Behold the $15 LED light bulb

[konradv]

I can get 2 bulbs at the dollar store.

Do these last 30xs as long?

How long do I have to use it to make up for the fact that it costs 30 times what I pay for my current bulbs?

Not the point. The price is coming down. They used to be $50.

 

[skookerasbil]

I think its great.........but dont tell me what kind of light bulb I can or cant buy. Thats just stupid silliness.

I love how liberals talk about personal freedoms. They're all for it......as long as you have to do it their way.

 

[Douger]

I surely wouldn't pay 15 dollars for a light bulb. You can stick your light bulb straight up your ass before I will.

what if it lasts 10 times as long as a regular bulb and uses less energy.

He's uh murkin. That math stuff is way too complicated. Me ? I'll take 16.

 

[daveman]

uh huh.....

Just from its pic.... i can tell it is not going to psychically fit into most of my light fixtures.
In most of my fixtures i use MORE then a 60 watt bulb, or less then a 60 watt bulb, or a 3 way light, or lights that work on a dimmer switch.
Is the color of the light warm...or blue as most LED's are? If it is a blue light i have no use or desire for it.
In this room alone... i have 8 bulbs. $250 a room??

Yup, it's Euro-spec power -- 240VAC, 50 Hz. Even if you had a lamp it'd fit into (and you'd have to change the plug on the lamp to fit American outlets), it still wouldn't work.

However, if they can produce them for 120 VAC/60 Hz, I'd consider them.

 

[konradv]

I think its great.........but dont tell me what kind of light bulb I can or cant buy. Thats just stupid silliness.

I love how liberals talk about personal freedoms. They're all for it......as long as you have to do it their way.

What makes you think we should be held hostage to your notion of freedom? It's ridiculous to complain about losing an out-dated technology, when we're in the energy situation we're in.

 

[Old Rocks]

I have two Streamlight LED flashlights I use at work. Both produce a white light, not blue in any sense. The cheap lights one buys at Harbor Freight are blue, but not the Streamlights.

As the LEDs improve, and are available in more versions, they will also become cheaper. They are the future. Soon the incandescent will be as obsolete as a buggy whip.

 

[Avatar9]

the squiggly bulbs cost more up front but you save more money in the long run because they last longer and they use less energy.

How much less? They cost 30 times as much....

Depends on how many you use.

No, it doesn't.

Each bulb. Does it last as long and use 1/30th the energy? Twice as long and 1/15th the energy? 10 times as long and 1/3 the energy?

These costs 30 times as much for each bulb, compared to discount incandescents. If I'm not getting 30 times the performance, I'm not really seeing why I should pay $15 for a lightbulb.

I think the average wattages of the squiggly blubs burn about 75% less energy then the regular bulbs and that’s quite a bit less.

Okay, so they use 1/4 the energy and cost 30 times as much...

How long does it take for each individual bulb to save me $14 dollars on my energy bill and justify its own expense before I can even begin to save money? How long for two of them to save me $28?

If you expect people to bay $15 for a bulb, you have to show that each individual bulb puts $14 back in my pocket in something resembling a reasonable time frame in order to justify itself.

 

[Avatar9]

I can get 2 bulbs at the dollar store.

Do these last 30xs as long?

How long do I have to use it to make up for the fact that it costs 30 times what I pay for my current bulbs?

Not the point. The price is coming down. They used to be $50.

And? They still cost 30 times as much as another bulb. You could brag about reducing the deficit by a million dollars, but you'd still owe a few trillion. Tell me when it costs two bucks.

I have two Streamlight LED flashlights I use at work. Both produce a white light, not blue in any sense. The cheap lights one buys at Harbor Freight are blue, but not the Streamlights.

As the LEDs improve, and are available in more versions, they will also become cheaper. They are the future. Soon the incandescent will be as obsolete as a buggy whip.

And in the mean time, you've given me no reason to pay 30 times as much for a damn lightbulb.

 

[Old Rocks]

First, the figure is 15% of the power use of an incandescent. Second, the the life span is estimated at 8 years. And this is just what is available right now.

The flashlights that I have are estimated to have a life span of 50,000 hours. And they are tough. I have dropped one of them 20 feet from a crane to concrete. The lens is history, the switch is a little tight, but it still works just fine.

For lights that are hard to get at, even the present price is a bargain. And the cost of electiricity will continue to go up, so the time of use to save money will continue to decrease.

This is the future. Just as you will soon be unable to buy a vacuum tube TV, you will soon be unable to buy incandescents.

 

[Flopper]

uh huh.....

Just from its pic.... i can tell it is not going to psychically fit into most of my light fixtures.
In most of my fixtures i use MORE then a 60 watt bulb, or less then a 60 watt bulb, or a 3 way light, or lights that work on a dimmer switch.
Is the color of the light warm...or blue as most LED's are? If it is a blue light i have no use or desire for it.
In this room alone... i have 8 bulbs. $250 a room??

