25,000 hr LED Bulbs

[Snagglefoot]

Almost five years ago I purchased a pack of LED bulbs similar to the ones in the photograph. I installed three of them in ceiling pots in our mud room between the garage and an inside hallway. There is no window in the mud room. It’s also where the dog’s food dish and water bowl is. Since the advent of good LED bulbs I no longer turn lights off and on as I enter and exit a room. To me , that’s grandma’s behavior. I can’t be bothered for a bulb that is 7 watts instead of what might have been 100 watts a long time ago. Also, a motion detector light switch is too annoying for me.

Having the lights on in the mud room provides light to what would have been a rather dark section of the hallway.

So, I turn the lights on at 6:00 AM and turn them off at 9:00 PM. I go through the room to the garage several times a day, including four times a day to feed and walk the dog.

Now for the rest of the story. The three bulbs each made 25,000 hours in just over 4-1/2 years. The bulbs failed within 6 months of each other. The total cost for power was about $15 total per year for the three bulbs at an average of 12 cents per kWh. The fact they made it 25,000 hours is pretty cool.

Flame suite on. Let me have it.

 

[wwillson]

So, I turn the lights on at 6:00 AM and turn them off at 9:00 PM. I go through the room to the garage several times a day, including four times a day to feed and walk the dog.

You got the utility that was important to you from the bulbs and money spent to power them. No fault with that.

 

[Owen Lucas]

I think it's rare LED bulbs make it to their expected life now. I am changing rather new LEDs every other month it seems, and they aren't on 24 hrs a day years on end.

 

[vavavroom]

So far all my LED bulbs have lasted at least 5 years, some much longer.

 

[oilfan99]

You need to buy bulbs made specifically for enclosed fixtures or they will fail quickly. There is probably a notice on the bulb if it's not made for enclosed fixtures

 

[y_p_w]

There's a bathtub curve for failures though. Still - LEDs are reliable enough that there are fixtures that have non-replaceable LED arrays.

I had one LED fluorescent replacement go bad (went on and off), but I think that was a mechanical problem with the connection to AC where the pins just went wobbly. The manufacturer replaced it.

 

[researcher]

I think it's a good sign it made the claimed 25,000 hours! Some of the older LED's never made it that long at my place, even worse when they went bad..they got so hot they cracked the ceramic heat sink! The newer ones that I bought in the last 2 years I have are lasting and not getting hot.
I agree @Snagglefoot running them longer to not have that "dark spot" in the house is nice.. No longer do you have to feel guilty running them because you'll have a large electric bill!

Looks like quality is getting better with LED's as time goes on, not worse! That's a welcome thing.

 

[Owen Lucas]

You need to buy bulbs made specifically for enclosed fixtures or they will fail quickly. There is probably a notice on the bulb if it's not made for enclosed fixtures

This wasn't an issue with incandescent bulbs. LED bulbs are designed to fail now, planned obsolescence. Now you have to pay extra for a bulb that goes in an enclosure? How about the manufacturer pays the extra $0.003 per unit to put in a more robust LED driver. No way buddy, they can sell many more bulbs that way! lol

 

[JTK]

Those were well made bulbs. Some of the earlier ones were.

It's rare that the LED chip itself go bad. It's the drivers and associated electronics that power the LED that fail. The majority of what's available retail is junk.

 

[y_p_w]

This wasn't an issue with incandescent bulbs. LED bulbs are designed to fail now, planned obsolescence. Now you have to pay extra for a bulb that goes in an enclosure? How about the manufacturer pays the extra $0.003 per unit to put in a more robust LED driver. No way buddy, they can sell many more bulbs that way! lol

I remember a company that made LED control hardware using more sophiticated digital controls. They claimed it should be more efficient and less likely to fail, and I believe some of their controls were marketed as not requiring a heatsink or at least allowing for smaller ones. I wasn't sure what the market would be though. Possibly not Edison-base bulbs since the price could be cheap even a decade ago. Maybe for more complex commercial lighting, especially if operating costs were important.

That being said, LED bulbs generally don't fail because the LEDs fail. Almost anything used for lighting is an array of several LEDs where one (or several) failing isn't going to bring down the entire array. Even my "single LED" flashlights have a small array of dozens of tiny LEDs. It's usually going to fail because of the control circuitry or heatsink failing.

And a hearty thanks to Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura for coming up with the blue LED. There's actually no such thing as a white LED. It's either red/green/blue or blue LEDs and phosphors.

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2014/press-release/

 

[97prizm]

Almost five years ago I purchased a pack of LED bulbs similar to the ones in the photograph. I installed three of them in ceiling pots in our mud room between the garage and an inside hallway. There is no window in the mud room. It’s also where the dog’s food dish and water bowl is. Since the advent of good LED bulbs I no longer turn lights off and on as I enter and exit a room. To me , that’s grandma’s behavior. I can’t be bothered for a bulb that is 7 watts instead of what might have been 100 watts a long time ago. Also, a motion detector light switch is too annoying for me.

Having the lights on in the mud room provides light to what would have been a rather dark section of the hallway.

So, I turn the lights on at 6:00 AM and turn them off at 9:00 PM. I go through the room to the garage several times a day, including four times a day to feed and walk the dog.

Now for the rest of the story. The three bulbs each made 25,000 hours in just over 4-1/2 years. The bulbs failed within 6 months of each other. The total cost for power was about $15 total per year for the three bulbs at an average of 12 cents per kWh. The fact they made it 25,000 hours is pretty cool.

