Anyone else hate the new light bulbs?

[ultrarunner]

It looks like the sale is over in Vermont (at least in Williston).

Anyone near DC you may want to take advantage of these while they are still on sale. As soon as they come back on sale in Vermont I plan on getting more.
View attachment 353191

$12.97 at my Home Depot... tried to order from the DC store and it is in store pickup only to get the $4.97 price...

 

[grsthegreat]

Just an interesting thing i heard this week from an electrician friend. Seems the guy hes worked for has been installing LED street lighting for the Idaho department of transportation for several years. Street lights all over the place.

You know what they say. LED will last 20 years...blah blah blah.

This guy tells me hes spending all his time repairing these same lights. Seems the drivers are failing all over the place.

Nice Chinese made crap. Now im worried about the job i just did on a commercial job. Just installed over $3,000 worth of LED's


Great...just great

 

[Scooby074]

Just an interesting thing i heard this week from an electrician friend. Seems the guy hes worked for has been installing LED street lighting for the Idaho department of transportation for several years. Street lights all over the place.

You know what they say. LED will last 20 years...blah blah blah.

This guy tells me hes spending all his time repairing these same lights. Seems the drivers are failing all over the place.

Nice Chinese made crap. Now im worried about the job i just did on a commercial job. Just installed over $3,000 worth of LED's


Great...just great

Unfortunately "Chinese made Crap" is more the issue as opposed to LEDs.

 

[grsthegreat]

Unfortunately "Chinese made Crap" is more the issue as opposed to LEDs.

ya well, problem is ALL (100%) of LEDS are Chinese made crap. The systems are designed and engineered in USA, and manufactured in China.

Even if the lights are assembled in USA, the leds and drivers are Chinese.

 

[sixdogs]

Something I still don't get is why would I want a "60 watt equivalent" LED or fluorescent when I can barely see with the 100 watt incandescent bulb? Doesn't anyone make a 150 watt equivalent or 200 watt or do I now need multiple fixtures for the right amount of light?

I am not going to squat in the dark if I can come up with a better idea.

 

[SPIKER]

Just an interesting thing i heard this week from an electrician friend. Seems the guy hes worked for has been installing LED street lighting for the Idaho department of transportation for several years. Street lights all over the place.

You know what they say. LED will last 20 years...blah blah blah.

This guy tells me hes spending all his time repairing these same lights. Seems the drivers are failing all over the place.

Nice Chinese made crap. Now im worried about the job i just did on a commercial job. Just installed over $3,000 worth of LED's


Great...just great

I have heard similar from a few places here, the LED Drivers (in summer esp) were failing. The Driver Boards then also had issues when it gets extremely cold the Caps would freeze up and pop...


In both cases is more of engineering or purchasing departments that buy sub standard parts as they save 3 cents per unit... (Been there done that specified some parts that ended up coming from low cost supplier with incorrect specifications that cost some issues.) I managed to catch the problem but machine was built, tested and failed. THEN I looked like the problem, figured it out things changed! I had not signed off on the substituted parts the purchasing department rules were changed.


Mark

 

[California]

I have heard similar from a few places here, the LED Drivers (in summer esp) were failing. The Driver Boards then also had issues when it gets extremely cold the Caps would freeze up and pop...

In both cases is more of engineering or purchasing departments that buy sub standard parts ... I had not signed off on the substituted parts

I heard a similar story from an electronics repair tech - the vanishing kind of specialist who diagnoses and replaces individual IC's instead of boards. Per him: around the time OTA broadcast tv went to digital, a whole lot of analog>digital set top converters were all built and sold in a short time period. All had high failure rates, even the top brands. So did nearly everything else manufactured in that time period, over several months. Turned out there was one huge run of bad counterfeit capacitors that appeared in everything built in that time period. This guy had made his living for a year or two fixing a broad spectrum of 'unfixable' electronics, recognizing and replacing those caps.

 

[sld]

With LED's, the bulbs will last 20-30 years like they claim. The quality, or lack thereof, is in the circuit board that powers them.

 

[Sodo]

With LED's, the bulbs will last 20-30 years like they claim. The quality, or lack thereof, is in the circuit board that powers them.

I'll bet that's the reason it took so long to get them out on the market, they're still working on a reliable failure method.

