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The lightbulb reinvented

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Re: The lightbulb reinvented

#33

Post by meanguy »

jrockway wrote: post #25
stinos wrote: post #23

nice idea, but unfortunately I do not see this becoming 'big' for a couple of reasons. For instance, even though one can buy LEDs advertised as having a 'warm' colour, the light produced is still rather harsh compared to halogen for instance. Most people do not want an entire house, or even a single room, lighted purely by LEDs. Same goes for the colour: on paper it's nice to read that colour can set a certain mood a…

My bedroom is lit by LEDs and it's fine. I also use a big 17W bulb as a table lamp and it's often the only light I have turned on in my apartment. It works almost as well as my big 6x40W halogen fixture. (Though obviously the halogen light is much brighter, there is "enough" light either way for things like walking around, getting dressed, etc.) The only problem is that I think the color rendering index must be prett…

The poor color rendering is what the comment above you is talking about. If a bulb makes your wood walls look funny and the picture of your girlfriend on the desk look like an alien, it's not going to go mainstream. Especially if it costs $50.

Mike Herf (of Picasa/F.lux fame) wrote some articles when CFLs were going to solve everything, you know, three years ago. Applies to LEDs as well. His wife is a painter. Let their struggle be your guide:

http://stereopsis.com/fullspectrum/

Re: The lightbulb reinvented

#35

Post by meanguy »

anonymouz wrote: post #30
kiallmacinnes wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm taking a wild guess here.. but I assume the bulb will reset to on @ 100% when the power is cut and turned back on.. That way, you can get manual control of the light by just flicking the power off/on..

But once somebody switches it off (with a switch), yo cannot switch it back on with the phone. It seems to me that having a home automation system that includes the light switches would be much better.

That's how similar products work. Some contain batteries to remember state. Some are full duplex and request state / update status. Some even work.

Another fun scenario: somebody crashes into a utility pole near your house, the power flickers, all your lights come on, the ceiling fans spin up 100%, and the ashes from your fireplace are distributed all over your house.

Or the lightning strike. Computer works, internet works, can't turn on any lights.

Visit a home automation forum for these and other tales of nerd homes gone bad.

Re: The lightbulb reinvented

#36

Post by Freestyler_3 »

Because I enjoy all the radio signal pollution and I want more.

Y won't they make this, but in the light bulb use the lan over power, then plug a lan over power adapter in where your router is. Connect it to the router, and you can then control it via your network (sorta like a media box). But then you have the problem that every lightbulb is a "computer" on the power network and I don't know how that would work.

Re: The lightbulb reinvented

#39

Post by ollysb »

I was pleased to see that you can use your existing switches. For the majority of cases I can't imagine anything more irritating than having to get my phone out, open up an app and find the right light control, just to turn the light on. It would definitely be convenient to switch all lights off when I go to bed though.

Coloured lighting seems a bit naff but maybe there are more subtle ways to use it than make your lounge look like a nightclub.

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