Flame suite on. Let me have it.

View attachment 250514

I always tell people go for cree or GE led bulbs. They have the biggest heat sinks and last the longest. Who is NOMA? Never heard of them. Luxeon, GE, and Cree are the industry leaders or standard when it comes to lighting. They provide oem LEDs for automotive headlights, and high end home/office lighting. All other garbage companies should be banned as it's not difficult to make a long lasting LED bulb. I still have fluorescent bulbs that are 12 plus years old and still going. At least those came in 3200k, 3700k, 3850k, 4100k, 5000k, and 6500k "daylight" options.

 

[wwillson]

It's rare that the LED chip itself go bad. It's the drivers and associated electronics that power the LED that fail. The majority of what's available retail is junk.

Confirmed by talking to my EE friend. He said the electrical components are made a cheaply as possible and often fail in service long before the LED would burn out. He said if you wanted high quality components, the bulbs would cost 2-3x what they cost now. Consumers zero in on cost and have no way of knowing about the quality of components. It's been this way since the beginning of mass manufacturing.

 

[Snagglefoot]

I always tell people go for cree or GE led bulbs. They have the biggest heat sinks and last the longest. Who is NOMA? Never heard of them. Luxeon, GE, and Cree are the industry leaders or standard when it comes to lighting. They provide oem LEDs for automotive headlights, and high end home/office lighting. All other garbage companies should be banned as it's not difficult to make a long lasting LED bulb. I still have fluorescent bulbs that are 12 plus years old and still going. At least those came in 3200k, 3700k, 3850k, 4100k, 5000k, and 6500k "daylight" options.

Noma is big in Canada and is in all the Canadian Tire stores. Noma is also probably the largest Christmas light brand in Canada.

 

[KevinMalone]

My old LEDs from many years ago are still trucking along while most of the newer stuff have a much higher failure rate. The only downside is the older LEDs are usually only 80 CRI at most. Currently, I seem to have good luck with Ikea Solhetta bulbs. Reasonably priced and >90 CRI to boot. Philips Ultra Definition bulbs have been a total failure for me (~80% failure rate) but I like how they dim to 2200K.

I try to find each bulb on the Energy Star site for detailed specs, but it can be difficult: https://www.energystar.gov/productfinder/product/certified-light-bulbs/results

Also, why would a motion sensor light switch in the mud room annoying? That was one of the most useful upgrades I did to our home. Lights automatically turn on and stay on if the room is occupied. I used Lutron because it apparently has a better occupancy sensor:

https://www.homedepot.ca/product/lu...le-pole-motion-sensor-switch-white/1000720113

 

[dogememe]

I have had smart WiFi LED bulbs in my room and various places in the home for years.

They are usually generic ones off Amazon with weird names that work with Tuya/Smart Life.

They randomly die. Some “brands” and batches have lasted years and years but many of them don’t even make it past a year.

They either just stop working or they go pop and let the magic smoke out and horribly stink up the room. I think they fail due to high temperature as something they all have in common is they run really hot.

Nothing has caught on fire yet thankfully. I wish there were better ones I could buy that are compatible with this app. Sadly most name brand ones that would probably last longer use their own app or require a hub and I want to stick to this ecosystem.

 

[k1xv]

LED bulbs are not created equal. Some last longer, some shorter, and many of the "off brand" ones make RF noise creating radio interference noise. I find Philips to be the best LED bulb brand.

 

[Shel_B]

So far all my LED bulbs have lasted at least 5 years, some much longer.

The three bulbs I installed in 2013 are still going strong. Those are the longest lasting thus far.

 

[97prizm]

My old LEDs from many years ago are still trucking along while most of the newer stuff have a much higher failure rate. The only downside is the older LEDs are usually only 80 CRI at most. Currently, I seem to have good luck with Ikea Solhetta bulbs. Reasonably priced and >90 CRI to boot. Philips Ultra Definition bulbs have been a total failure for me (~80% failure rate) but I like how they dim to 2200K.

I try to find each bulb on the Energy Star site for detailed specs, but it can be difficult: https://www.energystar.gov/productfinder/product/certified-light-bulbs/results

Also, why would a motion sensor light switch in the mud room annoying? That was one of the most useful upgrades I did to our home. Lights automatically turn on and stay on if the room is occupied. I used Lutron because it apparently has a better occupancy sensor:

https://www.homedepot.ca/product/lu...le-pole-motion-sensor-switch-white/1000720113

GE or Cree is the way to go. They are heavy for their size due to better heat sinks and last significantly longer.

 

[Carmudgeon]

I haven't been impressed by Cree. They built their reputation on emitters, but the bulbs haven't met the same standard.

During the early days, their bulbs with the finned heatsinks sold at Home Depot had a dubious record for reliability, and many warranty claims.

HD eventually dropped the line, and the company sold the bulb business.

Gave the brand a second chance with some canelabras a couple years ago, and had a failure. To their credit, customer service issued a credit which rendered them free, since they no longer made them and couldn't offer replacements.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

If you have outdoor cameras, I recommend Feit for less glare in your monitor screens.
Also, the more you turn the light switch on and off, the faster the light bulb will die. Those that are left on all day will last longer. Lastly, I always look to see if the light bulb is rated for outdoor use. That helps keep the light on longer also.