I've seen 60 watt CFLs at about buck a piece which is not bad when you consider the live span. LEDs are still too expensive but that will change.

 

[konradv]

If you expect people to bay $15 for a bulb, you have to show that each individual bulb puts $14 back in my pocket in something resembling a reasonable time frame in order to justify itself.

What's actually expected is that the priice will come down even further. Are you so completely partisan on this issue, that you can't even acknowledge that they used to be $50 and are likely to be lower in the future, just like CFLs?

 

[Old Rocks]

That there are ways of using less power, ways of doing things more efficiently, seems to be a thorn in the sides of the 'Conservatives'. The government never 'outlawed' incandescents. During the Bush administration, there were laws passed and signed into law by Bush, that established lighting efficiencies. Those laws did not state how those efficienceis were to be met, only that they had to be. So we have CFs that use only 25% of the juice of the old incandescents, have a much longer life span, and cost only about twice as much now as the incandescent. And now, LEDs are coming on the market that use even less power, last many times longer then the CFs, and presently cost about 15 times as much.

Seems to me to be good market economics.

 

[Flopper]

the squiggly bulbs cost more up front but you save more money in the long run because they last longer and they use less energy.

How much less? They cost 30 times as much....

Depends on how many you use. In my case, it was quite a bit less because I did six rooms all at once – including two finished rooms in the basement with no windows where we burnt 10 bulbs for about 12 hours each day. It really did make a big difference.

I kept all the old bulbs and have been using them up in places like the outside lights.

The squiggly bulbs also last a lot longer then the regular bulbs – much longer.

I think the average wattages of the squiggly blubs burn about 75% less energy then the regular bulbs and that’s quite a bit less.

And, since these new LED bulbs run much cooler than the florescent ones, I would expect them to virtually never burn out.

I think what a lot of people miss is the savings in electricity costs. You get the light equivalent of a 100 watt bulb for 23 watts with a CFL. With an LED it's even greater. 90% of your electrical cost to light your home with incandescent bulbs goes to produce heat not light. An incandescent bulb is primarily a heater.

 

[Avatar9]

If you expect people to bay $15 for a bulb, you have to show that each individual bulb puts $14 back in my pocket in something resembling a reasonable time frame in order to justify itself.

What's actually expected is that the priice will come down even further. Are you so completely partisan on this issue, that you can't even acknowledge that they used to be $50 and are likely to be lower in the future, just like CFLs?

You're one of them retarded people, aint ya?

Definition of PARTISAN

1
: a firm adherent to a party, faction, cause, or person; especially : one exhibiting blind, prejudiced, and unreasoning allegiance

2
a : a member of a body of detached light troops making forays and harassing an enemy

Just what political party have I advocated in this thread?

I'm a person who doesn't wanna pay fifteen bucks for a lightbulb without a damn good reason

 

[daveman]

I think its great.........but dont tell me what kind of light bulb I can or cant buy. Thats just stupid silliness.

I love how liberals talk about personal freedoms. They're all for it......as long as you have to do it their way.

What makes you think we should be held hostage to your notion of freedom? It's ridiculous to complain about losing an out-dated technology, when we're in the energy situation we're in.

What's your notion of freedom? Obviously, it doesn't mean actual freedom.

 

[Uncensored2008]

what if it lasts 10 times as long as a regular bulb and uses less energy.

General Electric has their best engineers working on the lifespan problem. With luck, GE can have LED bulbs burning out every 3 months, making them viable for production.

 

[Uncensored2008]

the squiggly bulbs cost more up front but you save more money in the long run because they last longer and they use less energy.

Last longer than what? Not incandescent bulbs. CFL burns out amazingly fast AND isn't nearly as energy efficient as advertised. IF you leave your lights on 24/7. then CFL will show a significant energy savings over standard bulbs. IF you turn your lights on and off on a regular basis, with active state times generally 30 minutes or less, the CFL will actually consume more power than incandescent bulbs. CFL bulbs have a self-contained ballast, but the ballast is still there and must be charged every time the light is turned on.

LED is actually good technology, CFL is not and never was.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

The CFC bulbs are also supposed to last long. They don't. they also contain all kinds of pollutants.

I have an Led reading light that is supposed to be the equivalent of a 75 watt bulb. (It is an array of 20 LEDs) It doesn't work as advertised. However, I really like the idea.

