We had a rewire last year; in place of 50W halogen bulbs in the kitchen I
replaced these fitted with 11 watt Megaman GU10 low energy light bulbs.
These were said to have a life of 15,000 hours. As you may have guessed,
they haven’t. Last week one was dead, the importer sent a replacement but
said the batch was out of warrantee.

Yesterday another one went, and times its clear the problem exists with the
rest. There is cracking from the contact pins and lose fragments can be seen
in the bulbs which can be seen in the remaining ones.



As the rewiring was underway this and other building work made the house
un-inhabitable, we were living in a caravan until September. Over time as we
got the basic rooms habitable increasing the amount of time spent in the
house.



So we think we would have been fully using the kitchen from August. This is
a room with out direct natural lighting, so the lights are used when the
roomis in use. To be honist given the delay in the bulbs in reaching full
light, they are usually left on for quite long periods. Given time away,
weekends and holidays, I think 13 months in use. If we left the lights on
all the day, 7am to 11pm this is just under 6000 hrs. Indeed one halogen
bulb was put back with a week, as the low energy bulb just wasn’t bright
enough in one place, its still going strong!



I would be grateful for comments on:-

a.. Is such a short life the real life expectancy of such bulbs rather
than the manufactures claims?
b.. As the last one had a strong smell when taken out, is there a fire
risk from these (one contact pin was lose!
c.. In this length of time, if we had 6,000 hrs are we still saving money
or we wasting?
d.. How do the different manufactures rate the bulbs fin terms of
replacing them if they fail (I can’t find any thing about Megaman having a
batch rather than life warrantee) has any one else experience of this?
e.. Can any one recommend a more reliable make of bulb?


I have contacted Megaman again but heard nothing back this time!




---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 071105-1, 05/11/2007
Tested on: 06/11/2007 19:38:18
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2007 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com

On 2007-11-06 19:38:17 +0000, "John"
said:

We had a rewire last year; in place of 50W halogen bulbs in the kitchen I
replaced these fitted with 11 watt Megaman GU10 low energy light bulbs.
These were said to have a life of 15,000 hours. As you may have guessed,
they haven’t. Last week one was dead, the importer sent a replacement but
said the batch was out of warrantee.

Yesterday another one went, and times its clear the problem exists with the
rest. There is cracking from the contact pins and lose fragments can be seen
in the bulbs which can be seen in the remaining ones.



As the rewiring was underway this and other building work made the house
un-inhabitable, we were living in a caravan until September. Over time as we
got the basic rooms habitable increasing the amount of time spent in the
house.



So we think we would have been fully using the kitchen from August. This is
a room with out direct natural lighting, so the lights are used when the
roomis in use. To be honist given the delay in the bulbs in reaching full
light, they are usually left on for quite long periods. Given time away,
weekends and holidays, I think 13 months in use. If we left the lights on
all the day, 7am to 11pm this is just under 6000 hrs. Indeed one halogen
bulb was put back with a week, as the low energy bulb just wasn’t bright
enough in one place, its still going strong!



I would be grateful for comments on:-

a.. Is such a short life the real life expectancy of such bulbs rather
than the manufactures claims?

That's a question for the manufacturer. Your retailer has the
responsibility for recompense. Personally I wouldn't accept 13
months use against this life expectancy claim. If the investment is
significant, ask for a refund.


b.. As the last one had a strong smell when taken out, is there a fire
risk from these (one contact pin was lose!
c.. In this length of time, if we had 6,000 hrs are we still saving money
or we wasting?

Really, the whole technology is a waste of time and money. You would
be far better off buying proper halogen lamps, getting decent light
quality and not messing about.


d.. How do the different manufactures rate the bulbs fin terms of
replacing them if they fail (I can’t find any thing about Megaman having a
batch rather than life warrantee) has any one else experience of this?

The standard seems to be a rating down to 50% failure. This is
worthless and should not be permitted. a 5-10% failure point would be
more reasonable and convincing.


e.. Can any one recommend a more reliable make of bulb?


