mart360

We blew a couple of 240v halogen spot bulbs in the kitchen over the last week,

one managed to take out the main ring fuse on the mains supply, so i bought replacement bulbs and a new consumer self setting fuse block to replace out old wire fuses..

This was Thursday

Last night i noted that one of the new bulbs was incredibly bright, compared to the rest, which had a yellow hue as opposed this lone bulb, which was actic white in output...

guess what, it died today.....

so i reckon 20 hrs , thats some way off 70.000

guess who,s going back with the bulbs tommorow...


Mart

Julz1983

My mam has the same prob, she has halogen bulbs all the way down the passage way in the house and she is forever changing them, she said the same that they are supposed to last for ages but within a few eeks have died.

John Mac

I noticed this in our toilet the other week when i was giving the fitting a wee dust done.I lightly touched the outer edge of the bulb and it immediately appeared to get brighter,i thought great and out of curiosity done the same with the other three bulbs.Yep ,one by one they all blew one after the other. The new bulbs were crisper but deffo not as bright.


newbie my ar*e........new login....bloody pooters

Brendan Hughes

Riiiiiight... and you do know you're not supposed to touch halogen bulbs with your fingers, don't you? As you'll leave grease on them - which causes them to blow...

All Torque

One of these blew in our kitchen on thursday morning at 06.30 and went with such a bang it nearly gave the Mrs a heart attack, then blew all the lights in the house. Are they supposed to bang like this and these one we are talking about have to be handled, you dont acually touch the bulb.

mart360

thats the ******!!! and yes when they go they go in style, likewise it blew the main lighting ring fuse at the mains board, hence i changed it for a micro trip unit.

going to give B&Q merry tommorrow

Mart

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

GU10 halogens are crap....you can tell when they are about to blow - they go bright white. And halogens do go with a bang sometimes and trip the circuit breaker...the bulb on my inspection lamp exploded the once

Best halogens are teh 12volt ones with a decent transformer....My dad has five 12volts haolgens and three 240volt GU10 bulbs all on a timer, working the outdoor lights about 8 hours every day.

Four of the 12volt ones are still the originals and are over 5 years old (one blew in the first month, replacemnet is over 4 years old now)....The three 240v GU10s, however. They last about 4 to 6months.

Strange, as the 12volt halogen bulbs and 240volt GU10s are both rated at 2000hours and are all branded (GE or osram)

Fuzz

I was told not to expect my newly fitted B&Q lights to last, well known that they dont apparently, thought i might be just rumour but on the third day of Christmas "BANG" house in darkness, yep tripped the fuse on the main board at the same time.
Not gone back to B&Q with them but duly went to a good electical wholesaler (Lockwell electrics) and got a pack of ten of the little buggers.
I think it's where B&Q are having the originals made as the new ones have been fine ever since.


Andy

fast bloke

tip

don't buy stuff from B&Q if you want it to last. It may look like the same stuff but cheaper, but in reality it is a cheap version of the same stuff. I thought this was a BS story, but I used to do contract work for a big manufacturer. They had two lines. One producing normal stuff at £249.00 and one producing a nearly identical B&Q product for £149.00. I asked what the difference was and the manager told me "Our normal stuff is designed to give a lifetime of use. The B&Q version is designed to last 13 months and not a day more"

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

The bulbs that come included with B&Q lights don't last a month...you'll usually have one pop within a few days of putting up the light fitting (yes I will admit to having three sets of B&Q lights in the house - they are just rebranded Micromark or Ring anyway).

Their off the shelf bulbs "just" about last as long at they say on the box (1000hours) - get what you pays.