What we have is a present value problem. Currently, incondesents have to be replaced every 18 months or so. They cost about 85 cents each. That means over the life of the LED bulb you would pay around $8.50 to replace bulbs over time. That is half the price of the LED bulb.
11
Plus there is the cost of the electricity. Figure 3 hours of use per day that is 1100 hours of use per year. +/~ An LED bulb using 5 watts would use 5500 wats per year or 5 1/2 kilowatts. A regular bulb would use 82 1/2 kilowatts per year. A difference of 77 wats per year. PGE, the local utility charges 10 cents per watt, or in the case of our example, $7.70 per bulb per year. You would be able to recapture the cost of your investment in the new bulb in two years in terms of reduced energy use. The fact you aren't buying a new bulb every 18 months is a huge savings in terms of hassle and annoyance in addition to the 85 cents.

So for the life time of the LED bulb, you would pay out $106.5 in replacement bulbs and electrical more for regular bulbs than if you used the LED bulb. This is not the absolute cost, this is the difference between the costs. And this is per bulb. Multiply this by the number of bulbs in your house......

And this is Oregon numbers. I understand that since we use Hydro here rather than other forms, our costs are a lot lower than costs elsewhere.

So, assuming we can actually get a bulb that will put out the necessary amount of light (not quite there yet in my experience) and will actually work for 15 years (again, with my experience of CFCs this is not a real number either) going to LED is a huge cost and annoyance saving that you should jump on.

 

[flacaltenn]

I am doing current product development in LED lighting. So I've been completely privvy to what's there now and what is coming..

1) There's NO DOUBT that LED lighting will put CFLs into the (toxic waste) dustbin of technology.

2) Objections to the "blueness" of the light are REAL.. They actually relate to production of hormones that control "your awakeness". There are already "warm color" LEDs that are similiar in brightness to the "cool white" that are being sold. But they are slightly lower in efficiency (maybe 10%) and more expensive because of brightness.

3) The bigger issue is what's technically called Color Rendering Index (CRI). That's a measure of the "flatness" of the spectral output. The light from an LED might look yellow or white -- but it has significants gaps in color illumination bands. So if you placed a multi-colored pkg under the light, some hues of red (or other colors) could be absent (look grey or black). (also an issue, but not as severe for CFLs). So you want a good CRI rating if the manufacturer provides it.

4) Costs probably WILL come down in the short term -- but don't expect that to continue. Because the efficiency limit is near and getting closer means (maybe) exotic expensive materials and new thermal pkging that is also costly.

5) The savings are real.. But what you can buy at Home Depot is gonna be dictated by dogeatdog marketing specs. So the chances that selling awful blueish light replacements will poison the market for a decade or so. Because the marketing MBA geniuses want to place a premium on energy efficiency rather than a "sensible, pleasing" product..

If you research replacements that have a spectral output from 3000 to 4500 Kelvin and a CRI of greater than 70% -- you will be very pleased. Even if the efficiency is slightly lower and the price is slightly higher. Don't get sucked into bargain basement prices for brand new technology. That never works out --- does it?

Hope Chris reads this before he runs out to buy a truckload of those $15 bulbs. Or maybe typing in a "black light" room would improve his mood...

And it would fit with his beaded curtain and lava lamp motif...

 

[Chris]

I am doing current product development in LED lighting. So I've been completely privvy to what's there now and what is coming..

1) There's NO DOUBT that LED lighting will put CFLs into the (toxic waste) dustbin of technology.

2) Objections to the "blueness" of the light are REAL.. They actually relate to production of hormones that control "your awakeness". There are already "warm color" LEDs that are similiar in brightness to the "cool white" that are being sold. But they are slightly lower in efficiency (maybe 10%) and more expensive because of brightness.

3) The bigger issue is what's technically called Color Rendering Index (CRI). That's a measure of the "flatness" of the spectral output. The light from an LED might look yellow or white -- but it has significants gaps in color illumination bands. So if you placed a multi-colored pkg under the light, some hues of red (or other colors) could be absent (look grey or black). (also an issue, but not as severe for CFLs). So you want a good CRI rating if the manufacturer provides it.

4) Costs probably WILL come down in the short term -- but don't expect that to continue. Because the efficiency limit is near and getting closer means (maybe) exotic expensive materials and new thermal pkging that is also costly.

5) The savings are real.. But what you can buy at Home Depot is gonna be dictated by dogeatdog marketing specs. So the chances that selling awful blueish light replacements will poison the market for a decade or so. Because the marketing MBA geniuses want to place a premium on energy efficiency rather than a "sensible, pleasing" product..

If you research replacements that have a spectral output from 3000 to 4500 Kelvin and a CRI of greater than 70% -- you will be very pleased. Even if the efficiency is slightly lower and the price is slightly higher. Don't get sucked into bargain basement prices for brand new technology. That never works out --- does it?

Hope Chris reads this before he runs out to buy a truckload of those $15 bulbs. Or maybe typing in a "black light" room would improve his mood...

And it would fit with his beaded curtain and lava lamp motif...

I hope you wait until they come out to judge.

Sheesh!

Someone invents a light bulb that used 85% less energy and lasts 8 years, and all people can do is bitch.