Megaman are supposed to be one of the better brands.


I have contacted Megaman again but heard nothing back this time!


What a surprise. Redress is with the retailer.






---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 071105-1, 05/11/2007
Tested on: 06/11/2007 19:38:18
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2007 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com

"John" wrote in message
...
We had a rewire last year; in place of 50W halogen bulbs in the kitchen I
replaced these fitted with 11 watt Megaman GU10 low energy light bulbs.
These were said to have a life of 15,000 hours. As you may have guessed,
they haven't. Last week one was dead, the importer sent a replacement but
said the batch was out of warrantee.

Yesterday another one went, and times its clear the problem exists with
the rest. There is cracking from the contact pins and lose fragments can
be seen in the bulbs which can be seen in the remaining ones.

Take it up with the people who sold them to you. They were sold as having a
15,000 hour life, so that's what you should expect.


As the rewiring was underway this and other building work made the house
un-inhabitable, we were living in a caravan until September. Over time as
we got the basic rooms habitable increasing the amount of time spent in
the house.



So we think we would have been fully using the kitchen from August. This
is a room with out direct natural lighting, so the lights are used when
the roomis in use. To be honist given the delay in the bulbs in reaching
full light, they are usually left on for quite long periods. Given time
away, weekends and holidays, I think 13 months in use. If we left the
lights on all the day, 7am to 11pm this is just under 6000 hrs. Indeed one
halogen bulb was put back with a week, as the low energy bulb just wasn't
bright enough in one place, its still going strong!



I would be grateful for comments on:-

a.. Is such a short life the real life expectancy of such bulbs rather
than the manufactures claims?

b.. As the last one had a strong smell when taken out, is there a fire
risk from these (one contact pin was lose!

Send it to Megaman UK for their comment. You may have been sold a fake
batch, or they may have had poor QC on a batch.

c.. In this length of time, if we had 6,000 hrs are we still saving money
or we wasting?

In a very simple comparison, in terms of electricity cost you'll have saved
about £23 per buld (electricity costed at 10p/kw)

If you paid £7 - 8 per bulb you would be in profit by about £15 per bulb.

d.. How do the different manufactures rate the bulbs fin terms of
replacing them if they fail (I can't find any thing about Megaman having a
batch rather than life warrantee) has any one else experience of this?
e.. Can any one recommend a more reliable make of bulb?


I have contacted Megaman again but heard nothing back this time!

Thanks for reply's. Normally I would chase up retailer, but even just
keeping the main receipts I have two filing boxes, not including the lamps!
Which is why I went to Megaman. It would be interesting if the retailers try
the batch argument as well! At least we didn't lose money, so its worth
replacing the bulbs and making sure I keep the receipt this time but
hopfully its it was a bad batch and not need it!




---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 071105-1, 05/11/2007
Tested on: 06/11/2007 20:49:43
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2007 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com

On 2007-11-06 20:49:42 +0000, "John"
said:

Thanks for reply's. Normally I would chase up retailer, but even just
keeping the main receipts I have two filing boxes, not including the lamps!
Which is why I went to Megaman. It would be interesting if the retailers try
the batch argument as well!

If they do, it's a perfect reason to ask for a refund.

I am sure that this system relies on people not keeping a note of the
operating hours, much like most people don't keep receipts for
purchases in general anyway. As long as it seems better, that's
probably enough.



At least we didn't lose money,

You did, because the products didn't meet expectations.



so its worth
replacing the bulbs and making sure I keep the receipt this time but
hopfully its it was a bad batch and not need it!



You're buying more?

(Note to self - call broker and buy stock)

On Nov 6, 9:11 pm, Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-11-06 20:49:42 +0000, "John"
said:

Thanks for reply's. Normally I would chase up retailer, but even just
keeping the main receipts I have two filing boxes, not including the lamps!
Which is why I went to Megaman. It would be interesting if the retailers try
the batch argument as well!

