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unbusted67 · 24-08-2009, 23:36

Little fireworks show tonight from our Alpenglow $127 overhead light. If I wanted a bon fire I would have gone to get some firewood. The small fuzzy bare wire you see are actually the terminals from a ceramic disc capacitor that blew up inside of the the lamp. It wasn't too serious but it was enough to fill the cabin with a nasty cloud of smoke. It was also enough to get me thinking about how nasty something like this could become if we were at sea or away from the boat.

**knottybuoyz** · 25-08-2009, 04:57

Nasty. Been there. Did the mfgr offer any clues as to what happened?

unbusted67 · 25-08-2009, 11:44

Here is what I have so far from the company, I am impressed with the speed at which they got back to me. Now let's see if they fix the thing!

Ben,

You are correct in identifying the failed component as a ceramic disk capacitor. In some of our earlier lights, we saw a failure rate of on that component of a bit less than 1% which we considered unacceptable and have since changed to a different component and now see very few failures. The two most likely causes are:

1) A weak component, particularly if it was one of the earlier ones.

2) Using stock (unmodified) bulbs which would cause multiple voltage spikes as the the ballast tries repeatedly to start the bulb when in the low power position.

Usually when they fail, they do so with just a pop and a small puff of smoke, but on rare occasion, they do so fairly spectacularly with considerable smoke and some scorching in the vicinity, as you experienced. In over 20,000 lights, however, we have never seen anything approaching the fixture actually catching fire. The duration of the event is just too brief. We will be most anxious to have a look at it.

Bob

On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 12:00 PM, Alpenglow Lights <alpenglowlights@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello, Ben

Thank you very much for contacting us about your light. I have forwarded your email to our engineer for review, as we have not heard of this situation in the past. Although I have a few suggestions that come to my mind immediately, I want to be absolutely correct in my response.

Yes, certainly, please return your light to us for repair! We have made some changes I need to advise you about, though, with regard to the night-vision feature of your light. We no longer use the red fluorescent bulbs, and now use red LEDs instead. It is a great improvement -- the same brightness for about 1/10 the power consumption. Also, you would never again need to replace the red bulb. It gives a very nice pure red. There is a difference in switching pattern between the old and the new. With old light, the large switch selects on-off, and high-low. The small one selects between red and white. On the new one, the large switch still is on-off and high-low, but only for white. The small switch has the same functions (on-off, high-low) for the red. The cost of the LED night vision upgrade is $16. I am telling you all of this ahead of time because, depending upon the condition of your light and the damage to it, we may not be able to restore the fluorescent red option, and have no alternative but to do the upgrade for you while repairing your light.

**David M** · 25-08-2009, 14:12

No offer to immediatly send out a replacement for something that almost caused a fire?

In this litigious society, that is the first thing I would do, especially if you have more of the same lights onboard that have not yet caught fire.

Solitude · 25-08-2009, 15:18

I would have expected them to ship you out a new one right away, considering it blew up and that they admited to a known problem in writing. How much could that actualy cost them?

Paul L · 25-08-2009, 17:04

I assume the light is fairly old, as they have been shipping the version with the red LED for at least a couple of years.

Paul L

unbusted67 · 25-08-2009, 17:47

I think it was original with the boat. It is an 86. I guess maybe I should expect more from these guys. I'll mail it out and see what happens.

Paul L · 25-08-2009, 17:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by unbusted67

I think it was original with the boat. It is an 86. I guess maybe I should expect more from these guys. I'll mail it out and see what happens.

You should expect more? A 23 year old light burns out and they offer to upgrade to the newest version for $16. I'd say you should be thanking them a lot, not asking for more. Alpenglow products are very good and well supported.

Paul L

e hilton · 25-08-2009, 18:11

"I'd say you should be thanking them a lot,"I agree, considering the age of the fixture, and you were probably (through ignorance maybe) using the stock bulbs that he said could cause a problem.

unbusted67 · 25-08-2009, 18:25

Yeah sorry for using a stock bulb when the original burns out. (that is me being very sarcastic) Do you resort to your user manual when replacing a light bulb? I used the bulb that the previous owner had left on the boat. Whether or not this was a stock bulb I do not know, either way it probably shouldn't start a fire.

And yes when your product almost burns down my boat I would expect the utmost customer service. With that said at the beginning of this thread I felt I was receiving it. After a few people voiced their opinions to the contrary I reconsidered. No biggy, I am definitely open to opinions.

e hilton · 25-08-2009, 19:50

Sorry, didn't mean to sound too critical. Obviously we were not in your shoes, that needs to be taken into consideration. But the fixture was way out of warranty, no way for the mfgr to know what modifications, if any, had been done. Could be that when you send the unit back, they will investigate and find it wasn't your fault. Their response could have been much worse, they could have denied any responsibility and told you to go away.

unbusted67 · 25-08-2009, 20:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by e hilton

Sorry, didn't mean to sound too critical. Obviously we were not in your shoes, that needs to be taken into consideration. But the fixture was way out of warranty, no way for the mfgr to know what modifications, if any, had been done. Could be that when you send the unit back, they will investigate and find it wasn't your fault. Their response could have been much worse, they could have denied any responsibility and told you to go away.

yup absolutely, and like I said, so far I am happy with their service. I am hoping they fix the light for cheap and I can be done with it.