Why do incandescent bulbs burn out so often

Good article, simple and affordable.

Another reason for the burnout of the lamps is the frequent on / off, this is the most extreme for the lamp, since the coil is cold and the resistance is low, it passes at this moment above the nominal, which is not a light for the bulb ...

I still do not recommend taking cheap cartridges where the contacts are connected to screw terminals with rivets.

Thank you Michael!

There is still such a moment, in cheap fixtures the inside of the cartridge is generally twisted together with bulbs, and twisted “with meat” without the ability to return everything to its place, so you need to be very careful when replacing the lamps. The result is this result: https://env.electricianexp.com/svet.JPG Then you have to remove the lamp and remodel it under new cartridges, which, by the way, is not always possible (there are simply very tricky lamp designs). When buying fixtures, pay attention to the quality of its electrical part and do not buy cheap fixtures, then all this will come around and have to overpay!

That's for sure ... We are not so rich to buy cheap fixtures!

My grandfather, and then my ancestors, an incandescent bulb of 25 watts burned for 20 years, at least in a shed ... Soviet quality ...

The appliance shows 242 V in a power outlet at home. Incandescent lamps burn out quickly - 3 months. Luminescent compact - 1 - 1.5 years, just the annual warranty of the store is over, 3 of them have already replaced. Do you need to buy expensive when there are cheap? and I’m afraid that LEDs with a life of 30 years will also be deceived - well, one of them will die earlier, either "donkey, or emir, or me" (c). For example, not after 30 years, but after 3-5, all of one, you will not find the one who will replace it for you with a lifetime warranty. And do not give advice to change the power plant, campaign management, country of residence. Forcing the management campaign to move the transformer to the substation to a smaller solder? - only in court. Now, if I retire and there is nothing to do, then there may be time to go to court. And now I’m not too lazy a light bulb for 6 rubles. change.

Andrey, with all due respect to you and your newsletter, how does poor wiring still affect the frequent burnout of lamps?
Nikolay, even in court do not prove anything. GOST allows network fluctuations + - 10%, and even more so if you have a higher one, and not a lower one at the house at the end of the line.
From the private, private sector, the pressure was low, the lamp burned so that the spiral extended to the bulb, burned out, shook it, climbed on top of each other and burned escho for at least five years, until I climbed to wipe it and shook them again
In general, this is all the quality of the lamps. Apparently, it is also not profitable for the manufacturer to produce an eternal light bulb (then stop the plant then). By the way, this quality does not depend much on the manufacturer. He worked in the cinema, so there the lamps turn on through the darker (analogue of the soft start), it would seem eternal, but constantly changed. There were osrams and a pool (the quality was less) and some (glory was not glory) and the general (very bad from the drawer 2-3, the air immediately burned (whitened). For some reason, Osram LDS 18 became the Smolensk Lamp Factory, one with You’ll definitely throw out the box, why?

Regarding the quality of incandescent lamps, even the directors of lamp factories admit that the quality of the lamps is worse in comparison with the times of the USSR and a large number of defective lamps (I read such a poll in the magazine "Cap"). And about the imported ones. I used to have a lamp with a fan in my apartment. Not bought yet OSRAM the fan immediately killed all the lamps (vibration). Lamps from OSRAM We worked with heavy use for almost 2 years and burned out almost everything at one time. True, the lamps there were not ordinary, but vibration-proof. But the fact that you can’t find such a miracle among local lamps. All are stamped with technology a hundred years ago and even of poor quality.

About contacts - this is from practice. There were two cases. At one good friend in the lamp in the kitchen, the lamps constantly burned out and cut down the machine. It turned out at the place where the wires of the lamp were connected, everything was done "on the snot", the wires were carbonized, redid, since then everything has worked without problems. And the second case, when a person's lamps burned in a wild amount (2-3 pcs. Per day). They planted all the connections in the apartment on the terminal blocks and everything became normal.

Tip of an experienced electrician:
Your incandescent lamps will last longer if they are not turned on :)
joke, the lamps will last longer if you consistently turn on a regular semiconductor diode, calculated on the mains supply voltage.

It’s just a business now.

