable, but I
couldn't find any that had prongs that were convenient to solder the wires
to.


If you look at the back of the bulb you will see 3 prongs


high low
O O
O
ground


A side view of one of the prongs, looked like this.
--------\
O |
--------/


Connect 1 wire to the ground, and 1 wire to the high beam prong. The solder
didn't bond very well, to the prongs, so I found it easier to thread the
wire through the whole in the prong, and wrap it back around itself, and
solder the wire.


Cover all prongs with aquarium caulking to prevent corrosion. Note: Do not
use kitchen/bath/window caulking, most of that stuff isn't safe to use in
ponds. Let it cure in the sun for 2-3 days, then wash it off. Aquarium
caulking can be purchased at most pet stores, but is cheaper at hardware
stores.

Snooze wrote:
It's really easy to make a pond light out of a headlight, it will take
you an evening to make it, plus a day or two for the caulking to cure. You
can buy aquarium calking at orchard supply & hardware, or most petstores. Do
not use regular kitchen/bath/window calking, most of that specifically says
not for marine or aquarium use.

Before you begin the project, to see what kind of garden lighting system you
have. If you have a low wattage transformer from Intermatic or Malibu, it's
usually not grounded, The grounded transformers are rated at 300watts or
higher, for their product line. Next add up the wattage of all the bulbs
connected to the transformer, it should be less then the rating of the
transformer. Once all that's done, follow the directions below, and you're
done.


I purchased a sealed beam, Sylvania H4656, which is a combination of high
and low beam in 1 unit. A high beam only would have been desirable, but I
couldn't find any that had prongs that were convenient to solder the wires
to.


If you look at the back of the bulb you will see 3 prongs


high low
O O
O
ground


A side view of one of the prongs, looked like this.
--------\
O |
--------/


Connect 1 wire to the ground, and 1 wire to the high beam prong. The solder
didn't bond very well, to the prongs, so I found it easier to thread the
wire through the whole in the prong, and wrap it back around itself, and
solder the wire.


Cover all prongs with aquarium caulking to prevent corrosion. Note: Do not
use kitchen/bath/window caulking, most of that stuff isn't safe to use in
ponds. Let it cure in the sun for 2-3 days, then wash it off. Aquarium
caulking can be purchased at most pet stores, but is cheaper at hardware
stores.




Do you have any idea on how to make one from a halogen bulb. What do I
encase it with to keep the water out ?

They make a heat shrink tube wirth adhesive inside that is good, or
you can use regular heatshrink insulation on the connections and fill
them up with silicone before shrinking, or you can encapsulate the
connections in epoxie or a wad of silicone.......

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 15:00:11 GMT, CanadianCowboy©
wrote:


Snooze wrote:
It's really easy to make a pond light out of a headlight, it will take
you an evening to make it, plus a day or two for the caulking to cure. You
can buy aquarium calking at orchard supply & hardware, or most petstores. Do
not use regular kitchen/bath/window calking, most of that specifically says
not for marine or aquarium use.

Before you begin the project, to see what kind of garden lighting system you
have. If you have a low wattage transformer from Intermatic or Malibu, it's
usually not grounded, The grounded transformers are rated at 300watts or
higher, for their product line. Next add up the wattage of all the bulbs
connected to the transformer, it should be less then the rating of the
transformer. Once all that's done, follow the directions below, and you're
done.


I purchased a sealed beam, Sylvania H4656, which is a combination of high
and low beam in 1 unit. A high beam only would have been desirable, but I
couldn't find any that had prongs that were convenient to solder the wires
to.


If you look at the back of the bulb you will see 3 prongs


high low
O O
O
ground


A side view of one of the prongs, looked like this.
--------\
O |
--------/


Connect 1 wire to the ground, and 1 wire to the high beam prong. The solder
didn't bond very well, to the prongs, so I found it easier to thread the
wire through the whole in the prong, and wrap it back around itself, and
solder the wire.


Cover all prongs with aquarium caulking to prevent corrosion. Note: Do not
use kitchen/bath/window caulking, most of that stuff isn't safe to use in
ponds. Let it cure in the sun for 2-3 days, then wash it off. Aquarium
caulking can be purchased at most pet stores, but is cheaper at hardware
stores.




Do you have any idea on how to make one from a halogen bulb. What do I
encase it with to keep the water out ?

--
\\\|///
( @ @ )
-----------oOOo(_)oOOo---------------


oooO
---------( )----Oooo----------------
\ ( ( )
\_) ) /
(_/
The original frugal ponder ! Koi-ahoi mates....

Is there a way to hook a headlight up to a normal household current? I'm
thinking an outdoor extension cord would be the donor cord, and then use
silicon caulk to seal the wires. (it cures overnight, in about 10-12 hours,
depending on thickness)

The little 4 watt bulbs don't really offer much light, and I'd like
something that could shine up, and onto my garoyle spitter.

Gareee©
(Gary Tabar Jr.)

"CanadianCowboy©" wrote in message
...
Do you have any idea on how to make one from a halogen bulb. What do I
encase it with to keep the water out ?

I assume you mean the kind of headlamp bulbs they use in modern cars. Bulbs
like an 9006, or H7.
I've contemplated the same thing, There are 2 problems, 1 connecting the
bulb to the power supply. I suppose you could get a bulb connector from a
junkyard. Next is sealing the bulb and connections in something that can
withstand the heat.

Maybe an upside down glass mason jar? Or making a cube out of 6 glass
blocks.

Perhaps an MR16 bulb would be easier. The kind that's often used in track
lights

This is why I prefer the sealed bulb, it's already in a water tight housing,
has a built-in reflector and good light pattern.

Snooze wrote:
"CanadianCowboy©" wrote in message
...
Do you have any idea on how to make one from a halogen bulb. What do I
encase it with to keep the water out ?

I assume you mean the kind of headlamp bulbs they use in modern cars. Bulbs
like an 9006, or H7.
I've contemplated the same thing, There are 2 problems, 1 connecting the
bulb to the power supply. I suppose you could get a bulb connector from a
junkyard. Next is sealing the bulb and connections in something that can
withstand the heat.

Maybe an upside down glass mason jar? Or making a cube out of 6 glass
blocks.

Perhaps an MR16 bulb would be easier. The kind that's often used in track
lights

This is why I prefer the sealed bulb, it's already in a water tight housing,
has a built-in reflector and good light pattern.


Yeah ...the ones on the market use a plastic housing with an o-ring and
cap seal. As long as it is submerged in water, heat is not a problem.
I like the mason jar idea. You just have to seal where the wire comes
in and around the cap. A socket or straight solder is probably fine for
a connection.

"Paul" wrote in message
...
I have a small pond and put in an underwater light last year(50W, Alpine).
It worked great for some months and then it stopped working. I went to
replace the bulb and found that water had leaked into its housing. What
can
cause that? Is Alpine a defective product?


The seals eventually fail, water pressure pushes inward, when the light is
on, the hot air pushes outwards. Once water gets inside the contact points
quickly corrode and the whole fixture needs to be replaced. Make a pond
light out of a car headlamp, and never have to worry again.

-S

I dont think I have the alpine, but mine leaked and I found I had neglected to put
the sealing ring in. in any case, go to the local hardware store and ask them for
100 % silicone and then seal all the holes and any cracks, etc. Ingrid

"Paul" wrote:

I have a small pond and put in an underwater light last year(50W, Alpine).
It worked great for some months and then it stopped working. I went to
replace the bulb and found that water had leaked into its housing. What can
cause that? Is Alpine a defective product?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Paul




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