Yes could be Freddy, Loose wires in the junction box of your light fixture (or in the fixture itself) can cause variations in voltage to your bulb. Basically, these variations act like miniature power surges that wear out incandescent, LED and CFL bulbs. Sometimes these loose connections can burn out your bulbs in a matter of days.
Unlikely, the growing area and lamps are separated by a sheet of glass, and none of the other lamps have been affected, which have been there for years.
Well, managed to open it up (yes, there was a certain level of destruction ) and can see nothing obvious wrong. No burn marks, no corrosion, no loose wires. Maybe the blown lamp is just a coincidence?
Ok, overall I was happy with the results. One big downside was that come the end, another two lamps blew (different locations), so three in all. I won’t be bothering with replacements, better off cutting my losses and trying a different form of lighting next year. I’m leaning towards LED’s. What experiences have folks had using these?
I use LED lighting. Looks purply pink but the plants lov it. I run mine from solar powered batteries. Efficient, low running costs.
I have what look like shop lights. I have two indoor areas which are 16 sq ft eac. I use two 4' long units and one 2' long unit in each enclosure and leave a small space u lighted be ause I use it as a place to stand when filling the receptacle for the capillary watering. The "ballasts" hold two strings of LEDs. The larger use 40 watts each, the small only 20. They seem to do the plants very nicely. My chillies have dark green leaves and flowers do well too. I don't know what the lumen rating is but never bothered to find out because they work well as is. My LEDs out in the greenhouses are purely decorative and I change their colours according to seasons. Orange at Halloween, red and green at Christmas, etc. And they automatically turn off at 11 p.m.
Something like this @CanadianLori ? Docooler 72W Plant Grow Strip Light SMD5050 Red Blue 5:1 Hydroponic Grow Light Water Resistant Plant Strip Light Vegetables Herbs Flowers Lamp For Greenhouse Indoor Garden: Amazon.co.uk: Lighting
Yes. Essentially I have 20 ft of those string lights altogether for each area. That's assuming they have the same intensity. @Freddy that loks like a good deal!