500 watt lights - What's the trick to getting the bulbs to last?

I've got a shop light similar to this:

that takes the 500 straight watt bulb things. Is there some trick to getting the bulbs to last? I mean, the bulb package says something like "good for 20 years" and I never get more than about 2 hours out of them. Well, one of the heads gets good bulb life, and the other one doesn't. I've replaced the other one twice and whatever I put up there eats bulbs. I've tried cleaning the terminals, adding electrical grease, reducing tension at the terminals and I don't know what else. They always seem to cook the ends of the bulbs and bust the ceramic. Very rarely does the middle (element) of the bulb burn out. Almost always the ceramic ends just disintegrate.

Is there some trick I'm missing to keeping these things running? I really like the light and in the winter the heat, too.

I second your headache.

LEDS?

I use those same bulbs in my outdoor light fixtures and I can't make them last even with light fixtures that begin at 50% power and power back down to 50% after a certain amount of time of no movement.

Be sure you never touch the bulb with your bare hand. The oils on your hand can cause a much shorter life.

I found storing in unsteady temps cause condensation to form inside, much like touching the bulb w/ bare hand.

I agree with fasted that leaving them outside either kills the bulb outright or causes corrossion at the terminals. The other thing I think happens is the ceramic insullator crumbles after many hot/cold cycles.

I don't touch the bulb when putting it in. I can RTFM. I've tried rubber gloves, paper, etc., with no difference in outcome. The one that burnt out today only had about 3 heat cycles on it, maybe 4 hours total.

the bulbs in mine always shatter when i drop it..

What are you guys doing to these things. I have one that is 15+ years old and still works like the day I bought it.

I figure that's the reason they cost $5.99.

A bad seal can let in water, or allow fresh air into the enclosure - which allows water to condense whenever the assembly goes below dewpoint.

Try sticking some silca dessicant in it.

Cheap bulbs will do that, buy the rough service bulbs.

wearymicrobe wrote: What are you guys doing to these things. I have one that is 15+ years old and still works like the day I bought it.

do you drag yours around under cars? mine is a Craftsman one that i bought at Sears like 12 years ago for $20.. it came with a stand that allows me to put the light up to about 7 feet off the ground, but unfortunately $20 doesn't buy the most stable stand and it sometimes likes to fall over without warning and for no real discernible reason.. i don't use it a lot, but i always have a couple of backup bulbs for when i do use it.

try a different brand of bulb?

I've only ever had to replace one bulb in those things and they've been put through a bunch of abuse through the years working under the car or painting/drywall in the house. Never knew they were/are fragile and haven't ever treated like they were.

Does the inside of the fixture stay clean? The outside of mine has quite the patina, but the inside is like new.

carguy123 wrote: Be sure you never touch the bulb with your bare hand. The oils on your hand can cause a much shorter life.

You have wandered into my world here.. Except for the few LED fixtures we have in theatre.. most lamps start at 575watts and go on up to 10k.. yes.. 10,000 watts of power.

If you touch the glass on any of these. the oils can cause a hot spot on the glass when fired up. This hot spot will put the glass over it's melting point and cause it bubble and eventually burst.

As for T type lamps.. they suck.. sorry