Household LED Bulb Failure

[DeltaV]

CFL are spawn of Satan.

 

[funknut]

We've been in our house 7 years. Most bulbs were already LED when we moved in, and I replaced most of the others that weren't. We have probably 50+ small 'can' lights that are all LED. I've replaced 2 in 7 years.

Some of the other LED bulbs don't last nearly as long, but overall far, far longer than any incandescent bulbs I use.

 

[Some Car Guy]

LED bulbs are absolute junk... Flickering when you run a printer or anything else on the same circuit. Flickering as they start to die a segment at a time. Can't look up at the damn things. They get duller and duller as the days go on. We're all gonna go blind with these damn things. Our family room is lit by two ceiling fans with three bulbs each. 6 x 60 W little clear bulbs had the room nice and bright. 6 "60W" LED replacements is like trying to see in an unlit cave...

One scam I found with these things is they claim to save x amount tif energy over whatever bulb. Well they accomplish that by selling you a bulb at much much lower lumens than what we all used to use. I seek out stuff at like 1200 lumens to combat that bullshit. Not uncommon to be pushed at 400 or so. I think some of the ones I found for the bathroom are 1600 lumens. Wife really hates these new age dim bulbs.

 

[OneWheelPeel]

5 or 6 years ago I started replacing the bulbs all with LEDs (mostly smart bulbs) as the non LEDs died, I could track the change in my electrical bill. Now for some areas that required multiple on and off cycles I got some cheap rechargeable motion activated lights, I just have to recharge them every month or so but it’s pretty convenient.

 

[kiwigtx]

All you LED haters out there....feel free to cover your House and Christmas Tree with incandescent lamps..... talk soon.

 

[Photon440]

My LED lighting (nearly the whole house) is rock steady, never a flicker, and rarely ever have a bulb stop working. I use the warm white bulbs, around 3000K, they have about the same hue as the old incandescents. Some of the circular overhead lights actually have a switch for colour temperature. I don't use the 7-9 watt bulbs, I use the 13-15 watt lights and they're quite bright. About the only place that isn't LED is inside the oven and freezer.

 

[kiwigtx]

Judging by a few replies I am wasting my time trying to educate some people who obviously know everything.

If you want a true good quality incandescent lamp (not a bulb) you need a Philips brand made in Holland, and preferably from the pre-1990 era.
Anything else is just a poor copy of the best ever made.
Good luck finding some of those, and especially in that girlie 110 Voltage range.

BTW Ed, thanks for your reply immediately above this....another chopped from my Christmas card list.

 

[themechanic]

Judging by a few replies I am wasting my time trying to educate some people who obviously know everything.

If you want a true good quality incandescent lamp (not a bulb) you need a Philips brand made in Holland, and preferably from the pre-1990 era.
Anything else is just a poor copy of the best ever made.
Good luck finding some of those, and especially in that girlie 110 Voltage range.

BTW Ed, thanks for your reply immediately above this....another chopped from my Christmas card list.

Some of our fellow forum members are old enough they probably own a few pre-war lamps and Edison bulbs.

 

[YY1]

Our house is roughly 55% LED, 40% CFL and 5% Incandescent.

We did have a problem with phillips band CFLs having a 38% failure rate.
We switched to then start-up "FEIT" and those did much better.

The MBR vanity has eight bulbs, 4 each CFL and LED.
They get turned off and on quite a lot.
Since we got rid of the phillips, I don't think one has failed since 2015.

 

[OneWheelPeel]

Our house is roughly 55% LED, 40% CFL and 5% Incandescent.

We did have a problem with phillips band CFLs having a 38% failure rate.
We switched to then start-up "FEIT" and those did much better.

The MBR vanity has eight bulbs, 4 each CFL and LED.
They get turned off and on quite a lot.
Since we got rid of the phillips, I don't think one has failed since 2015.

I have a package of those FEIT CFLs, not crazy about em but they were free. I could have taken dozens of packages years ago but I knew they would outlast me and better tech was on the way. Later I found smart bulbs from the same company and the smart part of them died and went unsupported. Luckily they also have a remote switch so they are still in play for my garage which didn't have switched light unless you count pullcords.

 

[Ronnman]

I bought LED bulbs to replace the CFLs a few years ago. Most were Ecosmart brand purchased at Home Depot. I kept the boxes and receipts. The first couple years the LED bulbs were lasting about 3-6 months. I would pack the burned out LED bulbs when I had a full box and return to HD for exchange. They must have gotten the message as I noticed the LED filaments have been changing as I when through the bulb replacement cycles. The latest ones have been in over a year without issue.

 

[6PKRTSE]

My Son bought some giant pack of 48 LED bulbs I think it was of Amazon trying to convince me to change all the bulbs in the house. I have to admit since changing them my electric bill has been considerably lower every month. None have burned out yet.

