Have light bulbs become overpriced?

tim9966

A few years ago there were government grants for bulbs so they were giving them away, and selling them very cheaply.

At my parents house they fitted a energy saving bulb in the mid 1990's when they first came out, and it still going strong about 18 years later. It's about twice the size of a modern energy bulb.

Stompa

rogerblack wrote: »

I would at the moment say hold off on LED.
While quality LED bulbs with efficiencies of over CFLs can be found - with a similar light output - they are not common, and are currently quite expensive.
This is a rapidly developing area.

I agree. It makes little economic sense to change from CFL to LED until the price of LED bulbs becomes comparable to those of CFLs.

Of course, if the startup delay or quality of light bothers you then that's another matter.

[Deleted User]

My CFL bulbs dont last too long, have never had one do what it says on the tin and last 7 years. apparantly the more you switch them on and off the shorter the life. LED s are the future, they need to get brighter and cheaper, the 2 watt leds are pathetic, not worth buying. I use them as security lights when away on holidays. The higher wattage LEDs such as the 9 watt ones i have seen for sale are quite expensive. I use LED torches all day , have never had a bulb blow in 8 years and they are brilliantly bright
I see we can get them direct from China on ebay in bulk, i would like to know if they are any good if anyones bought any, eg. 10 x GU10 8 watts led spots for £29

mushypeaman

Ok, energy saver bulbs last for years, but I've found that after a couple of years, their brightness has gradually gone down a lot, and that goes for good quality branded ones. When I've changed a working bulb after a couple of years, I've been amazed at the increased brightness.
As for price, I never have a problem buying brand new ones from car boot sales for 10p - 50p.

Wywth

sacsquacco wrote: »

... I use LED torches all day , have never had a bulb blow in 8 years and they are brilliantly bright...

I've found the opposite.

I've had cheap wind up LED torches where the LEDs fail.
One from Aldi, and a newer smaller one from Asda (I think sold under the Status brand)

As you said they are brilliantly bright, you presumably have a CREE torch. (but not sure if they were available 8 years ago were they?) Had one of them blow on me within 6 months - got a refund. Not saying they all fail, as I actually bought 2 at the same time and the other is still working, but one did fail.

[Deleted User]

Thanks Wywth, yes the cheap leds are useless, not worth buying. As a pro torch user of years, with constant use 8 hours a day, I ve settled on the Fenix TK15 r5 as the best all rounder. Using cheap rechargeable batteries 18650 lithium ions. Torch is approx £68 from Fenix website, approx £45 direct from chinese sellers ( they are genuine ). amazing torch, never had a breakdown with any Fenix torch so far unlike the pricey US Surefires. The cheap led s are abyssmal. The Fenix could double up as a car headlight if need be, they are that bright. I originally used Surefires, imported from US, not available here 8years ago, not sure if they used Cree back then

Pincher

I think LED technology is nearly there.

The brightest ones are OK, but far too expensive still.

Ideally, I want them to take so little current, that you can run them using Ethernet cables, using Power Over Ethernet technology. Every light will be digitally controllable. Instead of a light switch, you have a PIR sensor, so you just have to wave your hand. You can have a more expensive keypad that does more functions. E.g. I would have a intercom screen that can answer the door from the kitchen.

New build houses will have them built-in.

The light bulb industry will of course sabotage this concept, as the LEDs will last 10 to 20 years, or more, so there is no income stream from replacement light bulbs.

Nada666

I haven't seen LED bulbs that match CFLs - is their improvement longevity/robustness? They seem to still use 7 to 9 W but have much lower luminosity than 9/11 W CFL.

Ben84

Most my energy saving bulbs have lasted a long time, longer than they predicted they would in fact. We still have a good number of the big old type Philips energy savers from the early 90s, as well as various bulbs of other shapes and ages since then. I think the major thing is don't buy the cheapest. I would recommend Philips and Megaman as good manufacturers of CFL bulbs. However, I'm mostly buying LED bulbs now to avoid the mercury which makes CFL bulbs difficult to dispose.

rogerblack

Nada666 wrote: »

I haven't seen LED bulbs that match CFLs - is their improvement longevity/robustness? They seem to still use 7 to 9 W but have much lower luminosity than 9/11 W CFL.

They exist.

CFL lamps are - generally - 60lm/W.
(the lumen is a measure of brightness).
http://www.cree.com/lighting/products/indoor/lamps/60w-replacement-warm-white-type-a-led-bulb - for example - is 84lm/W.
This is selling in the USA for $10.
There are prototypes around with over double this. For example - about double from 2 years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWx_2fqhzOQ Also contains research into advanced beard technologies.

Unfortunately, for various reasons - basically all involving cost - most of the available lamps are somewhat below the possible efficiency.

As a simple example - if you use one LED, powered at ten watts, it may be half as bright as if you used 5, but split the power into 5 LEDs.

But, of course, that would be considerably more expensive at the moment.