bulb that rostronic sent with my briteks burnt out in less then 15 hrs!

zimzum

Active member
jeeez I wish I didnt rush buying lights, I needed them quick last yr and just used them for about ten hrs.I pulled them out of storage today and after a few hrs 1 bulb went out!
 
Have you contacted the dealer or manufacturer yet?

If not, please do so before publically flaiming them.


- Mikko
 
I wouldn't consider reporting what actually happened flaming. Now if they stand behind thier product that should be reported too.
 
Have you contacted the dealer or manufacturer yet?

If not, please do so before publically flaiming them.


- Mikko

you honestly think after a yr thier gonna send me a new bulb?

I've contacted britek 3 times over the last yr and not once did I get a response.

The first time I contacted them was because the soft box rods went rite through the pocket,they never replied. I personally sewd them and added 3 dollars worth of cap nuts to all of them wich solved the problem.
I had just spent 450 bucks for 2 lights and the day I go to use them that happens with brand new soft boxes?

I pull them out about 1 yr later to use again and after an hour one 300 watt bulb goes?
sorry but I am a little ticked off at the moment...probally more at myself for not researching this company since there was plenty of threads on here warning people to stay clear of them!

I will contact them and report back if they ever reply.


oh and I should have worded the thread different,I did not mean it to sound like rostronic is to blame..Its just where I purchased from.
 
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Put on the lights again today and 2 more bulbs went.Maybe theres something wrong with the lights themselves?

This is my first set of lights so maybe someone can tell me whats going on. First the bulb or fixture smokes a tiny bit well making a buzzing noise then the bulb flickers like its taking its last breath and finally its out.

I used them no more then 40 hrs, im sure thier supposed to last longer then this.The only thing I Can think of is thier dud bulbs, the fixtures are bad or whomever put the bulbs it used thier oily fingers!


I emailed rostronic, so I report back what he says,

zim
 
Generally, these kinds of fixtures are about as simple as it gets. Unless there's a short of some kind, usually you have to look to the bulb as being the culprit. The fixture wouldn't operate but for a second or so if there were a short. Another possibility would be using a 110v bulb in a 220v circuit would definitely shorten its life to practically nothing or even burn it out immediately. How could that happen? Someone would have mixed up the bulb type at the factory perhaps and it was mislabeled.
 
what were your storage conditions? i could see poor conditions affecting bulb life, or affecting the contacts with the bulbs.

i have mixed feelings about the brand. i've had problems, but i also have some decent lights still.
 
what were your storage conditions? i could see poor conditions affecting bulb life, or affecting the contacts with the bulbs.

i have mixed feelings about the brand. i've had problems, but i also have some decent lights still.


They were stored in the carrying case they came with for about a yr.
 
ok,
rostronic said the bulbs last 50 to 75 hrs that were shipped and I could look into a higher quality bulb then what britek ships.
for some odd reason I thought these bulbs lasted thousands of hrs...

I think in the long run I an gonna sell tese and either make or by some flos..
 
There are a lot of threads on Britek instruments and globe failure. I won't comment on the dealer, but Britek fixtures should not be purchased. The 300/600w dual broad and 300w open face are particularly prone to failure.

The fuses also fail on a regular basis. Most of the 300w globes will go within hours of their first strike.

I've operated everything from Silver Bullets to Jokers to Bardwells (from all three eras) and Moles and Dedos and Altman ProLines and Frezzis and LitePanels and LTM Peppers and have never had globes fail in the instruments the way they do in Britek's.

Fused 300w and 600w lights?! You'll never see me rail against a company the way I do against Britek. But they make such sub-standard, dangerous fixtures that I just can't ignore it.

I've substituted WiKo globes and GE TV globes and they blow just as quickly. "Fixtures are simple devices, there is little that can go wrong that you can't fix" is what people will say whenever one of these Britek threads starts. Globes don't last two hours and then fail during cool-down. In my 300/600w fixtures, you can run both or one and it makes no difference. They failed within ten hours of first strike.

