# LED Bulbs Are Now Two for $5—Officially Too Cheap to Ignore



## onan38 (Jul 17, 2008)

http://www.wired.com/2015/04/philips-cheap-led-bulbs/


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## Drucifer (Feb 12, 2009)

I swear my living room CFL is getting dimmer at it ages.


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## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

I'm still waiting for "Power too cheap to meter". It said in my 1960s Popular Science Magazines that it was right around the corner.


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## dennisj00 (Sep 27, 2007)

It still is!


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Except for the small matters of critical redundancies and waste disposal, electricity from nuclear power would be a few cents per Kwh- to produce. Cost to consumer might be a bit more!!


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## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

The nuclear power Average Cost Curve and Marginal Cost Curve can barely be fit on the same piece of paper!


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

AntAltMike said:


> I'm still waiting for "Power to cheap to meter". I in my 1960s Popular Science Magazines that it was right around the corner.


Solar on the home is too cheap to meter. Has been for off-grid use for a long time. 

For that matter, both home wind and water installations are too cheap to meter. 

Peace,
Tom


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## bobnielsen (Jun 29, 2006)

I had a friend who moved to Hood Head, WA, a small island connected via a sand spit. Completely off the grid. No roads, access by foot or boat. He installed both wind and solar power. He needed to haul every up the hill from his boat to build his house.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Impressive! But it's also the way virtually every family did it 100+ years ago. Not all, but very many, be it adobe bricks or cutting your own lumber. Hauling by boat and uphill from there adds quite a bit of effort. 

Is this his primary residence? Does he have DIRECTV®??


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## bobnielsen (Jun 29, 2006)

I haven't heard from him in a while so don't know about DirecTV. He probably gets some OTA from Seattle and Victoria, BC. It is his only residence.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

onan38 said:


> http://www.wired.com/2015/04/philips-cheap-led-bulbs/


I sent the link to all my contacts in my email. My sister sent me a picture this evening and she had a shopping cart almost full of these. It just said "look at how many I bought".
She sent me another email just now and said she swapped out one of her old regular light bulbs for one of these and she said it was much brighter.
I asked for some of the numbers on each of the bulbs. If she gets them for me I will update this.
She said they are 2,700, 800 lumens, 8.5 watts. The old bulb was a 40 watt.


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## Drucifer (Feb 12, 2009)

Trying to track down a reading bulb, but but everyone of them seems to require me taking out a second mortgage.


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

jimmie57 said:


> I sent the link to all my contacts in my email. My sister sent me a picture this evening and she had a shopping cart almost full of these. It just said "look at how many I bought".
> She sent me another email just now and said she swapped out one of her old regular light bulbs for one of these and she said it was much brighter.
> I asked for some of the numbers on each of the bulbs. If she gets them for me I will update this.
> She said they are 2,700, 800 lumens, 8.5 watts. The old bulb was a 40 watt.


Yeah, those would be brighter--going from a 40 watt to a 60 watt equivalent. 

Peace,
Tom


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

onan38 said:


> http://www.wired.com/2015/04/philips-cheap-led-bulbs/


Some of the early purchaser's reviews on the Home Depot website say these bulbs have a slight hum. You might want to buy just a few of them to try before replacing all your bulbs with these.

Update:
I sent both of my sisters an email asking them if they heard a hum from the bulbs and both said no. Maybe the ones with a hum are just a bad bulb.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

jimmie57 said:


> Some of the early purchaser's reviews on the Home Depot website say these bulbs have a slight hum. You might want to buy just a few of them to try before replacing all your bulbs with these.
> 
> Update:
> I sent both of my sisters an email asking them if they heard a hum from the bulbs and both said no. Maybe the ones with a hum are just a bad bulb.


Some people are more sensitive to certain frequencies as well. Do your sisters have any teenagers? There's a teenager antiloitering device that works on this principle.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

dpeters11 said:


> Some people are more sensitive to certain frequencies as well. Do your sisters have any teenagers? There's a teenager antiloitering device that works on this principle.


No teens for sure, not even close.


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## dennisj00 (Sep 27, 2007)

The switching power supplies for the LEDs use frequencies that are above our hearing, however sometimes a loose component or winding in the coils can resonate at lower frequencies.

I'd certainly return the offenders.


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

Still can't find the 2 pack at our home depot, though I did find a 3 pack that is 10.5W and dimmable for $5. So a slight increase in watt, still 800 lumens, and dimmable for $1.67 instead of $2.50. 

Got a pack to try since a need a few bulbs anyway.

Peace,
Tom


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

Ok, one other comparison between the two different bulbs. The new ones in the 2 pack are only good for 10k hours. The 3 pack I got are good for 25k hours. So at my current cost of electricity, 15¢ per kilowatt hour, the total life cost for them is only $3 apart out of about $40. Close enough to not worry about it. Now we'll see how well they work. 

