"Steve Henderson" wrote in message
...
We just finished a complete kitchen rehab, and used the little peanut
halogen lamps under the new cabinets. I love the way the look, but they
are blowing on a regular basis. YES, I know not to touch them with bare
fingers or anything else with any oil on them, but they keep blowing.
They're hard to replace, too. And, to replace them altogether is not a
good option - there's lots of thick granite in the way now. So, I got to
thinking that maybe an electronic component inline with the (single) wall
switch that turns them on could start "softly" when I turn on the switch
so as to avoid the big start surge. That's when they always blow, so I
know it's hard on them. So far, I've replaced at least everyone of them. I
have 6, and they've only been installed since October. I know I could put
in a dimmer switch that would do it, but I don't have much room in that
switch box, and would rather not do that. Anyway, others in the family
would probably go right to ON instead of "turning it up".

Any ideas? Looking for a component that I could wire in that would "clamp"
the starting voltage for a second or so, then allow the full voltage to
come thru in a "ramp up" manner.

Steve Henderson

Unfortunately, so-called soft starting doesn't help bulb life much -- a few
hours at most -- according to the data that I've seen. It's more likely
that you have some bad bulbs. I hope you replaced the failed bulbs with
high-quality name brand bulbs. That's the best way to ensure rated bulb
life and at least you can complain with some hope of replacements if there
is a problem.

It's an urban legend that bulb life of halogen lamps is shortened by finger
oil. The surface of the bulb may degrade somewhat where dirt and oil react
with the quartz; but that doesn't affect bulb life only the appearance of
the bulb.

TKM