Pool light not working...I have tried these things...

Hello,

My pool light is not working. I am not the original owner of the house and it wasn't working when i recently moved in. I am attempting to fix it. Here is what i have done:

1) checked the transformer voltage...good
2) verify 12V at the light socket...good
3) replace bulb with new.

Bulb will not light when turned on momentarily. Thought it might be a bad bulb so i connected it briefly to a 12V lantern battery. works great. plug it back into the socket...nothing...check voltage again with a meter...good 12 V. plug back in the light...nothing.

Sprayed a bit CRC dialectic into the socket and let dry...repeat...nothing.

I am at a loss. i even had the power on and moved the bulb around in the socket thinking that the socket prongs may be loose. nothing.

More info is that the bulb is a plug in style 12V 75W halogen. If i am leaving anything out, please let me know. and please help! i really don't want to replace the fixture cause they aren't cheap as everyone knows.

thanks in advance!

How are you testing the voltage at the fixture?

If you've tested all the things you say correctly, you've pretty much narrowed the problem down to a connection issue between the bulb and the socket -- either a bad socket, a bad bulb or both.

I was in the same boat as you when I bought my house...
Since you got a good test result with a VOM, The only ideas I've got are.

Did you get the wrong size base when you bought a replacement bulb?

There may be something causing a short when you actually put the bulb in the socket.

The metal inside the socket might have corroded causing the bulb to not make good contact. This could be caused by a deposit, or the metal contact being completely corroded away at just the wrong spots. Here's a high res pic of what mine looked like. Since the socket was old and breaking apart, you can see inside it. There are springs that cause the contacts to touch the bulb. If those have corroded away that could cause this problem. https://secure.flickr.com/photos/148...33168/sizes/o/



I replaced the socket on a similar pool light once before. Got it from 1000bulbs dot com for about 3 bucks. I'm sure there's many more places you can order such a socket cheap. In the end I never was able to get the thing to stop leaking so I replaced the whole thing (that's an expensive way to go).

I had the same issue/symptoms as well when I bought my house. The socket, however, was "potted" in black rubber. It could not be replaced, so I too replaced the entire bulb housing.

Just thinking out loud here....
Weak transformer? At idle (no load) gives you 12V. When you put a load on it (bulb), transformer cannot supply the load voltage and goes to 0 or low volts. Is there a way to rig your volt meter and the bulb at the same time? Or maybe try a smaller load, 5 watt bulb?