Don't buy Lights of America 120V LED Bulbs

[JohnR66]

I've just measured 2.25v across the resistor that's in series with the top tier of the lamp, where there are 6 LEDs. That comes out to 22.5ma passing through the series-connected LEDs. This surprises me a little considering the high brightness. Apparently they're not as overdriven as I thought they'd be.

Thanks for that. I had some cheap ebay LEDs fade on me after a few weeks at 15ma (just checked them last night), so I can see these fading faster in toasty warm cluster like that. Depending on the filtering, they could be peaking at a higher current.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Thanks for that. I had some cheap ebay LEDs fade on me after a few weeks at 15ma (just checked them last night), so I can see these fading faster in toasty warm cluster like that. Depending on the filtering, they could be peaking at a higher current.

Good point. There's a single 15uf 200v electrolytic in there and I don't know how well it's filtering out the ripple. If I'm feeling adventurous this weekend I might put a scope on it.

If I was designing this I would've chosen an electrolytic with a higher breakdown voltage though.

 

[mossybank2000]

I am very disappointed in the 40 w equiv. 1.5 Watt LED bulbs I got from Walmart. They put out very little light. More like a 15 watt standard bulb. No where NEAR a 40 watt like they claim.

First off, they last about a month before going out. Walmart was ok about taking those back since I kept the packing and receipt but the ones that failed after 95 days they wouldn't accept even though the package says if the bulb fails within 2 years take it back to the retailer OR send it back to lights of america. Well, Walmart says the packing can say that but it doesn't fall within their return policy so they won't take them back. If you try to get lights of America to replace them the will charge you in shipping the amount of a new bulb so is that really under warranty if they are ripping you like that? After buying 8 bulbs, 7 are already out. 2 of those failed after only an hours use or less (turning on the light about 3 to 4 times at most). I know LED will be the way to go in the future but right now, they don't put out enough light and don't last very long due to the manufacturing process. Lights of America should be ashamed. They really have a gimmick going with their 2 year return policy. It is far cheaper and better on the environment using standard bulbs until they get this technology down a little better. Bulbs that last a few clicks of the light switch fill up a land fill faster than the 100 year old bulb technology that last 2 or 3 years.

 

[likeguymontag]

On the other hand, Walmart near me carries a 120V LED bulb that appears very well engineered. It's the GE LED7PAR20/NFL. It has a very serious heatsink, and uses three XR-Es. Seven watts, 200 lumens, 20 degree beam, 3000K. The sales sheet pdf from GE claims 70% lumen maintainence at 20K hours, and based on the heft of the heatsink, I'd guess that will be accurate. Can't be used with a dimmer.

It still has terrible efficiency compared to linear fluorescents and high-binned modern emitters. ~30 lumens per watt? I guess it compares favorably to R20 format CFLs at about 35 lumens per watt.

 

[2xTrinity]

On the other hand, Walmart near me carries a 120V LED bulb that appears very well engineered. It's the GE LED7PAR20/NFL. It has a very serious heatsink, and uses three XR-Es. Seven watts, 200 lumens, 20 degree beam, 3000K. The sales sheet pdf from GE claims 70% lumen maintainence at 20K hours, and based on the heft of the heatsink, I'd guess that will be accurate. Can't be used with a dimmer.

It still has terrible efficiency compared to linear fluorescents and high-binned modern emitters. ~30 lumens per watt? I guess it compares favorably to R20 format CFLs at about 35 lumens per watt.

30 lm/W seems too low to be an XR-E. The LEDs might be cree XR, the predecessor to the XR-E. Warm White XR-Es at P4 bin, even after driver and reflector losses, should still be well over 300 lumens when consuming 7 watts.

The advantage here would be for hard to reach places which are on/off cycled rapidly:

1) reflector-type fluorescents take close to a minute to "warm up" and their lifespan diminishes with short-cycles
2) LEDs will still last longer than incans in terms of bulb-life (hopefully), saving the replacement trouble.

 

[likeguymontag]

30 lm/W seems too low to be an XR-E. The LEDs might be cree XR, the predecessor to the XR-E. Warm White XR-Es at P4 bin, even after driver and reflector losses, should still be well over 300 lumens when consuming 7 watts.

The advantage here would be for hard to reach places which are on/off cycled rapidly:

1) reflector-type fluorescents take close to a minute to "warm up" and their lifespan diminishes with short-cycles
2) LEDs will still last longer than incans in terms of bulb-life (hopefully), saving the replacement trouble.

You're right, it may not use XR-Es; that's my mistake for assuming that any Cree led is an XR-E. I can verify that the leds have four bond wires; that may help determine which Cree emitter they are. The PCB with the leds is easily seperable from the ballast, so I should measure the drive current and figure out how much of the 7W is burned in the ballast vs. the leds.

You're definitely right about the advantages that a good LED bulb could have over fluoro/incan, but while this particular led bulb appears to be a good product, I don't think it's good enough for general purpose use. Specialty only, for the near future.

 

[R33E8]

You're right, it may not use XR-Es; that's my mistake for assuming that any Cree led is an XR-E. I can verify that the leds have four bond wires; that may help determine which Cree emitter they are. The PCB with the leds is easily seperable from the ballast, so I should measure the drive current and figure out how much of the 7W is burned in the ballast vs. the leds.

You're definitely right about the advantages that a good LED bulb could have over fluoro/incan, but while this particular led bulb appears to be a good product, I don't think it's good enough for general purpose use. Specialty only, for the near future.

