Several years ago, I bought a batch of inexpensive “warm white” LED bulbs online. (I use the outdated term “bulb” even though these are flat panels, not at all bulbous.) These were “no-name” bulbs from an unknown source, costing about $4.00 per bulb at that time.
Those bulbs used a lot less electricity than incandescents and gave off an adequate amount of light. Over the years, though, the bulbs seemed to be getting dimmer and yellower, and one was flickering a little. We decided that we had to find a better alternative than the typical “no name” bulbs.
After shopping around (and asking for advice on this forum), I decided to go with these bulbs, for $13.99 each – not cheap:
Link to bulbs -- hopefully this one works
(Original link was defective -- have tried to fix it on edit -- we'll see if it works.)
One of the reasons I chose this particular vendor is that they have an office in the USA (actually in the San Fernando Valley, north of LA), and their website included a lot of useful explanatory material.
According to the website, these particular bulbs are “natural white” and produce
about 1600 lumens, about as much as a 100 watt incandescent bulb. Also, they have an aluminum double plate “heat sink,” which should extend the life of the bulb. They supposedly use a little more than 220 milliamps.
I ordered the bulbs, which arrived the next day. When I opened the package, I was a little confused, because the adapter was not “wedge” shaped, as I had thought. It was a little metallic rectangle – this photo is from their website -- the dongle is on the left:
Click For Full-Size Image.
I emailed the company to ask if this was the correct adapter for my wedge sockets. The service tech answered my email within a few hours, explaining that the rectangle (a “T10”) sticks into the wedge socket securely. To me, having access to responsive technical support is a big plus, even for something as seemingly simple as a bulb.
Installation was actually easier than screwing in a lightbulb. (Humor.) I was very impressed with the pleasant color and the brightness of the bulbs. These photos are unedited “before and after” shots, taken with exactly the same camera settings (an eighth of a second at f 4.5, with an ISO of 100):
Click For Full-Size Image.
Click For Full-Size Image.
I then took a reading using my voltmeter, and sure enough, each bulb draws just 200 milliamps.
They had another similar product that was listed at $10.99 with half the brightness, but we really wanted to maximize the light: why not double the light for an extra three bucks? To put it another way, when you think about how often you need good lighting, the extra cost is less than a penny per use.
But we will see if these fancy new bulbs are really worth the money – it’s too soon to say for sure. There is no way to know how long they will last or whether the aluminum “heat sink” is just a gimmick. But assuming that they are reasonably durable, I would say that for our purposes, the cost is more than justified by the extra brightness.
Those bulbs used a lot less electricity than incandescents and gave off an adequate amount of light. Over the years, though, the bulbs seemed to be getting dimmer and yellower, and one was flickering a little. We decided that we had to find a better alternative than the typical “no name” bulbs.
After shopping around (and asking for advice on this forum), I decided to go with these bulbs, for $13.99 each – not cheap:
Link to bulbs -- hopefully this one works
(Original link was defective -- have tried to fix it on edit -- we'll see if it works.)
One of the reasons I chose this particular vendor is that they have an office in the USA (actually in the San Fernando Valley, north of LA), and their website included a lot of useful explanatory material.
According to the website, these particular bulbs are “natural white” and produce
about 1600 lumens, about as much as a 100 watt incandescent bulb. Also, they have an aluminum double plate “heat sink,” which should extend the life of the bulb. They supposedly use a little more than 220 milliamps.
I ordered the bulbs, which arrived the next day. When I opened the package, I was a little confused, because the adapter was not “wedge” shaped, as I had thought. It was a little metallic rectangle – this photo is from their website -- the dongle is on the left:
Click For Full-Size Image.I emailed the company to ask if this was the correct adapter for my wedge sockets. The service tech answered my email within a few hours, explaining that the rectangle (a “T10”) sticks into the wedge socket securely. To me, having access to responsive technical support is a big plus, even for something as seemingly simple as a bulb.
Installation was actually easier than screwing in a lightbulb. (Humor.) I was very impressed with the pleasant color and the brightness of the bulbs. These photos are unedited “before and after” shots, taken with exactly the same camera settings (an eighth of a second at f 4.5, with an ISO of 100):
Click For Full-Size Image.
Click For Full-Size Image.I then took a reading using my voltmeter, and sure enough, each bulb draws just 200 milliamps.
They had another similar product that was listed at $10.99 with half the brightness, but we really wanted to maximize the light: why not double the light for an extra three bucks? To put it another way, when you think about how often you need good lighting, the extra cost is less than a penny per use.
But we will see if these fancy new bulbs are really worth the money – it’s too soon to say for sure. There is no way to know how long they will last or whether the aluminum “heat sink” is just a gimmick. But assuming that they are reasonably durable, I would say that for our purposes, the cost is more than justified by the extra brightness.
I’ve experimented with a bunch of different LEDs over the last 10 years..:all EBay/China. Just ordered the newer Cobb and the round G4 disks. I do not need Tech support for a 2 wire system (polarity sensitive) or what will fit where. The ONLY LEDs that have not worked well are the strips that are not Voltage regulated...would not recommend them for replacement in your Fluorescent. I agree the panels are a better option, used them in a Fluorescent 8 years ago when the ballast went out...until then not enough savings to replace prematurely.
I have found the 5050 size chip runs the coolest and paying $14 for a $3 panel makes no sense to me. Of the 200+ LEDs I’ve bought, with the exception of strips, 3-4 have stopped working. If you want them sooner, Amazon now has them for slightly more $.
I have found the 5050 size chip runs the coolest and paying $14 for a $3 panel makes no sense to me. Of the 200+ LEDs I’ve bought, with the exception of strips, 3-4 have stopped working. If you want them sooner, Amazon now has them for slightly more $.
They buy these LEDs from eBay and sell them domestically for a nice mark up. However, the customer service is great, and having domestic selection is nice, as the wait from China can take a month plus.
The lighting module is rated in Chinese lumens, which are 100 to 1000x what an ISO/ANSI lumen is. Just like the Chinese amp-hour rating is typically 5-10x compared to the conventional "western" amp-hour.
Those chips are in the 60-70lm/watt range, so a generous 3 watts is 210 ansi lumens. That's not bad for a small package.
There are so many great LED chips out there, I don't understand why they're not making it into retail products.
This is my porch light "bulb", 18 watts, 2500 lumens using 3rd generation Lumileds Luxeon REBEL leds, which are a ceramic and silicone device designed for very high temperature operation.
I had to build this myself, because I couldn't find anyone selling something that even came close. The LEDs cost about $24 and the buck driver is another $10... if I could buy something like this for $50-60 I would.
I've retrofit a similar configuration into each of my ceiling lights (they took two 9 watt wedge bulbs previously)
The lighting module is rated in Chinese lumens, which are 100 to 1000x what an ISO/ANSI lumen is. Just like the Chinese amp-hour rating is typically 5-10x compared to the conventional "western" amp-hour.
Those chips are in the 60-70lm/watt range, so a generous 3 watts is 210 ansi lumens. That's not bad for a small package.
There are so many great LED chips out there, I don't understand why they're not making it into retail products.
This is my porch light "bulb", 18 watts, 2500 lumens using 3rd generation Lumileds Luxeon REBEL leds, which are a ceramic and silicone device designed for very high temperature operation.
I had to build this myself, because I couldn't find anyone selling something that even came close. The LEDs cost about $24 and the buck driver is another $10... if I could buy something like this for $50-60 I would.
I've retrofit a similar configuration into each of my ceiling lights (they took two 9 watt wedge bulbs previously)
