Lights of America AC bulb replacements

[Dave_H]

In general advertising is not allowed. Mentioning an item together with a link is considered advertising.
Links provided for clarification purposes is tolerated. It is best to 'hide' the link - see how I changed mine.


That is OK.
I have some bulbs that goes very bright, then dim down in half a second. That is worse as the LED is overdriven at every startup.

OK, I guess I could disclaim any financial interest in Canadian
Tire, Sylvania etc. I have not seen LED products from the latter
available elsewhere over-the-counter (which I prefer at this stage,
I can see what I'm buying), but in the interest of people knowing
where to buy, keep things open.

Which brands/types show this power-on bright surge, that
we should be wary of, and is there definite correlation with early
failure?

I design telecom H/W for a living and familiar with inrush
current into convertors which needs to be limited, but output
overshoot is carefully controlled; apperently not so with some
of these cheap consumer-level products.

Dave

 

[purduephotog]

OK, I guess I could disclaim any financial interest in Canadian
Tire, Sylvania etc. I have not seen LED products from the latter
available elsewhere over-the-counter (which I prefer at this stage,
I can see what I'm buying), but in the interest of people knowing
where to buy, keep things open.

Which brands/types show this power-on bright surge, that
we should be wary of, and is there definite correlation with early
failure?

I design telecom H/W for a living and familiar with inrush
current into convertors which needs to be limited, but output
overshoot is carefully controlled; apperently not so with some
of these cheap consumer-level products.

Dave

Dave-

See this link:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/232343

Blasterman has been having some issues - perhaps you can bring your expertise to it?

 

[Bullseye00]

The GE 2.0 & 2.5 watt bulbs have over 500 hours on them and are still close in light level, but *slightly* brighter than the control bulbs w/ just a few minutes run time. I'll continue to run them 24/7 and see how they hold up. At this point I think I'm going to get more and start swapping out the old(dimmed) LoA bulbs.

 

[Bronx68]

I have some experience with the Lights of America bulbs. I have tested 2 of them. One of them only last about a month and the second one is still running but is already dimmer. They appear to be just junk. By the way isn't "Light of America" made in China and oxymoron?

 

[Dave_H]

I have some experience with the Lights of America bulbs. I have tested 2 of them. One of them only last about a month and the second one is still running but is already dimmer. They appear to be just junk. By the way isn't "Light of America" made in China and oxymoron?

Aren't you repeating yourself across two threads...?

I have heard this from others and we get the message. I
bought one but don't plan to acquire more.

That being said: my outdoor 1.5W bulb has passed (or at least
is close to) the 300 hour mark, with no lost LEDs and not
noticably dimmer. Temperature has dropped to the 0C to -10C
range. I'm keeping it as a test bulb; dimmer than the neighbours'
CFLs but 1/10 the power.

Dave

 

[Dave_H]

That being said: my outdoor 1.5W bulb has passed (or at least
is close to) the 300 hour mark, with no lost LEDs and not
noticably dimmer. Temperature has dropped to the 0C to -10C
range. I'm keeping it as a test bulb; dimmer than the neighbours'
CFLs but 1/10 the power.

Dave

I hauled this bulb in after roughly 500-600 hours cold use
(outside temp is down to -20C or below). No lost LEDs and
very subjectively I'd say it hasn't dimmed much if at all.
This is not a victory, 600h is only 2% of rated life. We'll see
how it goes over winter.

Dave

 

[Bullseye00]

My GE 2.0 & 2.5 watt test bulbs have passed 1000 hours, and are still slightly brighter than the control bulbs.
After Christmas I'm going to go into the local Sam's club and advise them to quit carrying the LoA bulbs. They don't last, but the GE's right next to them do. If they want to keep selling LED bulbs, they'd better dump the stuff that doesn't last, so they can keep selling the ones will. As much of a markup as there probably is on the LED bulbs, I bet they want to keep selling at least one product line. We'll see if they believe me.(or if they even care)

 

[Dave_H]

I hauled this bulb in after roughly 500-600 hours cold use
(outside temp is down to -20C or below). No lost LEDs and
very subjectively I'd say it hasn't dimmed much if at all.
This is not a victory, 600h is only 2% of rated life. We'll see
how it goes over winter.

Dave

This bulb is up to over 1200 hours with no lost LEDs and
has not dimmed, at least since being outside. My local
Home Hardware has stopped selling them (think they got
the word?) except for the 1W spot. Last time in Wal-Mart
before Xmas they were still selling LoA, same tired selection
of those and nothing much else LED-wise.