Advisor, after turning on the diode in series with the incandescent lamp, it will blink at a frequency of 50 Hz (the diode cuts out half the sinusoid), which is much worse than normal blinking at a frequency of 100 Hz. This blinking is very noticeable and difficult to stay in such a room for a long time. This can cause headache, irritation and can affect visual impairment. This method can be used somewhere in pantries, corridors, attics, i.e. in those places where a person is for a short time. Why are we all trying to buy monitors and TVs with a higher refresh rate, and in the case of light bulbs, we can afford to spoil our eyesight in order to save light bulbs themselves?

Yuri, in the USA, they began to do incandescent lamp business since the time of Thomas Edison, but on the contrary, this helped to increase the assortment and constantly improve the quality of products. And it turns out that as soon as we left the planned economy and the “business” began, we lost it sharply. Interseno, why is this happening?

Still light bulbs burn out from overheating in closed shades. This is especially true for Chinese lamps and spotlights. Such manufacturers write the maximum allowed power for the lamp "from the flashlight." And often you have to put a lamp of lower power to increase its service life. I had a small 500 W searchlight (I used it as a portable illuminator when doing work), so while I put 500 W lamps in it, they burned out very regularly. Delivered 300W - worked for more than 2 years. A similar case with a chandelier: while instead of the allowed 60W I did not set it to 40, they burned like infections.
In addition, you should read the designation on the packages of bulbs - there are bulbs designed for a specific working position. I came across ... I bought light bulbs, screwed it in, literally a few hours later the smell went off - the mastic melted, with the help of which the balloon bulb is attached to the base.

There are only three reasons for the rapid burnout of lamps.

1. High voltage.

2. Poor lamp quality.

3. Bad contact.

The first is determined by the tester and is treated only with a stabilizer.

You can’t determine the second one, unless by experience (buy a package of different lamps and see which ones last longer).

The third one always gives out flickering of the lamp and crackling at the point of contact. Moreover, bad contact can be anywhere, even inside the whole-looking wire.

And that’s it!

All the reasons stated in the article are relevant, but to varying degrees. In my opinion, the most common cause of lamp burnout is poor contact in the holder (both screw clamps and contact surfaces themselves). And this may be the result of yet another misfortune - poor-quality electrical materials (they save during the manufacture of cartridges and switches).

The reason for the frequent burnout of incandescent lamps is banal simple. They are made with the expectation of a short service life. If the incandescent lamp served for a long time, then consumers would not often have to buy new lamps. This simply would not be necessary. And so we are forced to constantly spend our money on the purchase of more and more new lamps. I recommend to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsfZIuFT_dg

The author incorrectly understands that there is a "bounce of contacts" in my opinion.

Wikipedia is a freely filled resource and very muddy definitions in bulk there. There are generally completely wrong texts. And, the most interesting thing is that this text can hang for years, until someone has a desire to correct something there. I really do not recommend completely trusting everything that is written there.

The author of 8 years taught a discipline called "Electrical Appliances" and under the bounce of contacts he understands the following:

When the contacts are closed, the movable contact approaches the stationary one at a certain speed, and when the contacts touch, elastic deformation of the material of both contacts occurs. As a result of this, the mobile contact is rejected from the stationary to a small distance (sometimes up to 1 mm). Then the contacts are re-closed and this process can be repeated with damped amplitude many times. In this case, an arc (transient) arises between the contacts, which causes wear of the contacts.

I work as an electrician. The electrical fittings have been disgusting in recent years. Previously, they sinned on the “Chinese”, now Russian manufacturers also produce similar products (electronic cartridges, electronic lamps). I consider this a trend of the time - I sold more, more profit, but as for quality - you won’t go anywhere, don’t want, don’t take it.

In my room, the bulbs used to burn often. He himself is not an electrician and is far from all this, i.e. I did not find out the reason. The problem was solved stupidly by the purchase and installation of such a unit to protect the lamps http://www.noo.com.by/products/index.php?id=204 (it may come in handy to someone). The lamps stopped burning so often.

I’ll give you another idea. You can use the triac property to pass both half-periods of the mains voltage, i.e., the initial current surge through the cold filament of the incandescent lamp is limited.

I have not heard about this. Although, if there is a finished device, then you can’t do anything with it.

The old council is still from the journal Science and Life of the 70s. Rub the base of the bulb with graphite from a simple pencil before twisting it into the cartridge, which serves as additional lubricant, enhances contact, as graphite is electrically conductive, and the bulb does not stick to the cartridge and then easily twists. Use only graphite or pencils - in no case take graphite grease with solid oil! The only drawback of graphite is that your hands get dirty.

