Forum Home
Press F1
Thread ID: 149200	2020-08-16 00:14:00	LED bulbs: placement?	Brucem (8688)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1471182	2020-08-23 02:38:00	The Lightbulb Cartel Today, the average incandescent bulb lasts about 1,500 hours; even top-of-the-line LED bulbs, at $25 each, last 30,000 hours. Regardless of the Centennial Bulb’s secret formula, it has burned for 113 years -- nearly 1 million hours. So where did we go wrong with light bulb technology? Light bulb companies like Shelby once prided themselves on longevity -- so much so, that the durability of their products was the central focus of marketing campaigns. But by the mid-1920s, business attitudes began to shift, and a new rhetoric prevailed: “A product that refuses to wear out is a tragedy of business.” This line of thought, termed “planned obsolescence,” endorsed intentionally shortening a product’s lifespan to entice swifter replacement. In 1921, multinational lighting manufacturer Osram formed the "Internationale Glühlampen Preisvereinigung" (International Association of Light Bulb Prices) to regulate prices and limit competition. General Electric soon reacted by founding the "International General Electric Company" in Paris. Together, these organizations traded patents and sales information to get a stronghold on the light bulb market. In 1924, Osram, Philips, General Electric, and other major electric companies met and formed the Phoebus Cartel under the public guise that they were cooperating to standardize light bulbs. Instead, they purportedly began to engage in planned obsolescence. To achieve this the companies agreed to limit the life expectancy of light bulbs at 1,000 hours -- less than Edison’s bulbs had achieved (1,200 hours) decades before; any company that produced a bulb exceeding 1,000 hours in life would be fined. Until disbanding during World War II, the cartel supposedly halted research, preventing the advancement of the longer-lasting light bulb for nearly twenty years. *** Whether or not planned obsolescence is still on the agenda of light bulb manufacturers today is highly debatable, and there exists no definitive proof. In any case, incandescent bulbs are being phased out worldwide: Since Brazil and Venezuela began the trend in 2005, many countries have followed suit (European Union, Switzerland, and Australia in 2009; Argentina and Russia in 2012; the United States, Canada, Mexico, Malaysia, and South Korea in 2014). As more efficient technologies have surfaced (halogen, LED, compact fluorescent lights, magnetic induction lights), the old filament-based bulbs have become a relic of the past. But perched up in the white ceiling of Livermore’s Station #6, the granddaddy of old-school bulbs is as relevant as ever -- and refuses to bite the dust. priceonomics.com	piroska (17583)
1471183	2020-08-23 03:14:00	The Lightbulb Cartel Today, the average incandescent bulb lasts about 1,500 hours; even top-of-the-line LED bulbs, at $25 each, last 30,000 hours. Regardless of the Centennial Bulb’s secret formula, it has burned for 113 years -- nearly 1 million hours. So where did we go wrong with light bulb technology? Light bulb companies like Shelby once prided themselves on longevity -- so much so, that the durability of their products was the central focus of marketing campaigns. But by the mid-1920s, business attitudes began to shift, and a new rhetoric prevailed: “A product that refuses to wear out is a tragedy of business.” This line of thought, termed “planned obsolescence,” endorsed intentionally shortening a product’s lifespan to entice swifter replacement. In 1921, multinational lighting manufacturer Osram formed the "Internationale Glühlampen Preisvereinigung" (International Association of Light Bulb Prices) to regulate prices and limit competition. General Electric soon reacted by founding the "International General Electric Company" in Paris. Together, these organizations traded patents and sales information to get a stronghold on the light bulb market. In 1924, Osram, Philips, General Electric, and other major electric companies met and formed the Phoebus Cartel under the public guise that they were cooperating to standardize light bulbs. Instead, they purportedly began to engage in planned obsolescence. To achieve this the companies agreed to limit the life expectancy of light bulbs at 1,000 hours -- less than Edison’s bulbs had achieved (1,200 hours) decades before; any company that produced a bulb exceeding 1,000 hours in life would be fined. Until disbanding during World War II, the cartel supposedly halted research, preventing the advancement of the longer-lasting light bulb for nearly twenty years. You may be right in your account of collusion between lighting manufacturers, such activities are not exactly unknown. However, incandescent bulbs have a major weakness that always gets them in the end. When they are switched on they reach white heat temperature in a fraction of a second. The resulting thermal shock is why they frequently fail when turned on. Leave a bulb running without ever switching it off and it may well go for years, keeping the electricity suppliers happy in the process, but it is hardly practical in normal use.	Jayess64 (8703)
1471184	2020-09-01 05:28:00	Nothing to do with it, we have an open light fitting and 2 of the 3 bulbs have failed, they were from Mitre10. The cheapie ones I got online though in rest of house are still going strong. So much for Mitre10 ones.... Interesting, the first LED bulb I bought was from Mitre10 and it failed in short order. It drove the LEDs in two parallel strings, one LED in one string failed, causing twice as much current to go through the second string, thus an LED in that string also burnt out soon after, then nothing worked at all. Not a very good design or quality. Did yours also start flickering between low and high brightness before they failed?	Agent_24 (57)
1 2