If they do, it's a perfect reason to ask for a refund.

I am sure that this system relies on people not keeping a note of the
operating hours, much like most people don't keep receipts for
purchases in general anyway. As long as it seems better, that's
probably enough.

At least we didn't lose money,

You did, because the products didn't meet expectations.


They have saved him money, see OGs calculation. How does that equate
to losing money?

MBQ

wrote in message
oups.com...
On Nov 6, 9:11 pm, Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-11-06 20:49:42 +0000, "John"
said:

Thanks for reply's. Normally I would chase up retailer, but even just
keeping the main receipts I have two filing boxes, not including the
lamps!
Which is why I went to Megaman. It would be interesting if the
retailers try
the batch argument as well!

If they do, it's a perfect reason to ask for a refund.

I am sure that this system relies on people not keeping a note of the
operating hours, much like most people don't keep receipts for
purchases in general anyway. As long as it seems better, that's
probably enough.

At least we didn't lose money,

You did, because the products didn't meet expectations.


They have saved him money, see OGs calculation. How does that equate
to losing money?


To be honest he may not have saved as much money as I calculated.
We're not sure he actually got 6000 hours use out of the bulbs, and he
probably wouldn't have had Halogen GU10s on for the same 6000 hours if he
had used them instead - he was only leaving the lights on so much because
they take some time to get to full brightness.

As with many things, CFLs are suitable for some areas, but not for others.
As efficient use of energy becomes more important we probably ought to be
looking for more intelligent use of lighting, so that we use a combination
of energy efficient space lighting (maybe at a lower level than we're
currently used to, and effective task lighting (localised lighting for work
surfaces etc). The existence of expensively floodlit living spaces becomes
unjustifiable when we live in a world where profligate use of energy has
significant long-term effects.

On 2007-11-07 11:14:25 +0000, "
said:

On Nov 6, 9:11 pm, Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-11-06 20:49:42 +0000, "John"
said:

Thanks for reply's. Normally I would chase up retailer, but even just
keeping the main receipts I have two filing boxes, not including the lamps!
Which is why I went to Megaman. It would be interesting if the retailers try
the batch argument as well!

If they do, it's a perfect reason to ask for a refund.

I am sure that this system relies on people not keeping a note of the
operating hours, much like most people don't keep receipts for
purchases in general anyway. As long as it seems better, that's
probably enough.

At least we didn't lose money,

You did, because the products didn't meet expectations.


They have saved him money, see OGs calculation. How does that equate
to losing money?

MBQ

Oh dear.

Because the product didn't do what was claimed.

The total cost of ownership includes at least:

- purchase price of the bulbs
- cost of electricity
- cost of time to buy them originally
- cost of time to buy replacements
- fuel to go to store for above
- time taken to research and write letters of complaint
- time taken to follow up to get results


Most people think only of the first two, which is not correct. The
remaining factors are typically far more than the first two and are
directly related to how many interactions are required with the
supplier. Assuming that one has done the correct calculation and
included all of this, then there would be a loss in comparison wih what
should have been.

Moreover, it would have probably been cheaper to have bought ten proper
bulbs and ditched them when they fail because the cost is negligible
anyway. As soon as a high capital cost of the product comes into
play, inevitably people will look more closely at premature failure and
may want to seek recompense. That takes time and therefore money to
achieve.

John nospam wrote:

We had a rewire last year; in place of 50W halogen bulbs in the kitchen I
replaced these fitted with 11 watt Megaman GU10 low energy light bulbs.
These were said to have a life of 15,000 hours. As you may have guessed,
they haven't. Last week one was dead, the importer sent a replacement but
said the batch was out of warrantee.

Yesterday another one went, and times its clear the problem exists with the
rest. There is cracking from the contact pins and lose fragments can be seen
in the bulbs which can be seen in the remaining ones.



As the rewiring was underway this and other building work made the house
un-inhabitable, we were living in a caravan until September. Over time as we
got the basic rooms habitable increasing the amount of time spent in the
house.



