LED light bulbs

[bigo1966]

Went to Wal Mart lastnight and they now carry LED light bulbs for your house. I bought one for 5 bucks and im pretty happy with it, thats actually a pretty good price considering. Just thought ide let yall know. I was pretty excited.

[ColoradoSkier]

LED's in what sizes? Regular incandescent bulb size, or the PAR's and other sizes that I could replace halogens with?

[mkbruin]

Who all is using these for 60-100 watt applications? Are they regular-type or a flood/recessed style?

opinions? life? energy savings?

[colombiapunk]

I make these, they are the greatest thing since sliced bread. 100% recyclable and no lead or mercury (at least with mine, don't know about walmart ones), they last for 15-20 years... Can make them in just about any shape wanted. I can't touch $5 though. I make them in taiwan and just the costs of materials is double that. Man.... well there goes one of my ventures.

[scottycards]

Interesting- I've always thought LED would be a more viable technology than CFL's.

We have all CFL's in our house- the small bathroom vanity lights, floods, and regular curly-Q design. They are great, particularly since they've overcome the harsh light spectrum that the originals had- the light is much softer now.

Are the LED's a soft light, or is it that harsh, bluish light?

Very interesting. Dimmer capable?

[ColoradoSkier]

CFL's are so darned expensive, at least to replace some of the ones I want to - like $8.50 a pop.

[colombiapunk]

They aren't dimmer capable, but we can make them any kelvin (the color spectrum) that is desired. I've got some that are a great soft yellow/white.

CFLs also are nasty to the environment, little bit of mercury but you add up how many of them there are and it's a serious issue.

[scottycards]

CFL's are so darned expensive, at least to replace some of the ones I want to - like $8.50 a pop.

floods? Shop around- they're more like 5 bucks now. Same for vanity lights- they are curly q design, but with frosted glass bulb over the curly q- they look just like a normal bulb.

Home Depot has excellent prices.

The mercury thing is an issue, but once you've got a bulb in, it lasts a heck of a long time, and I don't see how many will break if people just take a little care with them and dispose of them properly.

I still think LED's are the future, however.

[colombiapunk]

CFLs last about a tenth the time that LED bulbs do, and there are really no safe ways to deal with the spent mercury, in homes it won't be a major deal, but once millions of these things end up in our land fills then it's a big deal.

I''m going to have to go out and buy some of these walmart bulbs and see how screwed I am.

[scottycards]

The key is getting dipsticks to not throw them in the trash. CFL's need to go to the proper disposal sites.

Agreed on the lifespan thing. Since you're in the know- how about energy draw comparo for CFL vs. LED? I know our CFL's have made a significant impact on how much elec. we're using.

[Yucca-Man]

The mercury thing is an issue, but once you've got a bulb in, it lasts a heck of a long time, and I don't see how many will break if people just take a little care with them and dispose of them properly.I can see millions of these things hitting the landfills and getting broken then. People don't know/care about their own environmental impact, or they think "it's such a tiny one-time thing, it won't matter" but multiplied times the millions of households around the country... :shrug:

[scottycards]

I agree, Yucca- but at least right now, the CFL buying crowd tends to be also somewhat of an enviro-sensitive crowd- that's kinda the reason to spend more for the CFL's, I would think- save energy, carbon footprint, conserve our natural resources, etc.

So hopefully (us) early adopters are also the ones who will dispose properly. Once that trend starts, it would logically follow that others will do the same.

Kind of like how most people don't throw their drain oil into the street gutter anymore. I remember my Dad doing that when I was a kid- heck, everyone disposed of their used motor oil that way.........

[colombiapunk]

The energy draw is slightly less but really really slightly, on average about 1.2% less

at $5 a bulb I would buy them all, heck buy them all and resell them. Mine cost between $20 - $30. Seems ridiculous but we were doing very well in japan, india, and austrailia. I wanted to bring them to the U.S. was going to launch in another month or so.

even at $30 a bulb the savings are worth it in not having to buy the bulbs all the time since they last for so long, and of course the energy savings if you haven't already switched to CFLs.

