The 10 Year Light Bulb Conspiracy?
About 12 years ago I noticed some light bulbs on clearance at a Menards home store. As I recall, they sold for about 50 cents each and were called IQ light bulbs, made by Philips. They were advertised as a bulb that would shut off automatically after 30 minutes. Furthermore, you could override this feature by turning the light on and off quickly. So I bought some. Wow, they really worked! No longer could my kids leave lights on in out of the way places.
Boy did they work. I still have two bulbs from over 10 years ago that work! The photo on the left is one such bulb in a utility closet. I also have a working IQ bulb in a basement bathroom.
So why did they discontinue this bulb? When I tried to get more bulbs at the Menards they told me that the bulbs they sold were no longer manufactured. They told me they got a whole train car at a discount price and then sold them at dirt cheap prices – the fellow at the store said they normally would have sold for about $5. In fact they were even giving them to store card owners as a promotion I was told.
So it appears Philips wanted to unload this item they discontinued. And fairly quickly. Why? If you try to find information on this product at the current Philips website, you won’t. And if you try searching Google for this information on this product, you won’t find but one old forum page! It is as if the product never existed!
A light bulb that lasts 10 years and saves me gobs of money on electricity is certainly not a bad product to me the consumer. So it is very tempting to conclude that this bulb was just too good. I suppose it is possible that the original price was so high that people were not buying it, but I would think in today’s climate of incandescent = bad, bad, bad that people would be willing to pay $10 or even $20 for such a bulb that lasts and lasts. I know I would.
The one result I did find on this product was from a 2004 Philips forum. I found an official response of
The Philips IQ Lighting was discontinued and there is no replacement. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Then, several more people exclaimed
I love mine and have been looking all over. Bought it 13 years ago and it’s going strong.
The auto off bulbs are great. I have some on my front porch, utility room and bathroom that must be nearly 8-10 years old.
And then, another post by the Philips person:
The IQ lighting Auto OFF were discontinued and there is no replacement. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Sound like corporate talking points to you? The additional sad news about all this is that you can not find a similar product made by another company – I have looked high and low! Apparently, the patent rights prevent a similar product from hitting the market.
And just in case they delete this forum or the posts, I made a few screen shots below.
If anyone from Philips wishes to clarify what happened here, please do.
I find myself coming to your blog more and more often to the point where my visits are almost daily now!
I read the article and would like to offer my take on the situation.
I believe I bought 2 or 3 of these Phillips bulbs many years ago and still have one working in my bedside lamp. I thought they were great. They may have been too expensive and possibly Phillips may have determined they didn’t sell enough to be profitable. Or just maybe it was the huge push by the “Greenies” to force CFLs on us. I think CFLs are a long way from producing as good color and intensity as incandescents. They are also expensive unless you find a promo sale where you can buy 2 and get one free. They must be more profitable than the incandescent market. The one thing “Greenies” forget is that CFLs contain mercury and even though they advertise you can return them to the store to dispose of them how many people will just toss them into the regular trash?
I would certainly buy the phillips bulbs again if they were available. A 10-15 year life for a bulb is certainly effective conservation. Remember the 50 MPG carburetor?
I too just lost my last 10 year old IQ light I am going to try to remove the chip at the bottom of the bulb and transfer it to a standard bulb, I also found this on line I am going to try one of these:
60 Watt AutoOff Light Control
Quantity in Basket: none
Code: SLC7BC
Price: $11.99
Quantity:
• Automatically turns light off after 15 minutes
• Perfect for closets, garages, basements, or anywhere lights are left on
• Works with incandescent or fluorescent bulbs
Do your kids refuse to turn off the lights? We have a product that can help: the AutoOff Light Control by AmertTac.
For years we have received phone calls and emails from customers looking for the Philips IQ Auto Off Bulb. In all our years in the light bulb business we have never witnessed a product that has fostered the kind of loyalty and passion displayed for the Philips IQ Auto Off Bulb (there are even chat rooms and blogs dedicated to the Philips IQ). So, of course, Philips discontinued their Philips IQ line. What was so special about the Philips IQ Auto Off Light Bulb? The Philips IQ Bulb had a chip inside the socket that turned the bulb off after 30 minutes of use. This made the Philips IQ bulb ideal for kid’s rooms, closets, basements, stair cases, or anywhere light is needed briefly but often left on.
Other products, such as the Bulb Boss by Beacon Light Products, approached the problem differently. The Bulb Boss was a small disk that fit into a light socket that would make a standard light bulb shut off after 15 or 30 minutes. One advantage of the Bulb Boss over the Philips IQ was that after the initial investment a standard (cheap) light bulb could be used. Alas, the Bulb Boss went the way of the Philips IQ Auto Off Bulb.
The product we offer, the AutoOff Light Control by AmerTac, combines the best features of the Philips IQ Auto Off Bulb and the Bulb Boss, plus it goes a step further. The AutoOff Light Control is an adapter that screws into any standard socket. Once the AutoOff Light Control is installed it will accept any medium (standard) base light bulb. The AutoOff Light Control keeps your light on for 15 minutes before automatically turning the bulb off. If you can screw in a light bulb you can install the AutoOff Light Control, plus, like the Bulb Boss, it’s reusable. What’s unique about the AutoOff Light Control is that it also works with compact fluorescent light bulbs. Imagine the savings when you combine the energy savings of compact fluorescent lighting with an AutoOff Light Control!
Amazon sells the Grey model
the 10 or 15 minute option is availble lots of places and at lots of prices – what the Bulb Boss and the Phillips light bulb had was the option to turn it on for an additional hour or two after it flashed that the original time was ending…Without this feature your product is pretty much like everyone else’s.
I found a device that screws into the socket then you screw a bulb up tp 60 watts into that. Ad says it will work with fluorescent light bulbs. Automatically turns light off after 15 minutes.
http://www.lightbulbsdirect.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=SLC7BC&Category_Code=LightControl&Product_Count=1
I was reading where someone was recommending straw. The truth is we need to hold big oil accountable for clean up the mess they have created!
It’s time to bring these babies back from obscurity!
Sent from my iPhone 4G