What do you mean, how long? That ship has long since sailed. Years ago I switched our house as much as possible to LEDs and bought a lot of the EcoSmart bring LED bulbs from Home Depot. Started having failures within a few months. The final straw was when I bought a box of four and two of them were bad right out the box. Switched to Duracell and they seemed to work well. Bought a bunch more about a year ago and one of them was bad out of the box and two more failed within a week. While there may be more, the only one that seems to be a quality source that I know of is Cree. Very much more expense, too.

I get 4 to 6 months out of an LED bulb. Worst scam ever.

 

I am really puzzled by other people’s problems with LED bulbs, I have bought nothing but for about 15 year and I had a total of two failures in that tine. I guess I am just lucky. Never bought eco-smart because the packaging screamed of cheap junk. I guess I was right about that. I think most of mine are Phillips, GE or Cree. One if the failures was a Cree.

 

I am really puzzled by other people’s problems with LED bulbs, I have bought nothing but for about 15 year and I had a total of two failures in that tine. I guess I am just lucky. Never bought eco-smart because the packaging screamed of cheap junk. I guess I was right about that. I think most of mine are Phillips, GE or Cree. One if the failures was a Cree.

I think a lot of the premature failures are from enclosed fixtures designed for incandescent bulbs with a high tolerance to heat. The heat sinking on most of the LED bulbs I see is marginal at best so if you put one in totally dead air, with little or no thermally conductive path to move the electrical heat away from the die and power electronics, it will cook internally fairly quickly. I still use incandescent bulbs around the house (the extra heat is not wasted) and have plenty of stock to last for a while but Rough Service Appliance 60W Light Bulbs are not banned and are pretty cheap online.

 

I am really puzzled by other people’s problems with LED bulbs, I have bought nothing but for about 15 year and I had a total of two failures in that tine. I guess I am just lucky. Never bought eco-smart because the packaging screamed of cheap junk. I guess I was right about that. I think most of mine are Phillips, GE or Cree. One if the failures was a Cree.

Learning curve.

The first rush to cash-in on the LED lighting trend was all about first-movers designing LED lights without a lot of good hindsight, a lot of the stuff was just poorly designed and manufactured.
The whole industry took a big hit, it took many years for the once-bitten customer base to come crawling back.

 

Learning curve.

The first rush to cash-in on the LED lighting trend was all about first-movers designing LED lights without a lot of good hindsight, a lot of the stuff was just poorly designed and manufactured.
The whole industry took a big hit, it took many years for the once-bitten customer base to come crawling back.

But I was buying them very early, before they were common, and the reliability was excellent even then in my experience.

 

The first rush to cash-in on the LED lighting trend was all about first-movers designing LED lights without a lot of good hindsight, a lot of the stuff was just poorly designed and manufactured.

Imagine the time and effort Thomas Edison could have saved had he taken the same approach.

 

Since we have drifted into the world of LED lighting I have been adding LED lighting over the years pretty much based on attrition. Maybe 4 or 5 years ago I remodeled and refinished a downstairs bath and the kitchen. No better time to install LED lighting. Initially for the first few years the kitchen was on 24/7 and not a single failure of 9 installed. I did have one apparently defective one which failed after a few weeks in the bathroom. When I put it all in I bought plenty of spare lamps and have used only one. I like plenty of light and the garage is no exception and again no failures and those went in about 2 years pre COVID.

Ron

 

But I was buying them very early, before they were common, and the reliability was excellent even then in my experience.

Early, as before the cheap junk Chinese versions flooded the market with underrated component being pushed to max ratings producing excess heat.

Most die from poor heat sinking. If you look a failures, most of the time the heat-sink compound is misapplied, totally missing and/or totally inadequate for the job.
Keep them cold and ventilated.

 

Early, as before the cheap junk Chinese versions flooded the market with underrated component being pushed to max ratings producing excess heat.

