Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/03/25/great-deal-is-back-on-led-ligh.html
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Reviews are saying they are counterfeit. (Or at least one reviewer posting under two separate names with the smae pictures. So buyer beware, and also beware of the reviewers.)
Duke Energy hands them out for free - in fact, faster than they burn out. I have three boxes sitting around for barter in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
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The problem I have found with buying a batch of LED bulbs when the price plummets is that they end up sitting in my cupboard for years. LEDs tend to never break down. I’ve still got most of the LEDs I’ve ever bought, though a few did die prematurely.
The thing is is that we continue to think about light bulbs like we did with incandescents. With incandescent bulbs we needed to keep a stock on hand at all times because they died so quickly. But that doesn’t tend to happen with LEDs. Frankly, keeping one extra bulb in the cupboard is plenty.
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Can’t stand “soft white” it’s more like yellow/orange light that makes the shade look like it’s something out of grandma’s house.
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I concur, 2700k is pretty yellow even for “soft white”. I like 5000k, 4000k at a minimum.
When you have a 2 bulb fixture, if you mix the soft white with the daylight bulbs the light is more natural.
I’ve had enough LED lights break down too soon after installation such that their average lifespan is less than incandescent lights. I’m hoping that as I replace more incandescents with LEDs, that will be less and less true, but it does rather put the lie to the idea that they never break down. I mean, I guess they never break down, if we ignore all the ones that break down…
California has minimum efficiency, minimum lifetime and minimum CRI requirements on all bulbs sold in the state.
Likely these don’t meet the requirements so it would be illegal to sell them in California. (Unless provably manufactured before the regulation was implemented.)
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I was noticing this too… I’ve had several burn out… I thought they were supposed to last 20 years or something? Am I getting faulty bulbs or what?
Not to totally kick them or anything. I prefer them in general just cuz they don’t get hot (probably part of the whole energy saving thing.) like if I’ve got a lamp over my drawing table in the summer I want it bright but I can’t be sweating from the dang bulb. Ha.
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Ironic that this would be posted just as Trump announces a rollback of production of new LED bulbs, because of course he would.
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As someone interested in historical technology i don’t think they should completely get rid of traditional bulbs any more than i think there should be a ban on campfires or horses or steam engines. But those shouldn’t be the go-to forms of technology for everyday use either. I’m all for using market incentives to make the more energy efficient bulbs the choice consumers want… making them cheaper, longer lasting etc. (even if that means taxing the less efficient ones more expensive or something) I feel like that’s happening already… its annoying that they’d try to reverse it, when it’s obvious consumers actually like LEDs. It’s not like the compact florescent bulbs that had obvious drawbacks that turned people off (ugly design, slow warm up time, weird color). I think the free market works on some level… consumers gravitate towards products that work and are appealing, but the government needs to step in an put a thumb on that scale when there are unseen consequences of that consumer choice that aren’t taken into consideration at time of purchase (like general energy consumption or other environmental or social concerns)
That depends, some manufacturers are making bulbs meant to fail earlier as a way to “reduce cost” for the customer. If you believe such a thing. If longevity is important i would look less for a deal and specifically look for bulbs known for being reliable.
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Except of course that reducing energy requirements for lightbulbs is a quick, easy way to divest ourselves of unnecessary fossil fuel power plants that run on coal. It’s not just that one is better than the other, it’s the entire existence of our world at stake now. Rolling back is a rotten, no good, bad idea. My feeling is that manufacturers just want to keep selling shitty bulbs that burn out every couple of years, and they don’t want the energy efficiency requirements - which are easy for them to meet if they tried - applied to these “speciality” products. “We learned our lesson with the curly bulbs” they claim, as if they can’t make LED’s in any style and shape now (spoiler alert: they can, I’ve got them).
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Read my comment again. I agree with you. LEDs are great! And hey, what’s stopping them from making energy efficient bulbs that burn out every couple years and require you to buy more! What do the bulb manufacturers care if the fossil fuel industry is making money! (Maybe they’ve got a secret compact I dunno, lol)
You ever get the sense we’re rearranging deck chairs here, though? I mean entire cities have already switched to LED, they have already captured a large part of the market share and I bet a lot of people have switched over… and yet we continue to have record amounts of carbon emission. We really need that green new deal because we need much larger solutions to how we get and use energy on a national and industrial level . I’m not saying this isn’t a good thing. The energy efficient bulbs. It totally is.
For daytime use, that’s probably fine. But if you’re using lights with that color temperature later in the evening you’re most likely going to have a negative impact on your circadian rhythm and mess with your sleep.
My science geek wife made big changes in our household lighting to eliminate as much blue light exposure as possible and as annoying as it was to get used to it at first I have to admit it’s made big improvements in how quickly the kids and I are able to fall asleep.
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I thought that at first, but then I had a bulb, for the most-used light fixture in the house, fail again after a relatively short time. So… I dunno.
The bulbs I had fail certainly weren’t reduced in cost in any way…
Could’ve been poor QA or a counterfeit bulb. I dunno
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Also it’s not clear how to recycle them in CA. My understanding is that’s why CA law won’t allow them to be shipped here.