So we think we would have been fully using the kitchen from August. This is
a room with out direct natural lighting, so the lights are used when the
roomis in use. To be honist given the delay in the bulbs in reaching full
light, they are usually left on for quite long periods. Given time away,
weekends and holidays, I think 13 months in use. If we left the lights on
all the day, 7am to 11pm this is just under 6000 hrs. Indeed one halogen
bulb was put back with a week, as the low energy bulb just wasn't bright
enough in one place, its still going strong!



I would be grateful for comments on:-

a.. Is such a short life the real life expectancy of such bulbs rather
than the manufactures claims?

You seem to be confusing mean life with individual bulb life. The
15,000 hr rating is mean life, ie average, so roughly 50% will
be dead by then. Compare to GLS lamps at 1000 hrs or halogens
at 1500-2000 hrs and you'll see a mean 15,000 is a significant
benefit. I'm excluding 4000 hr halogens from that comparison as they
are better avoided.


b.. As the last one had a strong smell when taken out, is there a fire
risk from these (one contact pin was lose!

much less than with halogens. A smell equals a burnt component
does not equal fire risk.


c.. In this length of time, if we had 6,000 hrs are we still saving money
or we wasting?

If they all dropped dead at 6,000 you're still saving money. As it is
you should get more time out of them.


d.. How do the different manufactures rate the bulbs

Batch testing, mean life is quoted.

fin terms of
replacing them if they fail

That's down to them, given that there is no evidence other than
your say so, and that what you've told us so far doesnt indicate any
problem with the goods.


(I can't find any thing about Megaman having a
batch rather than life warrantee)

bulbs have neither. They are simply covered by the sale of good
act, ie they must be as described. Which it sounds like they are.


has any one else experience of this?

CFLs differ to filaments in that there is a percentage of early
failures. This doesnt change their mean life rating any.

e.. Can any one recommend a more reliable make of bulb?


I have contacted Megaman again but heard nothing back this time!

Education is down to you. There is a wiki article explaining
more about bulb life:
http://www.wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Lamp_Life


NT

wrote:

You seem to be confusing mean life with individual bulb life. The
15,000 hr rating is mean life, ie average, so roughly 50% will
be dead by then. Compare to GLS lamps at 1000 hrs or halogens
at 1500-2000 hrs and you'll see a mean 15,000 is a significant
benefit. I'm excluding 4000 hr halogens from that comparison as they
are better avoided.

And you seem to confusing mean with median. A 15,000 hr mean life says
nothing at all about what proportion will fail before that time. It
depends on the distribution.

On the other hand a median of 15,000 hrs says precicely that 50% will
fail before then.

Andrew

Andrew May wrote:
wrote:

You seem to be confusing mean life with individual bulb life. The
15,000 hr rating is mean life, ie average, so roughly 50% will
be dead by then. Compare to GLS lamps at 1000 hrs or halogens
at 1500-2000 hrs and you'll see a mean 15,000 is a significant
benefit. I'm excluding 4000 hr halogens from that comparison as they
are better avoided.

And you seem to confusing mean with median. A 15,000 hr mean life says
nothing at all about what proportion will fail before that time. It
depends on the distribution.

On the other hand a median of 15,000 hrs says precicely that 50% will
fail before then.

Andrew

I didnt really see it as relevant to the thread, but yes of course
there is no certainty that half have failed at mean life. As a
ballpark
figure its good enough.


NT

On Nov 6, 7:38 pm, "John"
wrote:
We had a rewire last year; in place of 50W halogen bulbs in the kitchen I
replaced these fitted with 11 watt Megaman GU10 low energy light bulbs.
These were said to have a life of 15,000 hours. As you may have guessed,
they haven't. Last week one was dead, the importer sent a replacement but
said the batch was out of warrantee.

