Twice this week I've had my work spotlight bulb blow when I turned
it on. Other spotlights in the house seem to fail more often than
ordinary bulbs, and quite regularly. And I'm sick of it. The other day
I said I thought that cold filaments are more likely to burn out if
power was applied at the peak of the mains cycle. Is this true ?

Is there a simple non-PIC solution to reduce this stress or reduce the
230V down by 10% (which would significantly increases bulb life) for
a 60W bulb. A series resistor sounds like it should work, but are there
any real safety concerns with a few watts of heat and/or regulations
that prohibit this

I'm peed off enough, if all else fails, to make a PIC circuit that will
allow initial power to the bulb only at 0V (and I don't care if I don't
break even in the long run. The satisfaction of almost never replacing
a bulb is quite appealing right at this moment)

Any comments or experiences ? One other thought was to replace
filament bulbs with the more expensive fluorescent bulbs, although
I've always felt they're "a bit cold"

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