Cree bulb QC issues fixed?

I bought 3 of the Cree 9.5 watt bulbs in March. Today, I noticed that the glass had separated from the bulb on one of them. Several months ago, I have read about others with this problem. But, I have not seen anything lately.

Also, on all 3 of my bulbs, the anti-shatter coating seems to be uneven towards the bottom. It dripped onto the heat sink on one of them.

Do the Cree bulbs that have been purchased more recently still have issues?

we have 7 of the 9.5 watt ones running 12 hours/day outdoors since mid march,so far no issues with any of those.

I bought three of the 5000K models as soon as they were available in my area and had no problems with them.

I have three of the 9.5w. They are up in a ceiling fixture. So once installed, they have been good.

I also have a 6w in a table lamp. This lamp has a lamp shade that clips onto the bulb glass. I did have this one separate - when messing with the shade. For this type of lamp, I would highly recommend clipping on the lamp shade *before* screwing the bulb into the socket. Then screw it into the socket with fingers on the heat sink - not the glass. Bulb was purchased sometime around late May/early June.

I had a 6 watt in an open ceiling fixture separate (only about a week old). It had been on a for a while and suddenly the globe part fell off onto the floor. Of course it didn't shatter, and the light still works fine, so I simply taped it back together. My three other 6 watt bulbs, and two 9.5 watt bulbs are doing fine.

I am thinking the Philips bulbs may be worth buying over the Cree. Their price has come down so now they are only $3 more than the Cree. They are shorter, dim better, and seem to have a better design.

crazyk4952 said:

I am thinking the Philips bulbs may be worth buying over the Cree. Their price has come down so now they are only $3 more than the Cree. They are shorter, dim better, and seem to have a better design.

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Philips 10.5w 800 lumen premature failure
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?363514-Philips-10-5w-800-lumen-premature-failure
PhotonWrangler had 2 die on him.

crazyk4952 said:

I am thinking the Philips bulbs may be worth buying over the Cree. Their price has come down so now they are only $3 more than the Cree. They are shorter, dim better, and seem to have a better design.

Click to expand...

But they are not available in 5000K.

Robin24k said:

But they are not available in 5000K.

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Where do you like to use the 5000k bulbs? I personally find them too cool to use in the typical home environment. But, I am interested to know where people like to use the cooler temperature bulbs.

crazyk4952 said:

Where do you like to use the 5000k bulbs? I personally find them too cool to use in the typical home environment. But, I am interested to know where people like to use the cooler temperature bulbs.

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I have some in my home office - they make it easier to read and concentrate. They would also work well in other work spaces, garages, and outdoors. 5000K would be a good color for kitchens, although some might want better color quality than the Cree's are delivering.

Most of my LED bulbs were replacing 4000K fluorescent tubes, so the closest would be 5000K daylight white. 2700K makes me feel sleepy, and there's no way I can work under that kind of lighting. I have 5000K in bathrooms, work areas, kitchen, and garage.

LEDninja said:

Philips 10.5w 800 lumen premature failure
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?363514-Philips-10-5w-800-lumen-premature-failure
PhotonWrangler had 2 die...

Click to expand...

...and a third one is starting to flicker, which seems to be the prelude to failure.

I've had no issues with the Cree 60w warm white bulbs so far. One is running in a ceiling light, another in a bathroom fixture and another in an outdoor post light. No issues whatsoever.

I did notice that the silicone coating has a few drips where the globe meets the base of the bulb but that's a minor cosmetic issue for me which has no effect on it's performance. I'm guessing the globes are dipped while upside-down then turned upright to dry, causing a few very minor imperfections in the coating at the base of the globe.

I just had the first cree bulb I bought separate. I also noted an odd odor. I think I read somewhere that someone had an issue with it off gassing and I suspect thats what happened with mine. Fortunately my local Home Depot let me exchange it without any hassle. I'm hoping the next one doesn't separate. I have them in big glass balls that hang in the stairwell. My main concern is it'll fall within the fixture shattering the glass ball/shade.

Seems they should have molded a thread into the base of the globe and a mating set of grooves into the lamp base for a positive mechanical connection.

I think they would need to switch to plastic to do that. Which would probably be fine IMO.

I found one of seven bulbs thrown in a box when I moved had a separated globe. With these models being discontinued, I hurried over to Home Depot to try to get an exchange. I was told there was a manufacturer's warranty and I had to send it to them. I said I was told I could bring it here. I was asked for a receipt and I pulled out one from last December which was almost certainly not the receipt for that particular bulb. I was allowed to do an exchange and had to search high and low for a bulb that matched the SKU on the receipt. There were only a few left and most of the shelves were filled with the new 4Flows.

That's the 3rd bulb I've exchanged using that particular receipt...

Thanks for the heads-up. I might head over to my local store soon to see if I can snag a few more of the Cree "classic" bulbs before they're gone.

You should just tattoo the barcode from that receipt on your wrist.

I've just experienced my first failure of one of the original Cree 800 lumen bulbs. It's been running 12-14 hours a day for the better part of a year, maybe a little over 4700 hours. It started flickering between full brightness and half brightness. All of the LEDs flickered together so it appeared to be a power supply issue.

I was able to remove the globe without damaging it by twisting it back and forth until the silicone gave out. It appears that the LEDs are connected to the power supply by two metal spring contacts. I confirmed this by slipping a piece of insulating material under one of the spring contacts and this prevented the lamp from lighting.

I'm guessing there is a mechanical intermittent somewhere as the flickering seems to react slightly to vibration. It might be fatigue or corrosion on those spring contacts - they do look a bit discolored - or it might be a cold solder joint in the driver board. I plan to tear it down further to investigate and see if it might even be repairable.

BTW the frosting on the globe appears to be a powder of some sort, as I was able to remove some of it with my finger.

Bake the bulb in a 200 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Globe will pop right off when gently twisted.

I have an original one that started to flicker then went off. Voltage was about 285 volts on the spring contacts. My measurements when running is around 210 volts.
In my case it is a bad solder joint or cracked run on the LED board. As flexing it with an insulated tool gets it to go on and off. Inspection shows a very poor solder job on my early manufactured bulbs LED assembly.

Knock on wood,every one of my Cree original bulbs {11 total} are still working like new,including the 5 outdoor ones that operate dusk til dawn every day for over 2 years now.