Yesterday another one went, and times its clear the problem exists with the
rest. There is cracking from the contact pins and lose fragments can be seen
in the bulbs which can be seen in the remaining ones.

As the rewiring was underway this and other building work made the house
un-inhabitable, we were living in a caravan until September. Over time as we
got the basic rooms habitable increasing the amount of time spent in the
house.

So we think we would have been fully using the kitchen from August. This is
a room with out direct natural lighting, so the lights are used when the
roomis in use. To be honist given the delay in the bulbs in reaching full
light, they are usually left on for quite long periods. Given time away,
weekends and holidays, I think 13 months in use. If we left the lights on
all the day, 7am to 11pm this is just under 6000 hrs. Indeed one halogen
bulb was put back with a week, as the low energy bulb just wasn't bright
enough in one place, its still going strong!

I would be grateful for comments on:-

a.. Is such a short life the real life expectancy of such bulbs rather
than the manufactures claims?

6K hours isn`t bad going as other posters have pointed out.

b.. As the last one had a strong smell when taken out, is there a fire
risk from these (one contact pin was lose!

Check that the fittings have some ventilation around them not
smothered in rockwool for instance. Toasted ballst components can
smell nasty, perhaps part of it is toasted thermal fuse.

c.. In this length of time, if we had 6,000 hrs are we still saving money
or we wasting?

6K hours of less than satisfactory light, has it saved you money.
Have you considered other alternatives, lightpipes to obtain daylight,
good quality fluro T8 ceiling fittings on ceiling and T5/LED below
cupboards.
Halogen just swiched on when you need it :-)

d.. How do the different manufactures rate the bulbs fin terms of
replacing them if they fail (I can't find any thing about Megaman having a
batch rather than life warrantee) has any one else experience of this?

`Who`s calling......`

e.. Can any one recommend a more reliable make of bulb?

Its a lot to compact into a 50mm cylinder,Megaman generally thought of
as being one of better specialist lamp makers.
Plaster out the cutouts and fit some nice quality T8 surface fittings.

I have contacted Megaman again but heard nothing back this time!

see point d.

Adam


---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 071105-1, 05/11/2007
Tested on: 06/11/2007 19:38:18
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2007 ALWIL Software.http://www.avast.com

The contributions on bulb life has apeared to have moved away from what the
makers clams. They are NOT saying avrage, the information I found on the web
site says the G10 bulbs "delivers breakthrough lighting performance and
superior operating life expectancy of 15,000 hours" and with "With an
operating life some 7.5 times longer than halogen".



Directly I have however been told warrantee is linked to when the bulbs are
made,batch, and "our lamp life is calculated at the point when 50% of the
lamps are extinguished, even though the other 50% of the lamps are still
working well". So to claim 15,000 is to me a lille misleading.



But however they work it out, an actual life of 2 out of 5 bulbs being at
best 6,000 hrs rather than the 15,000 climed is not very good. The remaining
3 all have notisable fragments showing in the lamp end its intresting how
much more life they have. The lamps are in the adjustable Recessed ceiling
lamp like
http://www1.uk.conrad.com/scripts/wg...ies=1&cookie_n[1]=uk_insert&cookie_v[1]=EG&cookie_d[1]=&cookie_p[1]=%2f&cookie_e[1]=Sun%2c+09-Dec-2007+11%3a50%3a52+GMT&scrwidth=1280



With no insolation used, so there is plenty of venterlation. They have had
"normal" use in good conditions.




---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 071106-0, 06/11/2007
Tested on: 07/11/2007 11:48:47
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2007 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com

On 2007-11-07 11:48:45 +0000, "John"
said:

The contributions on bulb life has apeared to have moved away from what the
makers clams. They are NOT saying avrage, the information I found on the web
site says the G10 bulbs "delivers breakthrough lighting performance and
superior operating life expectancy of 15,000 hours" and with "With an
operating life some 7.5 times longer than halogen".



