Fed up with FEIT Electric CFL spirals

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AU_Prospector

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Hey guys,

Exactly one year ago I purchased 3 multipacks of FEIT electric CFL spriral lights. I cant say I would advise anyone to do the same. I bought an 8 pack of 60 watt replacements, a 6 pack of 100 watt replacements and a 6 pack of 65 watt can light flood replacements. So far 4 of the 60 watt, 2 of the 100 watt and 2 of the 65 watt floods have failed.

Last week one of the failed 60 watt spirals BROKE when I tried to remove it from the socket. Today a 65 watt flood smoked and nearly caught fire. The ceramic base for that one scorched badly and smelled terrible.

I purchased a 3 pack of flood replacement spirals today. These are made by GE and of course more expensive, but I have higher hopes for them.
 
Hello AU Prospector:
I have been using the cfls for some time now and I make a practice of dating each bulb when it is installed. When they burn out, I know how long they have lasted. They claim to pay back in one year, don't they? All of mine have made it for a year or more.
Glenn
 
Glenn that is a great idea, dating the bulbs. From now on I'm going to see how long mine last. Just out of curiosity. Thanks.
 
I have a few Sunbeams that have lasted over 7 years. I dont think Sunbeam makes them anymore, they are stick CFL not spiral. I have some GE that have lasted a couple years plus, and then there are the Feit Electrics that I have bought at COSTCO which again I cannot recommend to anyone.
 
Look into some of the L.E.D. replacements that are becoming available at most hardware stores. While L.E.D. is the longest lasting and most energy efficient (by far) I have heard that some manufactures get sloppy with the electronics, making some of them a bit unreliable, or even dead out of the box. However, with the good ones you can expect a floodlight that only uses 5w and lasts 50,000 hours. Replacement for a normal screw in incandescent bulb (or compact fluorescent) would only use 1.5w and last 50,000 hours. And one big thing is they don't have a toxic mercury gas that landfills don't want.
 
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I totally agree with the OP. A bit over 2 years ago we moved into a house that has a lot of recessed lighting. I bought a whole carton of the FEIT 60 Watt equivalents (13W), 48 in all, in order to bring down our new home's electricity bills.

In particular, these are their "daylight" bulbs - designed to have a closer matching spectrum to sunlight. I find this light much more pleasant than "soft white", and recommend it strongly. It looks much brighter and makes colors more "real".

Unfortunately, about twenty of these bulbs have already failed - gone dark. It seems like I have a few more to take to the recycling center every month.
Two more are switching themselves off and then on again occasionally. The failure rate is over the top, and hasn't slowed down.

I was quite surprised to see FEIT CFLs ranked near the top as reliable in the last issue of Consumer Reports we received. It makes me wonder if the daylight bulbs have a much higher failure rate than the regular kind.

Scott C.
 
SJN:
A friend in the LED industry tells me that the manufacturers make all these diodes for sale and then the top buyers sort through them, keep the ones that meet their standards, and send the rest back. This repeats and the cheap-o lights use what is left. The get-what-you-pay-for scenario.

I suggest to clients that they buy an LED to try, but make sure they can return it in case it doesn't meet their needs. We've done several all-LED kitchens and had good results, but we also had to take some toads back to the suppliers. Part of the learning curve.

If I can get the right color rendition, I like them much better than the coil bulbs. Mercury being a big factor too.

Gib
 
Is there a rated lifetime in hours written on the lamp packaging?
 
This discussion reminded me of an older one here:

http://www.houserepairtalk.com/f9/compact-florescent-bulbs-7214/

Since then I found out that CFLs don't like to be upside down or in a ceiling can. The electronics in the base get too hot. But I don't know a way to get around that problem. I have tried one LED floodlight in a can - as my test case - close to a year now without a problem.

Also, the Lowe's stores around here offer recycling for CFL bulbs. The County recycling center doesn't want them, so i take them to Lowe's.
 
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