Early compact fluoro failure - Philips

[Sylvia Else]

On 15/10/2010 10:39 PM, Sylvia Else wrote:

A had a Philips compact fluoro fail after what cannot have been a large
number of hours. I pulled it apart to see what was wrong.

http://members.optusnet.com.au/sylviae/philipsFluoro1.jpg

http://members.optusnet.com.au/sylviae/philipsFluoro2.jpg

I rather think the reason is apparent in those pictures. It seems to me
that the insulation on the copper wire at the the top of the picture has
no business being stuck up there entangled with the attachment pin. It's
surely meant to be lower down, as the other two are (and why not
three?), to prevent the wires from touching.

It's not even clear whether the wire is heavily oxidised, or badly
enameled - I can make contact using meter probes at some points along it.

Any, I think Philips should provide a replacement at their cost - I'll
see what they say.

The replacement finally arrived today, though I think it was mainly to
make me go away. Philips did not make any concession about the
manufacturing quality of the failed lamp.

Sylvia.

 

[Sylvia Else]

On 29/11/2010 7:26 PM, kreed wrote:

On Nov 29, 3:25 pm, Sylvia Else<syl...@not.here.invalid> wrote:
On 15/10/2010 10:39 PM, Sylvia Else wrote:



A had a Philips compact fluoro fail after what cannot have been a large
number of hours. I pulled it apart to see what was wrong.

http://members.optusnet.com.au/sylviae/philipsFluoro1.jpg

http://members.optusnet.com.au/sylviae/philipsFluoro2.jpg

I rather think the reason is apparent in those pictures. It seems to me
that the insulation on the copper wire at the the top of the picture has
no business being stuck up there entangled with the attachment pin. It's
surely meant to be lower down, as the other two are (and why not
three?), to prevent the wires from touching.

It's not even clear whether the wire is heavily oxidised, or badly
enameled - I can make contact using meter probes at some points along it.

Any, I think Philips should provide a replacement at their cost - I'll
see what they say.

The replacement finally arrived today, though I think it was mainly to
make me go away. Philips did not make any concession about the
manufacturing quality of the failed lamp.

Sylvia.

I doubt they would make concessions, they might then (in the worst
case) be on the hook for all sorts of liabilities, recall
if that model of lamp was deemed defective.

99% of customers will just toss them in the bin and buy another,
others will be happy for a free lamp as replacement etc.

In this particular case, they've already changed the design anyway. Not
that the woman I was talking to would have known that. On the one hand
she felt competent to claim that the fact that the lamp didn't fail
immediately indicated that it was not poorly manufactured, but on the
other hand she admitted that she had no knowledge of the lamp's internal
structure.

Sylvia.

 

[kreed]

On Nov 29, 3:25 pm, Sylvia Else <syl...@not.here.invalid> wrote:

On 15/10/2010 10:39 PM, Sylvia Else wrote:



A had a Philips compact fluoro fail after what cannot have been a large
number of hours. I pulled it apart to see what was wrong.

http://members.optusnet.com.au/sylviae/philipsFluoro1.jpg

http://members.optusnet.com.au/sylviae/philipsFluoro2.jpg

I rather think the reason is apparent in those pictures. It seems to me
that the insulation on the copper wire at the the top of the picture has
no business being stuck up there entangled with the attachment pin. It's
surely meant to be lower down, as the other two are (and why not
three?), to prevent the wires from touching.

It's not even clear whether the wire is heavily oxidised, or badly
enameled - I can make contact using meter probes at some points along it.

Any, I think Philips should provide a replacement at their cost - I'll
see what they say.

The replacement finally arrived today, though I think it was mainly to
make me go away. Philips did not make any concession about the
manufacturing quality of the failed lamp.

Sylvia.

I doubt they would make concessions, they might then (in the worst
case) be on the hook for all sorts of liabilities, recall
if that model of lamp was deemed defective.

99% of customers will just toss them in the bin and buy another,
others will be happy for a free lamp as replacement etc.

 

[John Savage]

Sylvia Else <sylvia@not.here.invalid> writes:

The replacement finally arrived today, though I think it was mainly to
make me go away. Philips did not make any concession about the
manufacturing quality of the failed lamp.

Around 10 years ago when the price of CF globes dropped to sub $15 I
considered them a practical proposition for our unit block stairwell/
security lighting. I tried an assortment of brands. The exercise was
very disappointing: many globes failed within three months--far short
of their claimed hourly life. Feeling cheated, I began returning each
failed globe to its importer/distributor. Some sent me 2 replacement
globes, I presume in appreciation of my trouble in alerting them to
the shortcoming in their product life. But I think it was Philips who
promptly dispatched a sturdy box containing just one globe, asking that
I send back the faulty unit, post free, in the same box.

While the price of CF globes continues to fall (in large part due to
Chinese sweatshop labour), the reliability of the cheaper models seems
to have plateaued. The life of a globe in our 15-hours-per-day usage is
now 18 to 24 months. Compare this with 10 years ago, when I had to be
content with 12 months, typically.

I clearly recall how one globe I installed in the kitchen failed at the
moment of first switch on.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)