Directly I have however been told warrantee is linked to when the bulbs are
made,batch, and "our lamp life is calculated at the point when 50% of the
lamps are extinguished, even though the other 50% of the lamps are still
working well". So to claim 15,000 is to me a lille misleading.

It's very misleading. If I were buying these things other than for
outside lights in a few cases, there would be a court action.

Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-11-07 11:48:45 +0000, "John"
said:

The contributions on bulb life has apeared to have moved away from what the
makers clams. They are NOT saying avrage, the information I found on the web
site says the G10 bulbs "delivers breakthrough lighting performance and
superior operating life expectancy of 15,000 hours" and with "With an
operating life some 7.5 times longer than halogen".



Directly I have however been told warrantee is linked to when the bulbs are
made,batch, and "our lamp life is calculated at the point when 50% of the
lamps are extinguished, even though the other 50% of the lamps are still
working well". So to claim 15,000 is to me a lille misleading.

It's very misleading. If I were buying these things other than for
outside lights in a few cases, there would be a court action.

How is quoting a mean life misleading? Or in this unusual case
median life?


NT

On 2007-11-08 06:26:16 +0000, said:

Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-11-07 11:48:45 +0000, "John"
said:

The contributions on bulb life has apeared to have moved away from what the
makers clams. They are NOT saying avrage, the information I found on the web
site says the G10 bulbs "delivers breakthrough lighting performance and
superior operating life expectancy of 15,000 hours" and with "With an
operating life some 7.5 times longer than halogen".



Directly I have however been told warrantee is linked to when the bulbs are
made,batch, and "our lamp life is calculated at the point when 50% of the
lamps are extinguished, even though the other 50% of the lamps are still
working well". So to claim 15,000 is to me a lille misleading.

It's very misleading. If I were buying these things other than for
outside lights in a few cases, there would be a court action.

How is quoting a mean life misleading? Or in this unusual case
median life?


NT

Median life is quite clear as long as you understand basic statistics.

However, the manufacturers and sellers are not being honest.

For example, if you go to Megaman's main web site and look at a typical
product it says "Lifetime: 15,000hr". There isn't even a little '*'
pointer to a disclaimer that qualifies what 15000hrs means.

Then take a look at a selection of web suppliers of these bulbs and you
will find that it says the same or perhaps something like "rated life",
but without saying what that means. To the astute, that ought to be
a flag that this does not appear to be what it says and that "rated
life" has a meaning that is not a basic one of "this lamp will last a
minimum of 15000 hours."

I believe that this 50% failure criterion has been industry practice
for a while, including proper tungsten bulbs as well, although probably
most people have ignored it because the cost of these is buttons anyway.

Now that we have a type of product with high initial cost with part of
the justification being longer lifetime then either the basis for
measurement and supply should be changed (e.g. manufacturer guarantees
a minimum lifetime); or the basis should be spelled out more clearly.

I am sure that manufacturers are not going to want to reduce their
lifetime figure down to perhaps 4000 hours for example or whatever
other measurement point would give them an acceptable replacement rate
under warranty, so at least they should have to quote their figures
with the basis for measurement made completely clear.

John wrote:
We had a rewire last year; in place of 50W halogen bulbs in the kitchen I
replaced these fitted with 11 watt Megaman GU10 low energy light bulbs.

snip

OT, but have a look at Megaman's 7 minute factory video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf-LOmMZoIw

70% automation but the workers must sure be smoking some crack to remain
interested in working there... or the food must be good ;-)


--
Adrian C

Adrian C wrote:
John wrote:
We had a rewire last year; in place of 50W halogen bulbs in the
kitchen I replaced these fitted with 11 watt Megaman GU10 low energy
light bulbs.

snip

OT, but have a look at Megaman's 7 minute factory video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf-LOmMZoIw

70% automation but the workers must sure be smoking some crack to remain
interested in working there... or the food must be good ;-)



Lots of young girls and a decent canteen. Where do I apply?

