Lights of America 7 watt globes burning out

[PhotonWrangler]

We've been losing a few of these lately after about 6 months of regular use. Nothing wrong with the sockets (no intermittents) and power is reasonably clean.

I took one apart last night and as soon as I separated the globe from it's base I detected that familiar odor of charred components. Upon closer inspection of the ballast circuit I found what appears to be a capacitor that was cooked.

The ballast PCB itself looks like it's assembled and soldered by hand, including a tiny hand-wound toroid. The output transformer's connections are actually wire-wrapped onto pins which in turn are soldered to the board. It's a miniature work of art. I'm tempted to salvage some of the components, particularly the 'lytic which has long leads and still looks good.

The tube itself is probably fine; it's a tiny spiral tube that's glued into the plastic globe. It pains me to toss out the whole thing because of one blown 10-cent capacitor.

[Sigman]

Don't the Lights of America lights come with a 5 or 7 year warranty? I use the 150 watt equivalent LOA tubes in my ceiling fixtures...had a few go out as well, didn't bother with the warranty though - I should just hall them back to Home Depot or Walmart for replacement!!!

[yuandrew]

Lights of America used to be good but now their quality control is letting down. There are a few members here that will now say LOA is a crappy brand.

Ironically, I just had a 13watt LOA "The Bulb" burn out last Friday. I thought it was a normal burnout considering that it was over 8 years old (I remember buying it from Home Depot back in 1998) It has been in the ceiling fan in the kitchen for a while.

When I changed the bulb, I noticed a very strong burnt smell similar to what you get when a transformer overheats. Sure enough, it was comming from a tiney transformer (the ballast section was well ventilated so I could see it through the vent holes). I saved it so I could do some failure analysis later but I wonder if there is an easy way to open the ballast section (I've cut a CFL open with a hacksaw before but the base was square vs round; this one likes to slip around when I try to saw it open.)

Anyway, I have a feeling that the tube is still working despite it has lost 20% of the original output and has blackened ends where the electrodes probably are.

[Lightmeup]

I remember reading a Consumer Reports test of CF lights and that LOA was one of the worst, if not the worst brand for early burnout. I recall that LightWiz was very highly rated for their longevity.

[PhotonWrangler]

Thanks for the info, guys. It seems as if the quality of their recent stuff might be less than their original line of less decorative lamps. I remember placing one of their older, larger "200 watt equivalent" lamps in a ceiling fixture and it ran for years.