I have two lights in the laundry room. They both hold 3 regular 60 watt bulbs. No matter what brand or what wattage I put in, they burn out in probably 6 months. It doesn't seem to happen anywhere else in the house.
I can't do much because I rent and I know the landlord is not going to look into it.
I'm thinking about putting in CFLs and seeing how long they last.
Any suggestions?
It's not a problem with the wiring. What's happening is that you turn the lights on and off in there quite a bit compared to the rest of the house and the continual 'thermal cycling' makes them puke early. FWIW, CFL's will do the same thing.
Your solution will be LEDs. Or, you know, keep buying and replacing the cheap incands.
Check your commons.
Curmudgeon wrote: It's not a problem with the wiring. What's happening is that you turn the lights on and off in there quite a bit compared to the rest of the house and the continual 'thermal cycling' makes them puke early. FWIW, CFL's will do the same thing.
I'd go with this too. At my last house, normal bulbs would last a LONG time in places where they were just left on.
CFL's REALLY long. I've got a lamp in the living room that stays on 24/7, it's had the same CFL bulb for approaching 7 years now.
I have a problem keeping bulbs in the kids bathroom. I wonder how LED lights would hold up. a 2watt (yes, 2) is fairly bright in my daughters small desk lamp. I'd say 40watt eq
Walmart has some 2.5 watt leds for under $8. It might be worth a try at that price.
Try buying a 130 volt bulb at the local electrical supply house. May last longer.
yes.. sounds like cycling is killing your lights.. btw.. what do you need 360 watts of power in your laundry room for?
mad_machine wrote: yes.. sounds like cycling is killing your lights.. btw.. what do you need 360 watts of power in your laundry room for?
It makes it easier to read the ruler when you're measuring out where your creases should be.
How's your dryer vent? Does it get very hot/humid in the room?
In my experience, the CFLs don't hold up well in areas with frequent on/off cycles of lights (bathrooms, laundry rooms, etc.) The ones in the bathroom vanity seem to burn out every 6 months or so.
LEDs do not like being turned off and on a lot too. If an LED is going to die, it will do it when first turned on
I have a kitchen,hanging light with the switch on the socket. It used to burn out the sockets quite regularly from heat that had no escape uner the metal hat. Then I drilled some small holes around the top of the hat. Hasn't burned a socket since.
mad_machine wrote: LEDs do not like being turned off and on a lot too. If an LED is going to die, it will do it when first turned on
I have regular white 1 watt LEDs that turn on and off 30x a second (driven by a PWM signal to save power). They last the functional equivalent of forever. It is probably the supply and/or driver circuit that fails due to general crappyness.
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:mad_machine wrote: LEDs do not like being turned off and on a lot too. If an LED is going to die, it will do it when first turned onI have regular white 1 watt LEDs that turn on and off 30x a second (driven by a PWM signal to save power). They last the functional equivalent of forever. It is probably the supply and/or driver circuit that fails due to general crappyness.
are they truely off? I help run the LED sign that is Harrah's waterfront tower.. we never truely turn the LEDs off. They are just dimmed down.
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:mad_machine wrote: LEDs do not like being turned off and on a lot too. If an LED is going to die, it will do it when first turned onI have regular white 1 watt LEDs that turn on and off 30x a second (driven by a PWM signal to save power). They last the functional equivalent of forever. It is probably the supply and/or driver circuit that fails due to general crappyness.
That was my first thought too. IIRC LEDS usually run on 2.5 or 12V DC, if used in a 110v application the voltage needs to step down and be turned into DC. The related circuitry would be much more likely to fail. Heck, LEDS don't even get warm.
Speaking of light failing when turned on, about a year ago I had some friends over to eat dinner. I had this 5 lamp chandelier over the kitchen table, when I flipped the switch on there was a loud pop and blue flash. At the same time a globe from one of the incandescent bulbs flew out of the socket and bounced off the table. 
Dinner and a show! Shoulda charged them extra for the pyro.
Curmudgeon wrote: . Heck, LEDS don't even get warm.
actually they do.. just do not expect a lot of heat. High powered LEDs need carefully thought out thermal management to keep from cooking
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote I have regular white 1 watt LEDs that turn on and off 30x a second (driven by a PWM signal to save power). They last the functional equivalent of forever. It is probably the supply and/or driver circuit that fails due to general crappyness.
30x per second, eh?
Now I'm off to ponder the use of LEDs as rectifiers.
Knurled wrote:Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote I have regular white 1 watt LEDs that turn on and off 30x a second (driven by a PWM signal to save power). They last the functional equivalent of forever. It is probably the supply and/or driver circuit that fails due to general crappyness.30x per second, eh? Now I'm off to ponder the use of LEDs as rectifiers.
Google for Pulse Width Modulation. You can use it from everything from reducing the current to drive LEDs to varying the speed of a DC motor. I am currently (pun intended) rigging up a "poor man's motor controller" for my electro-hydraulic power steering in my race car so I can vary the assist with a pot on the dash (and in the future from an accelerometer). 555 timer to generate PWM, to a dampened 70a solid state relay to switch the motor on and off a couple times a second. I think I should be able to do it for tons less than the equivalent OTC motor controller of that size.
PWM is how shifts are controlled in the electronic automatics. By varying the pulse width, it's easy to control the shift quality. It's also how fuel mixture is controlled, the ground pulse from the ECM is longer to richen and shorter to lean the A/F ratio.
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