(I’m guessing this is more an “anecdotal experience” than “factual answer” type question, hence IMHO)
When the incandescent light bulb ban was about to go into effect, I stocked up on 100 Watt bulbs. I figured I had purchased enough to last my natural life. Or at least, until the LED technology was mature enough and cheap enough that I would be happy with those, and wouldn’t have to resort to the damnable curly CFLs that I loathe so much.
But now, I suddenly find that all those stockpiled bulbs are not lasting ANYWHERE NEAR as long as they always used to. I have several lamps on timers in my house, and bulbs would always last from six months to a year or more in them. But this batch that I stocked up on seem to be lasting only a couple of months, tops. I’m burning through my strategic reserve way too fast!
My theory is that the manufacturers, wanting to get as much profit out of their remaining inventory as possible, started cutting corners on materials and construction, knowing that they didn’t have to worry about repeat business on the sale of these particular products.
Has anyone else had a similar experience? Or did I just happen to get a bad batch? Thanks!
Don’t know about the longevity issue, but I know that just about everyone in the United States was doing exactly the same thing too. California, always wanting to jump the gun on everyone else on environmental issues, enacted the same ban a year earlier!
Lowe’s and all the other big-box hardware stores had entire aisles, from horizon to horizon, of incandescent bulbs. They were flying off the shelves.
I bought my lifetime stash, but haven’t used many. I had a couple of curly CFL’s left, which I continued to use until they quit. Then I bought a few LED bulbs (about $30 each) just to experiment with and see how they worked, and I’ve been using those ever since. I lived in an apartment at the time that had straight-tube fluorescent fixtures, so didn’t need a whole lot of light bulbs. I only used them in a couple of desk lamps.
Now I am in a different apartment, which came with CFL’s already installed. Eventually, when those die, I might start using up some of my lifetime stash.
Some claim planned obsolescence. I don’t think I’ve gathered enough data to reach that conclusion, but I do notice some bulbs (primarily CFL) die before they lived a full life. I’ll pour out a 40 for the dead. In your case, it does sound like a fluke.
The exact same thing happened when floppy disks were on the way out. All of a sudden, even the big manufacturers started churning out poor products. For the last six months or so that floppies were fairly common on store shelves, finding good-quality ones was almost as hard as winning the lottery.
I also noticed the same phenomenon, although to a lesser degree, when tape players were being phased out in favor of CD players.
Globe led lightbulbs (at least where I am) are costing about £6 each, are just as good as incandescents and have a planned lifetime of around 20 years. I’ve changed all mine and calculate that the expenditure will be repaid inside of 3 years.
It is a no-brainer. I’ll not have to change a bulb for the rest of my time in this house
Well, they are now cheap enough. The really nice ones that beat incandescent and everything else in “blind” testing (aka the judges cannot see the bulbs making the light) are still pretty pricey, though.
In any case, the one I linked will be in many cases good enough. Another trick I have found - if you have a fixture that has sockets for several bulbs, populate 1 socket with an expensive bulb that gives a nice light spectrum, and populate the other sockets with cheap ones. You’ll barely notice the difference.
Carbon fiber LED bulbs have been out for a while in my neck o’ the woods and I’m very pleased with the nice warm glow. Identical to an incandescent as near as I can tell. They actually look like tungsten filaments when they’re energized. I can’t find one brighter than 4 watts but it’s plenty bright and a couple of table lamps with such a bulb is more than enough to light up the room. I keep looking at them and thinking to myself “how can that be only four watts?” I’ve been using them for about a year now.
I haven’t had many problems with my 60W incandescent bulbs. My stash is holding well. My troubles are with my 65W pot lights in the kitchen. It seems as if I’m constantly changing bulbs in the kitchen. This time, I spent the money for LEDs, hoping that they will last longer and keep me off the ladder.
Actually, many of the “big names” you remember as giant industrial corporations have simply sold the rights to use their name and logo on imported products of much lower quality. The decline in quality started well before the incandescent ban, but manufacturers further accelerated their production to crank out as many lamps as they could before the ban took effect.
I have mentioned this in a previous thread, and will offer it again, provided you live in the US. The bulbs you purchased are likely rated for 120V, and will probably not even last a whole year. What you want are 130V rated bulbs.
I’m still using incandescent bulbs, and replacing them WAY more often than I think I ‘should’. My conclusion was that they’re deliberately crafting them to burn out faster because A) They CAN, and B) See ‘A’
Or your supply voltage is up a couple of volts,or you’ve had a couple of bad storms…
Supply voltage goes up if your neighbours have put in solar or put in more effiecient loads, or if your local supply configuration has changed. And there’s heaps of things that can cause supply voltage spikes.
Well in the Alibaba link I gave, they’re called “LED A60 E27 4W 3000K LED Filament bulb carbon fiber filament yarn”, although there could be a translation error there. I’ve got one right in front of me and it says no such thing on the box.
Yeah, but since most applications call for frosted bulbs anyway, why bother with the LED filament bulbs?
I mean, the frosted e30 and e40 LED bulbs that we have in our house are terrific- instantly on, about the same light color spectrum as a fully warmed up incandescent, and terrifically energy efficient. What would LED filament versions buy me?
What do you mean when you say a frosted bulb is called for? Do you have some kind of light fixture that won’t work with anything other than a frosted glass bulb?
I think what he’s really saying is that a lot of light fixtures don’t expose the bulb. So there’s no reason to use the really cool looking Edison look alike bulbs they sell. A “conventional” LED bulb, engineered for lifespan/cost efficiency/light quality will do better in those cases.