In reality, none of the above shows the real reasons (specially pretended-pretended to be morons technologists at manufacturing plants) - imagine - will our bulbs start working 10 times longer?

You kind of spell an electrician and don't seem to know why? - Yes, the bulbs burn out at the "points" long known to all - the fastening (wrong) of the spiral and the hanging middle. As a result, when you turn on ... a boom over your head (when you turn off the bulbs do not burn out, this is a myth).

Hello :)

The main reason for the burning of incandescent lamps in my experience is sparking in the contacts. It turns out the simplest spark generator of explosive pulses, which cause ionization of the gas between the turns of the spiral.At the next moment of time, the mains voltage is applied to the lamp, and there is actually a short circuit - the medium did not have time to deionize! As a result, burnout with an arc and a clap, triggering of fuses, and often with a rupture of the bulb leg. With low-power lamps (25 W and below) this does not happen because they are vacuum and if the vacuum is normal (not “blue” lamps), then there can be no arc. But almost all modern lamps from 40 W and above are gas-filled. Stuffing, usually argon + 14% nitrogen. Nitrogen is needed just to reduce the tendency to burn out with an arc, although it reduces the light output. There are krypton lamps (krypton + 14% nitrogen, for the same reasons) in the form of a fungus (up-to-date domestic lamps in such a bulb are almost 100% not krypton! Just using the equipment left over from the old days and that’s all! Imported fungi are always krypton) about 10% higher with an arc burn out even more willingly. Xenon in LON is not used.

Almost weighing the new 25 W LVs are already gas-filled and very unreliable. Only MSELZ plus Ts-shki from TELE are now producing vacuum. LN 40-60 W and new 25s burn out more often than powerful lamps because their wire diameter and helix pitch defects are more pronounced against the background of a thin filament, and the bispiral itself is shorter - the potential gradient is higher. Powerful LVs, especially non-helical ones (now a rarity) rarely burn out with an arc and therefore serve much longer in home conditions.

To get rid of this you need to put in order all the cartridges and switches so that nothing sparks. The best connection of wires is soldering and welding, the terminals are always worse, especially spring type Vago, etc. - I strongly do not recommend it. The switches you need to buy those that turn on clearly with silk, i.e. those in which the speed and force of contact closure does not depend on the speed and strength of pressing the key. The capacitor 0.05-0.25 microfarad parallel to the switch contacts gives good results, but the contacts burn out faster (as well as with the housekeepers).

Lamp protection blocks and dimmers connected in series with the lamp require some power to power their circuit, which can only be obtained by dropping the voltage at their terminals. The result - the voltage on the lamps decreases, and therefore they will shine dimmer. Voltage losses range from 5 to 35 V. This must be taken into account. If your voltage is constantly reduced, then dimmers and protection blocks are contraindicated. Who has 250 V, you can look for a block with a larger drop, and who has 235 - a smaller one.

Low-quality lamps are a rarity. Even domestic ones are not so bad. The Kalashnikovs, by the way, are so-so, Tomsk is better, Saransk and Ufa are no worse, but less stable. Usually, when burned out, they either turn yellow or turn black - leakage and poor pumping. Imported modern LVs (Hungarian CGUs, French and Slovak Osrams and Polish Philips) are of excellent quality and last at least a year. Belarusian lamps of good quality. Even the Chinese that we have a rarity and those of relatively good quality only came across.

And yet, if the lamps are fired from the base during burnout - they are pickled, then you need to immediately look for the cause of the overheating of the base, usually from poor contact in the socket. Modern 60 W minions are extremely hot due to small flasks. Also, the throat of lamps with an e14 base (minion, thin base) is less well formed and tins out easily compared to e27 lamps, and lately e14 lampholders are disgusting in quality. Conclusion: choose lamps with E27.

And finally, about the cartridges with fastening contacts with loose rivets, if the threaded sleeve in them is not twisted together with the base and made of steel, then they will serve you happily ever after, if you make the wires longer and solder them directly to the contacts.

Regards, SanTix.