We purchased these as a "solution" for softbox interviews. The real, less expensive solution came when we threw these into the trash and purchased an Arri 650, 300s and 150s with Chimera softboxes and universal speedrings. Buy the bargain Briteks and I guarantee you... you'll quickly pay for your gamble in globes and worse... downtime.

The Britek fixtures are D E F E C T I V E. Don't buy them.

There isn't a nice way to say it and you shouldn't have to wait until your fixture catches fire or blows globes to complain about it publicly.

e
 
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That's about the right lifetime for many Tungsten bulbs. Most types just aren't all that long lasting. There are some longer lasting types, but they will be more expensive and they may not have the correct wattage/socket type to go in your lights.
 
thanks for the link!

Is there a cheap home depot bulb i could use to replace these with?
heres the bulb that my lamp takes 78 mm j type http://www.briteklight.com/1230ha2.html

would these work?http://cgi.ebay.com/10ps-Double-End...ryZ20706QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I will be putting these up for sale on ebay in a few weeks.
for what im using them for, I would be much better off buildind some diy flo's!
 
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The problem isn't the globes. Yes, you can source 250w and 300w globes at Lowes or Home Depot that will also fail in the Briteks. That was what we did before we bought the more expensive WiKo globes - which... wait for it... also failed.

I don't really understand though? You have said that the Briteks are defective, yet you're going to sell them on eBay? Why don't you return the fixtures for a refund?

If the dealer we bought from didn't make it so difficult (we were told we had to go to Britek, despite the fact that the fixtures were days old), we would have returned ours. Britek told us it was fuses, faulty globes and eventually suggested operator error.

e
 
The problem isn't the globes. Yes, you can source 250w and 300w globes at Lowes or Home Depot that will also fail in the Briteks. That was what we did before we bought the more expensive WiKo globes - which... wait for it... also failed.

I don't really understand though? You have said that the Briteks are defective, yet you're going to sell them on eBay? Why don't you return the fixtures for a refund?

If the dealer we bought from didn't make it so difficult (we were told we had to go to Britek, despite the fact that the fixtures were days old), we would have returned ours. Britek told us it was fuses, faulty globes and eventually suggested operator error.

e
I purchased them about a yr ago from rostronic and used them once when I first got them. For the last week I have been using them daily , so I put on about 60 hrs and It looks like the bulbs just burned out.

So at this point it looks like I need new bulbs and the fixtures work fine(I could be wrong), so if i get new bulbs and they work well for another 200 hrs(through several bulb replacements or so) then I will sell them on ebay for about half of what I paid for them.

another thing about britek is the soft boxes are made like crap ,I had to reinforce every corner pocket by sewing them after 4 out of 8 pedestals went right through the the pockets by the second time I put them together. Then remove the thin plastic piece they put on the steel pedestals replacing them with 2 dollars worth of capnuts from home depot.


This company could not spend 2 dollars and make a much more solid softbox?
 
60 hours is better, closer to the rated life for this type of globe. I actually like their softboxes, though they do unfortunately require some upkeep. It pays to know how to sew.

e
 
60 hours is better, closer to the rated life for this type of globe. I actually like their softboxes, though they do unfortunately require some upkeep. It pays to know how to sew.

e
Is the globe what burns these bulbs out in 60 hrs or is it the bulb itself , because the one I picked up from home depot says it last 1500 hrs.
 
i have a 5 piece britek filmmaker kit two 650's two 1000's and one 350 the 350 does not work as it has blown every fuse and bulb --five in total the 650's have blown six bulbs and the 1000's just two bulbs now that might not sound so awful except that this all transpired within the first three hours of my owning this filmmaker dream kit oh and for a little insult to injury two of the stands also failed kind of liked the softboxes though
 
Also, even in quality fixtures, tungsten lamps are typically rate for hundreds of hours, not thousands. And handling or moving the fixtures during cooldown will often cause them to fail, regardless of fixture. But I have no experience with Britek personally so I can't speak to any brand-specific issues.
 
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