This is the inside of a kid's hanging night-light that shines planets
& stars over the room. It started acting flakey & I figured out that
there was a bad connection behind the G4 holder itself, so I removed
it, bought a replacement (disc with 2 slots & wires coming off the
back), & figured I could chop a bit off & solder the new lampholder
onto the good cable.

http://www.ducksburg.com/diy/20131202_G4.jpg

Well, I chopped about 1 cm off with a rotary tool & found cruddy
wires. I chopped another cm off, & found more of the same. Any
suggestions as to why they are corroding or how to approach this are
welcome. (Otherwise, I'll just chop off some of the wider piece &
keep going.)

Thanks.

In article ,
Adam Funk writes:
This is the inside of a kid's hanging night-light that shines planets
& stars over the room. It started acting flakey & I figured out that
there was a bad connection behind the G4 holder itself, so I removed
it, bought a replacement (disc with 2 slots & wires coming off the
back), & figured I could chop a bit off & solder the new lampholder
onto the good cable.

http://www.ducksburg.com/diy/20131202_G4.jpg

Well, I chopped about 1 cm off with a rotary tool & found cruddy
wires. I chopped another cm off, & found more of the same. Any
suggestions as to why they are corroding or how to approach this are
welcome. (Otherwise, I'll just chop off some of the wider piece &
keep going.)

My guess would be the use of cable which is unsuitable for the
temperature, and the insulation is breaking down into components
which include something corrosive.

I've never bought anything with a G4 fitting in it (the poor
efficiency would put me off), but high temperature ceramic
fittings normally have tails attached with high temperature
cable, as stranded copper with PVC insulation would fail.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On 02/12/2013 12:59, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
Adam Funk writes:
This is the inside of a kid's hanging night-light that shines planets
& stars over the room. It started acting flakey & I figured out that
there was a bad connection behind the G4 holder itself, so I removed
it, bought a replacement (disc with 2 slots & wires coming off the
back), & figured I could chop a bit off & solder the new lampholder
onto the good cable.

http://www.ducksburg.com/diy/20131202_G4.jpg

Well, I chopped about 1 cm off with a rotary tool & found cruddy
wires. I chopped another cm off, & found more of the same. Any
suggestions as to why they are corroding or how to approach this are
welcome. (Otherwise, I'll just chop off some of the wider piece &
keep going.)

My guess would be the use of cable which is unsuitable for the
temperature, and the insulation is breaking down into components
which include something corrosive.



+1.

You do, occasionally, find bits of old PVC flex where the copper (after
stripping the insulation) is almost black for a good number of
centimetres from the open end. More common in "damp" environments like
outside lights, but not exclusively. I have always assumed it's caused
by poor manufacturing.

Yes, thinking the same. I saw one which had some almost unbendable stuff on
the inside of the lamp and that itself terminated some ing ches of the hard
cable later in a conventional connection block inside the housing. In this
case it was a pretend oil lamp but did get quite hot!

I'm assuming the smi rigid extensions were high temp cable.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Adam Funk writes:
This is the inside of a kid's hanging night-light that shines planets
& stars over the room. It started acting flakey & I figured out that
there was a bad connection behind the G4 holder itself, so I removed
it, bought a replacement (disc with 2 slots & wires coming off the
back), & figured I could chop a bit off & solder the new lampholder
onto the good cable.

http://www.ducksburg.com/diy/20131202_G4.jpg

Well, I chopped about 1 cm off with a rotary tool & found cruddy
wires. I chopped another cm off, & found more of the same. Any
suggestions as to why they are corroding or how to approach this are
welcome. (Otherwise, I'll just chop off some of the wider piece &
keep going.)

My guess would be the use of cable which is unsuitable for the
temperature, and the insulation is breaking down into components
which include something corrosive.

