I get light bulbs from ASDA that last from 2 seconds to about 3 months. I have uplighters with 60W bulbs in, there is no heat trapped as the top is open. My outside light bulb has lasted two weeks. It is covered by a 15 inch sphere and is 40W. Last week in put a 40W bulb in a open holder and it lasted 2 seconds.
The common denominator here is that ALL bulbs are made by GE and ALL bulbs were made in Hungary. Why do WE have to subsidise these second rate manufacturing countries. Whatever happened to good old JAP CRAP?
British bulbs used to be good but afaik the last British bulb factory closed some years ago.
If you want a bulb that lasts go for a Philips "ruggedised" bulb, as used in lead lamps. They have more filament supports than a normal bulb and last longer. However, they are more expensive.
So why get them from Asda-Walmart then? Go somewhere where they sell better bulbs.
Incidentally the Osram compact fluos from Lidl have faster switch-on and better initial brightness than any others I've used. I've had a couple of years out of them so far too.
Dunno, AFAIK the Japs never made general service lightbulbs for the UK in quantity.
OTOH lightbulbs have been made in Hungary and sold in the UK under the name of Tungsram since the cold war era. They were probably the premier lightbulb manufacturer in Europe at that time.
They are now owned by GE, but then so is Thorn, the UK equivalent.
Others were Osram and Mazda, not conspicuously *British* names, and Philips.
I think Philip shut down his Gloeilampen Fabrieken a long time ago.
Osram was british, part of GEC, and had a UK factory. GEC sold Osram off sometime in the late 1980's (or could have been as late as very early 1990's, can't quite recall exact date now).
As an employee of another part of GEC, I recall we could suddenly no longer get GEC Osram lamps on staff discount ;-)
Mazda was a registered trade mark of Thorn Lighting in Europe and GE in the US. I don't think it was ever a company. ("Mazda" is the Persion god of light.) Thorn Lighting had their own research and factory in the UK.
In my auntie's house, some of her lightbulbs must be at least 35 years old and still going strong, having survived a house move too. I'm sure that the are British made and are labelled "NCB" (National Coal Board)
| >The common denominator here is that ALL bulbs are made by GE and ALL | >bulbs were made in Hungary. Why do WE have to subsidise these second | >rate manufacturing countries. Whatever happened to good old JAP CRAP? |=20 | In my auntie's house, some of her lightbulbs must be at least 35 years | old and still going strong, having survived a house move too. I'm sure | that the are British made and are labelled "NCB" (National Coal Board) | - she used to live in a pit house you see.
The life of an incandescent bulb is normally given as 1000 hours. However both life and light output are **heavily** dependent on voltage. If voltage increases light output increases and life decreases, and vica versa. The NCB obviously bought special bulbs with a long life. So your aunties bulbs did not give as much light as normal bulbs. Classic swings and roundabouts.=20
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My wiring is fine. Pehaps it is something to do with the electricity supply of 415V d.c. 3 phase, 400Hz, battery that I've got in the shed.
I mean to say guys, this ain't Rocket Science. What with the crap education and the lack of business acumen we have in this country, it would seem the ideal SIMPLE cottage industry that someone could start. Where is that FRAUD Sir Clive Sinclair when you need him?
You could always take them back and ask - politely - for a refund or replacement. The store is likely to give you something, to "keep the customer happy". If several customers do that, then they might look at their supplier - it's all down to profit margin, which is eroded each time a customer has a refund or complains. hth Neil
I have a notion that some impurities were added to the vacuums or gases in incandescent bulbs and fluorescent tubes to encourage a failure eventually. To keep lamp factory workers going I was told, ridiculous logic if those particular factories are since non-existent. I believe a few surviving, very early, derated, "squirrel-cage" lamps - noticeable with a vacuum draw-off pip on the bulb - are still going (yellowish glow) in some unrewired pantries. Jim
I always write the date on the sleve of a lamp when I put it in. It's not proof for an exchange of course but the shops I buy from are generally happy to accept it as evidence.
Of course if you are talking about low energy bulbs you have real cause for complaint. I have a Maplins one waiting to be returned: it has
I've got 400 Hz in my shed, if I fire up the right genny. How else are you going to run those bargain-priced mil surplus power tools? My big Kango hammer only cost me a tenner and even with another 50 for the generator that was still a bargain priced way to break up concrete.
There's another newsgroup where probably half of the posters have 400Hz in their shed.
That wonderful book "The Setmakers" (Geddes & Bussey) contains quite a bit of information about the radio valve (vacuum tube, for North American readers) business of Mazda.
'Mazda' was originally used as a brand name for lamps, and then valves, by BTH (British Thomson Houston) from around 1916. BTH merged with Edison & Swan United Electric Light Co. (Ediswan) and Metropolitan Vickers (who made 'Cosmos' lamps and valves) in 1928 to form AEI. From
1929 a subsidiary called Cosmos Manufacturing Co. manufactured receiving valves sold under the Mazda brand, and industrial/transmitting valves sold as 'Ediswan'. The main valve factory was at Brimsdown in Essex. This continued until 1947, when the company name appears to have become Ediswan-Mazda, the next change being to AEI Siemens-Ediswan in 1956. Mazda valves, ISTR, were the most serious competitor to Mullard/Philips. They also made CRTs for radar and television, and germanium transistors.
Jules Thorn came on the scene in 1961 when he entered a joint venture with AEI, forming Thorn-AEI Radio Valves & Tubes Ltd., which merged operationally with Brimar, which Thorn had acquired a year previously from the STC empire. All three brand names seem to have been retained: Mazda for the UK market only, Ediswan for export and Brimar for both.
GEC then swallowed up AEI in 1967 ("rationalisation in the heavy electrical industry welcomed by government as CEGB orders were falling... ").
The book isn't concerned with lighting, but I imagine Mazda lamps would have followed a similar path, marketing-wise at least.
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