Well, stands in our room Granite. The lamps had not yet burned out with him in the chandelier. We use the year.I don’t know what kind of tension we have there, but somehow I don’t notice the dimness of the glow. Unusual soft start - yes. Annoyance at first from the fact that the lamps do not immediately light up - yes. At first they even chopped, but then they got used to it. I am not an electrician and not a prof. in this environment, but as a consumer I can say that everything is not so bad. Negative read fun. Of course, if the problems in increased voltage or poor contacts, Granites do not help, but in our wiring in the hall there was not one, there was no other, but the lamps were on. They put Granite and do not burn. Strange :-D

Protection blocks like Granite and others are especially good, if there are problems in the wiring or the lamps are cheap, then it will really work for a long time. And if there are bad contacts, for example, then put-do not put Granite, then there will be no current, just like the bulbs were burning, they will burn

Everyone expresses and assumes well, but the main reason is the collusion of current manufacturers. Everyone switched to the euro standard, and the equipment and hands of the manufacturer, then Russian and many factories, entered into OSRAM-type concerns, etc. And the networks and standards, voltages, loads remained the same 225 volts in the network, or even more, and the lamps produce a voltage of 230 volts, that is, the difference is not big in this 5 volts for our network is not enough. At the moment of switching on, an increased current flows through the spiral, which leads to increased evaporation of tungsten, this leads to a decrease in the lamp life, and at the time of switching off the lamp increases the voltage on the lamp due to the EMF applied by about 10 volts between the switch and the lamp on the wire segment Depends on the length of the wire. And this leads to immediate burnout. You need to buy lamps of Russian manufacturers that are not included in the concerns and producing lamps of the old USSR standard for 240-245 volts. The factories of the former union that were included in the OSRAM concern and the like without a replacement of equipment and the management of thieves clerks produce a continuous marriage. I do not advise you to take it - even a poultice will not help the dead.

Anton, but what about all kinds of Philips? Do they have normal lamps? Yes, and the protection units seem to reduce this current, or what they do with it there.

Although I know for sure that Cosmos lamps are full of rubbish and this is exactly Russia, and probably they are part of OSRAM, or maybe they just let out nonsense :-)

And it is better to put energy-saving or LEDs in general and do not suffer.

Good afternoon.
Participated (at work) at the Intersvet 2011 and 2012 exhibitions, and collected a bunch of material on the lamps. Nothing depends on the FIRM today. One and the same can produce both good and bad lamps. There are not many options. The simplest is not to buy the company that already has something burned out. Natural selection can lead to good results.
Checked - open the base of the fluorescent lamp and see the filling - if there are holes in the circuit board and the inscription, but the part itself is not - JAM.

A similar problem .. I bought a chandelier, connected it, I wrap it up, the bam lit up, but everything else in the kitchen died, but the lamp was on. Then he turned off the lamp through the switch (it is single in the kitchen) - it continues to burn. (I conclude that maybe the first one is that for some reason zero goes to the switch .. once it didn’t work and the lamp is on .. secondly that it connected the phase and ground to the terminal block, and not phase and zero, otherwise it wouldn’t knock out the whole a room (it’s strange that the lamp continued to burn and that the earth wire for some reason turned out to be blue rather than yellow-green))) .. But God bless him, he will have to run so that he touches the contacts of the chandelier, runs to the corridor, and not the switch just click on this particular chandelier. I kind of put up with this. But then, when the earth’s wire was generally shrouded with electrical tape, and I connected only phase and zero to the chandelier ... 5 lamps of the chandelier burned out for an hour, then another, I turned it off after 10 seconds and turned on ... 4 lamps burned out .. I didn’t turn it off turned on bam .... 5th there too ... (Lamps of 25 watts before that were at 100 watts) .. by the way, too, is not the first .. when turned on, 10 pieces burned out in half a year .. there were 2 pieces burned in the evening.
Maybe this is also something with a shield on me? But damn the house is a new repair .. so do not want to go there wallpaper to strip off the plaster to just check ... I would like to be sure of the problem!

Ilya, have you connected everything correctly? Measure the voltage on the chandelier.

I have a switch worth Belarusian production of Sapphire. It works on the principle of smooth on and off. Previously, the lamps did not particularly burn, but as the switch was set, I no longer remember when I changed them for the last time. It has been already 2 years so for sure

I have the same trouble. But the reason is the switch itself. Not completely interrupts contact! The switch is new, with an indicator.

