4 ms·

This really is the crux, unlike fluorescent (including CFL) and traditional incandescent lamps LED's are a lot more sensitive to having consistent DC power, a c

by snuxoll 10y ago

This really is the crux, unlike fluorescent (including CFL) and traditional incandescent lamps LED's are a lot more sensitive to having consistent DC power, a crappy little capacitive dropper is not appropriate to power them, yet a lot of manufacturers decided to cheap out on an additional diode to build a proper bridge rectifier. The amount of electronics to properly drive an chain of LED's is so simple and cheap I really can't figure out why they are shaving tenths a penny or two (considering the bulk rates they can get these parts at) on lamps that are sold at pretty high profit margins. I really wish there was someone like bigclive that just tore down LED lamps sold in the US and posted reviews on Amazon, etc. about the internal driver circuitry.

Spooky23 10y ago
Your comment captures the problem far better. For 100 years, if a bulb burned out or you bought a lamp, you went a bought a sodding lightbulb. The choices were clear... good brand/shit brand. 20/40/60/75/100/150/3way. Soft white or not soft white. They cost like a quarter. Now the Home Depot lightbulb aisle is as complicated as the screw and fastener aisle. My guess is the average bigbox home store has 50 SKUs on the shelf for 60 watt equivalent bulbs. It's ridiculous.
- Symbiote 10y ago
  Go to Ikea. They have about four bulbs for each socket (pear and candle, dim and bright), and the ones I bought a year ago are very good. I think they have more incentive to sell good quality bulbs than the average store, since they sell the fitting and market being environmentally friendly. Of the ones I bought, some were made in China and some in Germany.
  - afarrell 10y ago
    There are some US states whithout an IKEA, such as Maine. Incidentally, in Maine, incandescent light bulbs are almost 100% efficient for much of the year as they produce both light and heat.
    - Symbiote 10y ago
      When using electricity for heating, a heat pump is more than 100% efficient. I live in Denmark, where regulations mean new buildings can't have simple electric heaters installed.
      - TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
        Yep, modern heat pumps are up to and above 4:1 thermal efficiency. References in my other comment.
    - CalRobert 10y ago
      100% is a bit of a deceptive claim, since 1) we can exceed 100% with heat pumps, and 2) pretty much _every_ electrical appliance in an enclosed space is 100% efficient at converting energy to heat. 3) For the most part, the electricity being used to power those incandescents is produced with 25-50% efficiency. Burning gas to make heat to run a turbine to produce electricity to transmit it to your home to heat a coil to make light is not very efficient. Ideally it's combined-cycle (waste heat boils water to spin another turbine) but it's still not as good as just burning that gas in your furnace. My apartment, lovely as it is, has vile, ancient, horrible resistive electric storage heaters. I live in a somewhat cold climate. I suck it up and pay for renewably-sourced electricity to assuage the guilt because there's no way I'm going to win in a fight to install heat pumps or gas-fired heating with my landlord. In this limited scenario, incandescents make sense. If I owned this place those hunk-of-crap heaters would be in the skip tomorrow and all the incandescent bulbs with them.
      - douche 10y ago
        Electric heating is a huge red flag - living in the northeast US, that tends to indicate that whoever built the building is not from around here, and perhaps came up from the South, or some other area that does not have real winters. Usually where you find electric heaters, you'll also find wildly insufficient insulation, foundations that aren't up to frost, and any number of other design flaws that bite you in the ass when it is below freezing for four or five months out of the year. Natural gas or heating oil is far more economical, although nothing beats the warmth provided by a good wood stove.
  - afarrell 10y ago
    There are some US states whithout an IKEA, such as Maine. Incidentally, in Maine, incandescent light bulbs are almost 100% efficient for much of the year as they produce both light and heat.
PhantomGremlin 10y ago
I really wish there was someone like bigclive that just tore down LED lamps sold in the US and posted reviews There is such a guy "electronupdate", but I think he's from north of the border. Close enough. His older teardowns were better, because the bulbs themselves were better. Now there's a race to the bottom (of course). If you watch his teardowns you will see that the older Philips bulbs are superior to all others. E.g. here's a very good review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWKAub54sLU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWKAub54sLU He's also done teardowns of some real crap bulbs. There are also some "bigclive" LED bulb reviews on Youtube but I haven't watched them.

