Was expecting this to have something to do with the shift away from incandescent bulbs, but apparently not.
(Is it just me, or do the newer, environmentally friendly bulbs seem not to last nearly as long?)
(Is it just me, or do the newer, environmentally friendly bulbs seem not to last nearly as long?)
I would be happy to spend much more on high-quality bulbs, but only if they were exactly what i wanted, and i have yet to find anything which ticks all the boxes.
Specifically, i want >= 800 lumens, daylight / cool white, very good colour rendering, in an ES27 screw fitting, and dimmable. There have been a few candidates, but i haven't actually been able to buy them - they're out of stock, or not available in the UK, etc.
The one area where everything but good old fashioned incandescent lights fail.
Makes me wonder if anyone is working on applying quantum dots to LED lamps.
Phillips - around 40 regular socket, BR30 recessed, and 4x hue bulbs. Not a single failure or flicker. Am particularly a fan of the warm glow for nicer dimming at night.
Hyperikon. They were the only brand with the smaller PAR16 bulbs at the time, at least in warmer color-temp. They look absolutely fantastic as down-wash lights on walls. However, 2/8 are out or intermittent after just 3 years of low usage (they were in a low traffic area).
Random brands from promos / utility give-aways. Used three of these in the garage, and 2/3 already burned out.
TLDR: Quality matters, and high quality bulbs definitely last IME.
> I would will to spend a bit more if I could be confident that I was going to get a bulb that actually lasted the lifespan of the LEDs.
That's why Costco is great - I save the box, and when I have a full set of burned out ones I just return them and buy a new set.
All my philips hue bulbs still work. Even the ones that are like 8 years old. But every bulb from ikea has broken.
LEDs - or compact fluorescent before that - in a torchière? Last forever. Recessed lighting, enclosed or narrow lamps? Maybe a couple times as long as an incandescent.
Make sure that if you're putting LED bulbs in enclosed spaces, that they're designed to handle that.
Also, I'm lumping in compact fluorescent bulbs, which perhaps account for most of the failures.
An additional annoying detail is that one or two of my fixtures dim in one way or another. I put "dimmable" bulbs in them, but I'm somewhat dubious as to their actual capability in that application.
I'm sure there's someone who can explain it in more depth than I can, but even "dimmable" LED bulbs likely won't work correctly (flicker, not dimming as low as they should) and will die faster than expected if you don't replace the actual dimmer switch in your wall with one intended for LEDs.
The only one that has failed since then was one that I dropped from about 8 feet up onto the concrete floor of my garage. I gave to a curious coworker who took it apart. There was some component (an inductor I think, but don't remember for sure) that was attached to the PCB only by a couple thin wires, and one of those wires had broke.
I measured the output of all of them with a lux meter. A few months ago, I measured again and they are all about the same as they were when new. In particular, I didn't see any definite difference between ones that I've used for hours every day for 3.5 years, and ones that have seen maybe 5 minutes use in that same time.
Now I just need LEDs to drop to 1/3 their current price for the nicer-quality (might outlast an incandescent) bulbs and I won't feel like I'm getting ripped off in this whole deal. If I buy the ones that are a mere 60% the price of nice bulbs then they go back to the CFL behavior of dying constantly and quickly.
(I've used LED bulbs across three houses with build ages between 20 and 0 years at move-in, so I don't think it's something wrong with my house, and incandescents have done about as well as they ever do in all three)
I recently bought some 100w-equivalent bulbs rated for enclosures (TCP brand, and also Philips) and some Philips LED replacements for fluorescent tubes that are actually as bright as the fluorescents -- 2600 lumens each.
https://www.amazon.com/Replacement-Daylight-Ballast-Equivale...
Not sure if there is something user can do to protect their house from grid quality issues.
You may find that your retail options for DC lamps are more limited depending on where you shop, and it will likely require a more extensive change than just unscrewing a "bulb" and putting a new one in but it's an option. Certainly worth considering if you're remodelling for example.
Incidentally, incandescent bulbs flicker at 120 Hz (in the US) but it is imperceptible because the light output doesn’t go to zero and it is beyond the flicker fusion threshold (~60 Hz)
The flicker fusion threshold for many people is above 60Hz. Remember 60Hz CRTs? 85Hz is a more reliable threshold. And in any case, flicker fusion threshold is only relevant when your eyes are stationary. On eye movement you get phantom array effect. People vary greatly in how sensitive they are to this, and depending on how strong your saccadic masking is, it can be annoying at frequencies well into the kilohertz.
http://www.bigclive.com/ledlmp.htm
Better and more expensive LED drivers use a switch mode power supply, which does not produce visible flicker.