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The lightbulb reinvented

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Re: The lightbulb reinvented

#111

Post by JoshTriplett »

jws wrote: post #110
JoshTriplett wrote: post #109

I'd find this potentially interesting if I had any confidence that it wouldn't burn out in a few months like every other "lasts for years" bulb I've tried.

Two cases here. Many CFL bulbs are junk. Their "years" claim assumes they are only used for brief periods each day, and even at that I doubt they can reach their warrantee period. That doesn't matter though, because you will be unable to find any mechanism for contacting the manufacturer about the warrantee. I assume they have zero claims. LED bulbs are different. Heat is a killer. You might be burning them up in an…

> Their "years" claim assumes they are only used for brief periods each day,

Even if you read the fine print saying "if used 3 hours a day", and divide the stated lifetime by 8 (even though they don't stay on 24 hours a day), they still don't last that long.

> LED bulbs are different. Heat is a killer. You might be burning them up in an enclosed or even partially enclosed fixture.

If they can't function in the same environment as a standard bulb, that seems like a major design defect. And on top of that, even the ones used in mostly-open lamps don't last noticeably longer.

Re: The lightbulb reinvented

#112

Post by SageRaven »

jws wrote: post #110
JoshTriplett wrote: post #109

I'd find this potentially interesting if I had any confidence that it wouldn't burn out in a few months like every other "lasts for years" bulb I've tried.

Two cases here. Many CFL bulbs are junk. Their "years" claim assumes they are only used for brief periods each day, and even at that I doubt they can reach their warrantee period. That doesn't matter though, because you will be unable to find any mechanism for contacting the manufacturer about the warrantee. I assume they have zero claims. LED bulbs are different. Heat is a killer. You might be burning them up in an…

I've equipped 4 homes completely with CFL bulbs -- every single bulb but the oven, range hood, and refrigerator. Home #1 was in '99. I usually buy whatever is a good deal at Wal Mart and whatever major hardware store is nearest, trying small batches until I find a color/temp in a bulb that I like. I've had maybe a dozen bulbs fail during that time, including dumb breakage. And we run these things hard, often 8-to-12 hours a day in some of the living spaces in winter.

Whenever I see CFL threads, there's always some who claim they never last long. I don't know what these folks do to their bulbs, but for me they've lasted many, many years. Certainly long enough to pay for themselves in savings over incandescents -- and then some.

Re: The lightbulb reinvented

#113

Post by pbhjpbhj »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #85
dakrisht wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm assuming the LIFX did their due-diligence and attained "freedom to operate" before undergoing this venture - or is "assumption the mother of all f-ups"?

Strangely most people who come up with these sorts of ideas independently usually operate with one of two perspectives: 1) I know I thought of this idea so I've got a right to use it. 2) This idea is pretty obvious, it just hasn't had anyone willing to implement it. Both of which give the implementer a false sense of security. People who've done this once or twice and been hit on the head by the stupid patent hammer,…

When I saw http://www.smarthome.com/2672-222/INSTEON-LED-Bulb/p.aspx up-thread I wondered immediately whether the ribs were functional as they otherwise might be infringing on a design patent for the bulb, looks very similar to me. If there are patents on the Insteon implementation seems highly likely they'd be generalised to independent wifi networked devices.

Looks like the Insteon needs a controller but you can have 3 smartphone controlled lights (3x$30 + $99 controller) using their system now for the price of the $196 pledge (which gives you 4 bulbs).

Doesn't mean that it's not worthwhile, just that there may be roadblocks ahead.

Re: The lightbulb reinvented

#114

Post by pbhjpbhj »

Freestyler_3 wrote: post #36

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.

I'm guessing because there are already products that using LAN over powerline.

From Insteon website [emphasis mine]:

>"The INSTEON LED Bulb features simple setup, intuitive control and easy linking to any INSTEON controller, such as a handheld remote. When paired with the free INSTEON app, the SmartLinc Hub turns an iOS/Android smartphone or tablet into a fully functioning remote control of the bulb or an entire INSTEON network. The bulb is fully dimmable and can be added to any number of scenes to create custom lighting at the touch of a button.

The INSTEON LED Bulb contains INSTEON’s patented dual-band communication technology, the most reliable, efficient communication system available. Just like other INSTEON devices, the bulb acts as a network signal repeater and sends signals over both radio frequencies (RF) and a home’s existing wires (powerline).

The INSTEON LED Bulb retails for $29.99. For more information or to watch a demonstration video, visit www.insteon.com/bulb." //

Re: The lightbulb reinvented

#115

Post by pavel_lishin »

BryanB55 wrote: post #82

I like it. Not that I want my entire house to be purple and green but they mentioned something about changing the light color when receiving a notification. I'm thinking it would be cool to have the light on my desk turn to red when Pingdom reports one of my websites offline. Or to have the lights flash red when my security cameras report motion.

The second thing I would do with this is hook up a voice recognition gadget, and program the system to turn every bulb red when it heard me say "Red alert."

Re: The lightbulb reinvented

#116

Post by maxerickson »

bhousel wrote: post #60

I like the idea of "f.lux for my house". Might improve my sleeping. This part of the project is potentially life-altering . Lots of people in the comments are getting hung up on the "control your lights over wifi" aspect of this project, which is far less interesting. INSTEON is (AFAIK) the current best solution for home automation, and already does this pretty well: http://www.insteon.net/ It's backwards compatible…

The bulb featured there is the most reasonable retrofit I have seen. Too bad that hundreds of dollars of bulbs and controller don't make much sense for small places.

I wonder how much they have looked at sticking the electronics into switches that would fit inside of normal lamps (probably without the dimmer) or chips for televisions (the $30 LED bulb sort of suggests that they are charging plenty for a simple controllable outlet, at $45).

Re: The lightbulb reinvented

#118

Post by pothibo »

godsdead wrote: post #28

$70 for ONE bulb, so that's $280 for 4 in one room, You could hack an LED bulb together to cheap using cables instead of Wifi, A better future proof idea would be to have a very very customizable app that you sell, An app that let's you interface with computer controlled Lights

Maybe you should build your house yourself while you're at it. Kickstarter is for people who wants to test their idea in a market.

Re: The lightbulb reinvented

#119

Post by dangoor »

INTPenis wrote: post #79
ForrestN wrote: post #52

From an efficiency/sustainability point of view, I have a basic discomfort with the idea of throwing away all the wifi/controller stuff each time you need a new bulb. I know LEDs don't run out very fast, but they do run out. This has cost implications too. What about a setup where there are two levels of screw: the LED bulb screws into a fixture with the wifi stuff inside, which then screws into the light fixture? Th…

No, I agree. This idea is braindead because it's much more effective to focus on a device you plug in between the outlet in your wall and the devices you want to control power to. A standard already exists for half the project which is called x10.

Sadly, most of the x10 adapters don't work with LED bulbs. (the "lamp" ones, the "appliance" ones should be okay)

Re: The lightbulb reinvented

#120

Post by rsl7 »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #106

This is one of those times where I wonder what these guys think Phillips, GE, and others are spending hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars on LED lighting solutions are doing. In some industries you can say "Oh they just don't get it" but lighting is so fashion driven and so fundamental to everything we do these entrenched players don't miss out on much.

I imagine they're spending tons on focus groups and market research trying to find out what people want. They're probably not hearing "we want to turn lights on and off with our iPhones". Or at least not enough people are saying that to justify them building a product line around that concept and selling it at Home Depot.

Meanwhile, this kickstarter project has raised enough to prove the concept and at least get me a couple of those lights.

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