My Sylvania 2W A19 bulb inside is up to a few 100's of
hours and so far no problem (it's only on a few hours in the
evening).

Lastly, decided to test a cheapie $1.00 spiral 9W CFL,
Shensco brand. It's on a timer. So far nothing bad has
happened.

Dave

 

[Dave_H]

This bulb is up to over 1200 hours with no lost LEDs and
has not dimmed, at least since being outside. My local
Home Hardware has stopped selling them (think they got
the word?) except for the 1W spot. Last time in Wal-Mart
before Xmas they were still selling LoA, same tired selection
of those and nothing much else LED-wise.

My Sylvania 2W A19 bulb inside is up to a few 100's of
hours and so far no problem (it's only on a few hours in the
evening).

Lastly, decided to test a cheapie $1.00 spiral 9W CFL,
Shensco brand. It's on a timer. So far nothing bad has
happened.

Dave

Not only has HH not stopped selling LoA bulbs, their selection
has increased :sigh: News sure travels slowly. Costco is still selling the
3-packs of chandelier bulbs.

Sylvania 2W bulb continues to hold up and I bought another
(price down to $10 as noted in Marketplace). I perceive it about
equivalent to a 7W CFL although the lumens don't back this up.
Reminds me of the first CFL I bought back in 1989 which I
calculated would at least break even in 10,000 hours, despite
that it cost about $30. Similarly, this LED won't save money
at current price and hydro rates, but it's helping push low-level
LED lighting ahead in a modest way.

The $1/9W CFL is still OK, managed to get a few more at 50c
each .

Dave

 

[Lightdoctor]

Hi folks, new to this board. I have a wide range of LED interests from
flashlights/lanterns (low-end), room lighting, Christmas lights, night-lights,
and solar-charged (mostly garden) lights. I've done a bit of DIY, nothing
heavy-duty up to now. Looking forward to interesting discussions.

Also, I've been running CFLs since 1989, when they cost $30
each. Even then, that 9W CFL/base would break even against a 40W
incandescent in its lifetime. I still use a few of the straight tubes and
heavy ballast bases. Recently a dollar store started selling 11W
Sunbeam CFLs for $1 each; not saying they're the best, but how times
have changed.

To the subject...Wal-Mart Canada and another hardware chain (Home
Hardware) carry some Lights of America AC bulb replacements, primarily
chandelier and some spots. I recall these were discussed here, with fair
criticism. I decided to try a 1.5W round WW downlight which they
incorrectly claim replaces a 40W incandescent; I'd put it somewhere
between a 7W Christmas bulb and 15W chandelier bulb, or a 4-5W
fluorescent tube (but not done a critical comparison). Nevertheless, it
produces good low-level light and should pay for itself over stated
30,000- hour lifetime, assuming it lasts that long.

If people don't like the looks of them that's fine, just wondering other
than price and limited brightness, what are the issues with these products.

Dave

Under all circumstances, do not buy anything from these morons. They should've gone out of business 20 years ago!

 

[Dave_H]

I saw some new packaging for one of the LoA 1.5W shower-head
bulbs, claiming 112 lumens, 74 lumens/watt, and CRI=67 for the
bright-white version. Not claiming anything's changed, just FYI.

Dave

 

[JohnR66]

Sounds like LOA might be sourcing better LEDs for their bulbs if it has gone this long without fade. Having a product that is claimed to last so long fail in a 2-4 weeks generates many complaints and LOA doesn't want to get booted out of retail spots, so they probably fixed the issue.

It would be hard to determine if the lumen output dropped a little visually without a meter. I might have to buy one to test it.

 

[Dave_H]

Sounds like LOA might be sourcing better LEDs for their bulbs if it has gone this long without fade. Having a product that is claimed to last so long fail in a 2-4 weeks generates many complaints and LOA doesn't want to get booted out of retail spots, so they probably fixed the issue.

It would be hard to determine if the lumen output dropped a little visually without a meter. I might have to buy one to test it.

Perhaps the LEDs are changed but the mounting method has not...
still sticking up by their leads. This makes me wary.

My outdoor bulb may have faded, need to bring it in and see if I
can "remember" its original brightness. Besides it's slowly warming up
out there.

Perhaps we can form chapters of "LoA Watch".:laughing:

With the Sylvania 2W A19 bulb at the same price, I still would
not chance the showerhead. Sylvania 15k lifetime sounds low but
believeable, and relamp is not out of the question by sawing off the
plastic globe at the base, and glueing it back on. Only problem is
it doesn't come in cool white.

Dave