Author Topic: "Rough service" lightbulbs  (Read 6058 times)

Biggsy

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Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #25 on: 27 October, 2012, 01:13:50 pm »
I've had a few CFLs fail too - within 2 to 4 years, major brands included, from reputable suppliers.

I don't mind CFLs for bedside table lamps, but they're crap for main room lights in terms of colour and brightness.  I use a combination of one LED bulb and one CFL in my home office/workshop that together just about satisfies, but still it's not as good as a conventional 100W bulb, except for saving energy.  The white LED on its own is great for supplementing daylight though.

(A strip light would be good, but I don't fancy fitting it/having it fitted).
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hellymedic

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Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #26 on: 27 October, 2012, 01:17:55 pm »
My CFLs have come from several sources but no market stalls.

Kim

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Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #27 on: 27 October, 2012, 01:56:15 pm »
I must say, this is the first house where I've been able to get away with a (high spec) CFL in the kitchen.  Previously I'd found that, in the absence of proper fluorescent fittings, a 150W tungsten bulb was the bare minimum for doing non-crap washing up.  Especially in the house where all the surfaces were brown.

This is mostly down to rented houses with no thought put in to functional kitchen design, though.

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #28 on: 27 October, 2012, 08:19:08 pm »
I do think full-size fluorescent strips give much better light than CFLs. We had them in most rooms in India, they're the standard domestic fitting there.

Coincidentally, today my son's LED Winnie-the-Pooh night light has failed. It has 12 tiny LEDs, each one is 0.06W - they can't all have failed at once so it must be some electron-magic breakage in the voltage transformer or something. It doesn't matter in this case, he's old enough to do without it anyway, but it would be annoying if that happened in a main light. Well, so is a blown bulb!

Sadly its a bit like buying bikes and bits, you could just walk in Halfords or Argos and buy a bike, and well, it'd be a bike, but crappy.  Or you could make a bit of effort and get a decent one.
And therein the problem, or part of it. We - YACFers - know a good bike from a bad one, and if forced to ride a Halfords special, know what to expect - but who wants to be a lightbulb expert?
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

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Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #29 on: 27 October, 2012, 08:22:44 pm »
It's not a bulb, it's a lamp.  And don't touch it!    ;D

Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #30 on: 27 October, 2012, 08:30:24 pm »
I've had many CFL failures over the years (in a normal domestic setting) - from Ikea bulbs to more expensive ones like GE & Philips, etc. We did have wobbly mains in the last house which may have had something to do with it, but I certainly got nothing like 10 years out of a bulb.

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #31 on: 27 October, 2012, 08:57:22 pm »
It's not a bulb, it's a lamp.  And don't touch it!    ;D
If that's referring to the LED thing - I know, and I know! We're baking apple cake tomorrow (maybe plum, possibly both) there's some for you when you fettle it! Right out of Temple Meads, cross the river, up the hill, we're expecting you armed with crazy tools and obscure knowledge!  :D Or we'll have to eat all the cake ourselves!  ;D
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

hellymedic

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Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #32 on: 27 October, 2012, 08:58:01 pm »
Whereas some of the incandescents that were here when I took over this house on 15/11/1999 still work...

Kim

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Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #33 on: 27 October, 2012, 11:10:30 pm »
It's not a bulb, it's a lamp.  And don't touch it!    ;D
If that's referring to the LED thing - I know, and I know!

Nahh, it was a follow-up to the line about being a lightbulb expert.

Like many on this forum, I know an unhealthy amount about stage lighting, and that's the canonical answer to the age old question of how many theatre techs it takes to change a lightbulb...

LEE

Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #34 on: 27 October, 2012, 11:15:36 pm »
I have to say that the most recent CFL bulb I bought gets up to max brightness very very quickly (almost instant) compared to those I bought a few years ago. So much so I am now happy to put them in bathroom light fittings, where I really don't want to have to wait the necessary time for it to get bright enough to see.

I am now experimenting with LED replacements for my 240v halogen bulbs in the kitchen ceiling, the one I have tried so far is great for brightness but a little bit too blue. I am limited by it needing to fit flush in the fitting so cannot be any longer than a standard 50W GU10.

The "Warm" LEDs I have from LEDHUT are pretty good, not too blue.  Expensive though.

Get the 45degree spots though, the 3x1W LEDS. 

I have the 20LED 120deg "spots" in my office where they give a softer, wider illumination.

Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #35 on: 28 October, 2012, 01:58:27 am »
I've still yet to find a CFL or LED that is really as bright as a conventional 100W bulb, let alone one with an acceptable colour.
I've just replaced a 150W filament bulb by a CFL that does a fairly good job, once it's warmed up.
It's a nice warm colour (2700K), and is 46W, which just goes to show what a joke the standard 11W CFL = 60W filament equivalence is.
It remains to be seen how long it lasts.

