Life span of energy saving lightbulbs

jamesperrett

Most bulbs will have a date code on them so, if the manufacturer gives an extended guarantee, they can tell when they were made and replace accordingly. My experience is that cheap LED's from Ebay have a limited lifespan but sensibly priced LED's from Toolstation or CPC seem to last much better. Even with the Ebay failures, the LED's themselves are fine - it is the power supply that has failed so I keep meaning to find a use for the LED's.

jamesperrett

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I've been buying halogen ones recently (from T*sco own brand ....:cool:) and I believe I read they should last 2 years. They haven't lasted nearly as long as that.:mad:

It is definitely worth buying LED's rather than halogen. The prices have come down quite a bit over the last year or two. I've tended to buy from Toolstation - possibly not the absolute cheapest but the COB GU10's look better than other types and they seem to last well. Their imitation filament LED bulbs also look good but we've only had them for a few months so no real longevity data yet.

prosaver

i got some led spot lights for the kitchen , there rubbish,made the kitchen feel cold and the light is a bright very bright white,
like im in a hospital ..
so went back to halogen spots.. same with lamps I use the old fashoined clear bulbs or these which were on offer at B and M

Risteard

dsdhall wrote: »

LAP brand from screwfix.

That's Screwfix's own brand - complete and utter rubbish. No Electrician will ever fit LAP rubbish. (It's customers who always insist on supplying it trying to save money and buying complete and utter s£!%e.

EssexExile

prosaver wrote: »

i got some led spot lights for the kitchen , there rubbish,made the kitchen feel cold and the light is a bright very bright white

That's just because they're the wrong colour. All my downlighters in the kitchen are warm white LEDs & it's just like any other light.

alumende27

Risteard wrote: »

That's Screwfix's own brand - complete and utter rubbish. No Electrician will ever fit LAP rubbish. (It's customers who always insist on supplying it trying to save money and buying complete and utter s£!%e.

You say that, but I see plenty of them in there loading up on LAP switches and sockets. Maybe the customers are forcing them? I always use crabtree fitting for everything. Why comprise on something that's effectively a one off cost if done correctly.The time alone to replace a faulty socket is not worth the price of a budget brand.

The normal shaped LAP bulbs have been fine for me, just the candle ones have had the issue. I suspect it's to do with what electronics they can fit in the base given how small they are?

I'll probably look at Philips next time around, unless there are other better cheaper brands.

prosaver

EssexExile wrote: »

That's just because they're the wrong colour. All my downlighters in the kitchen are warm white LEDs & it's just like any other light.

No wonder mine were cheaper :::mad:
Didn't know u could get different shades thanks

alumende27

prosaver wrote: »

Didn't know u could get different shades thanks

Look for colour temperature/Kelvin rating on the bulbs. This chart may be handy:

http://www.westinghouselighting.com/color-temperature.aspx

Risteard

dsdhall wrote: »

I always use crabtree fitting for everything.

Crabtree are a high-end brand. But you get what you pay for - there is no comparison between the price of Crabtree accessories and the price of LAP accessories.

almillar

so went back to halogen spots.. same with lamps I use the old fashoined clear bulbs or these which were on offer at B and M

So how much energy do they use, prosaver? 10x what LED will for (roughly) the same output. I think you should try again with LED. If you think it looked like a hospital, I bet they were cool white, or day white, or maybe they were really poor and flickery. Try good quality warm white LEDs.
Warm white should really be 2700K - some 3000K stuff is labelled warm white but there's quite a difference - 3000K is nowhere near 'hospital' levels though!