RIP LED #1

[begreen]

The current driver is just as important. Those can be made in many places and it could be or not be name brand even if the emitter is.

If I had a failure, I'd just take it back to Lowes or HD and ask for a replacement. See what they say. I spend a ton of money in those places and they can be quite good about keeping you happy if you are a good customer.

I try to shop local and only get into HD about once or twice a year at the most. It costs more to make the trip than the bulb cost, so I will chalk it up to experience. Could be that FEIT just makes crappy LEDs. This same brand's dimmable bulb was not very dimmable. I replaced those bulbs with Philips and they dim quite nicely.

 

[velvetfoot]

Hey, I have a light complaint and it may even involve leds!
I think police lights have gotten so bright, coming at them from behind, that they're a hazard! They blind me, anyway.

 

[Texas123]

Don't knock the old fashioned incandescent light. Thousands of us country folks have and will use these as the primary lights during the winter. Outrage from the rural communities is why we still have the 150 plus watt heat lamps for chicken coop and water well house use.

 

[iamlucky13]

8 months ago I replaced a 30w circuline fluorescent lamp with a pendant fixture and a 9.5w FEIT led bulb. The circuline fixture was 21 yrs old. Lamps lasted about 5 yrs. with regular use. The LED bulb just died after 8 months of the same duty. This was the first LED bulb I've installed here and unfortunately I didn't save the receipt, so it's a loss. I'm disappointed if this is going to be the typical lifespan. Now replaced with a Philips 60w with a claimed 22yr. lifespan @3hrs a day/7days a week. We'll see.

Feit isn't known for outstanding quality, but 8 months is far too short. I installed a 4-pack of the same bulb maybe 6 months ago, 2 in an open fixture, 2 in an enclosed fixture (the package said not to, but I wanted to test if I could get away with it). The open fixture bulbs are still doing fine. The closed fixture bulbs lasted probably 3-4 months. They're apparently heat sensitive. I could see a pendant light with a closed top being another location where this particular bulb just can't take the heat.

I do like their color quality though. They are significantly closer in light appearance to an incandescent than any other bulbs I'm using.

I've had two of the Philips budget 8W bulbs in an identical enclosed fixture for about 2 years now without issue. For as cheap as they are, I didn't really expect them to prove heat tolerant, but the low power consumption helps. I think my oldest LED's are about 3-4 years old. One of them spends long evenings on. I wouldn't be surprised if it's close to 10,000 hours by now.

Most of my lights are still CFL's, somewhat to my annoyance. I strongly dislike the color quality, but they just won't die and give me an excuse to replace them. They're all about 5 years old, and I've only had one die that entire time.

When buying LED lights you get what you pay for, make sure the actual LEDs is either a CREE or epistar. Those are the 2 best LED you can buy and have been in the market since LEDs started to take off . If the package doesnt boast about having cree or epistar don't buy with expectations of it lasting very long. I'm pretty sure Phillips uses cree but not sure of many other brands. Some advertise CREE LEDs but are not the real thing but same technology. Do your research and you'll see there is a big difference between quality. Also CREE is one of the only USA manufactures of LEDs.

I pay zero attention to who makes the emitters. If the lamp has an hours claim that is based on LM80 testing, it either passed testing, or they're lying, in which case there's no reason to believe a claim to have Cree emitters inside either. As sportbikerider indicated, it's usually the driver that dies, not the LED's themselves.

Philips does make their own emitters under their Lumileds joint venture. Nichia is another quality brand, headquartered in Japan. Cree is headquartered in the US and does some lamp assembly in the US, but as far as I know, all their emitter manufacturing and lot of their lamp assembly is done overseas.

 

[iamlucky13]

Hey, I have a light complaint and it may even involve leds!
I think police lights have gotten so bright, coming at them from behind, that they're a hazard! They blind me, anyway.

These are terrible. Single color LED's are naturally more piercing, but most of the new emergency lights are simply far too bright. I'm a bit surprised there have not been any high profile accidents and lawsuits. I have very good vision, but still find myself having trouble seeing the lane markings as I approach police cars on the side of the road with their lights on.

How much sooner would LED technology developed if the gap in the market between filament style and LED had been left wide open and not temporarily filled with the FCL?

