An $18 LED Bulb That Lasts 5 Years?

1. Steve Milano Leong

   posted on July 6th, 2011 at 2:14 pm

   According to the picture view of this lamp, it is very common in China at this moment but with different qualities. For my own opinion, price mentioned is a bit higher than everage and the newer made products are not made by aluminum material, even better specification than this model. China companies used to copy each other. Good products are not sold into China local markets due to copying problems. Anyway, can try if this lamp can last for 5 years, I doubt.

2. Ric Heivilin

   posted on April 19th, 2012 at 4:28 pm

   WHY ARE REPUGLICANS SO AFRAID OF THIS?

12 Archived Comments

1. 

   Nicolette

   posted on May 10th, 2011 at 10:25 am

   An amazing product, I think it would be huge if this company could branch out and produce lights for Terrariums, they’d make a killing (talking as someone who replaces a terrarium bulb every 3 months for roughly $9 a bulb)

   Unfortunately I find people forget that these bulbs DO need to still be recycled.

2. 

   Timothy Laurent

   posted on May 10th, 2011 at 8:48 pm

   I like the idea of the LED light bulb–an amazing savings in energy consumption (even over CFL).

   However, the math doesn’t seem to quite add up… Standard 60W incandescent light bulbs can be had for less than 40¢ at my corner hardware store (Chicago suburbs). Or, I could grab one of those long-life (2000 hour) GE “Color-Enhancing” 60-Watt bulb for 94¢ each. $66 seems a bit high.

   Please also tell us about the dimmable capabilities of the Pixi bulb.

3. 

   WholeBuffalo

   posted on May 11th, 2011 at 8:02 am

   Timothy-
   The math easily adds up when you compare LEDs versus incandescent bulb. That 40 cent incandescent bulb you mention will cost $360+ over the lifespan of an LED, and you will have to replace it over 25 times.
   LEDs are harder to justify versus CFLs, which are already pretty efficient. LEDs tend to have better quality light and come on instantly. They also do not contain mercury.

4. 

   Marianne

   posted on May 11th, 2011 at 8:24 am

   Glad you are highlighting the energy-efficient LED light bulb but I’d like to point out that the 5 year lifespan is true only if you are using your light bulb 24 hours a day and almost no-one does that (if you did you’d be replacing a 1000-hour incandescent every 42 days) The expected lifetime of an LED is closer to 25-50 years given that the average use of a light bulb is 2-3 hours a day. Even if you used a 50,000-hour LED bulb for an 8-hour work day, you’d be looking at 17 years. You could install an LED when your child is born and you wouldn’t have to replace it until they go to college or later!

5. 

   mstar

   posted on May 11th, 2011 at 10:19 am

   OK so where do we buy them?

6. 

   Stephen

   posted on May 11th, 2011 at 10:19 am

   This is all very silly. I can’t read by the light of a 25 or 40-watt bulb. Nor am I a color-blind amphibian who might be satisfied with the blue-greenish light provided by these new bulbs.

   The cones in the human retina are color-sensitive. We have the best visual acuity in bright warm light, that is, light in the yellow-red spectrum. In dim light our vision relies upon the color-blind cones which have greater sensitivity to light, but only in the blue-green range.

   Detailed work, like sewing, and reading benefit from contrast, which can be enhanced by color vision.

   You can learn more about this by reading about the Purkinje Shift. The phenomenon explains why some flowers, like geraniums, seems to change color at dusk.

   There is another important consideration. We use 60-cycle alternating current which causes ALL fluorescent bulbs to flicker. This is probably also true for ALL LED bulbs. The human eye detects the flicker which can cause eye strain. We don’t necessarily notice the flicker, because our brains compensate, and because our “Criticial Flicker Fusion Thesholds” vary, depending upon many factors, such as how tired we may be, or even how far along we may be in the menstrual cycle.

   Incandescent and halogen bulbs do NOT produce flicker, however, because they produce light by heating a filament which then glows. The filament stays hot enough while the alternating current changes polarity that the filament continues to produce light.