I have eight 8' florescent light fixtures in the garage. Slowly as they burn out I have been replacing them with LED's. I am up to four of them now or half. They are much brighter, and even with a heated garage they do come on instantly. Where the older florescent bulbs flicker, and take several minutes to illuminate fully.

 

[OneWheelPeel]

Oh yeah I forgot about the LED fluorescent replacements, I got a few of those from Harbor Freight. For the price nice and bright, I only fire them up if I'll do something where I need really good light, like playing with my bead roller. Too early to tell if they are long lived. They pop right in and no need to change out the ballast etc, I understand its not the most efficient set up but its easy.

 

[themechanic]

 

[YY1]

Once we were above 50% incandescent, our bill went down more than 30%

 

[#41]

We have been hoodwinked on lifespan claims. Half of my new LED shop lights died within 4 years. Last year I upgraded the high ceiling lights in my moth-in-laws place so I would never have to change them again..... nope. Half of them are dead within one year. It's hot there, but still.... 1 year?

 

[Photon440]

We have been hoodwinked on lifespan claims. Half of my new LED shop lights died within 4 years. Last year I upgraded the high ceiling lights in my moth-in-laws place so I would never have to change them again..... nope. Half of them are dead within one year. It's hot there, but still.... 1 year?

Of all the 48" fluorescent tubes that I've switched to LED tubes over the past five years in the shop and a couple in the house, none have failed so far. I did bypass the ballasts on all of the fixtures as it was recommended. Brighter light and instant on in cold weather.

At work, they went through the process of converting to LED lighting there. None of those have failed yet either, it's been about three years of use at ten hours per day.

 

[Budnicks]

LED lamps are not designed to be frequently switched on and off.

Switch them on and leave them running.....the switching action produces an in-rush current which kills the electronics. The more they are switched the faster they deteriorate.
Same goes for CFL's....although I thought they had already gone the way of the Dodo.

I put the mini CFL's all over my house here in 2010,
when it was getting hard here to find good incandescent bulbs,
getting outlawed here
that last at all or of any quality,
when I changed a bunch of fixtures in the house
or just bulbs to CFL's
I've replace IIRC 5 bulb's, total of the likes, in the past 14 years now
mostly of them are/were in the 3) 25watt/10watt each, light stand up fixture
in the front room is on, from like 7am to 11pm every day/night
& 2) bulb 25watt/10watt over the sink, in the kitchen,
it gets shut on & off a lot...

I try to make sure to leave it on for 15 min.s, sometime I don't
most are multi bulb fixtures with 3) 25w/10watt usage each
HG (brand) R F029
&
100watt/30 watt usage each, for 2) 3 bulb fixtures in the master bathroom
1) 3 bulb fixture in dad's bathroom...
All 4) of the ceiling fans have 3 bulb fixtures too, same 25/10 watt
the kitchen still has 2) 4' 2 bulb Florescent fixture under the skylight, under diffuser panel...

I only replaced them 4) 4' Flor. bulbs 1 time in 17 years now,
Phillips open light fixtures & ballasts

sorry I don't have the # but are HG brand 100watt/30watt each CFLs
(not sure what HG stands for now, I just don't remember)

When we bought the place I put all new incandescent bulbs in everywhere,
a few new fixtures too, all 'clear bulbs' 25watt in the 3 light fixtures
& 45watt in the 2 light fixtures
100watt floods all outside, 2) bulb fixtures
(our bill was $75 normally, until 2021, $125 peak or summer & winter,
now, it is $175 normally slack months & $300+ in winter or peak of summer,
with the HVAC thermostat set at 67* winter & 77* summer, turned off or down
when I go to bed)
I still have a collection of them incandescent clear bulbs stored,
from when I switched to CFL's
& changed a bunch of fixtures, to modernize the look of the place...

Wanted the same colored lighting everywhere 'cool white'...

I need to do that again too...

Our energy bill PG&E is tripled in price,
since appr. Jan 2021 (?) & the suit with PG&E
over burning down the town of Paradice & killing a bunch of animals & people
from "alleged" negligence 'of their infrastructure', system, had started the fires...
Govn. Newsome gave them permission to raise it 2 times of 30%, more like 133% each
to cover their costs in having to pay the judgements of the lawsuits,
started the underground wires in the mountains,
when they should have done when they were making $ billions in profits,
they just let **** rot...

I was looking at doing LEDs too, now
but all the tales of early failures
has me putting it off as long as possible, they are expensive per bulb, way more too...

my $1.25

 

[6PKRTSE]

My buddies work requires him and several other guys to come in one weekend a year on Saturday and Sunday to change every LED light bulb within the business. The warehouse, offices, desk lights, storage rooms, bathrooms etc. Weather they need it or not, every bulb. Apparently, it is cheaper to do it that way, rather than randomly replace one whenever someone needs it all year long.

 

[RR Fan Dan]

I’ve been using them for years and never have had a problem. i also don’t buy cheap ones. I’ve learned over the years you get what you pay for. unless its GE brand, then they just plain suck in everything they make.