Reply to: The Real World Lifespan of a Low Energy Light Bulb

[Guy Incognito]

Bought a new build two years ago which has approx. 40 spot lights and not one has failed so far.

[DealorNoDeal]

Yeah - I never noticed halogens were whiter until I bought some 'warm white' LEDs at 2700K and everything seemed far too dark and sleepy.

In the old days, you just bought any old halogens and they were fine, albeit they didn't last that long and ran up your electricity bill.

Now, with the LEDs, there's a myriad combination of brightness, colour and beam angle. Some even have a longer body than the halogens, so they protrude from the bulb holder in an ugly fashion. And, of course, not to mention many don't even last as long as the halogens.

It's a bit of a minefield.

[d000hg]

The LED ones we have are 3000K, which I find spot on.

Yeah - I never noticed halogens were whiter until I bought some 'warm white' LEDs at 2700K and everything seemed far too dark and sleepy.

[DealorNoDeal]

You can choose exactly what colour you want them to be.

Most LED bulbs I've seen tend to be 2700/2800K to match incandescent bulbs, which are actually more yellow than halogen (3000K). I much prefer 3000K although my wife likes even whiter 4000K bulbs.

The LED ones we have are 3000K, which I find spot on.

[d000hg]

My missus hates LED lights, she thinks the light isn't warm enough.

You can choose exactly what colour you want them to be.

Most LED bulbs I've seen tend to be 2700/2800K to match incandescent bulbs, which are actually more yellow than halogen (3000K). I much prefer 3000K although my wife likes even whiter 4000K bulbs.

[DealorNoDeal]

We've been in our current house for over 15 years and none of the halogen bulbs in our bedroom have had to be replaced. Conversely, we had a new bathroom installed with six ceiling low energy LED lights and half of them lasted less than a year.

My missus hates LED lights, she thinks the light isn't warm enough. I know they are getting better but I still prefer the old halogen bulbs despite their faults.

As I mentioned above, I've found these very good. They seem to last, and have a nice bright but warm light, very comparable with halogen. They're even in a glass housing like the halogen ones.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/402879526171

[edison]

We've been in our current house for over 15 years and none of the halogen bulbs in our bedroom have had to be replaced. Conversely, we had a new bathroom installed with six ceiling low energy LED lights and half of them lasted less than a year.

My missus hates LED lights, she thinks the light isn't warm enough. I know they are getting better but I still prefer the old halogen bulbs despite their faults.

[DealorNoDeal]

That's why, when I found a spotlight that lasted a year or so, and I liked the brightness/beam angle/colour etc, I bought a shed load. I didn't bother checking if Wickes still stocked them, because it was easier to just buy multi-packs off eBay (from private sellers).

Only trouble is, since I bought the shed load, none have failed.

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This may be a red herring but I wonder if the reason the Wickes ones are reliable is that they are made by CREE. They are one of the leading manufacturers with a reputation for quality.

[ladymuck]

So, it seems that I'm not alone!

My other concern with this LED technology is re-cycling.
This makes for quite depressing reading.

https://www.agencyofdesign.co.uk/pro...my-lightbulbs/

Trying to figure where to send lightbulbs is a right PITA.

[ladymuck]

+1 for the OCD gang. Mis-matching light bulbs is a disappointing sight

[northernladuk]

My main peeve is buying 3 11W bulbs for a nice fitting and then one goes, and the next one you buy is never exactly the same. Bit of OCD on my part

Not just you, drives me nuts as well as the LED arrangement in the device varies wildly. Looks awful if they aren't the same.

[d000hg]

We've only ever had issues with spotlights. The LED GLS bulbs (60W/100W replacements) seem to last fine.

Maybe you've been lucky or me unlucky I've had quite a lot of GLS candle style bulbs fail - we have several large fittings each taking 4-6 bulbs and had individual bulbs go quite a lot at the start.
My main peeve is buying 3 11W bulbs for a nice fitting and then one goes, and the next one you buy is never exactly the same. Bit of OCD on my part

[DealorNoDeal]

We've only ever had issues with spotlights. The LED GLS bulbs (60W/100W replacements) seem to last fine.

[d000hg]

Sorry, I was referring to the mains LED spotlight bulbs (halogen replacements). There's a small circuit in them which produces the low voltage DC for the LED and, in my experience, it's always this circuit which fails. Heat may well be the cause but then it's down to poor design/engineering.

Apparently a lot of failures are due to effectively a short circuit... a low-resistance route develops across the LED which is when you get bulbs which are just very dim. But I think you're right about the all-in-one bulbs have shoddy circuits too. Separate drivers would make more sense so the disposable unit is as simple as possible - less cost, less waste but of course most of us are retrofitting bulbs to old sockets.

[DealorNoDeal]

If those are the low-voltage ones I have replaced by drivers with LED-specific ones, replaced 6 bulbs and found from a pack of 6 3 are still going strong, one flickered from the start, 2 failed after a short time.

I've seen people say heat is a problem and it is surprising how hot these units get - and the heat is at the back of the unit where it can't disperse well.

Sorry, I was referring to the mains LED spotlight bulbs (halogen replacements). There's a small circuit in them which produces the low voltage DC for the LED and, in my experience, it's always this circuit which fails. Heat may well be the cause but then it's down to poor design/engineering.