Wet niche light turns itself off...

[DLO]

I have a Hayward wet niche fixture that for the last few years, turns itself off after being lit of about 10 min. It cools and turns back on for another 10 min or so and repeats . I looked at the fixture before replacing the bulb a few years ago and was unable to determine what wattage that the replacement bulb should be because the ink used to mark the bulb size had long since worn off. I assumed it was a 500watt bulb only because there is only one light and the pool is 20x40. I ordered a 400watt bulb to replace the one I have in it presently. Given the described problems with the 500watt bulb, does it sound to you that the problem was due to too hot a bulb? I wrote to Hayward and asked the same question. I'm awaiting their response and will post it here when I hear from them. Thanks all.

 

[coloeb]

Maybe this will help,

http://directories.csa-internationa...\035560_0_000-3425-09.xml&xsl=xsl/certrec.xsl

 

[DLO]

Thanks for the link. I reviewed the page and didn't see a product number that matched my fixture.

 

[DLO]

I recieved and email from Hayward and they seem to think it was a function of a bad bulb, not the fixture. I'm waiting for a 400watt bulb ordered a few days ago. I'll try that and give it a shot.

 

[Dougmo]

There is a thermal cutoff in the base of the Hayward lights. The thermal device can go bad (as mine did). The light goes on, then a minute or so later the light goes out. After cooling off, the light comes back on and the process repeats.

No one seemed to know about the thermal device - it's in the potting compound that holds the ceramic bulb base in the housing. I determined my lamp assembly was bad since I had voltage at my above ground junction box, but the light wouldn't stay on - the only choices were an intermittent bulb (swapped with a standard bulb to test it above ground) a bad socket (ohm'd okay and gave voltage when all was cool) and some hidden component (the thermal cutoff).

When I saw a new assembly would cost close to $200, I decided to repair the original. Shut off the voltage, cut off the wire at the assembly so I could bring it into the shop, dug out the potting compound and ceramic socket - replaced the socket with a ceramic unit from ACE (making sure to solder closed all of the rivet holes on the bottom of the new socket - plus solder the connectors and all to make sure it would not fail in the future), then added enough epoxy to set the socket in place. Once that layer of resin was set up, I brought the unit outdoors, inserted the tail of the wire I removed, added the "keeper" washer inside the housing, made all the electrical connection by pre-tinning the wires, then filling wire nuts with silicon grease and tightening well. Added a second layer of epoxy to pot the socket to the top. Let it cure and reassembled.

No problems.

 

[Dougmo]

The thermal cutoff switch that is in the light housing potted out of sight with the bulb socket is bad - same thing happened to me. If you're an electronics bug - dig out the old socket and cutoff, buy a new socket and direct wire the unit and repot the socket when done.

If you didn't understand the directions (above) buy and new socket assembly with cord and replace it.