Home Depot led bulbs out of date?

degarb

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Someone stole the led bulb from my bedroom. Failing to catch the thief, I chose to stand for half hour at Home Depot, studying the selection, to replace the missing led, only to find I was so underwhelmed by the lpw of the selection that I couldn't pull the trigger on their buck ninty closeout bulb, nor the three dollar Cree bulbs... I concluded they are still selling 2015 crop of led bulbs. Oddly, I am drawn to Walmart, where their cheaper house brand has a higher lpw than these Cree bulbs. This is irritating, since I prefer to buy a Cree, but nothing to approach my headlamp xpl v6's 202 lpw led, are in this crop for sale.

A 1946 US army cannot compete with the 1970 army, which cannot compete with a 2010 army. Neither can a 2016 led with the 2015 leds. I don't turn on my lights to see (apparently) but to see something operate as efficiently as possible in action. My goal is really, really low wattage lights with excellent lumen levels, or just dang bright enough to motivate everyone in the house to do work and be productive.

The bulb I was most tempted to buy was a giant edison based corn cob for $39 that put out 4000 lumens at 5000k at 39 watts. But I feared the painful clubbing potential, in the hands of my wife, if I installed in the bedroom or living room.
 
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iamhacked

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Well, Cree (or anyone else) hasn't released their 2016 crop of LED bulbs yet. The 2015 Cree one had lower lpw than the previous one too, in favor of better CRI. I believe 90~100 lpw is the best for non-dimmable A19 LED bulbs currently?
 
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Stereodude

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This is because the race is to the bottom in terms of price is on, and performance is going by the wayside. In general, newer bulbs are no more efficient and have less heatsinking which leads to shorter life times, but they're cheaper... :green:

If they don't turn LED light bulbs into replaceable commodity items, there's no money to be made long term in LED bulbs. If they have a 50k hour lifetime, once everyone has replaced all their bulbs with them, they'll basically never need to buy another one. This is why the bulbs are going from 25k hours to 15k to 10k, etc. It wouldn't surprise me if we get to 5k hours soon. Phoebus cartel all over again.
 
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degarb

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If they don't turn LED light bulbs into replaceable commodity items, there's no money to be made long term in LED bulbs. If they have a 50k hour lifetime, once everyone has replaced all their bulbs with them, they'll basically never need to buy another one. This is why the bulbs are going from 25k hours to 15k to 10k, etc. It wouldn't surprise me if we get to 5k hours soon. Phoebus cartel all over again.

I have around 30 bulbs (in fixtures) in and outside my house, which is a small house by US standards. 30 bulbs times xx price, lasting xx years.

Where my kids and wife leave some lights on all the time, my goal is 4 watt bulbs with as close to 200 lpw as possible (not yet attainable, but I really do think 130 lpw lamps are possible). I really don't even like to look at any led bulb that isn't at least a tad over 100 lpw, as I have now a tub full of 45 to 55 lpw working cfl's that I have retired and parents have retired. Actually, led bulbs/lamps that don't hit 100 lpw turn my stomach, so to speak.

Now, the take away would be: 1. When will the good led bulbs that perform near the led state of the art of over 156 lpw be available, and where? 2. I just checked online, cant find a 4000 lumen corncob to beat the Home Depot one on price. Tempting for my basement/homework area/garage. 3. I have hinted at the over 100 lumen $2.xx WM (of all places!!! Who is the biggest bottom diver of all time.) bulbs, eco-smart perhaps is brand. I got several 6 and 8 watt versions of this bulb, which are way brighter than my 11 and 14 watt cfls imho. 4. As I see it, best warranty is efficiency so the led's heat is less likely to destroy itself. But yeah, the heat sink are astonishingly disappearing prematurely when the efficiency hasn't even hit 200 lpw, which is point where sink size can be more appreciably shrunk.
 