Could you take some pictures? It could help us identify it easier.

 

[likeguymontag]

Could you take some pictures? It could help us identify it easier.

Here are pictures. My camera can't take macro shots any closer, unfortunately, and I think I'll have to find a different photo host if I want to inline pics.

Edit: this may work, this may not. Works for me, but it might be a dynamic URL.

 

[R33E8]

Thanks for the pictures. It seems like they are indeed Cree LED's.. Maybe the took the actual rating including the driver loss for the power rating and optical loss for the lumen rating. I'm am very happy they don't seem overrated .. I think we need more companies to do their ratings like this.

 

[ledstein]

I've just measured 2.25v across the resistor that's in series with the top tier of the lamp, where there are 6 LEDs. That comes out to 22.5ma passing through the series-connected LEDs. This surprises me a little considering the high brightness. Apparently they're not as overdriven as I thought they'd be.

Lifetime test for good china 5mm leds white and blue:

20 mA 200-500 hours
15 mA 1000 horus+

You can cut more from these number if the bulb is from wallmart.

And there is another thing. All high voltage led bulbs made in china (and that menas 95% of those on the market) use a powersupply which is very sensitive to voltage peaks. The degree of sensitivity depends of the parts used and so does the failure rate: between 12-50% in the first 6 months.

 

[James S]

I was also tempted to pick up that pack of 3 Lights Of America candelabra bulbs from SAMS a couple of weeks ago. My testing is similar to the others here. Let one just plugged in here on my desk for a couple of weeks and it has reduced significantly it's brightness. They will not last for anywhere near the time that they claim. Quick and dirty test with my luxmeter showed that initially they had an output of 6700 lux, in 2 weeks reduced to 1270 lux! That goes from borderline usable to night light in just 2 weeks. One thing they did get right though was the color temp. Warm without being orange or yellow. I liked the color temp of the lamp quite a bit. Shame it wasn't bright enough and didn't last.

It's nice to see LED's starting to show up on commercial shelves, but just like the introduction of CFL's year ago, the initial cheap ones will be complete garbage.

That being said I've had very good luck with some of the mail order cree, luxeon and nichia based lamps. I would just stay away from arrays of 5mm leds for now.

 

[yawglenn]

I saw these at Walmart a couple months ago. I bought 4 of the candelabra white 1.5 W. After a month only 2 worked! and the other one dimmed to differing brightnesses. Although I only had 1 of the original packing and a receipt for 1 they gave me cash back for the 1 and a Walmart credit for the other 3. I had to request to speak to the manager to get the credit.

I had a similiar problem last year with some Walmart "eco" CFL's

Walmart --> sometimes crap --> buy usually a generous return policy.

 

[Bronx68]

Yes these led light bulbs made by "Lights of America" are junk. I purchased two of them and one has failed within 3 weeks and the other has already gotten very dim. By the way isn't "Lights of America" made in China an oxymoron?

 

[snakebite]

maybe loa is finally getting the message?
saw some at sams club claiming to be "made in the usa" with what apears to be nichia led's.
which if not overdriven should at least last a while.
its going to take a consumer reports test of everything on the market to clear out the real trash.
like those 5 mm nightlights.i a month they are a dim blue.but install a nichia ds and a year later they are still 100% compared to a control put away and not used.
seems a good led would be the most expensive part of these things.

 

[LEDninja]

its going to take a consumer reports test of everything on the market to clear out the real trash.

Consumer reports tests things out of the box. If an item performs well for the 1st week it may get a good report. Unless they are aware of potential longevity problems they will not do long term testing.

The government is aware of the potential longevity problems of LED light bulbs.

From the Energy Star website:
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=ssl.pr_why_es_com

Quote 1:
"After less than a year of use, a poorly designed LED product can flicker, shift in color, look dim, offer uneven light, or continue to use power when turned off, among other problems."

Quote 2:
"To qualify for ENERGY STAR, LED lighting products must pass a variety of tests to prove that the products will display the following characteristics:

Brightness is equal to or greater than existing lighting technologies (incandescent or fluorescent) and light is well distributed over the area lighted by the fixture.
Light output remains constant over time, only decreasing towards the end of the rated lifetime (at least 35,000 hours or 12 years based on use of 8 hours per day).
Excellent color quality. The shade of white light appears clear and consistent over time.
Efficiency is as good as or better than fluorescent lighting.
Light comes on instantly when turned on.
No flicker when dimmed.
No off-state power draw. The fixture does not use power when it is turned off, with the exception of external controls, whose power should not exceed 0.5 watts in the off state.
Bad design can lead to a wide range of problems, some immediately observable and some not. Poorly designed products often come with exaggerated claims while failing to deliver on the quality specifications above.

Choose ENERGY STAR quailified LED fixtures to ensure the products you purchase perform well."

That 35000 hour (~4 years) minimum runtime test is probably why we have not seen many (I have not seen any so far) Energy Star labels on LED light bulbs.

 

[T0RN4D0]

5mm LEDs were never meant to be used as a replacement for 100w incans, and will never work in light bulb aplications. Even high power LED probably won't work very well, especially cheap ones. But if you design a complete light fixture, use materials that transfer heat, with enough surface to dissipate the heat, than it might just work.

You see how much a simple tiny flashlight can heat up in a few minutes... hot LEDs don't last very long and loose their whole point. And sticking a small LED bulb in a closed light fixture that offers zero heat dissipation... you can take a zero from the bulbs ratings.