Makes you wonder how they could fail to last there full life!
Interesting to see how uniformly young the workers were in the film. Looked
like the micro processor plant publicity at one time, until it emerged that
so many were very badly effected from fumes and having there eyesight
destroyed by the work that workers only lasted a few years there.




---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 071106-0, 06/11/2007
Tested on: 07/11/2007 13:48:54
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2007 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com

On 2007-11-07 13:48:52 +0000, "John" john(no
said:


Makes you wonder how they could fail to last there full life!
Interesting to see how uniformly young the workers were in the film. Looked
like the micro processor plant publicity at one time, until it emerged that
so many were very badly effected from fumes and having there eyesight
destroyed by the work that workers only lasted a few years there.


Doesn't matter. There's a billion more where they came from.

On 7 Nov, 23:42, Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-11-07 13:48:52 +0000, "John" john(no
said:



Makes you wonder how they could fail to last there full life!
Interesting to see how uniformly young the workers were in the film. Looked
like the micro processor plant publicity at one time, until it emerged that
so many were very badly effected from fumes and having there eyesight
destroyed by the work that workers only lasted a few years there.

Doesn't matter. There's a billion more where they came from.

Ah, you're all heart aren't you Andy?

"John" wrote in message
...
We had a rewire last year; in place of 50W halogen bulbs in the kitchen I
replaced these fitted with 11 watt Megaman GU10 low energy light bulbs.
These were said to have a life of 15,000 hours. As you may have guessed,
they haven't. Last week one was dead, the importer sent a replacement but
said the batch was out of warrantee.

Yesterday another one went, and times its clear the problem exists with
the rest. There is cracking from the contact pins and lose fragments can
be seen in the bulbs which can be seen in the remaining ones.



As the rewiring was underway this and other building work made the house
un-inhabitable, we were living in a caravan until September. Over time as
we got the basic rooms habitable increasing the amount of time spent in
the house.



So we think we would have been fully using the kitchen from August. This
is a room with out direct natural lighting, so the lights are used when
the roomis in use. To be honist given the delay in the bulbs in reaching
full light, they are usually left on for quite long periods. Given time
away, weekends and holidays, I think 13 months in use. If we left the
lights on all the day, 7am to 11pm this is just under 6000 hrs. Indeed one
halogen bulb was put back with a week, as the low energy bulb just wasn't
bright enough in one place, its still going strong!



I would be grateful for comments on:-

a.. Is such a short life the real life expectancy of such bulbs rather
than the manufactures claims?
b.. As the last one had a strong smell when taken out, is there a fire
risk from these (one contact pin was lose!
c.. In this length of time, if we had 6,000 hrs are we still saving money
or we wasting?
d.. How do the different manufactures rate the bulbs fin terms of
replacing them if they fail (I can't find any thing about Megaman having a
batch rather than life warrantee) has any one else experience of this?
e.. Can any one recommend a more reliable make of bulb?


I have contacted Megaman again but heard nothing back this time!



---
avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
Virus Database (VPS): 071105-1, 05/11/2007
Tested on: 06/11/2007 19:38:18
avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2007 ALWIL Software.
http://www.avast.com




We had to change a load of megaman 11W GU10 pattern lamps for the 9W
version, as the lamps failed prematurley. We also noted the supplier change
the lamp in the fittings as well to 9W.

Rgds
Steve

I would be grateful for comments on:-

a.. Is such a short life the real life expectancy of such bulbs rather
than the manufactures claims?
b.. As the last one had a strong smell when taken out, is there a fire
risk from these (one contact pin was lose!
c.. In this length of time, if we had 6,000 hrs are we still saving money
or we wasting?
d.. How do the different manufactures rate the bulbs fin terms of
replacing them if they fail (I can't find any thing about Megaman having a
batch rather than life warrantee) has any one else experience of this?
e.. Can any one recommend a more reliable make of bulb?

Notice that on a Megaman Candelight the 15000 hours is specified as
IEC60969 - maybe someone has access to a copy and can enlighten us
(sorry!).
Robert