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Stereodude

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Now, the take away would be: 1. When will the good led bulbs that perform near the led state of the art of over 156 lpw be available, and where?
First, I would guess they won't be unless using very high efficiency LEDs somehow makes them cheaper. This seems unlikely since high efficiency LEDs are going to command a healthy price premium at the BoM level.

Second, for reasonable light dispersion similar to an incandescent you need multiple emitters. With 200lm/W LEDs you'd need maybe 2 for a 60W equivalent LED to hit the required lumen level without really pushing the dies. Two LED dies aren't going to have the right light dispersion. If you need a handful of LED why use the expensive ones you're barely stressing? This another factor in favor of lower efficiency emitters.

Third, people tend to be bad at math when it comes to calculating long term cost. They'd rather buy a 8W 60W equivalent for $2 with a 5k hour lifetime than a 4W 60W equivalent for $8 with a 25k hour lifetime even if it will cost them less in the long run.

Fourth, there's not much savings to be had in electrical costs going from an 8W 60W equivalent to a 4W 60W equivalent, so people just don't care. It's in the noise.

My suspicion is that we'll see very high efficiency LEDs instead in LED integrated light fixtures with 50k+ hour life times instead of replacement bulbs. There's just not enough demand for more expensive A19 style bulbs with higher performance.
 

Lynx_Arc

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But if you're in the Midwest, most of your electrical bill is the air conditioner, no?
+1 to this.... changing out CFLs to "save" money on electricity vs LED's one would have to be using a lot or lumens for a lot of hours to make much of a dent in the electric bill vs turning the AC thermostat 2 degrees difference in the summertime.
 

Stereodude

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+1 to this.... changing out CFLs to "save" money on electricity vs LED's one would have to be using a lot or lumens for a lot of hours to make much of a dent in the electric bill vs turning the AC thermostat 2 degrees difference in the summertime.
I'm going to be comfortable. Screw the power bill. Then again, I have exactly 1 LED light bulb in use in my house. A Philips L-prize bulb over the kitchen table. Most of the bulbs are CFLs, and I have no plans to replace them for LEDs until they burn out and I run out of spare CFLs. However, If I could get very high efficiency 100W equivalent LED bulbs, like 150lm/W, I would put them in the lights flanking the garage door since those are on all night every night.
 
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Lynx_Arc

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I'm going to be comfortable. Screw the power bill. Then again, I have exactly 1 LED light bulb in use in my house. A Philips L-prize bulb over the kitchen table. Most of the bulbs are CFLs, and I have no plans to replace them for LEDs until they burn out and I run out of spare CFLs. However, If I could get very high efficiency 100W equivalent LED bulbs, like 150lm/W, I would put them in the lights flanking the garage door since those are on all night every night.
I think the 150lm/W LED lights will come first from big overhead arrays like 4x8 ceiling lights. I think we are getting a lot closer to the time when LED bulbs and fixtures will become mainstream perhaps another 3-5 years and CFL's will be like incan bulbs with the exception of those who are really into CRI big time.
 

oldwesty4ever

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160 LPW LED bulbs are already here. I have a 5w, 800 lumen clear LED Filament lamp, flicker free, works great!
 

Lynx_Arc

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Here you go guys.

http://www.airled.com/our-products/oro-a19-2/

Between this and an actual 60w incandescent and an Ecosmart 6.5w LED filament, it does look to be 60w equivalent.
Without a review anywhere on the internet I wouldn't buy that it is 160 lumens/watt at all. I just read an article about filament LED bulbs and they list a 60 watt equivalent at 7-10 watts. I'm betting that the numbers are hyped on that bulb and it doesn't put out 800 actual lumens nor take as low as 5 watts as the claims of 10% less means nowhere near 5 but rather 6.3W and 60w equivalent doesn't necesarily mean 800 lumens but in the range of that could be more like 720 lumens.
 

bykfixer

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Phoebus Cartel.... good one stereodude.
Yup... it's just a matter of time.

I too have a house full of CFL's and a few kryptons in lamps whose shade requires an incan shaped globe.