Thanks for the useful information!

An incandescent lamp burns out due to: 1 - factory defects, 2 - mechanical damage (shaken off), 3 - increased voltage, 4 - frequent switching on and off. Lamps do not burn out due to poor cartridges and rotten wiring ...

Recommendation: Never buy Chinese incandescent bulbs !!!

If you connect the lamp through a diode of a suitable voltage (220V), then the lamp power will drop by 4 times. W = U ^ 2 / R Watt = Volt ^ 2 / Ohm

Anton, but they still produce 240-245 volt lamps and where can I buy them ???

Well, I don’t know about Philips, my energy-saving ones work for a long time, and the glow was dead on the second day, it’s never happened before ...

Yes it's true

Advisor, and then, tired of the blackboard from intermittent blinking, each time remembering with your kind words this advice of yours.

Where does 100 come from? Online 50. And at the expense of the diode, yes, it cuts off half of the sinusoid, i.e. 25 Hz, but you can put it not at home, but in the entrances, and even where you are not constantly. The inclusion of a series of two lamps also helps, in my staircase for five years they already burn ...

Denis, the network frequency is 50 Hz, and the flicker frequency of an incandescent lamp is 100 Hz, since it alternately lights up and goes out in each half-cycle.

There are incandescent lamps that last for several years, despite the voltage drops in the network, as well as frequent on / off. It seems to me that the main reason for the burnout of the lamps is a defective product, various design flaws. As mentioned above, this is done so that people often purchase products. What is the point of making a lamp that will last for several years? Then there will be no benefit to sellers. Therefore, if the lamp initially has some design flaws, then it is unlikely that additional measures will extend its life. If, nevertheless, the reason is poor-quality power supply (voltage drops, overvoltage), then you can put a stabilizer on the lighting line of the apartment's electrical wiring.

Bad contact in the supply network can simulate repeated switching on / off of electrical equipment and lighting. This is very bad. Perhaps someone has got three phases. If there is a bad contact in the neutral wire (again, bad contact?), A phase imbalance occurs and the voltage at the minimum loaded phase can increase to a maximum of 380 volts. I repeat many times said - all contact connections must be made perfectly.

In most cases, one phase is started in the housing stock to the consumer and all loads, including inductive ones, “sit” on this phase. And the inductive load exactly when disconnected gives an emission to the common network of interference (EMF of self-induction). Such loads include a refrigerator, air conditioning, etc., and turning on and off their compressors occurs repeatedly during the day, regardless of our desire. In this situation, you can install a filter between the general network and the lighting network.

The main problem of incandescent lamps is the operation of lamps during switching on. At the moment of switching on, multiple power consumption occurs, due to which the filament gradually “eats up”.

Recently, such a phenomenon has often been encountered when, when twisting a burned-out bulb, a glass bulb breaks off from the base. Because the glass remains in the hand, and the cap is in the cartridge :)

The quality of incandescent lamps really fell dramatically, I bought them only for a table lamp because of a pleasant yellowish light.

1. Previously, I constantly changed the “public” light bulb on the site in the entrance of the Khrushchev. Neighbors are old, feeble grannies. Tired of pretty. First, a small diode was soldered directly to the central contact of the bulb. Of course, flickering is unusual, but you can unlock the door even in such a light. A month later, the light bulb “left”. The second time, through a diode, I connected a switch wire inside its case. The bulb turned into an “eternal”, despite the increased voltage on the “drive” phase. Recommend.

2. Now the same problem is in the old Belarusian refrigerator. I have already replaced 5 pieces, they have not served in the family for more than a month already out of 2 !!! human. I am sure that the producers’ greed is to blame. I’ll definitely put a diode, prepare mentally (there are plenty of others).

When "professionals" advise "just solder the contacts", I want to see such an electrician suspended from the ceiling in one place, which solders the chandelier to the network there.

This is an old idea. Somewhere in the United States there is a light that has been on since 1901, and 2 modern cameras have already broken down, which they wanted to capture as the light goes out. Type “work on things” on YouTube

The bulbs burn out and burn out while the base is made of aluminum, and in Soviet times the bulbs worked longer why? Because the base was made of galvanized metal, and in general, it is now commonplace for some gentlemen to reinvent the wheel !!! They would chop off their head.

