I am guessing you are talking about a bunch of gu10 50watt halogens. It's not the best way to light a basement. IMO, they should be task lights or spot lighting a feature, not area lighting.
If they are coming back on, they were not burned out. They just lost power. So you most likely have several loose connections up there.
I would start dropping the lights one by one and redoing any wire nut connections. If there are any pushin connectors, I would check those as well. If the fixtures are the $10 dollar "el cheap oh" ones, would probably switch them back on and wiggle every wire to check the factory connections. I would also wiggle the bulb in its socket. Be careful, the bulbs get hot quickly.
If you don't do the systematic check, just start checking the bulbs with an ohm meter before replacing them. If it reads infinity, it's burned out. If you have a low resistance reading ( about 35 ohms plus or minus a bulb at room temp), it's a power loss situation, not the bulb. So, check the connections on that fixture.
Depending on the bulbs you buy, they claim 2000-3000 hours of operation. That would be average life at full power, some will die sooner, some last longer. If you run them dimmed a lot of the time, try putting the bulbs at full power for a few minutes periodically. It will help the life span.
If you use the lights a lot, you will be changing the bulbs a lot. 10 hours a day with 2000 hour bulbs and they should last roughly 200 days or about 6 months. Overtime the burnouts randomize, so if you had 20 fixtures, I would expect 3-4 bulbs a month on average to be going out.
(That's just an example, you can substitute your own numbers/math)
If they are coming back on, they were not burned out. They just lost power. So you most likely have several loose connections up there.
I would start dropping the lights one by one and redoing any wire nut connections. If there are any pushin connectors, I would check those as well. If the fixtures are the $10 dollar "el cheap oh" ones, would probably switch them back on and wiggle every wire to check the factory connections. I would also wiggle the bulb in its socket. Be careful, the bulbs get hot quickly.
If you don't do the systematic check, just start checking the bulbs with an ohm meter before replacing them. If it reads infinity, it's burned out. If you have a low resistance reading ( about 35 ohms plus or minus a bulb at room temp), it's a power loss situation, not the bulb. So, check the connections on that fixture.
Depending on the bulbs you buy, they claim 2000-3000 hours of operation. That would be average life at full power, some will die sooner, some last longer. If you run them dimmed a lot of the time, try putting the bulbs at full power for a few minutes periodically. It will help the life span.
If you use the lights a lot, you will be changing the bulbs a lot. 10 hours a day with 2000 hour bulbs and they should last roughly 200 days or about 6 months. Overtime the burnouts randomize, so if you had 20 fixtures, I would expect 3-4 bulbs a month on average to be going out.
(That's just an example, you can substitute your own numbers/math)
