2 bulbs blown in 2 months: Zoomed powersun 100w

[Halcyon]

Hi people,

I have had 2 of the zoomed powersuns 100w fail on me in the last 2 months. First one blew in less than a month, and I though okay perhaps I got a bad one, so I ordered a surge protector together with the 2nd.
2nd one also blew around a month after I have had it.
I have the lamp screwed in a zoomed mini deep dome fixture. It is suspended from the zoomed lampstand almost perfectly, with no angle.
I have it set on timer to be on 10hrs a day.
Am I really that unlucky to have gotten 2 bad ones in a row? Are there other brands of MVB out there that are more lasting that you may recommend for use?

Thanks for any information!

 

[jeffbens0n]

Double check your zoomed fixture to make sure that it is rated for 100 watts or more. Some of those domes are only meant for 60 watts and will blow a 100 watt bulb in a short period of time.

 

[pk2610]

I have purchased three new powersun 100w bulbs in the past two and a half months. My first powersun bulb needed manual adjustment for it to light; the second one suddenly turned itself off. I have the third one for two months now and it is working fine.. hope it will last for a while.

 

[Halcyon]

Double check your zoomed fixture to make sure that it is rated for 100 watts or more. Some of those domes are only meant for 60 watts and will blow a 100 watt bulb in a short period of time.

Thanks Jeff,
according to zoomed, the mini domes come with "Ceramic socket: for use with lamps up to 100 watts."

So I am not sure what went wrong with them!

 

[pdrobber]

I read somewhere that the little amount of metal at the end of the bulbs, rounded, at the base, that touches the metal tab inside the fixture socket can sometimes not be the right fit after its screwed down in...I noticed that when I used a certain power sun bulb in any fixture that would go on the flicker off or just go off after a few seconds or minutes, it would be pushing the tab all the way down and when I took it out and unplugged the fixture I would bend the tab back up. Upon putting the bulb back in it would stay on for a few seconds, a few minutes or days if I was lucky. With another bulb it didn't push it down the whole way and there was no problem with the light staying on.

 

[Tom]

They occasionally have a bad run of them from the factory. A hassle I know. The problem might also be the "mini" deep dome fixture. Go to Home Depot or Lowes and get one of those $12 ceramic fixtures with the wide dome. I think they are 11 or 12". Sometimes the narrower, deeper domes cause them to overheat.

 

[SulcataSquirt]

Im gonna have to go with Tom on this one, I have the big deep dome zoomed fixture for 150 watts, with 100 zoo med in their, it does fine, but compared to a normal 300 watt rated fixture from say walmart or homedepot, those actully runs 100-150 degrees cooler up by the base of the bulb,(checked several times with my PE-2 temp gun) I think it just has better ventilation around the bulb. It seem that i can get the same basking spot temps at the same heights from both fixtures.