Light Fittings 1

[Greenside]

I live (well, only for a few more weeks I hope) in a rented house which has been fitted with the cheapest possible down-lighters. Since the bulbs were all daylight which I find unliveable with, I changed them all to Energy Saving warm white, using a mixture of Sylvania, Philips and a couple of whatever were the cheapest from Global House at the time. With the exception of one bulb, they have all had to be replaced over a period of about 18 months and our usage is very small (I figure most failed after less than 1000 hours) while other lights of different types and in a variety of fittings have given no trouble.

I noticed some arcing sounds from one of the fittings shortly before a bulb went and expected to find it not properly screwed home when I went to replace it but it was firmly in place. I happened to mention this to a friend and he said that he'd noticed shortened bulb life in the house he is in and was wondering the same.

Am I proposing an urban myth or is there some deficiency in cheap, poorly designed lamp holders that could possibly be the cause?

[Crossy]

Definitely not an urban myth.

CFLs run a lot cooler than halogens, no argument here.

However, the electronics that power the beasts are much more sensitive to heat, many electronic components have their life significantly reduced by operating temperatures above 50C or so.

Design to a price (small or absent heatsinks) combined with poor ventilation of the fitting causes the electronics in the lamp base to cook and fail early.

[Greenside]

So it's the heat.

I am gearing up for what I know is going to be a tough battle which is ensuing that they leave sufficient space around the fittings for both this and fires safety reasons. I have 150mm of insulation on top of the gypsum board and gave them a copy of the Australian regulations about minimum clearances. I've made it clear that they are to follow them and they agreed, but I'm probably going to end up in the roof space checking all the same.

Oh joy....

[juehoe]

I also had to replace my CFL's too often. The cause might be the heat combined with high humidity and perhaps lower quality of the products sold in Thailand.

Therefore I started to convert my house to LED lighting...!