Even at that price I'm barely making a profit. Gotta hand it to walmart for having incredible buying power, but I can't even get my materials for that cheap so I kinda wonder how good theirs are.

[scottycards]

I kinda wonder how good theirs are.

:idea: (oh the best smilie pun ever for this thread)

Guaranteed they are complete and total crap.

Don't be askeerd of inferior, low-quality junk. It will always be in the market, and some will buy that crap, but high end products sell- always have, always will.

If they didn't, we'd all be living in trailers that keep the rain off our heads, and driving Yugos, which get us across town just fine.

Keep on keeping on with your product line- there will be a market for it.

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Yucca-Man]

I agree, Yucca- but at least right now, the CFL buying crowd tends to be also somewhat of an enviro-sensitive crowd- that's kinda the reason to spend more for the CFL's, I would think- save energy, carbon footprint, conserve our natural resources, etc.

So hopefully (us) early adopters are also the ones who will dispose properly. Once that trend starts, it would logically follow that others will do the same.

Kind of like how most people don't throw their drain oil into the street gutter anymore. I remember my Dad doing that when I was a kid- heck, everyone disposed of their used motor oil that way.........Actually, we aren't early adopters. It seems this house EATS regular light bulbs; we change them out all the time so are very leery of shelling out $$ for a bulb that might just die early as well. Unless any of y'all can convince us that those fear are unfounded we're going to stay away from them for the time being.

Funny that you mention the drained oil - Andrew and I just put new lifeblood into the van this morning. I pointed out that we should lift it because it's so much easier to change the oil on the Jeep. :D I used to dump the old oil on the dirt to keep the dust down, too. My X's folks live on a dirt street in Phoenix and they still do it, to the best of my knowledge. :tisk:

[bigo1966]

I was shocked when I saw the price of 5 bucks, Ive only seen them for 20+ online. I bought a small 20 watt for my front porch. It does have the bluish tint, but its a LED bulb, still very cool, they are the future. Everything will be LED one day.

Also thats why i only bought one bulb. Ill see how long this guy lasts at 5 bucks and buy or not buy from there. It looks freaking sweet.

colombiapunk what company do you work for?

[scottycards]

Yucca- all the more reason to switch out to CFL's man!

But a sixer of CFL's from HD! I bet the CFL's will handle the voltage issues better than the incandescents, and last much longer.

If they don't work right- save your receipt and return them. Invision brand seems to come to mind as the ones we have. Good product- no duds out of the box, and we have a fair number of them- not a single problem yet.

[colombiapunk]

Seres Lighting in the U.S.

I own the American side and have a large stake in the Asian side.

We're under a few different names in Asia depending on the market.

If anyone ever wants to see samples of the product just let me know and I can show you what we have. It's an expensive product so i wouldn't buy it until i saw it in person.

[scottycards]

website? via PM, probably so we don't break any rules.

Would love to see your products. You have a channel of distribution lined up? Reps? How are you getting them to market?

[newracer]

PM me too, I am very interested. I would love to switch all my bulbs to LED.

[Sound_Man]

Send me a PM with a link as well. I have a bunch of recessed lights that I would like to replace.

[TheCopperCowboy]

Yucca- all the more reason to switch out to CFL's man!

But a sixer of CFL's from HD! I bet the CFL's will handle the voltage issues better than the incandescents, and last much longer.

If they don't work right- save your receipt and return them. Invision brand seems to come to mind as the ones we have. Good product- no duds out of the box, and we have a fair number of them- not a single problem yet.

n:vision is the HD brand. Sylvania is the dimmable CFL. Worried about mercury? Look up in any store, school or office environment, you're literally under a toxic cloud. Check out www.lamprecycle.org. LED's are totally cool and it's great to see them finally hit the shelves. :thumbsup:

[Jeffro600]

even at $30 a bulb the savings are worth it in not having to buy the bulbs all the time since they last for so long, and of course the energy savings if you haven't already switched to CFLs.