by snuxoll 10y ago

Spooky23 10y ago

Your comment captures the problem far better. For 100 years, if a bulb burned out or you bought a lamp, you went a bought a sodding lightbulb. The choices were clear... good brand/shit brand. 20/40/60/75/100/150/3way. Soft white or not soft white. They cost like a quarter. Now the Home Depot lightbulb aisle is as complicated as the screw and fastener aisle. My guess is the average bigbox home store has 50 SKUs on the shelf for 60 watt equivalent bulbs. It's ridiculous.

Symbiote 10y ago
Go to Ikea. They have about four bulbs for each socket (pear and candle, dim and bright), and the ones I bought a year ago are very good. I think they have more incentive to sell good quality bulbs than the average store, since they sell the fitting and market being environmentally friendly. Of the ones I bought, some were made in China and some in Germany.
- afarrell 10y ago
  There are some US states whithout an IKEA, such as Maine. Incidentally, in Maine, incandescent light bulbs are almost 100% efficient for much of the year as they produce both light and heat.
  - Symbiote 10y ago
    When using electricity for heating, a heat pump is more than 100% efficient. I live in Denmark, where regulations mean new buildings can't have simple electric heaters installed.
    - TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
      Yep, modern heat pumps are up to and above 4:1 thermal efficiency. References in my other comment.
  - CalRobert 10y ago
    100% is a bit of a deceptive claim, since 1) we can exceed 100% with heat pumps, and 2) pretty much _every_ electrical appliance in an enclosed space is 100% efficient at converting energy to heat. 3) For the most part, the electricity being used to power those incandescents is produced with 25-50% efficiency. Burning gas to make heat to run a turbine to produce electricity to transmit it to your home to heat a coil to make light is not very efficient. Ideally it's combined-cycle (waste heat boils water to spin another turbine) but it's still not as good as just burning that gas in your furnace. My apartment, lovely as it is, has vile, ancient, horrible resistive electric storage heaters. I live in a somewhat cold climate. I suck it up and pay for renewably-sourced electricity to assuage the guilt because there's no way I'm going to win in a fight to install heat pumps or gas-fired heating with my landlord. In this limited scenario, incandescents make sense. If I owned this place those hunk-of-crap heaters would be in the skip tomorrow and all the incandescent bulbs with them.
    - douche 10y ago
      Electric heating is a huge red flag - living in the northeast US, that tends to indicate that whoever built the building is not from around here, and perhaps came up from the South, or some other area that does not have real winters. Usually where you find electric heaters, you'll also find wildly insufficient insulation, foundations that aren't up to frost, and any number of other design flaws that bite you in the ass when it is below freezing for four or five months out of the year. Natural gas or heating oil is far more economical, although nothing beats the warmth provided by a good wood stove.
- afarrell 10y ago
  There are some US states whithout an IKEA, such as Maine. Incidentally, in Maine, incandescent light bulbs are almost 100% efficient for much of the year as they produce both light and heat.

PhantomGremlin 10y ago

I really wish there was someone like bigclive that just tore down LED lamps sold in the US and posted reviews There is such a guy "electronupdate", but I think he's from north of the border. Close enough. His older teardowns were better, because the bulbs themselves were better. Now there's a race to the bottom (of course). If you watch his teardowns you will see that the older Philips bulbs are superior to all others. E.g. here's a very good review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWKAub54sLU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWKAub54sLU He's also done teardowns of some real crap bulbs. There are also some "bigclive" LED bulb reviews on Youtube but I haven't watched them.