Yep, I've had it with the damn things. I have always preferred Edison screw sockets but until comparatively recently those were a rarity in Oz.

Today I have had to completely dismantle the ceiling light fitting in the bathroom on order to be able to extract the blown bulb that had welded itself into the socket. I've had welded-in bulbs snap off in my hand leaving the base still jammed into the socket so I took the long path this time and, although I managed to get the bulb out, I ended up with a brass nut flying off the fitting straight down the floor waste drain for good measure.

Add to that the crappy plastic jokes of bayonet sockets being installed in fittings these days.

No more bayonets for me. From here on in if I have a need for GLS type bulbs, then the fitting will be Edison screw or nothing.

Unfortunately both types of socket suffer from the same issue. The last place I worked there was a senior executive's office with downlights that took R75 reflector lamps and each time they required replacing the fitting had to be removed and taken to the workshops so the expired globes could be extracted. When LED versions of these lamps finally became available it was an end for the ones with filaments. These fittings were old enough to be made in Australia, by Kempthorn, no less.

The problem isn't the sockets but the heat that builds up due to lack of ventilation holes. With the LED globes you don't need as many because most of them stay stone cold.

I've never had a screw-in bulb get so stuck that I couldn't remove it, and I'm careful not to over-tighten them. When heat seizure on thread is a possibility I smear a tiny bit of copper grease on it. I do this with spark plugs, too.

One good thing about screw-in lights is that they can double as a light switch just rotate globe half a turn to switch off: this is handy for overhead utility installations where the pull-chain switch has stuck or spotwelded itself to 'always-on' - thus the common 'hillbilly' solution of the twist-on/twist-off switch.

I've had a few service calls where the edison lamp is seized in thread (often caused by overtightening - human torque wrench) and glass envelope breaks free of base as it was attempted to be removed (usually by same human torque wrench.) To remove, grab edge of stuck lamp base with small wirecutters and twist out, the customers are amazed!

I much prefer bayonet types to Edison screw. I've had Edison screw types get stuck before and the bulb has come away from the cap when I tried to unscrew. There is far more surface area with an ES type to get stuck, and the thread carries current. The bayonet posts don't carry current so can't get stuck, although both types get stuck at the solder contact. Can't agree on this one.

Cheers, Stuart

I also can't agree.

I've had ES sockets fitted with PAR38s that, over time, required the PAR38 to be screwed further into the socket to make contact. Eventually, BANG! S/C between the thread and the button contacts. Inherently unsafe.

Either design of connector has its flaws and can be badly designed, unsuitable materials used etc. etc..

The biggest problem is the source of both the Bayonet and the ES sockets. Guess which country they're made in?? The same country those crappy power boards are made in. Our safety standards for mains equipment has slipped so badly.

I'm with Sirwin, preffering the bayonet types, I've had bulbs do strange things and come apart from their base and I've just pushed a broom handle into what's left. lifted and turned then the bits dropped down and out of the fitting, never had a problem!

Plastic bayonet sockets nowadays are simply garbage.

The problem with plastic is not confined to bulbs. I was doing maintenance at a 10year old McDonald's & by this time a lot of the sockets of the Fluorescent tubes had solarised as had any starter that had not been changed. They often crumbled as you tried to turn them. In the case of them and globe bases it was well insulated long pointed pliers & another that acted in reverse like circlip pliers for the globe sockets.

Often the secret for ES was to cause the edge to collapse enough to use pliers to roll in the edge, which shrank the base.

Heat is the reason that I replace failed OP & Rectifier sockets withe ceramic.

The UV light from fluorescent tubes attacks white plastic like you wouldn't believe. Back in the days when fluoro light fittings were built with 18 gauge steel they also sported black tombstones and if it was a switch-start fitting, also black starters. These lasted for the whole service life of the fitting (and the tubes, I may add often did too) because UV rays don't destroy black plastic as quickly or at all. This is the same reason that aerial wires between the power pole and the point of attachment on buildings are also insulated with black PVC. If it was the same white stuff that finds its way into building cavities the insulation would simply fall off after a year or two.

As time went on, white tombstones and starters began to find their way into the planned obsolescence schemes of light manufacturers and that was the beginning of the end for longevity.

If you want bayonet sockets that will last longer than you find some Rowco porcelain ones at a clearing sale. Only a hammer will break them.

the planned obsolescence schemes of light manufacturers

At the complex where my workshop is located, we have just forked out many thousands of dollars to replace numerous emergency light fittings of various types because they were either completely dead or failed the 90 minute test. I had hoped to recover most of the removed ones and simply replace the batteries in the ones whose electronics were otherwise OK, however, in just 7 years, the plastic had yellowed and gone powdery in so many of them that they all ended up at the tip.

And all of the house lights that aren't fluoros have ES sockets

I really wonder as to why the regulatory authorities have not caught up with exit lights. To me some border on a money making racket.

I have two. One is in the workshop as it has no windows. Around late 2012 when I moved back here an exit light was added. It was interesting that during a power outage it lasted 15 minutes?

A inspection of it to find, why so, revealed that even that it was only a very few years old & LED it had NiCd batteries? As we all know these things have a memory and the only way that they fully charge from a partial discharge is to be flattened. It would be interesting to see if these have a discharge before charge cycle? Either way there are much better & bigger recharge batteries available that will let it run virtually all night & more.

As was probably noted, from the bill, no new batteries, Electrician & toss the whole fitting....... More "E" waste.

A thought to consider: There are two types one that runs permanently and a non monitored type. Due to aged Mother I had one of both types actually in the previous house. One next to the escape door, which also had the phone next to it. & the non monitored in the hallway. That proving several times to be useful in a power outage. If you leave the green bit off they make good night lights. The new house has one.

To me some border on a money making racket.

It's a racket alright, as is the fire service industry -- but don't get me started on that!

NiCad batteries don't develop the memory effect from one discharge. That's why exit light manufacturers still use them. It takes numerous similar charge-discharge events for the memory effect to take hold. Exit lights are typically drained once every six months when tested and as long as the test runs for greater than 90 minutes then even a developing memory effect should not harm the battery's ability to service the light. Generally, a modern LED exit light with its tiny NiCad battery will last for up to four hours.

Do note that there are varying levels of quality with exit lights. The building I am in uses Stanilite with the Nexus monitoring system and it is generally very good. There's a combination of exits, Spitfires, sealed battens and the double eyeball type emergency light fittings on this system. Those that have been changed over to LED are tending to last longer because they don't produce significant heat and no fluoro lamp means no UV - the biggest enemies of white plastic and, indeed, batteries.

Some competing systems are, quite frankly, garbage. I have inside information that a certain well known government-owned institution spends around $70,000.00 on replacing cooked exit lights every time they perform an annual generator blackout test. If ever there was a good example of a need for either replacing the exit light system or installing surge protection on the generator feed then this is it.

When I worked for the Dept. Health back in the 1990s we used 3/4 of a jug element to perform complete discharges on batteries we had for our drills. It worked.