 

[randy41]

just found some 40 watt incandescents at food lion for 60 cents each pack of four. at lowes they were > $1.50/each.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I just replaced a CFL in the bedroom ceiling fixture. I installed that fixture in 1995, and this is the first time I have replaced a bulb. It's a two bulb fixture, and the other bulb is still working. The one I replaced was a Phillips. I figure almost 19 years is not bad. What I loved about those bulbs is that they were the slow brightening type sold 20 years ago, which was perfect for a bedroom light. They gave the eyes time to adjust. The new ones are all instant-on.

 

[California]

If RFI is an issue ... trashed reception on the modern flat-panel tv at home ... my wife complains it changes brightness whenever it wants. ... the bulb shows 13 watts 850 lumens: Ecosmart 400 674 from Home Depot in 8/2012.

Update on my own post.

This 2012 Ecosmart bulb is getting worse. I don't think it ever was as bright as other 850 lumen / 60w equivalent bulbs. Now it intermittently drops to 2/3 brightness for no reason while nearby bulbs burn steady. I paid -wasted- $15.02 (w tax) in August 2012. I hope Ecosmart's current production works better than this.

As somebody once said - 'You can recognize the pioneers by the arrows in their backs'. But I'll keep on trying innovative stuff. If I get a few bulbs that last the claimed 10 years that will more than pay for the failed experiments.

 

[k0ua]

Are there any Amateur Radio Operators on here (That operate HF 3-30Mhz) that can recommend a good LED bulb? Most (not all) of the CFL's I have tried are not bad, or even perfectly acceptable. Even the cheap ones I have gotten from Wallly World. I have only had to toss a couple for being too "dirty" RFI wise. But when California says he is having trouble with his LED with RFI enough to effect a Flat Panel TV, I would imagine the entire HF spectrum would be wiped out. I have an small 12 volt switching power supply that started making RFI like you would not believe. It was fine and still run the router it was hooked too OK, but talk about wiping out the HF spectrum, whew! I think if you keyed it on and off, and put a bit of wire antenna on it, you could make long distance contacts with it on CW!. I kept it (unplugged of course) as an oddity. I have never seen so much radiation from a device not intended to radiate!:shocked: So I know these things are possible, and I just don't want to risk money being a "beta tester" for bulbs that I could not stand to use in my home.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I just heard that electricity consumption in the USA has dropped in 3 out of the last 4 years. Conservation works.

 

[ultrarunner]

That plus lots of solar going in on home roof tops... have 4 on my street.

Also, the large manufacturing plants keep leaving for greener pastures.

A friend that is in management at a huge utility said the downward spiral has begun...

He said what other business encourages conservation of the product is sells and does it with a smile.


On a separate note... I sure wish I could get the $4.97 CREE Home Depot price in Washington DC here in California where the best is at least double that.

I have one all electric home in Washington State with lots of can lights.... I imagine the payback from LED would be very worthwhile.

 

[California]

when California says he is having trouble with his LED with RFI enough to effect a Flat Panel TV, I would imagine the entire HF spectrum would be wiped out.

That 2012 Ecosmart bulb may have fed RFI back into the power mains. It was equally deadly wherever I put it in the house. Second floor opposite end - just as bad.

FWIW the 2013 CREE 60w/ 9.5 watt that replaced that nasty bulb in the hall by the tv room has no effect on the tv. I would try a CREE. Particularly if you can buy them at the $4.97 east coast Home Depot price.

 

[k0ua]

That 2012 Ecosmart bulb may have fed RFI back into the power mains. It was equally deadly wherever I put it in the house. Second floor opposite end - just as bad.

FWIW the 2013 CREE 60w/ 9.5 watt that replaced that nasty bulb in the hall by the tv room has no effect on the tv. I would try a CREE. Particularly if you can buy them at the $4.97 east coast Home Depot price.

Well they are about $12.97 here.

 

[DarkBlack]

I just heard that electricity consumption in the USA has dropped in 3 out of the last 4 years. Conservation works.

You really ought to have some related info to back a statement you know you posted meant to be related to the outlawing of these simple bulbs. Got any??

 

[ultrarunner]

Larry may have read the same story I did...

"In response to tepid demand, electricity production in the U.S. fell in 2008 and 2009, amid the recession, then ticked up slightly in 2010 before falling again in 2011."



Electricity Use on Wane in the U.S. - WSJ.com

 

[cqaigy2]

You really ought to have some related info to back a statement you know you posted meant to be related to the outlawing of these simple bulbs. Got any??

Ditto about "outlawing these simple bulbs"