SBDS (Sudden Bulb Death Syndrome)

[Matt S.]

I just need to vent.

I have had rotten luck with my 10W Salvo HID light. I do love it, but twice now I have had a bulb die on me well ahead of schedule. I can't really blame Salvo since the bulb/ballast is made by Brightstar.

The day after I got it, it went diving with me, and it died after about 20 minutes. My local retailer replaced it for me with no hassle. They actually gave me a new light head, not just a bulb. (Maybe the ballast was bad and not the bulb, I don't know.)

This weekend, after about 15 hours of burn time, the light failed again in the middle of a dive. Two freakish failures on two different units! I am not driving nails with them, or fiddling with the switch, so abuse definitely isn't a factor.

I have email in to Salvo for warranty support. *sob*

 

[lmorin]

I had an LED light blow up during a dive. The bulb overheated, blew apart and spewed molten stuff throughout the reflector and lens (so much for the 100,000 hr use time with LED bulbs). Manufacturer replaced the entire reflector/lens/bulb unit and added a heat sink that had not been in the original light. Plus, they sent along another heat sink for me to place in my second light of the same type.

 

[Matt S.]

I talked to Salvo and my local retailer and I'm being taken care of. I'll just miss my light in the meantime. $&%$*&(#!

My retailer thinks it's probably the ballast. He said he has never had a report of a bulb dying from a Salvo owner.

 

[CompuDude]

I have to point out that posts like this are pretty darned rare. Salvo's tend to be outstandingly durable (for an HID light), and aside from some rusty latches, I haven't heard of many issues like yours reported. Sad to say you may have just had some incredibly bad luck. Good news is they should take great care of you, and it's pretty unlikely you'll have further issues.

 

[Cacia]

they say if you (or anybody) has handled, even touched the bulbs that they get hot spots from the oils and blow up....you are supposed to clean them with denatured ETOH. (I heard)

 

[Matt S.]

Yeah, I know it's a freak show. I researched the heck out of lights before I bought one, I know Salvo has a great reputation. Well, better bad luck with a light than with a reg.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

Yeah, I know it's a freak show. I researched the heck out of lights before I bought one, I know Salvo has a great reputation. Well, better bad luck with a light than with a reg.

Yeah, I'd hate for my reg to get overheated and blow up in the middle of a dive......

 

[Mark Vlahos]

they say if you (or anybody) has handled, even touched the bulbs that they get hot spots from the oils and blow up....you are supposed to clean them with denatured ETOH. (I heard)

I work with high heat lamps every day, and yes skin oils cause the quartz envelope to heat unevenly. This uneven heating can, and will, cause the quartz to expand unevenly, resulting in a bubble. This bubble has thinner wall thickness and the internal pressures may cause the quartz envelope to explode.

When we change the 3000 watt Xenon Arc lamps in spotlights we wear protective leather clothing, and face shields, and this is when the lamps are cool. The lamp in my Sartek HID diving light is a somewhat different technology, far smaller, and lower wattage, but similar principles apply

Some lamps have an internal pressure of 1.5 to 2 atmospheres when cool but during operation when at full temperature can reach 14 atmospheres. That is an awful lot of pressure for the relatively thin walls of the quartz envelope to contain.

I use a video projector with a lamp module that costs about $5200 and has an expected life of 750 hours. I am really glad I don't foot that bill, my dive light is expensive enough.

Mark Vlahos

 

[Cacia]

So..if your tech dive light is high stakes, would it make sense to initially clean your bulb with denatured alcohol upon taking ownership?

because the way he describes the failure timeline, it seems to be a possibility.

I would imagine there would only be a few possibilities for failure with a bulb?

 

[Matt S.]

Personally I would assume that it was assembled right at the factory and I'd be more likely to mess it up by trying to improve things.