lights will not last long

I have the same problem. However it is more intermittent of nature. It will be quiet for a while and then suddenly they will pop one after the other.

I did measure the voltage on a few occasions and found it to be very low (below 180 in a 230v system). I have also measured 250v on occasions.

I had a light dimmer in the lounge with a cluster of 6 bulbs. 5 of them and the dimmer greeted on one go (almost like a domino effect).

I even had some of this environment friendly bulbs popping.

I am not electric but I suspect the current will rise above the design maximum with reduced voltage or maybe it is due to excessive fluctuations over short periods.

Thus far, I've never had house lights that burned out so frequently. As Hendrik says, it's probably due to voltage fluctuations in your area. It's also possible that the "normal" voltage in your home or area is higher than what's required by around ten or twenty volts.

I did have problems with indicator lamps at work that busted every month or so. When I checked, the 24VDC line was actually 27VDC. This made the lamps burn hotter which caused them to fail quicker than usual. Adjusting the power supply solved that (upgrading later to LEDs practically eliminated it).

Its not work related, but I once had this problem at home and found a loose neutral on the buss in the pannel....problem solved

PWSlack...

I know you used nice short words there and I should probably understand them all in the order you put them in. But I'm afraid I'm just not quite getting it. Can you maybe say it again and use a lot of hand gestures or something?

I have added a few words in another post to try and clear this confusion up as I could not follow him either.

He must have a great bottle of scotch handy!!! Sadly, I don`t, damn!!

I did not follow everything exactly here, so a few points for safety.

1) Neutral to earth connection should only be made at the substation, not anywhere else, not your house for example, but it must exist.

2) Measure the voltage between neutral & earth and check with the electricity supplier for the maximum allowed value, if it goes above this value, report this as a safely danger.

3) many devices burn out quicker through LOW VOLTAGE than with high, motors being a prime example. How economy bulbs rate in this area I do not know as it will depend on the internal design, but as most are not dimable without causing damage, it is possible that they do not like low voltage much either, which is how standard dimmers work.

4)High temps in closed fittings will also seriously reduce the life span of ANY bub.

5)With conventional light bulbs, orientation of the bulb (connector down), high temperatures and high voltages all cause them to burn out earlier than they should.

If this is on one circuit or one fixture you may have a lose wire or bad connection. If it is throughout the house, you may have a bad ground or nuetral in the panel. Wiring should be checked by a pro if you are not proficient in this area. Working on a live power panel can be dangerous.

Same problem here. I write the start date on the package for each new lamp start. Those that don't hold up according to the hours marked on packaging go back to the store/market for replacement...whether they cost only 20 cents or so, or many dollars. For premature failed CF bulbs, call the mfr and they ship replacements.

To me, the action of keeping track of the failure of the bulbs makes a lot of sense. Bulbs are being manufactured throughout the world at present and we all know that QC controls are not uniformly held to in all countries producing the bulbs. While I follow (mostly) the arguments raised for electrical checks for the house wiring, etc. poorly made cheap bulbs should be returned for a refund if they dont perform to guaranteed levels. Too often, we as consumers just say "Oh, well!" and buy another bulb rather than going to the hassle of tracking bulb life and requiring manufacturers to live up to their promised performances. This latter statement applies to many more things than we consider in our "throw away" convenience-oriented society.

I had the same problem in my last apartment. I attributed it to the building shaking every time a large truck or train went by. I think the vibrations loosened the bulbs.

If they were filament bulbs, they do not like vibration when switched on at all.

With CFLs and LEDs probably much better, but I have no relevant facts to support me on this, either way....

Did you re-tighten to see? Sometimes light bulbs self-loosen with no help from vibration at all.

Since this is apartment, not house like original post-er, you situation might be different...depending on jurisdiction. Typically, apartment (fee simple) owner, not tenant (fee lease) owner is responsible for working bulbs at move-in (and reasonable time thereafter); lessee at move-out. If premature failures due to either a wiring defect, or due to flawed or over-aged, landlord supplied bulbs...then you might want to take the matter up with landlord/mgr. If start bulb failed too soon, ask for replacement--most apartments keep some on hand for just such purposes. If repeated premature failures--particularly on one socket or proximate (same loop?) sockets, landlord would have a duty to check and repair as needed--as a matter of contract &or landlord-tenant law, or fire code.

Essential point: the problem is most likely not "your" problem...because you have not the contractual or legal means to correct it. Therefore have a chat with the landlord/super.

Switch to LED lighting--you'll save more on electricity, and the bulbs will last longer than incandescents/flourescents. This will help to fight the problem with your incandescents, but will not eliminate it--still diminished light life with LEDs, but much longer than incandescents.

I suggest you to call a pro to check if the whole apartement electrical wiring system is old and demaged or not. Also let him check the ground(earth) connection, if it connects to the neutral pin of the plug THIS IS TOO BAD, but sometimes the ground connection does not connected to the earth from your apertement, if so, make it connected to the ground.

And a simple solution, also this makes you need of a electric tech, connect a 220V AC voltage regulator to your apertements voltage input (just after the fuse).

I think these may solve your problem...

Also if your lights are on the same circuit as, say the refrigerator or some peice of equipment that turns on and of, it will be getting spikes. No matter what, it seems there is a wiring problem.

Are you in a house or apartment and how old is it?

I've seen some of the newer tract homes, the quality was "a little off". I guess the contractors got ground down so much on price, they were forced to use cheap labor. The wiring on some of them was just not right and some of the workers didn't know blanco from negro.

we have experienced ballast burn out and related premature lighting failure problems . our supplier has told us that voltage spike activity was at core of problem. we have installed arrestors (not TVSS) at incoming panels. PROBLEM SOLVED!! no need to get too technical

Change all to the "smallest " flourescent types. Also realize that GE is not necessarily " GOOD" . A professor at college told us that he worked at westinghouse and they spent alot of hours and money determining just how much water it would take inside the light bulb to make them only last 6 months. It was 1 drop . So they add one drop of water to the inside of the light bulb. H2O.. the O2 peels off so to speak and allows a slow oxidation to occur which makes the filament oxidize (burn) thru in about 6 months. The Commies used to joke about the americans who can't make a bulb to last more 6 months. They didn't know it was designed obsolcesence (design to fail) to sell more $$$$$. Similar for the gas engine cars that they foist upon us. www.peacenikinternational.com 40 watt bulbs last much much longer because the water at a low temp doesn't release the o2 as fast or as predictable. 100 w bulbs probably worse same reasoning.

I think you had used filament bulb, did not you?

If so please use compact CFL bulb instead of.

Please measure the voltage of your source.

And one more question, do you use any motor or other electrical equipment that have large electric consumption e.g. ≥ 2kw?