Live data from Hacker News

The Biggest Thing Since the Light Bulb

creebulb.com

121–130 of 143 posts

Re: The Biggest Thing Since the Light Bulb

#121
post #69
post #49

These are probably available everywhere, but since moving to Japan I found some motion-detecting LED light bulbs. Now when coming home or walking down the hall at night the light turns on automagically. Saves both time and energy.

You said "at night", so it's not only motion-detecting but also comes with a light sensor to avoid to turn on in bright day light, isn't it ? Do you have an URL or a name to provide ?

Yes it works at night in our apt at least. I'll put up some obnoxious affiliate links as soon as I found the product.

Re: The Biggest Thing Since the Light Bulb

#122

-How many HN readers does it take to change the light bulb?- 6 to discuss the efficiency of the new light bulb, 10 to propose alternative designs to the light bulb components, 15 to point out various health and environmental concerns of old and proposed new light bulb components, and 25 to criticize the design of the webpage promoting the new light bulb.

finally registered after years of lurking purely to upvote you for this

Re: The Biggest Thing Since the Light Bulb

#123
post #31

Am I the only one not impressed by these 60 watt bulb replacements? 60 watt bulbs leave my entire place looking dim and depressing, sure good colors are nice, but if I can't see anything, what does it matter? My light fixtures were designed for a few 100 watts, replacing them with these 60 watt LEDs may save me power, but at the cost of my eyesight! I am more interested in true 100, or even better, 150 watt, replacem…

It's amazing how widely people vary on light. It's observable across major cultures, or even different families. A Japanese IKEA I went through recently had a display which would allow you to switch between 'Japanese' style lighting' and 'Western' style, with western style being dimmer, and with warmer color temperature. I immediately found the Western one more comforting, relaxing, while my wife (Japanese) prefers t…

There was an interesting article in the NY Times recently about the meaning of comfort and specifically compared the difference between cold overhead lighting in Japan and warm side lighting in Norway.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/magazine/what-does-it-mean...

Re: The Biggest Thing Since the Light Bulb

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The light bulb was invented in the 19th century. A patent was granted for an incandescent lamp in England in 1841 but the first commercially viable design was by Edison in 1879. I think the story itself, however, is a demonstration of an extremely annoying web site design.

The light bulb was invented in the 19th century, but did not become important until a massive electricity infrastructure was built in the 20th century. If the joke was about the horrific web design (and it was horrific), I didn't get it.

"Important" is a relative matter of course, and surely light bulbs were not as ubiquitous in 19th century as they were later, but e.g. London had 2.5 million light bulbs at the end of 19th century. That is not insignificant.

Re: The Biggest Thing Since the Light Bulb

#125
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but the point was that it would be far more optimal to have the control signals go directly to the LED driver circuitry instead of chopping up the mains voltage and hoping that the LED driver will handle it. Computer analogy: Imagine you would like to adjust the performance/power of your computer. You could plug the computer to a dimmer and then engineer the computer to adjust itself according to the dimmed main…

X10 is way too slow and really needs to go away. Instead, bulbs should include a more modern standard, which Hue does (at 6x the price).

That is bit besides the point.

Personally I think PLC based system would make most sense for home automation, considering that a large portion of the devices are mains-powered anyways. And if you design the system really cleverly then having the same network extend wirelessly to those nodes where PLC is unsuitable.

Re: The Biggest Thing Since the Light Bulb

#126
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even still, that doesn't do anything about the energy savings you get with LED...

I'm just saying. Plus, I still don't understand why people care about light bulbs saving energy. The majority of electricity consumed in a houses and apartments comes from the AC unit, refrigerators, heaters, TVs, and computers. Implying that this light bulb will save you money would imply that you're terrible at keeping your lights off, and thus you should save money by continuing to exercise bad habits that cost yo…

It's going to vary based on the duty cycle and size and age of the refrigerator, but a modern fridge might only average 60-70 watts.

A modern TV might be 100 or 200 watts.

Saving 80 watts in a 2 bulb fixture starts to compare to those numbers.

Heating and cooling, lighting does not compare to.

Re: The Biggest Thing Since the Light Bulb

#127
post #12

Hah... the light bulbs today are the biggest scam ever. Light bulbs made 100 years ago are still working today, because the materials used, more precisely, the filament, was made out of a lot more durable materials. However, companies quickly realized that if ligh bulbs lasted so long, no one would buy new light bulbs. If you have not seen the light bulb conspiracy, please watch it on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/…

> Light bulbs made 100 years ago are still working today

This is a bit of an urban legend. There is indeed a lightbulb that has been running for >100 years I think, but it is nearly never cycled. And that's what kills filaments, not continuous running.

Re: The Biggest Thing Since the Light Bulb

#128
So quick question... I noticed that when this site was posted to Facebook, FB rendered the title of the link as "New Site" above the URL instead of "Cree LED Bulb" but I am not seeing anything in the metadata that should cause this. What am I missing here?

Re: The Biggest Thing Since the Light Bulb

#129
post #3

This is huge if only because a LED bulb company finally put its warranty where its mouth is. Every other bulb, ie. the expensive Phillips bulb, only gives a 3-4 year warranty I'd definitely give this a try @ $10 It's also dimmer compatible which is a big plus for me with X10 control, CFL cannot dim. If this bulb does not operate for 10 years (based on 6 hours per day / 7 days per week of normal consumer use) from dat…

All LED bulbs I've seen say dimmer compatible, but most really aren't. I have comparably-priced LED bulbs from Home Depot already, and any less than 90% power they buzz loudly.

Almost all led bulbs I've tried (admittedly not the expensive ones) have failed in my dimmers.

Re: The Biggest Thing Since the Light Bulb

#130
post #112
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

X10 has dimmer modules. It's basically a dimmer with remote control.

Yes, but the point was that it would be far more optimal to have the control signals go directly to the LED driver circuitry instead of chopping up the mains voltage and hoping that the LED driver will handle it. Computer analogy: Imagine you would like to adjust the performance/power of your computer. You could plug the computer to a dimmer and then engineer the computer to adjust itself according to the dimmed main…

I don't think X10 changes the voltage on their dimmers, I think it's PWM

I could be wrong.

Post reply on HN