Most die from poor heat sinking. If you look a failures, most of the time the heat-sink compound is misapplied, totally missing and/or totally inadequate for the job.
Keep them cold and ventilated.

Face it, Spook: They are just too complicated vs. a tungsten filament to be as reliable as a tungsten filament.

This is a statistical law: adding parts requires all the parts to have better reliability in order to maintain the overall reliability of the system.

 

Face it, Spook: They are just too complicated vs. a tungsten filament to be as reliable as a tungsten filament.

This is a statistical law: adding parts requires all the parts to have better reliability in order to maintain the overall reliability of the system.

It's not complicated to make a reliable LED bulb, it's very easy unless you don't really give a damn about LED bulb reliability. In that case it's easy to make unreliable ones too. That's where all the good-quality products have gone.

 

It's not complicated to make a reliable LED bulb, it's very easy unless you don't really give a damn about LED bulb reliability. In that case it's easy to make unreliable ones too. That's where all the good-quality products have gone.

Reliable as a tungsten filament, at the cost of a tungsten filament?

Never gonna happen.

 

Reliable as a tungsten filament, at the cost of a tungsten filament?

Never gonna happen.

For a simple light bulb that lasts 6 months to a year, maybe but that's not the same as total reliability for X lifetime expectancy the good LED bulbs can have.

Tungsten filaments are not very reliable when used at higher power levels unless countermeasures are used. We've spent a lot of time and effort to extend the life of devices that use them in industry. You need pre-warm steps, ramp up to full power steps, ramp down to keep warm steps, etc ....

When they go bad, bad things happen.

 

For a simple light bulb that lasts 6 months to a year, maybe but that's not the same as total reliability for X lifetime expectancy the good LED bulbs can have.

Tungsten filaments are not very reliable when used at higher power levels unless countermeasures are used. We've spent a lot of time and effort to extend the life of devices that use them in industry. You need pre-warm steps, ramp up to full power steps, ramp down to keep warm steps, etc ....

Or just add a quartz envelope.

Look, I've replaced every LED bulb I've ever bought, some many times. And they were expensive.

In all that time, I've got incandescent that are still running strong.

Like EVs vs. ICE, LED bulbs will never exceed the overall value of incandescent.

 

Or just add a quartz envelope.
..

Ha, Ha.

See that cap (the entire assy and base needs to be a electrical conductor), it's not melted because it's graphite, in a UHV chamber.

 

Ha, Ha.

See that cap (the entire assy and base needs to be a electrical conductor), it's not melted because it's graphite, in a UHV chamber.

Well, I guess you win the argument.

Next time I require industrial lighting for my hall closet, I'll make extra sure to get LED.

 

Well, I guess you win the argument.

Next time I require industrial lighting for my hall closet, I'll make extra sure to get LED.

It's not an argument. I agree with your assessment of the unreliability of the common junk LED bulbs on the market. I'm merely stating the obvious fact, it doesn't have to be that way.

 

It's not an argument. I agree with your assessment of the unreliability of the common junk LED bulbs on the market. I'm merely stating the obvious fact, it doesn't have to be that way.

So, nutshell: you believe it is possible to manufacture a (residential, retail) LED light bulb with the same overall reliability and cost as a piece of wire and some frosted glass?

 

So, nutshell: you believe it is possible to manufacture a (residential, retail) LED light bulb with the same overall reliability and cost as a piece of wire and some frosted glass?

Yes, amortizing its cost, even better long term reliability and lower total (energy usage and labor included) cost for the expected ten year lifetime of a good LED light bulb.
I hate to say it, but the incandescent (rough service lamps) lamps are hitting the market now that the quality manufacturers are out of the game.

Labor

 

amortizing its cost,

Unacceptable.

I refuse to amortize the cost of a bulb that lasts 4 months over 14 years.

 

Unacceptable.

I refuse to amortize the cost of a bulb that lasts 4 months over 14 years.

Your question was, possible, not if it was acceptable to you.