**new home help - lots of bad lightolier fixtures. pics attached!

9 years ago

This is probably a long shot, but figured IÃ¯Â¿Â½d try to get some answers on this forum. IÃ¯Â¿Â½m no expert when it comes to lighting or electrical. Just your average home owner.

I recently moved into a house built in Ã¯Â¿Â½83. I havenÃ¯Â¿Â½t counted, but IÃ¯Â¿Â½m sure there are over 100 recessed lights throughout. Most are 6" plus. A lot of them work, but there are a good number that do not. IÃ¯Â¿Â½d REALLY like to fix those that arenÃ¯Â¿Â½t working because it just looks crappy and it bothers me. I uploaded some pics with callouts below - hoping that helps!

There are two above the fireplace and one is out. I tried replacing the bulb several times. It did flicker at first and then went out. IÃ¯Â¿Â½ve read about the thermal couplers. I don't think it's that bc it's not and on/off thing - it went out completely after I screwed it in really well. Next I bought a tester (the small "wand kind" that you point at what you want to test). It gave me kind of intermittent reading on the one not working. If I stuck the end of it all the way into the socket I got a small response - but nothing like on the good light, which gave a good reading as soon it got near the socket.

So, not knowing much about recessed lighting, I decided to remove the inner trim and then tried to remove the fixture. I was only able to get it drop out of the ceiling about 2" (after pushing ball on brackets in). I didnÃ¯Â¿Â½t want to break anything so I eventually put it back in place. I found a Lightolier sticker. After searching and it doesnÃ¯Â¿Â½t look like these housings can be removed.

Now to my questionsÃ¯Â¿Â½

First off, do these fixtures go bad on their own? If so, is it a common thing?

If I eliminate bad bulbs, bad switch and the sockets are giving me a "no good" reading, do I assume the fixture itself is bad? If that's case, what are my options for replacement?

I was told that you can cut the wires and push the can up into the ceiling and retrofit. Is this true? Can anyone provide some insight or a how-to on this?

Are there better options? I simply want the lights to work. Any help is GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

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Comments (3)

mattpete
9 years ago
It looks like you have a Lightolier 1129 adjustable reflector trim (see links below). I have experience with Lightlier fixtures, but not this specific model.

My hunch is that the weak point is where the trim plugs into the socket cup (see the righthand side of the second page of the IS_1105.pdf below, figures K and L). Lightolier fixtures use a socket cup that clips onto the reflector *and* contains the bulb socket. However, on the adjustable trim (yours), the bulb does not plug directly into the socket cup, but instead plugs into a separate bulb socket which has some leads that plug into the socket cup. My guess is that this might need some retightening (by hand).

By the way, you can probably twist and pull the entire fixture out of the ceiling (it's held in by friction clips around the perimeter). The fixture will be somewhat L-shaped, so it won't be a straight-down pull, but will require tilting it at the end. Pulling out probably won't be necessary if it's only a loose connection with the socket cup.

***Here are some good pictures on Ebay showing what the fixture looks like. The fourth picture is particularly good, as it shows the socket that screws into the socket cup. That big hole that the socket wires are coming out of is where the socket cup clips onto the fixture.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lightolier-1129WH-Recessed-Incandescent-Lytecaster-Light-Reflector-Trim-/151437517101?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0amp;hash=item234261212d

****Lightlier documentation below:

http://www.lightolier.com/MKACatpdfs/1129.PDF

http://www.lightolier.com/MKACatinstr/IS_1105.PDF

http://www.lightolier.com/products/index.jsp?CATREL_ID=21031&CAT_ID=24316
Brandon_79
Original Author
9 years ago
Hopefully it is just a loose connection. I'll take a look and follow up with what I find.

Thanks a ton for the info and links!!!
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Brandon_79
Original Author
9 years ago
SUCCESS! Thanks a ton mattpete! Your info really helped!

I was able to twist the housing and pull it out of the ceiling. The separate bulb socket was actually pretty snug (not loose like you were thinking). Next, I got the tester back out while it was hanging from the ceiling and all was still connected. This time I got a good read. Not sure if the wires were just loose or what? Anyway, so I then unscrewed the separate socket and pulled the whole thing down to take a look. All looked to be in good shape. I also reached my hand up into the ceiling and felt the wires as far back as I could - all that I could reach were intact.
The only conclusion that I could come to, is that the sockets themselves were a little dirty causing a bad connection. I cleaned both with a small brush and slightly damp paper towel. Put both back together and worked just fine!

I read another post where someone suggested spraying electrical connection cleaner into the socket itself. That simple 'fix' worked for him - so I'm hoping that's all I need to do with the rest of the lights that don't work.

The good thing, with being able to remove these from the ceiling, is that can replace fairly easily if need be.

Figured I'd update in case anyone else has the same problem.

Thanks again!