Not much. faster. The primary technology behind white LED's didn't exist until the mid-90's, despite decades of trying, and the first white LED's were terrible. CFL's already had been on the market for about 20 years by then. I think it was mid-2000's before the best of them were comparable in light quality and efficiency to CFL's, but still far higher price.

 

[jebatty]

...we still have the 150 plus watt heat lamps for chicken coop and water well house use.

Nothing particularly wrong with using heat lamps, because all incandescent bulbs excel at heating. If you don't mind the light, a regular lighting incandescent rated at 150+W that focuses the light will heat nearly as well as a heat lamp of equivalent wattage, and it may cost less. On the other hand, using electricity for resistance heating usually is about the most expensive source of heat available. But it is convenient or most practical for some purposes.

Keep in mind that if a person used a 150W LED (not equivalent watts, but actual watts), it also would work very well as a 150W heat lamp and use just as much electricity.

 

[woodgeek]

I try to shop local and only get into HD about once or twice a year at the most. It costs more to make the trip than the bulb cost, so I will chalk it up to experience. Could be that FEIT just makes crappy LEDs. This same brand's dimmable bulb was not very dimmable. I replaced those bulbs with Philips and they dim quite nicely.

I had an aversion to non-big name brands after being an early adopter to CFLs...going non-incandescent back in the mid 90s. So I never got the FEITs.

I've been switching to LEDs gradually over the last 5 years or so, from high usage to lower usage locations. I think I have 1 CFL left.

None of my 15+ Phillips have failed. These are in various shapes and sizes, and among the oldest and most $$ (3 L-prize bulbs going strong).

A couple of my 10 or so cheapo CREEs from Home Despot have failed, one from the glue holding the glass bulb letting go. Will buy no more.

I've bought a few high brightness 'Hyperikons' for larger spaces recently (replacing high wattage CFLs). So far, so good.

Lately I've been going to Chinese made 'filament' LEDs from Amazon. So far, none have failed, they have all been cheap, solid, and many run around 100 lum/W. I think of these as LED bulbs that @Ashful would buy.

 

[woodgeek]

Keep in mind that if a person used a 150W LED (not equivalent watts, but actual watts), it also would work very well as a 150W heat lamp and use just as much electricity.

Yeah, but with 15,000 lumens inside a small coop, you would need to get all the chickens welders goggles.

 

[jebatty]

Or, put a piece of sheet metal or aluminum, a foot or two in front of the bulb to absorb and radiate the heat, and reflect some light back into the coop. Would that be called a coup d'etat?

 

[velvetfoot]

A couple of my 10 or so cheapo CREEs from Home Despot have failed, one from the glue holding the glass bulb letting go. Will buy no more.

The ones that failed on me were totally enclosed, and looked like an old light bulb. I noticed the newer models were ventilated.

 

[begreen]

Yeah, but with 15,000 lumens inside a small coop, you would need to get all the chickens welders goggles.

that evokes a funny image

 

[Brian26]

I have had a few burn out on me over the last year or so. I just toss them like a regular light bulb and buy another one. At over .20 kwh for power here if it last's more than 6 months I am way ahead compared to the usage of an incandescent. They sell them for practically nothing here in CT as the states efficiency program has an instant rebate on them at the hardware stores and Home Depot that brings the price down like 75% from retail. I can buy a brand new 60 watt led for under a dollar here.

 

[velvetfoot]

I can buy a brand new 60 watt led for under a dollar here.

Hence the .20/kwh.

 

[iamlucky13]

Hence the .20/kwh.

Not really. Obviously, the bulb subsidies do add to rate the utility has to charge, but we're talking fractions of a penny per kWh.

With incandescent bulb sales restricted by regulation and generally less cost effective anyways, and LED's superior in almost every way to CFL's, I really don't see any remaining justification for subsidizing bulbs, but at least it's a relatively small cost.

 

[Where2]

IIRC, I logged 486 days out of my first Cree LED. With some gentle prodding, CREE sent me another, but by the time I received that I had long since reinstalled the original CFL back into the fixture on my dock where I was testing the Cree dusk to dawn. At the moment, the dock (built in 2006) is still running the two original CFL bulbs, dusk to dawn, year round. The formerly bright white plastic electronic housings on the CFL's have yellowed from UV exposure, but they keep going.

