LANDSCAPE LIGHTING WORLD® FORUMS

Scotty Mini (Correction: FAT BOY MINI) only working with 3w bulbs

Discussion in 'Ask the Landscape Lighting Experts' started by Craiggers1227, Nov 21, 2024.

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  1. Craiggers1227

    Craiggers1227 New Member

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    I have a couple Scotty (Correction: FAT BOY) mini fixtures mixed in a landscape area with a number of cheaper and some expensive, but older fixtures. For some reason, only 3w bulbs will work in them. I have tried a variety of other MR16 bulbs in them, but nothing over 3w will work. The line should have ample power capacity, and I to test this, I put higher wattage bulbs in other several fixtures and all worked fine. I had hoped to start swapping out the other fixtures with the Scotty (Correction: FAT BOY) minis, but I am now thinking twice about this. Any thoughts or suggestions? - Thanks!
     
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2024
  2. Mesodude2

    Mesodude2 Well-Known Member

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    Hi, Craiggers. The only lamp options VOLT lists for the Scotty mini are VOLT’s own 2W and 4W MR11. As I understand it, those are the only lamps that are guaranteed to work with that fixture model. You might find that some competitors’ lamps will “work” in the fixture. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s safe or advisable to use such bulbs with your VOLT products and doing so could potentially void your warranty (because you’re technically using the fixture in a way that it wasn’t intended to be used). HTH
     
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  3. Craiggers1227

    Craiggers1227 New Member

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    Thanks Meso. I mistakenly typed the wrong style in my posting. The fixtures I am having trouble with are FAT BOY MINI'S, not Scotty's (sorry for the confusion!) The standard bulb Volt shows when you order a Fat Boy Mini is a 5w MR16 (see screen shot below), so I don't understand what the issue is.
    Additional Info: The issue started when I put green and red 5w MR16's in the fixtures to give the wall they are lighting a Christmas look. The bulbs wouldn't work, and after that only 3w bulbs worked.

    upload_2024-11-21_16-15-24.png
     
  4. Mesodude2

    Mesodude2 Well-Known Member

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    Hey, Craiggers. Thanks for the clarification. My feedback above remains essentially the same. For the Fatboy mini, the only options you’re presented when customizing the fixture are VOLT’s 5W ABA bulb, or 2W, 3W, 5W, or 7W bulbs and color changing bulbs. It’s possible that the single colored bulbs might be incompatible with the fixture (which could possibly explain why they aren’t presented as an option) but I think you might want to contact customer service to both confirm this and also to troubleshoot. Without knowing more about your system (transformer capacity, wiring method, etc), I don’t want to further speculate what might have caused the issue with your fixtures. HTH
     
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  5. Craiggers1227

    Craiggers1227 New Member

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    Thanks again Meso! I ordered the Fat Boy Mini's from Amazon (same product but free express shipping). No bulb is included in Amazon's Fat Boy Mini configuration, but the fixtures are shipped directly from Volt. I guess I don't understand the proprietary bulb requirement since the Amazon Fat Boy Mini product specs say: "LAMP READY - Uses LED MR16 or halogen lamps (not included) rated up to 30 watts".

    I really appreciate your help. I will take your suggestion and contact customer service.
     
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  6. Mesodude2

    Mesodude2 Well-Known Member

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    You are welcome and I hope you’re able to resolve the issue. With VOLT products being sold across so many different platforms, I suspect product descriptions and other literature aren’t always kept current. For instance, halogen and incandescent bulbs are essentially obsolete. Again, hopefully VOLT can help you troubleshoot sucessessfully.