I foolishly thought I'd install proper lighting in our loft. After struggling in heat and semi-darkness, I managed to neatly fit a pair of twin 58W fluorescent fittings branded Eterna Lighting UK (but made in China) and sold by B&Q. In all, there were four 5' fluorescent tubes. At switch-on, out of the four, one lit correctly and another glowed at one end. I swapped the working tube into a new position. No dice. Something's wrong inside. I leave you, gentle reader, to draw your own conclusions about my opinion of Eterna Lighting...
I fitted four GE energy saving fluorescent light bulbs in wall lights two weeks ago and all was well. Last night, I noticed that one of the lights was very dim and distinctly green...
I fitted four GE energy saving fluorescent light bulbs in wall lights two weeks ago and all was well. Last night, I noticed that one of the lights was very dim and distinctly green...
We changed whole lighting at our home into energysavers couple of years ago and since then not a single "bulb" have expired. Bought the more expensive models then though. At least Airam and Philips brands have been good and still going strong even with quite heavy usage hours (the sun is up in the sky about 2 hours at heart of the winter in here...)
-Reko
-Reko
Huh..the GE bulbs on this side of the pond seem to work fine? 
I havn't heard of the other guys,so I dunno..
One thing about CFL's,they dont' like being upside down!
The heat from the bulb cooks the ballast,and the capacitor overheats and splits the vent on the top..
I've had several cases of this,with identical bulbs,bought on the same day.. The upside-down bulbs die within a couple months,yet the right-side-up bulbs are STILL going,a couple years later.
Anybody else notice they're replacing the CFL's in the upside-down sockets more frequently?
I havn't heard of the other guys,so I dunno..
One thing about CFL's,they dont' like being upside down!
The heat from the bulb cooks the ballast,and the capacitor overheats and splits the vent on the top..
I've had several cases of this,with identical bulbs,bought on the same day.. The upside-down bulbs die within a couple months,yet the right-side-up bulbs are STILL going,a couple years later.
Anybody else notice they're replacing the CFL's in the upside-down sockets more frequently?
An update: I switched the wall lights on a moment ago. There was a nasty popping crackling noise and the green tinged energy-saving bulb (horizontally mounted) died completely. There was a nasty burnt electronics smell...
I now have three out of the four fluorescents on the Eterna fittings working. One worked to begin with. One turned out to be a faulty starter. Another turned out to be a duff connection to the starter. I'm going to have to take the fitting down to find the fault on the fourth fluorescent...
I now have three out of the four fluorescents on the Eterna fittings working. One worked to begin with. One turned out to be a faulty starter. Another turned out to be a duff connection to the starter. I'm going to have to take the fitting down to find the fault on the fourth fluorescent...
DigitalJunkie said:...
Anybody else notice they're replacing the CFL's in the upside-down sockets more frequently?
I decided to replace all the exterior lights on my house with CFL's. There are two by the front door, two by the garage, two by the patio door and one by the back door so 7 lights and the energy savings could be good. All the fixtures have the bulbs upside down.
I bought some nice Phillips bulbs and put them in. They all burned out, every single one of them, in about 1/2 the time of standard filament bulbs! I replaced them once more with another brand (forget which one, got them at the local big box home store). Some of these lasted almost as long as a regular filament bulb.
Currently all my outside lights are filament bulbs. I n my experience CFL's don't like being upside down.
Sherman said:
I've had super good luck with both Phillips and GE bulbs, zero failures in 20+ bulbs over four year time frame, and most of them are upside down. My porch light has been on 24/7 for about four years and it's a cheapy LOA twister. If I had this many failures I'd be checking my AC supply especially looking for DC offset. Do any of your other electric items show poor lifespans? I've heard of filament bulbs lasting 20 years though so it's hard to figure out how long your bulbs are actually lasting before failure.
John.......
whatsnext said:
Actually when I had all the failures with the Phillips bulbs I pulled out the meter and went around checking. No DC on the line. The only thing I found was that my mains voltage could be as high as 124 VAC and as low as 119 VAC. I went next door and tested their outside outlets at the same time and found the same voltages, so nothing especially odd about my house.
I check my mains voltage pretty often since I like to double check my B+ voltages against what is happening in the house AC. I have also put my scope on the raw AC and haven't seen anything untoward.
I haven't had any problems with any other electronic equipment. I have a small computer network here, a couple servers half a dozen workstations, four or five printers, switches, routers etc. with nary a peep.
Also my amps seem to perform just fine, though with B+ voltages a little higher than spec'd due to the higher mains voltage.
I think CFL bulbs just don't like me.
By upside down do you mean the bulb end is pointing towards the ground? I've moved house 4 times since 1999 and taken the Philips Ecotone bulbs with me every time, not had one go yet. They are all pointing towards the floor in normal light fittings, except for one upward pointing one in a lamp.
Recently fitted a fluorescent tube light in my loft, can't remember if I got it from Focus or B&Q. No problems with it though.
Recently fitted a fluorescent tube light in my loft, can't remember if I got it from Focus or B&Q. No problems with it though.
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