Customer Reviews

Bulbrite 715220 - JC20XE/12 - 20 Watt Xenon Bi-Pin Light Bulb, 12 Volt, T-3, G4 Base

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's amazing how intense the light shines from this little bulb; so much so that the lamp manufacturers put an ultraviolet filter in front of the bulb to limit the u.v. emission. It's very bright, and durable. I recommend not touching the glass with your fingers, because the fingerprint oils can etch and weaken the glass when the bulb heats up.

Xenon light bulbs may be used to replace Halogen light bulbs in all applications. Xenon bulbs burn cooler, last for 4x as long as standard halogen, produce bright white light, and may be touched with bare hands when changing - not able to touch with bare hands when changing -

Fine bulb, but it's bigger and longer than the old one, which was the same general type. I can't put the cover on my lamp anymore.

Bought these to replace undercabinet Halogens that were burning out after 6 months. Drop in replacements, no issues. Good packaging and reasonable shipping time. Would buy them again.

These bulbs arrived on time and in fine condition. However, after I installed two of them in our under counter lights, I noticed that they are not as bright as the rest of our lights even though they are the same in terms of being 12 volt, 20 watt, T-3, G4 base bulbs. There is a noticeable difference but overall, they are fine. But I would probably try different ones the next time we need a few replacements.

We have under the counter lights and have been using American Standard bulbs. We have found that those go out pretty quickly so I was looking for an alternative. These are perfect. The only difference is the light is more yellow than white, but hardly noticeable. I will definitely order more.

This review is not really about Amazon's product per se.
It is about the design of ALL quartz replacement bulbs. They all come with two wires sticking out instead of the screw in base we are used to with incandescent bulbs. Much like Christmas lights which have wires sticking out of the bottom to represent positive and negative poles, these replacement bulbs have the same.
The major difference is that with a Christmas light, the wires are fine and are meant to be bent up from the base of the socket so that when the base is inserted into the light outlet, the wires touch the positive and negative connections in the base which closes the circuit and allows the string of lights to work.

With these quartz replacement bulbs the principal is the same EXCEPT that the wires extending from the bottom of the bulb are rigid in nature. They are meant to be inserted into holes representing the positive and negative poles of the light fixture. These holes are very small and tight so that the replacement light's positive and negative wires can remain rigid and solid so that the replacement bulb does not fall out of the holes due to gravity or the light fixture being moved or knocked around.

This is a problem since the wires are very small as are the holes they go into. There is no locking mechanism that can be loosened and then tightened to ensure retainment of the wires. When I inserted the wires for the two bulbs I had to replace, one went in fairly smoothly but the other caused the one wire to bend because the opening is so small and the angle you have to apply pressure at is not easily maintained. So I straightened that wire and tried again. I got both wires to go in but am not confident that the bulb is well seated. This was proved the other day when I walked past the fixture and found that the light I had the problem with was not lit even though the other one was. Both lights turn on and off simultaneously. I tapped the fixture and the light that wasn't working came on as it was supposed to.
I'm sure I will continue to have problems with this fixture because I doubt it is seated properly yet there is no way to tell if it is or is not by looking at it.
I really believe that a more positive insertion mechanism should be developed for quartz light bulbs. Unlike Christmas lights that develop relatively low amounts of heat during operation, Quartz bulbs develop large amounts of heat. Enough that should the bulb fall from the fixture it could develop a fire. Yet without any containment mechanism, there is no way of preventing a bulb from falling out of the fixture.

Again, this is not a criticism of the quality of this bulb or any manufacturing flaw attributable to the bulb. It is a design problem with any device that utilizes quartz bulbs to provide light. Without a retainment mechanism or locking socket, it can just fall out of the device due to virtually any bump or vibration.