Cree Lightbulbs are failing

Could shoehorn it into a floor lamp if you’re determined. Get some ceiling-bounce diffusion.

Otherwise, I was referring to more-common A19 bulbs.

Considering the failure rate of incandescents over the first ten years of their existence as widespread public consumables, I’d say the current batch is most certainly a few powers of ten’s worth of “better” alternative, yes.

That said, I did stick to A19s when I did my switchover, because a) I’d get less savings from the rest, as they’re less often used at least in my house, and b) the other applications are either higher-wattage and likely to run hotter, or in more adverse environments (like the bathroom) and worse for electronics. Like I said, I’ve gotten my money’s worth and then some – not that the primary impetus for “society” moving to them was ever presented as being price savings to begin with, a fact that people seem to tend to gloss over a bit easily…

Would love to see some consumer advocacy org do some “stress testing” of different bulbs in non-ideal environments (like cycled high temp/humidity, like a bathroom, and high temp/low humidity like a kitchen – I imagine the outdoor rated bulbs are hopefully already tested in high-heat/direct-sunlight environments!). Would probably go some way to improving retail offerings, when manufacturers know folks are looking at how they perform in that way.

2 Likes

Switching power supplies being relatively compact, efficient, and cheap there’s going to be a give and that’s noise. Not sure if the manufacturers’ insistence on good power factor makes this worse.

Compatibility with dimmers has been a long-running issue LED bulbs - same with occupancy sensors. Even the ones that claim broad dimmer compatibility or are paired with LED-compatible dimmers seem to suffer for it.

If the FCC would do more than auction off spectrum for profit, they’d hold manufacturers to the fire for violation of unintentional radiated emissions.

What happened to letting the free market sort it out?

3 Likes

I didn’t mention costs. I have thrown away several CFLs and LEDs, into the trash, into the environment which kinda goes against the whole reason for the switchover. My experience has been more waste and worse for the environment with the new “better” technology.

1 Like

Any chance we can get get back to my topic? Experiences with Cree’s return process?

My kind of bulbs! The Philips bulbs, linked above, arrived today and when I reached high to install one I dropped it. It bounced on the counter and then several times on the floor. It did not break and actually works. Instant on.

1 Like

Here is a couple of links to bump back to @Clayton’s subject.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r29391611-Cree-Light-Bulb-Warranty

1 Like

Haven’t had a chance to write up the story – but suffice it to say, I went through Cree for the warranty replacement and got service well above and beyond expectations. They really knocked it out of the park.

2 Likes

Nice. Wish I’d kept my receipts to make the return process simpler.

1 Like