Track Lighting

Sept'2004: We bought the Tech Trak (T~Trak) system from Tech Lighting. Techlighting sucks.

We chose low-voltage Firefrost http://www.techlighting.com/products.asp?PCID=0&CID=64&HID=593 |pendants Bought it through Lighting By Gregory, a discounter in the NYC Lighting District. They don't offer any service, they just order it from the manufacturer and then ship it along to you. Dealt with "Eileen" she was pretty good at explaining some of the options/details (e.g. transformer options), though I had put together an entire bill of materials in advance.

With a low-voltage system, you need a transformer to drop the voltage down. Your options are:

• surface: big transformer in the junction box - this wasn't possible for us, because you then have to have the rail directly beneath the box, and we wanted to shift the dining table over 6 inches (and with concrete ceilings, we didn't feel like moving the box)

• remote transformer: again, with solid walls no good place to put such a thing

• flexible power feed with small transformer for each pendant where it attaches to the track. A bit less attractive, but the only real option for us.

The contractor spent hours getting the system to work, mainly between getting the 4 pendant wires the same length and getting them to actually work. They said that low-voltage systems always drive them nuts.

Then, the first night, one of the pendants went out. The way it faded out over seconds, after it had been on for a few minutes, rather than flashing out at the moment it was turned on, makes me believe that the contact is not being made.

I tried fixing it without success. - HowTo

• the wire has a woven sheathing around it. At first I thought this was purely aesthetic, then realized it's actually a co-ax. So I had to make sure it was getting up inside the connector far enough to reach the lower set-screw.

• looking at the drawing, I see the contractor probably shouldn't have stripped off the clear insulation (for the last 1/4").

Call manufacturer for more info

• they confirm best to not strip the tip. I may clip that, but it will shorten the wire even more, and Jihi is already talking about wanting it lower.

• also they said to make sure (a) the sheath is reaching the lower set-screw, and (b) that set-screw shouldn't be so tight that it punctures the insulation underneath.

If "we" want to lower the pendants, of course I need new wires. Except they only sell the whole connector assembly (at $35 each!), and I have to order them through the bloody retailer again!

• so that's what I did, and cut them all to a matching longer length, and got them working.

Nov'2005

One of the pendants has gone dark.

Went and bought replacement bulb.

• it seems a bit dimmer than the other units. Ugh, am I going to have replace all 4 bulbs at one time so they "match" better?

• double-ugh, that unit keeps going dark. Sometimes I'll get it working (last time that was by pulling out the bulb, then putting it in less tightly), then at some point in time, while it's turned on, that lamp will fade to black.

Called their tech-support:

• no, shouldn't see a difference in brightness across bulbs, they should be consistent

• combination of symptoms suggests maybe problem with ($35) connector assembly, maybe something is arcing in there and getting hot, then loosening to lose connection (which causes fade-out); and dimness is due to loss of conductivity in the contacts from that same problem - extreme heat changing the nature of the material.

So I'll take my spare assembly and try that one out...

Swapped, and it didn't help. And in the process, I put the new wire/socket (and it's matched male top-socket) into a different slot at the top - and it's that new location that's now going out. So the transformer doesn't seem to be an issue.

Called again, turfed to "Kelly".

• they're sending me 2 new wire/socket assemblies, plus 1 male/top socket

• I'll send them the old pair for their investigation

Maybe I should go buy 4 new bulbs from a single source.

I got the new assemblies. Before I had a chance to swap everything, during one of my bulb-jiggling sessions, the whole pendant assembly smashed to the floor (this was Dec21). http://www.flickr.com/photos/webseitz/103408397/ http://static.flickr.com/32/103408397_6d7246155f_t.jpg

So now I'm trying to get the whole pendant replaced at now cost.

• no dice, they don't consider the breakage to be their fault

Sept'2008

Problem starting again.

Luckily I have a spare wire-socket assembly from last time. Still, cutting these to match the length exactly is a huge pain.

Feb'2009: ordered 3 more wire assemblies from Light Ology. Their part# is 287coxfic. No shipping charge or tax.