   If you want to read or do detailed work, like sewing, the best light is from a conventional or halogen light bulb. OR you can flood your desk or office with a lot of lot with a WARM WHITE fluorescent and filling in the flicker with a small wattage incandescent or halogen desk lamp.

   Office managers and inexperienced architects often order Cool White fluorescents, because they produce the most lumens per watt. But we are NOT light meters nor frogs. Our eyes see best and read best with Full Spectrum or warm light, so that we can discriminate colors and details.

   This is technical, but not really so difficult to understand. The US Congress passed the “bulb ban” legislation without the slightest understanding of how we actually see.

7. 

   Stephen

   posted on May 11th, 2011 at 10:54 am

   Correction: Some amphibians, such as some toads, are color blind. However many amphibians and frogs do have color vision, but often within a narrower spectrum of light than humans. Salamanders have color vision, but fewer color-sensitive receptors, so their color vision may lack detail. Some animals and birds, have BETTER color vision than humans.

   Many insects can see ultraviolet light and more colors than humans; this helps them find the pollen in the center of a flower, since the ultraviolet light reflected off flower petals is concentrated nearest the pollen.

   The point is that it is silly to talk about light bulbs without considering the color spectrum of the light produced and how humans actually see. A light bulb which produced only ultraviiolet light would leave humans “in the dark”.

8. 

   Timothy Laurent

   posted on May 11th, 2011 at 11:33 am

   WholeBuffalo -

   My observation wasn’t based around the cost of electricity to illuminate the 60-Watt incandescent bulb, but rather the strict cost of the hardware as discussed in the article. The $66 figure eludes to a $1.94 cost per unit ($66/34) light bulb. That seemed high to me–I was hoping Amanda would elaborate. As per your $360+ cost to power the bulb, no argument aside from the cost of KWH in LA is going to vary from Fargo, ND… Your figure of 12¢ per KWH is a bit higher than the national average (at least according to the Department of Energy for Jan 2011) of 9.62¢ per KWH.

   Also, I agree that LED should be a better choice over CFL–especially knowing the life expectancy of the CFL is much shorter when switched on and off frequently, the CFL does much better went left “on” for more than 15-20 minutes (versus a few minutes). And, no mercury is always a bonus!

9. 

   WholeBuffalo

   posted on May 11th, 2011 at 6:21 pm

   Timothy–
   Sorry I misunderstood you.
   The 9.62 cents/kWh figure is for all users of electricity. I was using the residential figures (10.99 cents per kWh for Jan 2011, 11.62 cents per kWh rolling average for the last year) because that is the target customer for bulbs such as these.

10. 

    mariposaman

    posted on May 15th, 2011 at 8:47 pm

    Ideally the best artificial light mimics the wide spectrum of sunlight. I am not a big fan of warm white, it seems to be a light that we have become accustomed to but it does not render colours properly.

    I find the anticipated life of CFL overly optimistic. I wonder how they decided on the life of this when they have not had any burn out.

    I see the round bulb configuation with the Edison screw base has been copied. I wonder if it is time for a new style of lighting to take over, that one has been in use well over a century.

11. 

    HalnineK

    posted on June 6th, 2011 at 9:13 pm

    We really shouldn’t be using the expensive components required to make LED’s in such a high-demand product like a common household lightbulb. For one the cost is too high, and also the rarer elements required to construct them will have to be taken away from somewhere. I don’t see this as a better option than CFL’s, even when considering the small amount of mercury CFL’s contain.

    When LED’s can be constructed from a cheap element then it might be a good idea. Until then, it’s simply not cost-effective to use LED’s instead of CFL’s

12. 

    Jim

    posted on June 8th, 2011 at 12:12 pm

    http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/11/prweb4758544.htm

    Our company replaced every bulb with LED tubes. We are saving money plus we do not have the hummm of the old tubes The quality of the light is clean and bright.