Author Topic: Phillips Duramax Incandescent BR40 early failure  (Read 823 times)
lightingfan071
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Phillips Duramax Incandescent BR40 early failure « on: October 29, 2020, 11:39:16 PM » Author: lightingfan071
Over the course of several months, I've had to go out and get box after box of these bulbs (most of them free replacements, at least) from the local Home Depot.  These 65w 120v incandescent flood bulbs have horizontal coiled-coil filaments with a single support wire in the middle.  They do not have a metal heat shield.  The reflective coating does not extend to the base and lets a good amount of light escape the "wrong way".
One thing I noticed after I powered one on and left it running for a few hours was that the un-coated glass section between the cap and the end of the reflective coating had blackened considerably.  I have not seen other incandescent lamps with similar shape filaments blacken so much. I'm talking, GE 150w GLS bulbs  :a_inc:, 60w and 75w 130v GLS/RS bulbs, Appliance bulbs, etc.

Most of these bulbs, after anywhere from 3 months to 1 week of regular use, fail and burn out, despite a promised "DuraMAX 2500 hour life" and "2.3 years".  I know that the testing only accounts for the middle 50% or maybe just the median life of a sample batch, but this is absolutely shameful. Some Chinese bulbs are decent quality, but THESE...are just disappointing. 

What is interesting is these filaments don't fail as other filaments might.  Often, a jarring will cause a fragile filament to sever itself at the two contacts, letting a large section rattle to the bottom and roll around inside the bulb. 
Other times, a filament may simply "burn out", leaving two dangling pieces, still attached to their lead wires/support wires. 
But in this flood bulb, the filament would "crack" and a tiny section of the coil, 0.5-2mm long would break off cleanly and fall to the glass.

I'm trying other brands now...Satco incandescents  :a_inc: or halogens :hal:, but honestly, I don't think Satco could do any worse than Phillips. 

Has this happened to anyone else?  Any tips?
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