 

[Tegbert]

I've bought a few high brightness 'Hyperikons' for larger spaces recently (replacing high wattage CFLs). So far, so good.

I recently bought hyperikons led tube lights to replace all my shop lights. Have 20 fixtures in the shop and only one tube per each now and they seem to be just as bright as all 40 fluorescent tubes. Just have to bypass the ballast in the fixtures but I've been extremely happy with them so far. But since they are more directional they need to be mounted higher to get the same usable light. Not a problem in my shop but could be for people using in areas with normal or low ceilings. Also it is a USA based company for those that care but do outsource some production and parts.

Just thought I would throw that out there for others looking for replacement bulbs for fluorescent bulbs.

My whole house is led and so was my last one. Some of the bulbs came with me and have been in use for about 3 years now and no issues here. Most of mine are from Costco whatever brand or chips and leds they use.



Lopi Rockport

 

[begreen]

IIRC, I logged 486 days out of my first Cree LED. With some gentle prodding, CREE sent me another, but by the time I received that I had long since reinstalled the original CFL back into the fixture on my dock where I was testing the Cree dusk to dawn. At the moment, the dock (built in 2006) is still running the two original CFL bulbs, dusk to dawn, year round. The formerly bright white plastic electronic housings on the CFL's have yellowed from UV exposure, but they keep going.

Have to admit that the last generation of CFLs I've installed are like the Energizer bunny. They just keep going and going. When they finally burn out I have been replacing them with LEDs but so far 3-5 yrs of regular use has been their typical lifespan.

 

[Rearscreen]

I wonder if the LED failure could have been caused by an incompatible dimmer? An incandescent dimmer uses an SCR, which basically takes a portion of the 60 cycle wave and closes the circuit for a length of time. Dimming just sends a shorter "time" of electricity to the bulb. So, if you use this type of dimmer to an LED driver circuit, it's like attaching a dimmer to a tv set or radio. It really doesn't like it. So, different manufacturers of LED's specify different types of dimmers that are compatible. None however will dim as well as an incandescent. Some LED bulb designs generate, in the driver, a considerable amount of heat. I always wondered about that as far as the electronics. Resistors, capacitors, microchips, transformers, really can't tolerate heat and values change thus resulting in failure. 2 years ago I took out every incandescent and replaced them with the Phillips flat led bulb. Brilliant design. Not selling in stores. Too unusual I guess for the average customer. What makes the design so great is the electronics and heat sink are all incorporated within the bulb itself and not in the base. It never gets hot. Lightweight, warm bright, and you can drop it from a ladder and won't break. I have maybe 40 in my house, 2 years not one failure.

 

[jatoxico]

2 years ago I took out every incandescent and replaced them with the Phillips flat led bulb. Brilliant design. Not selling in stores.

Not that I've been looking all that hard but that's the first time I've seen those. Interesting design, guess you can't put a bulb mounted shade on one. Does the light diffuse evenly?

 

[Rearscreen]

I think that was one of the issues, the perceived light direction plus the shade mounting. We have shades attached to our bulbs, and the light is even. I just had to take one apart once and the circuit board has a dual role as - a circuit board and a heat sink.

 

[iamlucky13]

Even without a lampshade, the Philips Slimstyle has a surprisingly good light distribution. It's not a top performer by most other metrics, but it was one of the most affordable bulbs on the market when it came out.

I think their effective cooling design has helped make the bulb reliable.

 

[georgepds]

You can also thank govt regulation for the billions of FCL's that are hitting the landfills...filled with mercury. They made them cheap with subsidy. Almost gave them out for free in some states.
....

In my town they have a hazardous waste day once or twice a year. Best guess is they box them up and send theme to China.. I know that's what they do with the electronics

 

[begreen]

We used to take them to our local power company, but now our county has a recycling bin for fluorescents.

 

[woodgeek]

I had a racket going where I was buying 'used' 1100 lumen, 13W slim styles from amazon for like $3 (versus $8 msrp).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OCWZQH4/?tag=hearthamazon-20

I think the weird shape led to a large number of returns...and my gain.

I like them at $3, and have quite a few, don't like them at $9.

 

[sportbikerider78]

My local HD carries Phillips "normal style" 60W LED bulbs for <$2 each. It is a 4 pack for $7.89 or so.

One time they had 4 packs for $5. I stocked up.