LED Light Bulbs - how many people experience short life span?

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canterburydays

68 posts

Master Geek

#259948 1-Nov-2019 15:46

Hi All,

I have had a really poor run with LED Light bulbs. I've tried top brands and non brands and also two different houses. Both with post 2000 Wiring.

Its got me thinking, how many Led bulbs are going into Landfill and not running the labelled 20000 + hours.

So i'm keen to get peoples experience with Led Bulbs. How many have people have a had them blow vs not blow. What brands have worked well.

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898 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#2347226 1-Nov-2019 15:54

Could be coincidence, but the ones that went bad on us were all in places where the light isn't on for very long. For example in wardrobes and cupboards - open the door flick the light on, grab what you want, and flick the light off again.

None in the main areas where the light goes on and stays on have gone bad yet.

But could be total coincidence. And the ones that went bad did so fairly quickly, like less than 6 months. I didn't take note of the brands unfortunately.

KrazyKid

1238 posts

Uber Geek

#2347227 1-Nov-2019 15:55

After many hit and miss experiences with various cheap Ali-express ones I stuck to Philips. These last.

Then about two years ago I in the Hue wireless LED bulbs in most of my house - no issues with them either - but a little more expensive than a normal LED :P

SirHumphreyAppleby

2847 posts

Uber Geek

#2347228 1-Nov-2019 15:56

I still have four of our six original Philips CFL bulbs. As with everything, once they went mainstream and prices went down, quality did too.

I've had good luck with Philips and FSL LEDs. Zero failures for both. I've replaced two Panasonic bulbs. Realisitically, I don't expect them to last anywhere near as long as they claim. Old downlights, higher temperature conditions than LEDs are really designed to work in, I'm happy if I get a few years out of them.

Jase2985

13462 posts

Uber Geek

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#2347229 1-Nov-2019 15:56

house wide or in just one place? it could be something to do with your wiring?

sidefx

3712 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#2347230 1-Nov-2019 16:05

Yeah the philips ones seem to last reasonably well for me - other no name brands not so much. I generally write the date on them when putting them in. When I first started using LEDs they were pretty hit and miss (and I tended to buy more no name cheap brand ones) but sticking to philips they seem better.

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canterburydays

68 posts

Master Geek

#2347231 1-Nov-2019 16:10

House wide really.
I reckon some of the bayonets might not have good contacts on the bulb and this could cause overheating? I've 'bent the contacts' to really have a good contact and I think that might help.

I've had them blow in my lounge and hall at one property, and then at our small Hotel i've had them blow all through it. This was majorly renovated and has new wiring etc. I've easily had 20 go on me within 6 months across two properties.

Fred99

13684 posts

Uber Geek

#2347232 1-Nov-2019 16:17

I've had bad experience with GE branded LEDs, no problem with Phillips. For standard wattage non-dimmable LEDs, they're getting so cheap that it's hardly worth a trip to exchange them. I had a 14w dimmable LED Lux fail after a year. Very annoying as it's in a set of 3 pendants so replacement needs to match. I did get it replaced free, but bought a spare IIRC about $30 retail, $24 trade discount.

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openmedia

3331 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#2347242 1-Nov-2019 16:35

We've been using the cheap Bunnings LED bulbs for the last couple of years and we haven't needed to replace any of them so far. They have been mostly used to replace existing halogen bulbs as they die. I've also used the trick of putting the install date on each of the bulbs to track any potential issues.

I'd get your electrics checked if your going through a lot of replacement bulbs, particularly if they are in the same spot.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

Kiwifruta

1423 posts

Uber Geek

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#2347248 1-Nov-2019 16:56

I've bought a couple of cheaper ones from The Warewhare and another no-longer-sold brand from Countdown but most (15-20) of mine are Philips, I've had about 4 or 5 Philips blow after about a couple of years of use. The cheap ones are mostly, if not all, gone.

The pay back period for the Philips bulbs is about a year, but I was expecting 10-15 years of use from them. I'm actually considering replacing the blown bulbs with incandescent bulbs. Struggling to justify the expense.

All are bayonet style, the house is from the early 80s. I do wonder if it is a wiring issue, we are renting.

timmmay

20580 posts

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#2347250 1-Nov-2019 16:57

I've got about a 15% failure rate with Philips LED bulbs. They're all in areas that go on and stay on. I'm not impressed with them at all. The few Panasonic I have are good, but they're more difficult to find. I guess as the price has come down the quality has come down too.

Tracer

343 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2347251 1-Nov-2019 17:00

I did the whole house 3 years ago and have had 0 Phillips die, and 1 Ambius (carried by Radcliffe's/J.A. Russel) die when near new.

Kiwifruta

1423 posts

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#2347254 1-Nov-2019 17:06

timmmay:
I've got about a 15% failure rate with Philips LED bulbs. They're all in areas that go on and stay on. I'm not impressed with them at all. The few Panasonic I have are good, but they're more difficult to find. I guess as the price has come down the quality has come down too.

From where have you bought them?

mattwnz

20163 posts

Uber Geek

#2347257 1-Nov-2019 17:14

I have had a lot of them fail, mainly all one brand. I got replacements from the manufacturer, but they also eventually failed. The retailer tried to put the blame on my wiring. I have only ever had one philips one fail after many years.

Rikkitic

Awrrr
18661 posts

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#2347265 1-Nov-2019 17:24

I bought some from Aliexpress, they seemed okay after a few weeks so I bought a whole lot more. Since then I have had constant failures. The bulbs are absolutely useless, a complete rip-off. Some batches may be worse than others, but my confidence in them has been completely destroyed. I wouldn't touch them again.

Over a period of a few months I have had maybe 20 failures. Some last a few days or weeks, then just stop. A few were bad from the beginning. Some start flashing on and off and then die. I have one nearly-new that suddenly would only produce extremely weak light. I use it as a night light.

The local Philips bulbs are horrendously overpriced but the ones I have used as replacements have not had any defects so far. I am waiting for the prices to reach normal levels and then I will replace all the crap lights if any are still working at all. This has been a really terrible experience and it has completely put me off buying anything more from China (and yes, I know Phillips bulbs are also made there, but presumably they enforce some kind of quality control).

Don't buy an unbranded LED bulb from China. They are utter rubbish.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

timmmay

20580 posts

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#2347308 1-Nov-2019 18:12

Kiwifruta:
timmmay:
I've got about a 15% failure rate with Philips LED bulbs. They're all in areas that go on and stay on. I'm not impressed with them at all. The few Panasonic I have are good, but they're more difficult to find. I guess as the price has come down the quality has come down too.

From where have you bought them?

Countdown and miter ten.

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