3 ms·

Current circuit layouts are wasteful, you have to run enormous amounts of wire between the outlets and the switches, just to be able to control the lights. Much

Current circuit layouts are wasteful, you have to run enormous amounts of wire between the outlets and the switches, just to be able to control the lights. Much better to just run power directly to the outlets. The control logic should ideally go into the socket, but with 50k hour lifetimes of LED bulbs, the lost efficiently of putting it in one over the other place is trivial. Also remember that putting the controls on the bulb makes it a trivially user-serviceable part, where putting it in the socket technically requires a electrician to install it (you and I are probably comfortable servicing domestic electrical installations, the average consumer isn't, and shouldn't be) - especially in these early days, when neither standards, features or protocols are anywhere near finalised, investing a couple of hundred dollars in bulbs is much better than investing thousands in electricians fees.

semi-extrinsic 12y ago
LEDs may have 50k hour lifetimes, but that's very far from true of the constant current drivers. I've had several expensive (Phillips/GE) LED bulbs fail after a year of sparse usage. That's more like 1.5k hours. The cheap chinese ones I also tried lasted on average four months (I bought 8 bulbs), all of them blew up electrolytic capacitors on the buckpucks (with release of magic smoke). As for the needing an electrician part: remote socket receivers are a well proven, cheap and safe technology requiring no electrician to install it. IMO, the Telldus offerings are the best solution for wireless/smart light controls.
- xrjn 12y ago
  You might want to check the electrical setup at your home. A friend had issues with incandescent light bulbs going out every few months, he replaced them with LEDs, and they still crapped out too quickly. I'm not well versed on electrical problems, but I'd guess that this was related to brown-outs or a dirty power supply. Personally at my home, I can't recall a single LED bulb failing since installing some of the first ones in 2010/11 (and these were dirt cheap ones from Lidl). We've also bought some decent e27 8w ones from Aliexpress in ~2011, and of the 6 I bought, they all still work (apart form the cold white one which I took apart). Throughout the past two years I installed a bunch of LED strips around the house, ~20m of which stay on at low power all the time, and I've virtually had zero failures (there may have been a 3cm segment that died, but that's it).
- fnordfnordfnord 12y ago
  50k hours is probably ambitious for some, but not too far off the mark. The Achilles' heel here is the capacitors, they are the weakest link. 10k hours is easy, and they should never fail before that absent some design or manufacturer defect, or atypically high ambient temperatures. >I've had several expensive (Phillips/GE) LED bulbs fail after a year of sparse usage. You have an electrical problem in your home. Perhaps a poor connection on the neutral leg of the circuit. It is even potentially unsafe, as in a possible arcing condition.
  - semi-extrinsic 12y ago
    When we moved in two years ago there was an intermittent earth fault, so we had everything checked then. They found the earth fault, it was a loose connector inside a T junction I believe. I'm more inclined to believe it is caused by the crappy wiring system that is standard in my country, where there is not a neutral lead and a live one, but two live ones with a phase shift.
    - fnordfnordfnord 12y ago
      >When we moved in two years ago there was an intermittent earth fault, so we had everything checked then. They found the earth fault, it was a loose connector inside a T junction I believe. If there was one, there may be others. I've located several loose junctions in my attic (on my bathroom electric strip heaters). They were easy to spot because of the discolored insulation. At my own home my connection to the electrical grid also had such a fault (a corroded junction on one phase). It was an intermittent but persistent fault and I am surprised that I didn't ruin more electrical stuff before I found it. >I'm more inclined to believe it is caused by the crappy wiring system that is standard in my country, where there is not a neutral lead and a live one, but two live ones with a phase shift. Sorry, I shouldn't have assumed you were in North America.
Shivetya 12y ago
Circuit layouts are only wasteful in some circumstances. For the majority of new homes they are just fine, with room switches controlling exactly what one would expect. Must greater finesse over lighting can come from using proper lights, can lights you can aim can make a room completely different from simple ceiling lamps, ditto for table lamps. Plus you can do wonders using in house wiring for having various items talk to each other. Wireless seems overkill to individual items.

semi-extrinsic 12y ago

LEDs may have 50k hour lifetimes, but that's very far from true of the constant current drivers. I've had several expensive (Phillips/GE) LED bulbs fail after a year of sparse usage. That's more like 1.5k hours. The cheap chinese ones I also tried lasted on average four months (I bought 8 bulbs), all of them blew up electrolytic capacitors on the buckpucks (with release of magic smoke). As for the needing an electrician part: remote socket receivers are a well proven, cheap and safe technology requiring no electrician to install it. IMO, the Telldus offerings are the best solution for wireless/smart light controls.

xrjn 12y ago
You might want to check the electrical setup at your home. A friend had issues with incandescent light bulbs going out every few months, he replaced them with LEDs, and they still crapped out too quickly. I'm not well versed on electrical problems, but I'd guess that this was related to brown-outs or a dirty power supply. Personally at my home, I can't recall a single LED bulb failing since installing some of the first ones in 2010/11 (and these were dirt cheap ones from Lidl). We've also bought some decent e27 8w ones from Aliexpress in ~2011, and of the 6 I bought, they all still work (apart form the cold white one which I took apart). Throughout the past two years I installed a bunch of LED strips around the house, ~20m of which stay on at low power all the time, and I've virtually had zero failures (there may have been a 3cm segment that died, but that's it).
fnordfnordfnord 12y ago
50k hours is probably ambitious for some, but not too far off the mark. The Achilles' heel here is the capacitors, they are the weakest link. 10k hours is easy, and they should never fail before that absent some design or manufacturer defect, or atypically high ambient temperatures. >I've had several expensive (Phillips/GE) LED bulbs fail after a year of sparse usage. You have an electrical problem in your home. Perhaps a poor connection on the neutral leg of the circuit. It is even potentially unsafe, as in a possible arcing condition.
- semi-extrinsic 12y ago
  When we moved in two years ago there was an intermittent earth fault, so we had everything checked then. They found the earth fault, it was a loose connector inside a T junction I believe. I'm more inclined to believe it is caused by the crappy wiring system that is standard in my country, where there is not a neutral lead and a live one, but two live ones with a phase shift.
  - fnordfnordfnord 12y ago
    >When we moved in two years ago there was an intermittent earth fault, so we had everything checked then. They found the earth fault, it was a loose connector inside a T junction I believe. If there was one, there may be others. I've located several loose junctions in my attic (on my bathroom electric strip heaters). They were easy to spot because of the discolored insulation. At my own home my connection to the electrical grid also had such a fault (a corroded junction on one phase). It was an intermittent but persistent fault and I am surprised that I didn't ruin more electrical stuff before I found it. >I'm more inclined to believe it is caused by the crappy wiring system that is standard in my country, where there is not a neutral lead and a live one, but two live ones with a phase shift. Sorry, I shouldn't have assumed you were in North America.

Shivetya 12y ago

Circuit layouts are only wasteful in some circumstances. For the majority of new homes they are just fine, with room switches controlling exactly what one would expect. Must greater finesse over lighting can come from using proper lights, can lights you can aim can make a room completely different from simple ceiling lamps, ditto for table lamps. Plus you can do wonders using in house wiring for having various items talk to each other. Wireless seems overkill to individual items.