ALDI Light Bulb Longevity Not as Advertised

peteru on 03/08/2016 - 14:27

I have now replaced about six ALDI Luminous 20W light bulbs that have failed within a year or two of light use. These bulbs usually see somewhere between 1 and 3 hours of use per day. One of them was in a bathroom, so it would have had more on-off cycles than the others, but given that I had failures in other locations, I don't think that this was a factor.

The packaging claims that these bulbs are good for "8,000+ hours of illumination". Clearly, the bulbs I have here did not come anywhere close. I've had bulbs supplied by Energy Australia that lasted close to 10 years.

How is everyone else finding the ALDI Luminous energy saving light bulb longevity?

Poll Options

  • 1
    ALDI bulbs last longer than other brands
  • 2
    ALDI bulbs last about the same as other brands
  • 2
    ALDI bulbs fail much sooner than other brands
  • 9
    I would never buy ALDI bulbs
Electrical & Electronics

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Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 03/08/2016 - 15:21

    What kind of lights are they?

  • t_c on 03/08/2016 - 17:32

    Yes these so called new power saver bulbs suppose to last 10 x longer than the old style incandescent.

    I think it was just a scam to get people to change over, they all seem to last no where near as long as the old style bulbs, regardless of the brand.

  • Cluster on 03/08/2016 - 17:48
    +1

    Are these LED or CFL bulbs? Both suffer greatly reduced life span if used in enclosed light fittings. I've seen high quality LEDs die after less than 500 hours before the home owner installed them in globe light fittings that provided no ventilation.

    CFLs are generally speaking, rubbish now. There was a time when you could purchase quality brands and get something that lasted close to 8000 hours. But now all brands have suffered the 'race to the bottom' and every brand out sources production to the cheapest factory.

    LEDs are still pretty good. I have an OSRAM 10w LED in a desk lamp that's illuminated about 16 hours per day for over 4 years. It's still nice and bright after about 23,000 hours of use. The box stated up to 25k hours lifespan.

    • peteru on 03/08/2016 - 20:55

      I have oyster style light fittings that are rated for 100W incandescent globes. Same light fittings through almost the entire house. I run a mix of Mirabella, ALDI and ancient Energy Australia CCFL globes, either 18W or 20W, depending on manufacturer. I also have a few Philips CCFLs, but they are only 3W and 5W and used in pedestal lamps.

      So far I have only observed issues with the ALDI globes.

      • [Deactivated] on 03/08/2016 - 21:09

        philips and mirabella led bulbs can be bought for $6 or less when on special. no mercury and reliable brands are meant to last for around 10 to 15 years.

  • peteru on 03/08/2016 - 20:49

    These are CCFLs. Can't put them in normal household rubbish bin, because they contains heavy metals. I wish retailers that sell products that can't be discarded in normal household rubbish were required to provide a collection facility for them. ALDI are half way there - they have bins for batteries.

  • derek324 on 03/08/2016 - 21:10

    "X+ hours of illumination" etc. starts to look more and more like meaningless marketing blurb. I had both CFLs and LEDs from different manufacturers some dying after very short use, some running for years, no pattern. I guess the manufacturers think that statistically very few consumers are likely to keep receipts for globes and bother to ask for replacement if a globe fails. In my experience almost all failures are electronics inside dying because of overheating, so indeed well ventilated light fitting and as few on-off cycles as practically possible is likely to prolong life. At least ALDI is excellent with replacing faulty goods, if you keep your docket.

  • cheepwun on 11/06/2017 - 22:44

    http://imgur.com/a/YE3d1
    Get the rated lifetime on the pack and divide by 15 or so, in this case. And what's worse is that this one was hardly used & not in a hot room or sealed enclosure.

    I've had several ALDI Muller Licht globes fail on me. Some just months after purchase. Some downlights. The latest one is presented here for your viewing enjoyment. The brand hardly matters: ALDI just chooses whatever supplier and slaps their own brands on them. Muller Licht is just another ALDI brand. They use other brands for their lighting products too.

    What's worse with ALDI is that they don't want to hear about you after 60 days. Take it up with the manufacturer / distributor if you want. Have fun. I prefer to just not buy their lights. 25 years at 2.7 hours a day. Yes, when pigs fly. If the LED doesn't fail well before then, a component surely will. All this one probably needed was a replacement capacitor (the LED was flashing / blinking) but they don't make it easy, do they. I wonder why that is.

    What's worse is this is industry-wide BS. All the claims by every manufacturer are junk, just like they were with compact fluorescents. Dispose. Consume. Dispose. Consume. It's a good thing I have switched to buying stuff straight from China. Not only is it far cheaper, but if you know what to look for (and I stress this), you can get some very easy-to-repair decent-quality LED lights. Of course you can also get total junk too…

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