I installed a 4 * 50 watt halogen light fixture in my kitchen over a year ago. Immediately there after and ever since then, when you have 4 brand new working bulbs in the fixture, one of them will burn out within the first twelve hours. Then a second bulb will burn out maybe a week after the first. Then the two remaining working bulbs will burn for about a month, maybe longer. Then one of those two burns out and leaves just one halogen bulb burning that doesn't seem to ever burn out. This happens like clockwork. I haven't checked the incoming voltage yet but that's my next task. The bulbs I put in are 50 watt, 120 volt flood bulbs so the actual lamp itself is protected from my oily fingers. My guess is that having so many bulbs on at one time is somehow dropping the overall voltage which seems weird to me. My tiny electrical knowledge tells me that the voltage wouldn't drop but the current would increase and either trip a breaker or burn your house down. But since neither has happened I guess I'm wrong there! I'm basically about to replace the entire fixture with a regular incandesent fixture but I really like the look of the halogens and I'm wondering if there is something wrong with my house wiring (house was built in 82). I haven't had any other electrical gremlins (yet). So any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I don't know what lamps you have, but some of the floods will dump the IR radiation to the rear of the lamp. If there is no ventilation at the back, the lamps will fry.

Watch for the orientation preferred for the lamp.

Vibration is very detrimental to lamps.

Halogen lamps that are not operated at full voltage will not allow the Halogen cycle to work and you'll get reduced lifetime.

Lots of burn outs have been traced to a bad lot number at the manufacturer. You go back to the store and essentially get the same lot. Change manufacturer's for the lamp itself.

Insulation above the lamp like in the attic may affect performance. Check the fixture. As I sai, if it can't vent properly, your in trouble because all the heat goes out the rear of the bulb. The reflector may be called a dichroic reflector.

Cool. Thanks for the tips.

Here's the offending fixture:
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/6039/img0601hv.jpg

What comes to mind after seeing the pics is that the bulbs are too high of a wattage for the fixture. See if there is any info on the fixture or even the bottom of the ceiling plate that shows maximum fixture wattage.

You can see if there are LED replacements available for the bulbs or try lowering the wattage.

Thanks. I was thinking it could be something along those lines. It came with four 50 watt bulbs but I'll try something lower and see how that goes.

I have the same trouble I am wondering if it is because cooking greases etc get on the bulbs causing them to burn out faster. Since you aren't supposed to get the oils from your skin on them I would think same goes for cooking oil etc.

Reducing the wattage to a 35W will help, but they too will burn out, just not as fast. I'd recommend replacing them with a LED MR16 lamp. If you need help finding them, let me know where you are and I'll point you in the right direction. You want to find an LED with a CRI of 5000 or 6500 if you want to keep the 'pure white' look of a halogen. The lamps are a little pricey but you will never (40,000 hours) have to replace them.

Problem is your neutral wire having an insecure connection and causing voltage spikes. You are connecting 14/2 solid copper from the house to 16 gauge T-90 stranded in the fixture. The stranded has been pushed off the copper by the marette. Shorten the stripped part of the copper to be half of the stripped part of the T-90 and re-connect securely.