I have switched over to CFL's and i dont see how this would add up?? 30 bucks a bulb?? I can buy ALOT of CFL's at wally world for 30 bucks...probably enough to do my entire house for the next 10+ years. They had 4 packs of 60 or 100 watt CFL's for 6 bucks.

What it would cost for 2 or 3 of your LED bulbs, would be a lifetime supply of CFL's...dont make sense to me...

[ni0h]

Also thats why i only bought one bulb. Ill see how long this guy lasts at 5 bucks and buy or not buy from there.
Chances are, by the time this test is complete, we'll all be using Mr. Fusion for our power supplies.

[potter]

What is the color like? My biggest gripe with bulbs is their color. I prefer to leave my kitchen light on instead of the living room one because the kitchen is halogen. Like right now the living room light is on and everything is a dingy yellow color. Which bugs the crap out of me.

[CSP]

Yucca- all the more reason to switch out to CFL's man!

But a sixer of CFL's from HD! I bet the CFL's will handle the voltage issues better than the incandescents, and last much longer.

x2. They handle temperature changes better too. The incandescents that were in my old home's coach lights on the outside of the garage lasted two months maybe, max in the winter. CFL's had been in for three+ years when I moved out of there.

[colombiapunk]

Alright, here we go.

I got one of the Wally World ones... It's not bad, I'm impressed at what it is for the price and I'm even more impressed it's made in the U.S. I hate to say it but the only way I'm pulling off that extremely high price I'm at is because of cheaper (really only by a little (their quality is on par with U.S. quality)) Taiwanese labor.

Now... despite the fact that I'm impressed here are the down sides. LED bulbs require quite a bit of heat dissipation. Without proper heat dissipation the bulbs will only last 1-2 years. These walmart ones really had nothing to help cool the bulbs. They are also a very old bulb design, they haven't been used in commercial LED lighting for the past 4 years. They stopped being used because they had a tendency to over heat and burn out early. Alot of the industry is switching over to the much more expensive but much better single (5w, 10w, or 15w) LED as opposed to the multiple 1w LEDs. If we ever make it to car headlights (I'm working on it), it's going to be with these 15w or bigger ones. I haven't fully disassembled the bulb yet as I'm still doing some lighting tests on it, but I'll give you guys an update when I do.

Like I said I'm not launching in the U.S. till later this month or next month, but perhaps I can post the website up early and give you guys a sneak peak. (this will be the last mention of my company mods, not trying to push that, just trying to be here as a bit of a resource)

[mkbruin]

Thanks for the update. I definitely look forward to hearing more about this once you get to disassembly!

[ColoradoSkier]

I am not taking offense to what you are saying about your company. You are providing some great insight. :beer:

[colombiapunk]

just to give a little more background on the industry right now too, there are only about 5 LED producers in the world. CREE has the original patent to the LED and all other producers are licensing through them... kind of. There are some great black market ones coming out of China, that actually have a better color, and produce light more efficiently. They're being shut down though, and it takes a pretty serious facility to produce LEDs in a cost effective way, so once these non licensed producers get shut down, they won't be able to really fly off the radar and produce in a basement. Right now there bulbs are cheaper. If I used their bulbs I could almost cut my prices almost in half. A few companies selling out of Asia are selling their bulbs but I don't see that lasting for too much longer. To compete CREE has been talking about cutting their licensing fees in half... and doing it right about august... That's why I was going to launch then. Try to offer lower prices as I can tell you I pay CREE more than the cost of the Wally World bulb for just the LED portion of my light excluding the housing. If CREE follows through with this then I think LEDS will start showing up everywhere. Not necessarily saying wait... CREE has said things like this before and this is simply a rumor in the industry, but the way I see it, $30 a bulb isn't reasonable in the U.S. and frankly I'm only puling $1-2 profit by the time it hits my website and that's not sustainable for me, nor is it anything a retailer would like to touch, hence why it's mostly internet sales right now, and really just sales by companies like mine. Not looking to make money now, just looking to get in it first so when it does become profitable we have a foothold.