Just bought a few more low output CFL's to replace one in a lamp I put it in about 10 years ago. If these go half that time I have at least a lifetime supply.
I was actually surprised at how nuetral the new crop is. That 10 year old one was pretty blue.
Not ready to jump on the LED lamp bulbs yet. Still cost too much for me.
 

Lynx_Arc

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Phoebus Cartel.... good one stereodude.
Yup... it's just a matter of time.

I too have a house full of CFL's and a few kryptons in lamps whose shade requires an incan shaped globe.

Just bought a few more low output CFL's to replace one in a lamp I put it in about 10 years ago. If these go half that time I have at least a lifetime supply.
I was actually surprised at how nuetral the new crop is. That 10 year old one was pretty blue.
Not ready to jump on the LED lamp bulbs yet. Still cost too much for me.
Yes CFLs are actually as cheap or cheaper than incans used to be now with the regulations on incans requiring them to be halogen the price of those bulbs went up 3-5 times over the $1-$2 set of 4 bulbs old school incans to $5-$10 for a set of 4 hybrid halogen incan bulbs (with halogen cartridge inside). I've bought some generic incan (halogen) bulbs and they don't last as long as the old incans did in use and the savings in electricity is negated by the higher cost and shorter life.
I too have a dozen or so CFLs but I'm running low on 100 watt equivalent ones the 40s and 60s are dirt cheap in the stores at times 88 cents a 4 pack (I think subsidized by power company).

What irks me is that with the more efficient bulbs of newer technologies the 100 and 150 and up to 300 watt incans you used to be able to buy the newer tech bulbs can't be found at similar cost/lumen. A 150 "watt" CFL is a lot more expensive than 2 75 "watt" CFLs put together and forget finding a 150 "watt" LED bulb for anywhere near a price worth considering.
I would love to find a $10 200 "watt" LED bulb to put in a few places in sealed fixtures or outdoors that I would either leave on all night or use very little to upgrade the light output of those areas.
 

markr6

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I would love to find a $10 200 "watt" LED bulb to put in a few places in sealed fixtures or outdoors that I would either leave on all night or use very little to upgrade the light output of those areas.

I run two 100W equivalent LEDs in each fixture in my garage with those "y" adapters. 3200lumens! But that may not be an option in your fixture if space does not allow.
 

Lynx_Arc

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I run two 100W equivalent LEDs in each fixture in my garage with those "y" adapters. 3200lumens! But that may not be an option in your fixture if space does not allow.
Not an option where I need to use them otherwise I would have considered that. One thing that really irritates me is I have several 3 way table lamps and the fluorescent 3 way bulbs are not good as the levels aren't the same as incans in spacing and they don't make them any brighter than the 150 lumens incans and LED variations of these are not even as good. I would love to see a 3 way 30/100/250 LED bulb or something like that for these lamps but I have a 100 watt CFL in one and a 30/70/100 in the other which is more like a 40/80/100 it shows 20/11/26 watts on the lamp itself I find the mid and high modes too close together and the low is ok but as you see closer to 1/2 than 1/3
 

StarHalo

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I would love to see a 3 way 30/100/250 LED bulb or something like that

I'm very pleased with the Philips Hue bulbs, bearing in mind that they are "60W equivalent"/800 lumens max, but are otherwise infinitely variable from 0-100% output aside from choosing your own Kelvin/color..
 

Lynx_Arc

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I'm very pleased with the Philips Hue bulbs, bearing in mind that they are "60W equivalent"/800 lumens max, but are otherwise infinitely variable from 0-100% output aside from choosing your own Kelvin/color..
I don't have a dimmer on my table lamps so that isn't useful to me I would have to either install a touch dimming circuit as the lamps are metal or a new socket with a dimmer switch or an inline dimmer and to be honest I don't need dimming in the lamp only 2 levels a very high and a medium low a 15w/200W would be fine because either the lamp it to light up the room brightly or just bright enough to navigate through I don't spend time in my living room at all.
 
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