Wombat

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Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #36 on: 28 October, 2012, 10:13:23 am »
I do think full-size fluorescent strips give much better light than CFLs. We had them in most rooms in India, they're the standard domestic fitting there.

Couldn't agree more.

And therein the problem, or part of it. We - YACFers - know a good bike from a bad one, and if forced to ride a Halfords special, know what to expect - but who wants to be a lightbulb expert?
[/quote]

I do! (to each, his own...)
Wombat

Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #37 on: 29 October, 2012, 08:17:05 am »
If CFL failure were so unusual, there would not be two people report it on this thread. I suspect we're not alone.
I keep giving CFLs a chance, despite getting miserable from their crap colour rendition.
They do not redeem themselves.
+1 reporting failures. I think the last one to go was an ikea one.
Too many angry people - breathe & relax.

Biggsy

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Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #38 on: 29 October, 2012, 08:26:24 am »
This is the LED "bulb" I have that's really good for supplementing daylight:

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200755048519 - Day White version.  (It's not a bright as a conventional 100W; the Warm White dimmer still).
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Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #39 on: 29 October, 2012, 11:40:08 am »
We've had one CFL fail for no apparent reason - just went "pop" (literally).  Possibly overheat, as it was mounted horizontally in a closed ceiling fitting. or just an early MTBF fail.

Others (older) have failed, but usually it seemed to do with the base of the tube getting full of dead insects causing overheating.  The recent (2 years old) batch of Phillips "Tornado" or somesuch have been very good (with the exception of the one that went pop), and don't suffer from the insect issue. They also give a suffucuency of instant light, although they do still take a while to get to full brightness. These are 23W / 100W equivalent.

The acid test is that my wife will tolerate one in her bedside lamp for reading by. Earlier versions were unacceptable and I have a stock of 100w incandescents just in case.

The bulbs that fail fastest are the GU10 50W halogens in the kitchen. At least 2 a year (out of 9)
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #40 on: 29 October, 2012, 01:15:08 pm »
If CFL failure were so unusual, there would not be two people report it on this thread. I suspect we're not alone.
I keep giving CFLs a chance, despite getting miserable from their crap colour rendition.
They do not redeem themselves.
I had a couple fail in the last year. That is, a couple out of a number well into double figures. I had to hunt around to find the spares, because I hadn't needed to for so long.

One was ancient. The replacement (not new: been sitting around for ages) is half the size. The other one (also old, though not as ancient) failed when the light switch went futz. In general, I've found they last a very long time. They dim gradually, but when they do I move them into places where I want less light.

[edit]I just had a look round. I have several CFLs old enough to be conspicuously larger than the newer (still years old) ones. And still, one 40W incandescent bulb that stubbornly refuses to die, in a passageway where it's on & off a lot & never on for long.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #41 on: 29 October, 2012, 02:14:16 pm »
Am I the only sad git who saves the boxes of long life light bulbs with the receipt attached so if they break in less than the guaranteed 5 years or whatever I can take it back?

Biggsy

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Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #42 on: 29 October, 2012, 02:22:48 pm »
Am I the only sad git sensible person who saves the boxes of long life light bulbs with the receipt attached so if they break in less than the guaranteed 5 years or whatever I can take it back?

Yes.
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Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #43 on: 29 October, 2012, 02:29:32 pm »
Am I the only sad git who saves the boxes of long life light bulbs with the receipt attached so if they break in less than the guaranteed 5 years or whatever I can take it back?

No.   I do this with most things.

Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #44 on: 29 October, 2012, 05:58:02 pm »
Had CFLs fail, but they claimed a life of 8000 hours and I reckon a living room light can rack that up in 3 or 4 years.

Previously bought 40w CFLs from BLT to replace 200w tungstens, at over £20 each, but they no longer seem to offer bayonet fitting versions. So have just bought 3 x 46w much cheaper from here: http://www.energylightbulbs.co.uk/products/46w-spiral-energy-saving-bulb-b22

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #45 on: 29 October, 2012, 06:22:50 pm »
Am I the only sad git who saves the boxes of long life light bulbs with the receipt attached so if they break in less than the guaranteed 5 years or whatever I can take it back?
It's the sensible side of sad, or maybe the sad side of sensible, I'm not sure. I don't do it but very occasionally I wish I did. I heard something a receipt-saving app, or maybe it was cloud-based data, or somesuch, recently. Did anyone else catch that - what was it? Cos if I did save receipts they'd only meld with the clutter!
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: "Rough service" lightbulbs
« Reply #46 on: 31 October, 2012, 06:25:25 pm »
I save receipts.  I save them in pockets, shopping bags, my purse, lingering about on the kitchen worktop....

It's not really saving though, it's more like being too untidy to chuck them out.
If I had a baby elephant, it could help me wash the car. If I had a car.

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