Peace,
Tom


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

What I'd like to find is LED Candleabra base bulbs that are dimmable that I can use in my ceiling fan lights. I can't really even go to CFL bulb as finding ones that are dimmable and bright seems to be impossible.

- Merg


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

The Merg said:


> What I'd like to find is LED Candleabra base bulbs that are dimmable that I can use in my ceiling fan lights. I can't really even go to CFL bulb as finding ones that are dimmable and bright seems to be impossible.
> 
> - Merg


Feit has them. I had to order them online.


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

I installed about 40 or so of these and they all work great.


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

I've got two Feit "bulbs" (both dimmable). They're floodlight-shaped and meant to go into ceiling "cans." The first one I bought was more of what I would call an "industrial-type," more intense with a higher color temp. The second one is closer in color temp to incandescent. Both draw about the same amount of wattage and put out about the same overall "brightness."

I like the "spread" of the incandescent-colored light, which buzzes, by the way (whether the dimmed or not) but prefer the color temp of the more-intense (tighter-focused), harsher "bulb," which makes no noise at all. (Both both units maintain their respective color temps even when dimmed). 

If I had to issue any warnings, though, I would add to be careful touching these things if your body is statically charged (such as dry Northern air in the winter time) as they are easily zapped dead from static discharge.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

I have a lot of Feits, and not one buzzes.

Dimmers can be tricking and cause buzzing even if they aren't actively dimming. They can cause buzzing with certain lights in general. But that may not at all be whats going on with yours. Personally I much prefer the warmer light color. I am glad they make both for everyone's preferences.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

inkahauts said:


> Feit has them. I had to order them online.


Just looked at the website. For a dimmable candelabra base bulb, the brightest they have is a 500 lumens bulb. I am looking for something more towards 800 or 900 lumens. We have a split level and the family room doesn't get much sunlight, so the ceiling light needs to be pretty bright.

I don't know why this is so difficult to find.

- Merg

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

Merg,

The tricky part is creating a small package with lots of LEDs and dissipating the heat. In fact, I see that most 60W candelabra incandescent bulbs are only 650 lumens. And many candelabra light fixtures have a working limit of 60W per bulb. 

I do feel your pain. Our house has several fixtures that use candelabra bases and limit to small wattage bulbs. Some are only 25W. I'm hoping to replace with 8W LEDS as they become less expensive in that form factor.

Peace,
Tom


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Just picked up 2 dozen of these today. They are 800 lumen units and soft white bulbs, so they closely resemble conventional bulbs as opposed to the extra-white light from some other LEDs I've seen. Nice. :righton:


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

The only thing really disappointing about these bulbs is the fact that they are non-dimmable. Given my druthers, I also would have liked to see bright white bulbs as well as the soft white ones. I did, however, pick up 8 packs of them.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

Cholly said:


> The only thing really disappointing about these bulbs is the fact that they are non-dimmable. Given my druthers, I also would have liked to see bright white bulbs as well as the soft white ones. I did, however, pick up 8 packs of them.


See, I could really care less about the bulbs being dimmable as I never use the dimmer on my ceiling fan. However, if I do not use a dimmable bulb, the light will flicker incessantly when I turn it on until I press and hold the dim button to make the light at the brightest setting.

- Merg

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

Tom Robertson said:


> Merg,
> 
> The tricky part is creating a small package with lots of LEDs and dissipating the heat. In fact, I see that most 60W candelabra incandescent bulbs are only 650 lumens. And many candelabra light fixtures have a working limit of 60W per bulb.
> 
> ...


That's why I like the idea of the CFL and LED bulbs. I currently use a 23W CFL bulb, which has the equivalent of a 75W incandescent bulb. So I get a brighter light and still am within the specs pod the fixture.

What stinks is that the original light fixture in the ceiling fan was a standard base and it stopped working. I contacted Hunter as it was under warranty and they sent me the replacement, which was a candleabra base. When I told them they sent me the wrong fixture, I was told that they had changed over all their fixtures to candleabra style.

- Merg

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

My bedroom ceiling fan originally had a light fixture with 2 standard base bulbs providing indirect lighting. I chose not to use the dimming feature on the fan, since the room was prewired with separate swiches/wiring for fan motor and lights. I had installed an X10 dimming switch for the lights, which worked out to my satisfaction. I installed X10 slim switches on the headboard of my bed, which made control of the light very convenient. I decided that the indirect light was too yellow and not bright enough, so bought a 4 bulb light fixture to provide bright, direct lighting. It has candelabra sockets, and I initially had 4 60 watt incandescent fan bulbs in the fixture.They proved to be too much for the X10 dimmer, which expired. I replaced the dimmer switch with a non dimming X10 switch and when a few of the 60 watt bulbs burned out, I replaced all four with 13 watt CFL's. No dimming capability, but I can live with it untl decent, affordable 60 watt equivalent LED's come out.


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