I've never bought anything with a G4 fitting in it (the poor
efficiency would put me off), but high temperature ceramic
fittings normally have tails attached with high temperature
cable, as stranded copper with PVC insulation would fail.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Actually that black effect happens to most wire eventually. I have a long
bit of pvc wire as an aerial and it too is kind of sticky and black when
stripped, but aan be soldered if cleaned up a buit. I'm not sure of the
mechanism, but heat cold and dampness obviously do not help, nor does the
sun, not applicable in your case I suspect. My suggestion eithe way is a new
bit of cable, and possible if there is room a short bit of high temp stuff
to a block inside first.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"newshound" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 02/12/2013 12:59, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
Adam Funk writes:
This is the inside of a kid's hanging night-light that shines planets
& stars over the room. It started acting flakey & I figured out that
there was a bad connection behind the G4 holder itself, so I removed
it, bought a replacement (disc with 2 slots & wires coming off the
back), & figured I could chop a bit off & solder the new lampholder
onto the good cable.

http://www.ducksburg.com/diy/20131202_G4.jpg

Well, I chopped about 1 cm off with a rotary tool & found cruddy
wires. I chopped another cm off, & found more of the same. Any
suggestions as to why they are corroding or how to approach this are
welcome. (Otherwise, I'll just chop off some of the wider piece &
keep going.)

My guess would be the use of cable which is unsuitable for the
temperature, and the insulation is breaking down into components
which include something corrosive.



+1.

You do, occasionally, find bits of old PVC flex where the copper (after
stripping the insulation) is almost black for a good number of centimetres
from the open end. More common in "damp" environments like outside lights,
but not exclusively. I have always assumed it's caused by poor
manufacturing.

On 2013-12-02, Andrew Gabriel wrote:

In article ,
Adam Funk writes:
This is the inside of a kid's hanging night-light that shines planets
& stars over the room. It started acting flakey & I figured out that
there was a bad connection behind the G4 holder itself, so I removed
it, bought a replacement (disc with 2 slots & wires coming off the
back), & figured I could chop a bit off & solder the new lampholder
onto the good cable.

http://www.ducksburg.com/diy/20131202_G4.jpg

Well, I chopped about 1 cm off with a rotary tool & found cruddy
wires. I chopped another cm off, & found more of the same. Any
suggestions as to why they are corroding or how to approach this are
welcome. (Otherwise, I'll just chop off some of the wider piece &
keep going.)

My guess would be the use of cable which is unsuitable for the
temperature, and the insulation is breaking down into components
which include something corrosive.

I think you're right. It doesn't show well on the photo I provided,
but I slit the whitish covering (that looks like the heat-resistant
sleeving you often get with light fittings) & there is a gap between
that and the cruddy copper where non-heat-resistant insulation might
have been. I'm surprised that this problem happened with just 20Â*W
hanging in the middle of a reasonably large ball of air, but I'm
wondering now how to fix it properly.


I've never bought anything with a G4 fitting in it (the poor
efficiency would put me off), but high temperature ceramic
fittings normally have tails attached with high temperature
cable, as stranded copper with PVC insulation would fail.

I think the tails on the G4 holder I've bought have something printed
on them. I'll copy that down & look it up.

On 2013-12-07, Adam Funk wrote:

On 2013-12-02, Andrew Gabriel wrote:

My guess would be the use of cable which is unsuitable for the
temperature, and the insulation is breaking down into components
which include something corrosive.

I think you're right. It doesn't show well on the photo I provided,
but I slit the whitish covering (that looks like the heat-resistant
sleeving you often get with light fittings) & there is a gap between
that and the cruddy copper where non-heat-resistant insulation might
have been. I'm surprised that this problem happened with just 20Â*W
hanging in the middle of a reasonably large ball of air, but I'm
wondering now how to fix it properly.

I've never bought anything with a G4 fitting in it (the poor
efficiency would put me off), but high temperature ceramic
fittings normally have tails attached with high temperature
cable, as stranded copper with PVC insulation would fail.

I think the tails on the G4 holder I've bought have something printed
on them. I'll copy that down & look it up.

OK, the tails on the G4 holder say "300/500V 180°C" --- that should be
good enough?


(In full, "HAO CHENG ELEC.APPL.WIRE & CABLE CO. LTD. Nr 40017754 VDE
300/500V 180°C H055K 1X0.75mm2")