Tell me why one bulb in the chandelier always burns out, and the chandelier itself has already been changed. All the same, it starts to blink, go out, or immediately burns out. If the contacts in the cartridge are bad, then just a coincidence, is the same problem in both chandeliers? Or is it something else?

The lamp constantly burns in the same lamp. What is the matter and how to be? The answer is here: bgv.electricianexp.com/main/sekrety/517-postoyanno-sgoraet-lampa-v-odnom-i-tom-zhe-svetil
nike-v-chem-delo-i-kak-byt.html

I wish you all good health!

My opinion is very different from all of the above, but my rich experience as an electrician, as well as some knowledge of psychology and esoterics, indicate a high probability of the following point of view (it is not mine, but I carefully studied it and checked at every opportunity on a huge number of objects ), namely:

A person is also a source of electricity, so the bulbs burn out, no matter how strange it may seem, for the reason when often people (often the owners) in the house / room (on the site) swear or find out the relationship (this happens quite often), at the same time, there is a huge surge of negative energy, which in turn affects absolutely all electrical appliances (and not just bulbs) around. In my practice, not only light bulbs burned out, but also electric kettles and power tools, sometimes completely new! Bright, sharp positive emotions can also lead to similar effects, but much less often, as my experience again shows.

Whoever does not believe in this theory can easily verify this, just turn on the observer and you will take everything away with your own eyes.

Yes, of course, many factors, such as the quality of the lamps themselves, the quality of the installation, have a place to be, although again, if you carefully think about all this, this is also a human factor, because the lamps and their installation were carried out by people. The question is? with what thoughts, what they were thinking at that moment, etc. After all, not every electrician puts his soul into his work (then everything sometimes works flawlessly! Checked !!! more than once!), And the majority just thinks “how to cut down more dough on this object”! Sadly, this is a fact with which many, I think, will agree.

All of the above is just my point of view and only my experience, you want to check!

It is enough to put the D226B diode and the bulb warranty grows 10 times!

In Soviet stagnant times, light bulbs burned not only for years, but also for decades. The reason for this was the contacts in the cartridges, switches, electrical outlets and plugs, which were made of brass. Nowadays everything is made of black iron, regardless of whether it is a light bulb or a shovel. From here and burning contacts, and as a result possible fires. Actually, the state doesn’t care from what and who caused the fire there, the main income to the treasury.

And in general, for such a quality of electrical engineering it is high time to put the manufacturer on an electric chair)))

Natalya,
Let Natalya deal with your problem.
How many lamps are in your chandelier, and what switch is installed on it? Double or single? If you use a double switch, then perhaps the cause of the burnout of the same lamp is in the switch itself.

Lamps are now blown due to poor quality. They used to serve up to a year, now they burn for a month. Despite the fact that the voltage is normal and everything else. Here they wrote that with a diode, the lamp life increases 10 times, according to science, it increases as much as 75r! Alex also wrote that the power of a lamp with a diode will be 4 times less, it will be less than 2 times less, because lamp non-linear element. For example, a 100W lamp with a diode is 56W.

There are two ways out of the situation: either buy high-quality lamps, or reduce the voltage on the lamp by 10 ... 15% with a soft start dimmer. In general, LED and fluorescent lamps are already quite cheap for the price - it is better to buy them. What our government is seeking ...

For the eyes, it is better LN. Due to the continuous spectrum of radiation, like the sun. For LED, you generally need to buy glasses, especially for children. The government is seeking to ditch everyone’s eyesight because of the fake saving of electric energy, which is nowhere to go, due to the fact that the majority of production facilities are, and they were the main consumers.

The composition of the gas in the lamp and the thickness of the filaments are the answer to all the questions why they quickly burn out. 1000 hours of lamp operation is a limitation that was invented at the beginning of the 20th century by a group of monopolists. And no need to blame bad electricity, etc. For example, the same osram. In my car, h4 lamps from this brand have been working steadily for 1 year and that's it. Burn in ONE day. Do you understand? One day, Karl !!! In fact, incandescent lamps of low power can last up to 200 years. In England, a 15-watt lamp works in one fire station. It was included somewhere around 1915 for the first time. Do you understand? She is without a system of "quick failure." It just burns and everything is more than a century ....

Tell me why sockets and machines are on fire?