Barn light bulbs?

[Patchouli]

We have 4 flood lights on our barn and for the last year we can not seem to find a decent bulb that lasts for more than a few weeks. I have tried different brands all guaranteed to last a year or more but they all go out. I was starting to think maybe it was a wiring issue but the barn wiring is only 3 years old and when I was in at the hardware store the other day there was a customer complaining about the same problem. They told him to bring the bulb back but they were considering just not selling them anymore because they replace so many these days. They are just cheap crap.

Anyone found a good brand?

[michael ark]

I have been shopping online for lights for my shop and they are the cheapest i have found.Go to econ lighting and get some led and be done with it .The new stuff thats old school is mainly junk now a days. Started when the government got into the lighting business and started adding costs. Here is what i was talking about .http://www.e-conolight.com/shop-by-p...-products.html
Order the catalog and they will send you a coupon for 15% off.
ps. I am a 3 year electrical apprentice.

[haley1]

Might be an electricity problem, maybe the hz and volts from your power is off a little, common if you are far from power source

[rambler]

What kind of wattage are you dealing with?

I have found the LED lights are pretty good. Cost more, but far better than those worthless curly cue bulbs.

Paul

[blessingsfarms]

In our area I use 130 volt bulbs. Dayton power
and light is know for slight power surge. It only
takes 5 volt surge to blow bulb.

[Rustaholic]

I have a friend that was saying she was always replacing burnt out lights.
She was buying the same ones I was and mine were all good for years.
I went to their house and stuck one of my meters in an outlet and yes 132 Volts. I told them to either start buying those 5 year warranty bulbs because they are 130 Volt bulbs or call your electric company. They called the electric company and they brought out a new transformer after they checked out their house and one other one on the same transformer.

[woodsman14]

I like these, but not all stores carry them. Cost about $25 last I bought. Lights even in cold of winter.

http://www.menards.com/main/mobile/o...473-c-7539.htm

[Patchouli]

I have tried everything from low watts to the higher ones and the energy savers and standard flood lights. We have not tried LEDs yet. We had the wiring done by an electrician and it was fine the first year. Our power company out here has issues though, we get power outages routinely, this year has been the worst ever. They have done a lot of tree cutting and pole and wire replacement over the summer.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Rectifier]

Electrician here... These days there is no choice like LEDs. I replaced 3x 75w floodlights which provided just enough light to see, with 3x 12w LED floodlights. Now you could read a book in there!

We did some testing on them and they have modern switching supplies - increasing the voltage above 120VAC results in decreasing current draw. They are holding a constant wattage. Pretty neat and as such they should be pretty robust against power surges.

Plus they should last for 25 years. There was a rebate on so I got them for $5 each, otherwise they would be too expensive. Keep an eye on the power companies etc. for rebates. $15 for a huge improvement in lighting, no brainer!

[o&itw]

I agree with all that is said above. There is a few things you might want to check though. If there is some arcing going on at a bad connection it will cause this problem. The main place this usually happens is the center conection to the bulb in the socket. If you have seen (incadescent) bulbs flickering or going dim from time to time this is a good posibility.

The second thing to check, is if there is any chance rain or some other source of mositure is getting to the bulb.

Most of the non-Phillips, GE, or Sylvania bulbs are made in Asia now and a real junk.

The LED bulbs make better spot and flood lights than they do bulbs for lamps and ceiling lights. I have a few and they seem to work well.

BTW. save your package. When CFL's first came out I bought a pack of 10 and stapled the reciept to the package, which was good because most of them failed before the 5 year guarantee was up.