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There's something off about LED bulbs

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Re: There's something off about LED bulbs

#41

Post by userbinator »

thrdbndndn wrote: post #38
formerly_proven wrote: post #24

There's a lot wrong with LEDs in general and retrofit (E27 bulbs) in particular. In no particular order - LED emitters driven hard for cost reasons, age and fail quickly - Power supplies driven hard for cost reasons, age and fail quickly - Poor CRI and SSRI - Flickering - Dim-to-warm is uncommon - Poorly designed power supplies that age and fail quickly - The same light quality is vastly more expensive to achieve wit…

> LED emitters driven hard for cost reasons > Power supplies driven hard for cost reasons Can you elaborate? What does "hard" mean here, I don't understand.

At the limits of their ratings. They could make LED bulbs last many orders of magnitude longer and be more efficient, but they don't (unless forced to[1]) because they prefer planned obsolescence.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27093793

Re: There's something off about LED bulbs

#42

Post by JKCalhoun »

dpkirchner wrote: post #10
blakesterz wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm finding this true with the bulbs I've bought in the past 5 or so years. The first one I bought about 15 years ago is still going, but most, if not all more recent LEDs have died. Even the ones in the basement that are mounted with no case to increase the heat around them. I read the "guarantee" when I buy new bulbs but who keeps receipts or track of light bulbs?

I'm starting to suspect that it's not the LEDs themselves that are failing but the transformer packed inside the base. I haven't really dug in though. Are there any good brands of LED bulbs these days -- bulbs that are likely to work as long as is claimed on the box? I've already scratched GE and FEIT off the list.

Not exactly "the transformer", but yeah. See the afore-mentioned videos by Big Clive on YouTube to find out how to hack your bulbs to make them last indefinitely (albeit at a reduced light output).

Re: There's something off about LED bulbs

#43

Post by pimlottc »

tilsammans wrote: post #22
pcmaffey wrote: post #16

Some of my LEDs continue to glow faintly when off. I assume the efficiency of the bulbs is converting a small trickle of power into light. Has anyone experienced this? Anything to be done?

Yes! This is fairly common. It usually happens when the power leads pick up a small amount of electricity via induction. You can place a compensator near the fixture to take care of it. (Basically a high voltage capacitor)

Can you go into more detail about this compensator? Is this a consumer product you can buy to fix a misbehaving light or a component that the manufacturer needs to include in the bulb?

Re: There's something off about LED bulbs

#44

Post by jjoonathan »

formerly_proven wrote: post #24

There's a lot wrong with LEDs in general and retrofit (E27 bulbs) in particular. In no particular order - LED emitters driven hard for cost reasons, age and fail quickly - Power supplies driven hard for cost reasons, age and fail quickly - Poor CRI and SSRI - Flickering - Dim-to-warm is uncommon - Poorly designed power supplies that age and fail quickly - The same light quality is vastly more expensive to achieve wit…

How much of this is driven by the actual cost of properly provisioning emitters and fielding a good power supply vs the inability of consumers to hold manufacturers accountable?

Re: There's something off about LED bulbs

#45

Post by [deleted] »

thrdbndndn wrote: post #38
formerly_proven wrote: post #24

There's a lot wrong with LEDs in general and retrofit (E27 bulbs) in particular. In no particular order - LED emitters driven hard for cost reasons, age and fail quickly - Power supplies driven hard for cost reasons, age and fail quickly - Poor CRI and SSRI - Flickering - Dim-to-warm is uncommon - Poorly designed power supplies that age and fail quickly - The same light quality is vastly more expensive to achieve wit…

> LED emitters driven hard for cost reasons > Power supplies driven hard for cost reasons Can you elaborate? What does "hard" mean here, I don't understand.

[deleted]

Re: There's something off about LED bulbs

#47

Post by aardvarkr »

formerly_proven wrote: post #24

There's a lot wrong with LEDs in general and retrofit (E27 bulbs) in particular. In no particular order - LED emitters driven hard for cost reasons, age and fail quickly - Power supplies driven hard for cost reasons, age and fail quickly - Poor CRI and SSRI - Flickering - Dim-to-warm is uncommon - Poorly designed power supplies that age and fail quickly - The same light quality is vastly more expensive to achieve wit…

What’s an example of what you consider to be a high quality led? I’m pretty happy with everything that I have in my home but I’m curious what you’re talking about

Re: There's something off about LED bulbs

#48

Post by antisthenes »

I have begun to use grow lights everywhere as regular lights.

They emit a pleasant looking spectrum, have good heat sinks for longevity, have high-quality ballasts, built-in dimmers and do not flicker.

They also blow out any alternative out of the water when it comes to pure brightness for precision work (soldering, painting minis, etc.)

They are also fairly cheap (can find some lights as low as 50c/watt on sale)

Oh and lastly - I can always just move them and use them to grow any kind of plants (wink wink, nudge)

Re: There's something off about LED bulbs

#49

Post by Workaccount2 »

jmclnx wrote: post #5

I have heard that newer LED Bulbs now have some kind of built in obsolescence. This is from someone I know who is an engineer working for the US military. I told him I had bought some LEDs (started moving over 2 years ago) and that is when he mentioned that. I guess I will find out, so far so good. I did stock up on 100 watt incandescent years ago and have a many left just in case. I found LEDs cause me eye strain, b…

They are almost certainly referring to the use of 85°C capacitors. These are much cheaper and die quicker compared to their pricier counterparts.

It's not so much "planned obsolescence" as it is "consumers shop on price primarily". And its even harder because there really isn't much benefit to putting specs on your bulbs because 99.9% of consumers won't understand them anyway.

What should happen is a mandated "nutrition facts" that gets put on all bulbs so people can familiarize themselves with a standard fact sheet.

Re: There's something off about LED bulbs

#50

Post by goalieca »

roflyear wrote: post #4

Incandescent bulbs are used for other things than light. Like heating sometimes. Specific applications but I wonder if you'll still be able to get them?

I live somewhere that snow on traffic lights can be a problem. Same with headlights and tail lights.
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