Where are all the LED lights?
There is a ton of information out there about how LED lights use just a tiny percentage of the power of incandescent bulbs. They even dwarf the much-hyped florescent bulbs in terms of power consumption. And let’s not kid ourselves: florescent light bulbs SUCK. The light is terrible, there’s a weird delay when you flick on the light and I don’t know if this is common, but I’ve had terrible luck with them in lasting. They easily would burn out in a tenth of the time a normal bulb would in my house. I’m not sure if that’s typical, or related to something with my house or the brand of bulb I was using.
So you’d think there would be a great market for LED replacements. Yet there aren’t any LED substitutes for the classic light bulb available for sale. An online search yields little, although I was excited to see the LEDlight.com is up and running.
What is going on? Where are the LED products that aren’t flashlights? Could they be hard to find because LEDs basically last forever?
October 4th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
I’ve been looking for LED lighting for the home too, without much luck. However, one bright spot (sorry!) I’ve found is the ColorSplash pool/spa light. Earlier this year I replaced my standard 400 W incandescent (and white-only) pool light with a ~30 W multicolored LED assembly that screws into the existing base. The best part is, one can switch colors and color sequences using the existing switch! They’re pricey at $180 or so on eBay, but supposedly last 100,000 hours (that’s 11 years of continuous use).
Regarding the poor lifetime you’re experiencing with (I presume compact-) flourescents, have you been using them in fixtures with dimmers or light sensors? Those devices reduce the voltage going to the bulb, and CLFs seem to be very sensitive to proper voltage (I’ve lost one or two that way). I have a few CFLs in standard 110 V fixtures that have lasted over 8 years so far (knock wood…).
October 4th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Good tip on the ColorSplash light, thanks!
My CFLs were mostly in fixtures that have very old wiring, which based on what you said is probably the culprit. The home is nearly 100 years old and the wiring is crusty knob and tube. I wonder if it’d be possible to go up to a higher voltage CFL and see if they can handle that better.
October 11th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Actually, if the wiring is that old, then chances are that their resistance has increased (due to corrosion at any terminals/connections), so the voltage getting to the bulb is reduced. In other words, they’re already providing less voltage than the bulb requires, so going to a higher voltage bulb will only exacerbate the problem. You might want to have an electrician measure the voltage available at a few wall sockets as well as at a few bulb fixtures (warning: this could be dangerous for someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing!). I don’t recall offhand if CFL packaging specifies a minimum voltage, but if your fixtures’ voltage is below that, then you may be outta luck.
Just out of curiosity, when you say “knob and tube”, are you referring to rheostat knobs, i.e. dials to crank up the brightness?
October 11th, 2007 at 11:38 am
Thanks for the info. Very helpful. No, knob and tube wiring is the old type of wiring where they run the positive and negative through separate wires and go through joists, etc. via porcelain “tubes”. People typically say “I have knob and tube wiring” to mean “I have old, crappy wiring”. (:
Here’s a picture: http://windsweptsoftware.com/myhouse/k_t.jpg
October 14th, 2007 at 11:18 am
[...] I finally managed to make it to the Seattle Home Show this weekend. And, what did I find? LED Lights! Perhaps I was too hasty before. [...]
October 18th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Thanks for the pic – I learn something every time I visit your site!
October 19th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
BTW, here’s something you could use to test your outlets, though not your bulb fixtures:
http://www.amazon.com/P3-International-Kill-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=pd_bxgy_e_img_a/105-2657733-2391634
I’m getting one to identify my energy guzzlers at home.