4 ms·

I am sad they got out off the light bulb business.

matt4077 9y ago
Have you seen the new crop of LED bulbs? The clear ones with the filaments visible are almost as brilliant as "traditional" clear bulbs, and the light is indistinguishable for me–all at 10% of the power usage of traditional lighting. I had avoided CFL bulbs for aesthetic reasons, but the advances of the last year have convinced me.
- digikata 9y ago
  Do you mean the 'filament' LED bulbs. It's a nice thing the manufacturers seem to have pulled off there, especially because it seems to have eliminated a whole set of power electronics at the same time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED_filament https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED_filament
- polskibus 9y ago
  Is the light spectrum continuous and is the bulb not flashing with very high frequency anymore?
  - castis 9y ago
    No, we have these at work and the LEDs are definitely controlled with a square wave. If you wave your hand back and forth you can see the strobe effect. Nice light bulbs but they'll still give you a headache.
  - cmurf 9y ago
    I want the spectrum to be relatively flat, i.e. lacking the spikes that we see with most fluorescing materials. The flatter it is, the more well behaved it'll be compared to what our biology is designed for: black body radiators. Also, the aging profile is important. Just because the thing won't stop working for 10 years is not what's important. If it starts color shifting in a year, which to date they do, that's pretty much shit. Try mixing and matching bulbs, it's horrendous.
    - wlesieutre 9y ago
      There are LEDs with smoother spectrums but they’re expensive and not widely used, especially in products targeted at consumers. http://www.seoulsemicon.com/en/technology/Sunlike/ http://www.seoulsemicon.com/en/technology/Sunlike/
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
    - dwyerm 9y ago
      "Aging profile" is a really good point. Especially since LEDs generally don't burn out, but just get dimmer and dimmer. You might need to remind yourself to replace them someday even if you don't notice a problem. I had one of the early LED PAR-38 (?) lamps that Costco recalled after they discovered that their lifespan was much shorter than they promised. I didn't return mine and generally forgot about it. When I finally replaced it, I was stunned at how bright the replacement was in comparison! Like the boiling-frog parable, I just didn't notice how dark the room had become because it got dim so slowly.
- ghostcluster 9y ago
  The narrow wavelength range of LEDs makes them look cheap and piercingly glaring, especially compared to the warm aesthetic illuminating quality of incandescents.

Have you seen the new crop of LED bulbs? The clear ones with the filaments visible are almost as brilliant as "traditional" clear bulbs, and the light is indistinguishable for me–all at 10% of the power usage of traditional lighting. I had avoided CFL bulbs for aesthetic reasons, but the advances of the last year have convinced me.

digikata 9y ago
Do you mean the 'filament' LED bulbs. It's a nice thing the manufacturers seem to have pulled off there, especially because it seems to have eliminated a whole set of power electronics at the same time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED_filament https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED_filament
polskibus 9y ago
Is the light spectrum continuous and is the bulb not flashing with very high frequency anymore?
- castis 9y ago
  No, we have these at work and the LEDs are definitely controlled with a square wave. If you wave your hand back and forth you can see the strobe effect. Nice light bulbs but they'll still give you a headache.
- cmurf 9y ago
  I want the spectrum to be relatively flat, i.e. lacking the spikes that we see with most fluorescing materials. The flatter it is, the more well behaved it'll be compared to what our biology is designed for: black body radiators. Also, the aging profile is important. Just because the thing won't stop working for 10 years is not what's important. If it starts color shifting in a year, which to date they do, that's pretty much shit. Try mixing and matching bulbs, it's horrendous.
  - wlesieutre 9y ago
    There are LEDs with smoother spectrums but they’re expensive and not widely used, especially in products targeted at consumers. http://www.seoulsemicon.com/en/technology/Sunlike/ http://www.seoulsemicon.com/en/technology/Sunlike/
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
  - dwyerm 9y ago
    "Aging profile" is a really good point. Especially since LEDs generally don't burn out, but just get dimmer and dimmer. You might need to remind yourself to replace them someday even if you don't notice a problem. I had one of the early LED PAR-38 (?) lamps that Costco recalled after they discovered that their lifespan was much shorter than they promised. I didn't return mine and generally forgot about it. When I finally replaced it, I was stunned at how bright the replacement was in comparison! Like the boiling-frog parable, I just didn't notice how dark the room had become because it got dim so slowly.
ghostcluster 9y ago
The narrow wavelength range of LEDs makes them look cheap and piercingly glaring, especially compared to the warm aesthetic illuminating quality of incandescents.