Throwaway lighting?

[fulton]

New to me, just fitted a new light fitting in our flat in Germany, then realized does not have replaceable bulbs (lamps), hopefully they will last along time, seems a backward step to maybe have to call an electrician in the future just to basically change a bulb. When back in the UK will look to see if similar fittings exist, would not have purchased this fitting if I had realized.

[mezzoman253]

Yes they exist over here too. 👎

 

When purchasing you need to look carefully at the product details, or if in store check them out.

 

It does seem a retrograde step, but hopefully they won't catch on once people realise the bulbs aren't replaceable.

 

Rob

[jamesed]

LED lights typically last for around 50,000 hours give or take a bit.  If your light is used for an average of 8 hours per day that would last around 17 years.  In reality it's more likely that the electronic components in the fitting will fail first but 10 years is a realistic expectation.   Just make sure that you don't try and run them from a dimmer switch unless a) the fitting specifically says it can be used with a dimmer switch and if so, b) the dimmer switch used is of a type specifically suitable for led lighting. 

[admiles]

1 hour ago, jamesed said:

LED lights typically last for around 50,000 hours give or take a bit.  If your light is used for an average of 8 hours per day that would last around 17 years.  In reality it's more likely that the electronic components in the fitting will fail first but 10 years is a realistic expectation.   Just make sure that you don't try and run them from a dimmer switch unless a) the fitting specifically says it can be used with a dimmer switch and if so, b) the dimmer switch used is of a type specifically suitable for led lighting. 

 

Don't think I've had an LED "bulb" last more than 18 months or so yet...

[JeremyC]

My last ship had 'under cupboard type' fluorescent fittings for the switchboard facia lighting. After about 4 years these started to fail and changing the tube didn't get them working again. After a bit of digging in the small (tiny) print of the instructions we found the quoted life of the fitting was less than the expected life of the tube!

[spamcan61]

I've bought an outdoor LED floodlight and a desktop LED lamp recently and both are 'sealed for life' so we'll see how long that is. Whilst it's true to say that a decent quality LED, when run at well below its maximum rating, will last tens of thousands of hours, there's no guarantee that's applicable to either of my recent purchases or many others.

On the other hand I've a 1980s vintage Toshiba bedside clock radio which has been powered up pretty much continually since purchase, and the LED display is still going strong (tempting fate!)

Edited June 1, 2022 by spamcan61

[The Johnster]

My old dad reckoned that the life of a filament bulb was shortened by the expansion and contraction every time you switched it on and off, and of course the wear in the mechanical components of the switch increases with each use as well.  Something like this may account for the longevity of your Tosh clock radio!

[eastwestdivide]

3 hours ago, admiles said:

 

Don't think I've had an LED "bulb" last more than 18 months or so yet...

Interesting. I’ve had the opposite experience, with household LEDs lasting many years longer than that. And I wasn’t particularly seeking out expensive ones. 

[john new]

It is all rather like the low-energy bulbs that take so long to come on they get always left on!    I am sure many of these changes will be of long term benefits but not all. It is rather like chasing bargains 1/3 price 1/2 as long in use = win but much of the time these days it seems to the opposite way round.

 

Edited June 1, 2022 by john new

[Michael Hodgson]

6 hours ago, admiles said:

 

Don't think I've had an LED "bulb" last more than 18 months or so yet...

LED lamp in the kitchen managed about 3 months.

Not really the lamp's fault.  Water dripping through from flooded bathroom above.

 

Given proper treatment though, I've found LED lamps perfectly OK, no need to change anything, and worth the extra cost for the electricity saving. 

 

The "free" bulbs issued at Government instigation by the electric companies weren't up to much; they didn't last long, they didn't seem as bright as claimed and the power saviing wasn't that noticeable.

[SamThomas]

LED's "driven" correctly will last forever.

They need to be provided with a supply (either using resistors or an electroniv driver) that is well withing their rating.

This shorter life occurs when either the circuit/lamp is overdriven which shortens the life of the LED. I suspect that some manufactures drive their LED's "hard" so that lower rated (& cheaper) LED's can put out more light (to their ultimate degradation).

Drivers manufactured to a price cannot always cope with mains power fluctuates either.

 

It would be simple if yoy knew for certain that say a £5 lamp would always be better than a £3 one, but it's a bit of a lottery.

 

Some years ago we used to buy a lot of Osram MR16 halogen lamps (12v 50w) & found that they were failing prematurly - we sent some back to Osram for evaluation & they asked us to send a sealed box to them - they were in fact knock-offs with identical packaging, even down to authentic manufacture & batch numbers on the outer boxes. These lamps were all sourced from reputable wholesalers, but somehow they had infiltrated the supply chain.

So, even buying braded goods does not always mean you get a better product.