Life expectancy of low energy light bulbs

[Steve Jones]

Hi,

I've been buying low energy bulbs from Wilkinsons for some time now.

I've become so suspicious of there life expectancy that I started to mark the purchase date on the base of the bulb.

I've just has one fail after five months. If it was on for 24/7 this only amounts to 3600 hours. The bulb was in the bathroom so I'd only expect it to be on for 4 hours/day or less. So it's failed after about 600 hours.

A standard filament bulb has a life expectancy of 1000 hours and it only costs 20p, not two quid.

Am I just unlucky, do they really last six times longer - as advertised?

Steve.

[Andy R]

I've got various different makes around the house and although I've not studied it to the degree you have I've noticed some big differences in life. I've got one in the downstairs loo which I'd expected to pack up ages ago cos it gets switched on and off umpteen times a day but still it keeps going yet I've had others that have had very little use and die prematurely.

Ive got an ancient one on the landing which in winter gets switched on when we get up at 6.00 in the morning and no-one ever bothers to switch it off til the last person goes to bed at night. It's gone a bit black at the edges and takes ages to get bright but I suspect it'll last for ever.

Rgds

Andy R

[Andrew Gabriel]

Take it back and get a replacement. I've no idea what make Wilkinsons stock, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's one I never heard of before;-)

Generally, if you buy really cheap ones, you shouldn't be surprised to find you have the lowest quality. I have been pleasently surprised by the cheap IKEA ones though -- I bought a lot of them nearly 5 years ago and so far just had one early failure and the rest all still working. (The bathroom one has outlasted two bathroom fan motors actually. ;-) At the time, IKEA was about the cheapest source, but there are now many other equally cheap sources. OTOH, the ones IKEA now stock are not the same types, so I don't know that you can necessarily make assumptions about their current range.

Well, most of the cost is the electricity, not the 20p.

[bigcat]

expect it

advertised?

Some brands dont meet their claimed lifetimes. But early failures are relatively common with cfls. As long as only a minority fail, that in itself doesnt invalidate the average life claims. Some can go on way beyond claimed ave life times: there are still cfls over 20 years old still going.

Was yours in an enclosed fitting? That will make a difference by driving temp right up.

NT

[Christian McArdle]

I have used low energy bulbs exclusively since 1996. During that time, only

2 bulbs have reached the end of their life and stopped working, both of which were old style mechanical starter types. All other failures have been due to mechanical damage (trodden on, or water leaks) or obvious manufacturing/transportation fault (i.e. they stop working within a couple of hours).

I find they last far in excess of the claimed.

Perhaps you should stop buying the Wilkinsons ones.

Christian.

[Andy Dingley]

Try Lidl. They're made by some recognisable brand name (I forget which), they're bright, they're lasting well and best of all they have really fast warm-up at switch on.

[Tim Mitchell]

In article , Christian McArdle writes

They really don't like being turned on and off a lot, so that might be part of the problem.

[Ian Stirling]

Were these the ones with really skinny tubes? I had one early failure (started flickering at 2 hours) due to the bulb being missasembled, and a couple of resistors shorting out, and needing re-bent.

[Colin]

I have always suspected that the children jumping up and down on the floor above a light fitting causes bulbs to fail prematurely.

(BTW: Screwfix have on several occasions replaced my bulbs free of charge after they have failed early.)

[Andy Dingley]

Fairly skinny. The 21W has three "hairpin" loops. Made by Osram. I've got four of them in service, two of which are on pretty much continually and are now about 2 years old.

[Steve Jones]

Yes, they seem to light up faster than the fat tube version.

I must have bought twenty of these over the past two years and have replaced about six so far.

Steve.

[Mike]

Have you measured your voltage. Some brands didn't use to like anything much above 240-ish volts but this problem seems to have gone away recently.

[Vera]

The ones with a slow warm-up at switch on are perfect for bedside lamps - much easier on the eyes first thing in the morning!

[brugnospamsia]

this doesn't bode well for my plan to use them on my bicycle. I can see I'll have to go to town on the rubber mounting ...

=======================

[Tim Mitchell]

In article , brugnospamsia writes

that long mains cable is going to keep tangling up as well

[brugnospamsia]

lol :-)

I'll have to watch I don't exceed the maximum permitted brightness - I bought a 9 watt super twist for a reading lamp and it's too bright ...

I currently use a 12 volt 21 watt incandescent front and back and a 12 volt

7A/H battery.