Small mysteries

[gerisullivan]

A few years ago, I had a handyman replace the outdoor floodlight fixture over the garage. Last winter, one of the light bulbs stopped working; I presumed it had burned out. I bought two replacement bulbs, figuring it wise to replace both at once (especially since the fixture is in a location I can't get to). I bought pricy, super-long lasting bulbs

Comments

[batwrangler]

Motion-sensing lights sometimes have modes/resets that are triggered by turning them off for differing amounts of time. Possibly yours reset itself after being off for a couple of minutes but by then, since it hadn't worked before, you'd already stopped trying?

[gerisullivan]

Not likely. I'd tried a broad spectrum of on and off switch flips over a period of a month back in the spring and could never get them to come on at all.

But thanks for the reminder that the "turning off sooner than I would like" mode that it's currently in may well be remedied by the correct series (and pacing) of switch flips.

If I dare turn it off, of course. :-)

[marsgov]

The change in the resistance of the wire is most likely negligible. But the socket that holds the bulb may have squeezed a bit tighter, or perhaps a short circuit fixed itself, or some other odd explanation.

Or, and this is a long shot (but happened in my house): perhaps the circuit is not correctly installed, and you need to have some other light turned on to make this one work?

Good luck on the workouts, btw.

[gerisullivan]

Your socket theory might well account for it. It accounts for the fixture going non-functional at the moment fancy-dancy bulbs were put in (if the screw mount on those bulbs is just a tiny bit smaller than the old bulbs), and not working, if the fixture is now contracting the tiny bit needed for the new bulbs to make full contact.

Thanks for the good wishes. I'm 10 days in. Today is the first day that I did fewer total minutes on the elliptical than the day before (22 vs 27). I don't know if it's the cold snap or something else, but everything's been considerably more achy today. I'm starting slowly and working on building stamina and other good things.

[maruad]

I don't know why your lights are weird but I do know my studio door will not close properly in the winter but will all summer. Happens every year when the ground starts to freezes and the house shifts.

[cakmpls]

We have several doors like that in our house.

[maruad]

It is the type of thing that gives a house character. People who don't know any better mistake it for a defect.

[pameladean]

Our motion-sensing light -- installed by previous owners -- has a weird series of codes involving how many times and possibly how long you turn the switch on and off. I have no understanding of them at all. The light stops working and starts again at random. I don't know if cats are leaping at the switch or if there's something else going on. It's always in the same position, which seems improbably if it's cats. Anyway, such lights seem intrinsically strange and prone to weirdness.

P.