Are modern lightbulbs shit?

Thread: Are modern lightbulbs shit?
DonDonDonPata

DonDonDonPata

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Nowadays I just shout out "china!" whenever I see yet another bulb out in my house. I've had some bulbs go bad after less than 6 months. I think I've changed more lightbulbs in the last 3 years than in the previous 10 years combined, coincidentally after we've moved to "green" CFLs and then to the even-"greener" LEDs.

I must turn to D-Pad to know if this is just the result of my lack of lightbulb knowledge. I admit, I am a lightbulb casual, I don't know which brand is better or which one has higher lumens-to-lifespan ratio so I need to know if this phenomenon is seen elsewhere😩 🙏

Or am I just an old man? Pretty sure there was a sitcom episode my wife watched year ago where the dad hoarded a bunch of classic filament lightbulbs during the transition to CFLs and he was selling them around the neighborhood like a lightbulb black-market...
 
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LED is the way to go. Just don't cheap out on some chinese shitty LED. A good LED should pretty much never fail and consume very little; about a 90-95% reduction compared to the old incandescent light bulbs from when we were kids. CFL was alright it was like a 60-70% reduction in power but the light wasn't 100% stable cause it was a gas, I mean most people wouldn't notice it but I would sometimes notice it, plus they wouldn't last more than a few years and progressively got dimmer until they failed and gave off a foul burnt chemical smell. I wasn't a huge fan but it did save me on electric bills at the time as a poor college student. But now like i said LED is the way to go and they make LED versions of just about any bulb, even neon tubes.
 
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I already made the full switch over to LEDs, that's my problem, they don't live up to the expectation that "they never fail". So many of my bulbs seem to be "some chinese shitty LED". expensive bulbs, cheap bulbs, there's no consistency. For instance my longest-lasting bulbs are the bulk "contractor damp-resistant bulbs" bought in a box of 20 for $20, far outlasting nicer bulbs that were $2+ a bulb.
 
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DonDonDonPata said:
I already made the full switch over to LEDs, that's my problem, they don't live up to the expectation that "they never fail". So many of my bulbs seem to be "some chinese shitty LED". expensive bulbs, cheap bulbs, there's no consistency. For instance my longest-lasting bulbs are the bulk "contractor damp-resistant bulbs" bought in a box of 20 for $20, far outlasting nicer bulbs that were $2+ a bulb.
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Since I moved to Europe 6 years ago I've never had an LED bulb fail and I have many. I think most of them are Philips or GE. I changed them all when I moved in cause it was all old incandescent bulbs.
 
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Oh man, it's happening to someone else. I thought this was just a "me" problem. No, you're 100% right. Modern lights are horseshit. My house is about a year and a half old and I've had to replace probably about a dozen bulbs within that time frame. 12 bulbs in 18 months. Actually talked to the electrician that did my house because I thought it may be the fixtures he put in or a wiring issue. He said that it's these LED's that we're having to use now. They're just awful unless you get a really spendy brand and for the life of me, I can't remember the name. Of course, he could've just been diverting my attention from his shit work, who knows.

Bought some of those Chinese LED multi-panel lights that screw into ceiling sockets for my garage. Those lasted about a year and then the flickering began until they ultimately bombed out. Just ran out yesterday to Menards to grab replacement panel LED's, which were more expensive. I figured paying a little more should net me a decent life span. Put them in last night. First flick of the light switch and they're both flickering on and off all over the place. Flick the switch again and now they're not even turning on. Every time I flipped that switch it was a roll of the dice what was going to happen. At this point, I'm about ready to headbutt concrete because I had just drove over an hour round trip to grab these things. They're brand new and I'm dealing with this tomfoolery.

So yes, unless someone knows of some amazing brand, I'm of the opinion that LED's blow.
 
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Another thing to consider is that you could have power fluctuations. Surge protectors and UPSs sort that out for plugged electronics, but LED bulbs are unprotected.
 
Boss Mog said:
Since I moved to Europe 6 years ago I've never had an LED bulb fail and I have many. I think most of them are Philips or GE. I changed them all when I moved in cause it was all old incandescent bulbs.
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oooo look who's putting on airs with their FANCY lightbulb brands...

nah i'm just messing, I promise I've tried to use the better brands, too, but some of them fry out, too. It sounds like Showdown has experienced something similar.

In all fairness, it could be something like 40% failure rate within 1 yr for the shitty bulbs and 15% fail rate for the nicer bulbs, still completely unacceptable in my opinion but one is definitely better than the other.

Showdown said:
He said that it's these LED's that we're having to use now. They're just awful unless you get a really spendy brand
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Okay I'm glad I'm not alone.

infinitys_7th said:
Another thing to consider is that you could have power fluctuations. Surge protectors and UPSs sort that out for plugged electronics, but LED bulbs are unprotected.
Click to expand...

