cyber_cynic Posted April 21, 2004 Share Posted April 21, 2004 Anybody else having the same experience with lamps/bulbs having a very short lifespan? I just had to replace 3 in my study - that is three lamps in one room! They all blew with 3 days of each other. 2 others in the house are also showing signs of being on their last legs. Every month we have a few that give up the ghost. It is becoming a pricy exercise taking into accont they cost about 300 baht each. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boon Mee Posted April 21, 2004 Share Posted April 21, 2004 It's probably due to line surges. Voltage & frequency rising and falling above the 50 HZ threshold. Your power utility is most likely to blame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drewcifer Posted April 21, 2004 Share Posted April 21, 2004 Have you tried one of the long life bulbs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snark Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 deleted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goat Roper Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 It's probably due to line surges. Voltage & frequency rising and falling above the 50 HZ threshold. Your power utility is most likely to blame. Yes, you are correct Boon albeit there are some inferior quality light bulbs on the market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goat Roper Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 I jave heard that in the case of incandescent bulbs on-off cycles play a part in longivity although I have never been able to prove this but I do have night lights(6watt) in my home that are on 24/7 and several have lasted for more than two years. Been here in the LOS for two decades and premature light bulb failure has never been an issue with me, good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thetyim Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 Yes I have had the same problem with bulb failure and I have been here for ten years and lived in five houses. I have tried every brand of bulb and thre are all bad quality. Even the Philips bulbs seem to have time fuse that blows after 180 days. I now just stock up on cheapo bulbs and keep replacing them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pink Mist Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 see if you can get RC lamps there they should last. dont know if you can get them though??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goat Roper Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 Anybody else having the same experience with lamps/bulbs having a very short lifespan?I just had to replace 3 in my study - that is three lamps in one room! They all blew with 3 days of each other. 2 others in the house are also showing signs of being on their last legs. Every month we have a few that give up the ghost. It is becoming a pricy exercise taking into accont they cost about 300 baht each. I don't know what your standards are for lighting but in the case of incandescent bulbs you can always buy a larger watt bullb than you normally buy and put a 220-120 stepdown transformer on the line and your 220 volt bulbs will last until Chat Naah(you're next life). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astral Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 Even the long life bulbs do not have as much life as they should (5 years is what they said on the box) Some of mine have failed after 2-3 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thaihome Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 you can always buy a larger watt bullb than you normally buy and put a 220-120 stepdown transformer on the line and your 220 volt bulbs will last until Chat Naah(you're next life) I would think that it would the current not the voltage that would cause the filament to fail. Assuming I am correct, then your theory would actually cause the bulbs to fail faster as lowering the voltage increases the current (Ohms Law I = W/V) causing more heat and therefore more expansion/contraction of the filament But then again, I could be wrong; it has been more then a couple of years since I supposdly learned this stuff. TH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goat Roper Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 you can always buy a larger watt bullb than you normally buy and put a 220-120 stepdown transformer on the line and your 220 volt bulbs will last until Chat Naah(you're next life) I would think that it would the current not the voltage that would cause the filament to fail. Assuming I am correct, then your theory would actually cause the bulbs to fail faster as lowering the voltage increases the current (Ohms Law I = W/V) causing more heat and therefore more expansion/contraction of the filament But then again, I could be wrong; it has been more then a couple of years since I supposdly learned this stuff. TH Maybe so but I took some 220/50Hz incandescent bulbs back to my home country in 1975 where 110/60Hz is employed and they are still alive today., My wife's Buddha house has a long string of lights on it, I was continuously replacing bulbs as she keeps these burning all day, shuts them off at night, I bought a 220/110 stepdown transformer two years ago and now it is rare when I have to replace a bulb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuky Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 We suffer the problem too. TiT. I did live in a house in Aust that blew globes every couple of weeks, we had an earthing problem sorted out and then I got true life expectany out of the globes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thaihome Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 I bought a 220/110 stepdown transformer two years ago and now it is rare when I have to replace a bulb. Probably magic. TH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyber_cynic Posted April 22, 2004 Author Share Posted April 22, 2004 It's probably due to line surges. Voltage & frequency rising and falling above the 50 HZ threshold. Your power utility is most likely to blame. This probably correct - just wanted to know if it was peculiar to our building or not. Unfortunately these are not incandescents - if only they were, they would be cheap to replace. Most of the bulbs are 11 Watt OSRAM Edison Screw fluorescents at 300 baht a pop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basher Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 Just buy 'Rough Service' bulbs, they sell them in Home pro, these are considerably longer lasting Bash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pink Mist Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 bash i already said that but he is not using incandescant is using 11 watt es fluro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopburi3 Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 he is not using incandescant is using 11 watt es fluro He is also paying a lot for them. Most of these are now under 200 baht. And there are a lot of cheap imitation bulbs available that are useless - I would change your bulb/supply source first. But you may have electric line crossing another live line when the wind blows giving you a lot more voltage than your normal 230v. If you have any incandescent lamps you will notice them get very bright if that is the cause. I have more than 35 of these bulbs (not Osram) and none have failed in last year of use and some are used at least 15 hours a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pink Mist Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 Lop you plant bulbs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopburi3 Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 Only in the springtime. Have 16 lights in living room alone. When you use recessed fixtures you need a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snark Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 deleted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopburi3 Posted April 24, 2004 Share Posted April 24, 2004 The average incandescent bulb has a voltage capability of appoximately +20 and -100% and spike absorbtion of about 10 times it's rated voltage so voltage surges and 'brown-outs' are not a factor either. If we were talking mili second surge (as we do with computers) it may not have much effect; but when it lasts longer than a few seconds or continues for a time it will cause early failure. And when the lamps are marginal it will not take long. Had a home where this happened and lamp life was about a week. This lasted for six months until we paid to have street wires fixed. For brown outs you get a positive effect and lamps will last longer as they do not get as hot. As someone pointed out if you take some of these 220-240v bulbs and use on 120v they will last a very long time (but you don't get much light). But original poster was not talking about incadencent lamps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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