• Today@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    6 months ago

    That’s totally true. If you go to Edison’s house they have light bulbs that have been burning for a really long time. Every tour someone asks, “why don’t my light bulbs last that long?” The tour guide replies, “because then you’d only buy them once.”

    • LrdThndr@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      6 months ago

      Also the bulbs that last forever are majorly undervolted. They last forever because they’re not run anywhere near their current capacity, and as a result, they emit way less light and their filament doesn’t degrade as fast.

      If you take any old off the shelf incandescent bulb and only run it at 50v, it’ll last decades.

    • Kachajal@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      6 months ago

      A big part of that is that those bulbs are never turned off. Cycling power is actually a large part of what degrades them.