We put LEDs into the floor lamps and dresser-lamps (which previously had CFLs that lasted forever) and they've fried out too, not out of every single one (I think...) but from several of them.

Are LEDs more sensitive to power fluctuations? tbh I didn't know that could be a factor. Michigan has awful power grid and I get power-grid flickering every once in awhile even though I live in a city. If that damages or prematurely ages the bulbs that could be why 🤔
 
DonDonDonPata said:
oooo look who's putting on airs with their FANCY lightbulb brands...

nah i'm just messing, I promise I've tried to use the better brands, too, but some of them fry out, too. It sounds like Showdown has experienced something similar.

In all fairness, it could be something like 40% failure rate within 1 yr for the shitty bulbs and 15% fail rate for the nicer bulbs, still completely unacceptable in my opinion but one is definitely better than the other.



Okay I'm glad I'm not alone.



We put LEDs into the floor lamps and dresser-lamps (which previously had CFLs that lasted forever) and they've fried out too, not out of every single one (I think...) but from several of them.

Are LEDs more sensitive to power fluctuations? tbh I didn't know that could be a factor. Michigan has awful power grid and I get power-grid flickering every once in awhile even though I live in a city. If that damages or prematurely ages the bulbs that could be why 🤔
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LED bulbs are actually relatively complicated vs incadescents and flourescents. More sensitive parts that can fry to take them out. The filament can handle minor surges - flickering is from the power output changing (e.g. P=I*V) and that just burns a little more of it away proportional to power.
 
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infinitys_7th said:
LED bulbs are actually relatively complicated vs incadescents and flourescents. More sensitive parts that can fry to take them out. The filament can handle minor surges - flickering is from the power output changing (e.g. P=I*V) and that just burns a little more of it away proportional to power.
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that makes sense; I always figured it had more to do with the circuitry controlling the LED burning out and not the tiny LEDs themselves, which are indeed very long-lasting.
 
I got some cheap ass LEDs and put one in my outside light fixture and it cracked open and had some kind of oil leaking out of it within 2 months. It started going really dim so I went to take a look at it and was wtf is this shit.

Before telling me not to buy cheap ass LEDs, I can put a cheap ass regular bulb in that thing that'll run for years. So go eat some avocado toast, bitch
 
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LED Compatibility Tool | Lutron

Use the Lutron compatibility to decide which LED light is compatible for your home.
www.lutron.com www.lutron.com

I've generally had good luck with LEDs, I've only had 1 fail (which lasted about 9 years). I have had issues with some of them humming, or inconsistent dimming (like only going down to 30%).

When installing a new dimmer in my bedroom I came across the tool on the link above. Basically Lutron tests out every type of LED they can find and posts the resuts. Have had great results using the bulbs listed there, even when not connecting to Lutron switches.
 
Only one bulb has failed in the 7 years I've been in my current house.

The main lights in the kitchen, still going 7 years strong, came as a multipack of 3 from a £1 shop, so high odds that they are Chinese too.

House before though had several electrical items fail after a few months or couple years, I was especially blowing through PSUs at the time. Perhaps get your mains circuity checked over?
 
Had to replace the old bulbs like every two weeks, because they were so horrible, but since I had LED-bulbs no problem here anymore.
 
DonDonDonPata said:
Nowadays I just shout out "china!" whenever I see yet another bulb out in my house. I've had some bulbs go bad after less than 6 months. I think I've changed more lightbulbs in the last 3 years than in the previous 10 years combined, coincidentally after we've moved to "green" CFLs and then to the even-"greener" LEDs.

I must turn to D-Pad to know if this is just the result of my lack of lightbulb knowledge. I admit, I am a lightbulb casual, I don't know which brand is better or which one has higher lumens-to-lifespan ratio so I need to know if this phenomenon is seen elsewhere😩 🙏

Or am I just an old man? Pretty sure there was a sitcom episode my wife watched year ago where the dad hoarded a bunch of classic filament lightbulbs during the transition to CFLs and he was selling them around the neighborhood like a lightbulb black-market...
Click to expand...
We have a nice stock of the banned lightbulbs because fuck you American government. I'll burn as much energy as I want! That shit keeps my house warm!!!
 
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My experience with modern lightbulbs has given me a very poor impression of their value. They save power, but not money. The climate/energy crisis profiteers are trying to have their cake and eat it too by selling more expensive bulbs with low power usage that can't stand the test of time. They'll have to fix the reliability issue to win me back.

Condo I moved into over seven years ago had just been renovated, but 5 of the 9 newly installed recessed LED lights in the bathroom died or started flickering in the first few years. A couple of CFL bulbs I had placed in my bedroom and another two I had in the dining room died in a year or less. I simply went back to incandescent bulbs and they've stood the test of time.
 
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