Energy Saving Light Bulbs

[Bert]

I'm fed up of hearing that ESLBs can last 'up to' eight times longer than incandescent bulbs. My very limited experience was one that only lasted about two years. My son also had one that lasted a very short time. It's as bad as batteries that can be recharged 'up to' 1000 times - in your dreams!
Let's have the figures for an average life expectancy rather than the maximum. Does anybody know what the average life for an ESLB is, under specified conditions?

[wildwood]

My first two in the living room have been going strong for 6 years and still show no sign of going. These are on every evening. We now have them in every bedroom and the lounge too. They are not recommended in situations where the light is only on for a short while such as the toilet or hallway. We did have one that only lived for just under one year but that was still enough to justify it's installation

You are not having much luck with your batteries either. 1000 recharges is the minimum one can expect form a reasonable quality re-chargable battery, if it is not mistreated. Even most of the chinese cheapie Nicad batteries in the solar lights seem to last for 3years+ which is 1000 charges.

[jake-the-peg]

I've found significant variations in the life of these and I think there's a few things to bear in mind.

These are probably tested under laboratory conditions we don't know if that was continuous load of if there was switching on and off involved

They were almost certainly straight out of the factory not sumitted to shock in transport or teenage girls who like to stomp off in a huff and slam bedroom doors a lot

The quality of manufacture may vary significantly between brands.

The lifetime may vary between designs.

I think the key weasel words are up to but there's nothing new in those everything from shampoo to tyres are up to 100% effective it seems.

One thing for sure is that they do run much cooler which is a major factor why I use them so extensively

[heathfield]

With low energy bulbs, brief use shortens their life considerably, as Wildwood says. I've seen it recommended (somewhere) that they should remain lit for 15 minutes minimum to help extend their lifetime.

[tali1]

eslb are crap

[Bert]

Don't hold back, tali1, say what you really mean(!)
If heathfield is right, why are there no warnings to this effect when you buy them? And what's going to happen when and if they take incandescent bulbs off the market? The one I had that went in a short time was not used a lot, and probably mostly for short periods of time. The same with NiCd batteries - why is there no warning about the 'memory' effect?

[wildwood]

If the manufacturers are completely honest with their info not many people would buy their products. The ESL bulbs are essentially a fluorescent light instead of the incandescent one where a tungsten filament is heated by electricity to the point of glowing.
I have heard that some people also complain that the ESLBs give then a headache, which is quite possible.
Lets hope that by the time the incandescent ones are 'outlawed', the LED technology has progressed to household lightbulbs.