Why Oh Why????

JethroUK

If Compact Fluorescent bulb can produce the same light output as 100 watt Edison bulb for just 25 watts
If new LED bulbs can produce the same light output as 100 watt Edison with only 10 watts

Then why God why are Tescos selling LED with maximum of 7 watts with just about enough light output to kill yourself by falling down a dimmly lit stairwell

Why not instead take it that LED can save the planet and make one with 15 watts thats even brighter than a normal bulb

Why why why why why

yangptangkipperbang

I have noticed this too. It isn't only Tesco, most of the other supermarkets seem to stock only the lower powered lamps.
Perhaps it's so that you can't see when the "use by" date has passed

JohnB47

Ive had limited experience but i wonder about this too. I bought some, supposedly 50w halogen equivalent, led spots from ledhut - they were as you describe, dim and ghostly. I have no idea why anyone would use them. Maybe just above some ornaments, like you see in shop displays of pottery, jewelry etc?

So I went to energysavingled.com and bought their 7w gu10 spots - perfect replacements for those in my bathroom, kitchen and two in the living room. You can see from their website that they stock only a relatively small selection of bulbs, no doubt because they've selected only the best from the loads of dross out there.

The people who buy those dim and ghostly jobs are either poorly sighted, kidding themselves or can't be bothered to take them back.

What else can it be?

ic

Cost - the higher the wattage, generally the higher the cost of the item (or they simply haven't manufactured the led in that particular range). Personally I've held off from LED lights in doors as the ones that are suitable replacements are in my opinion too expensive.

If you're upgrading from halogens to LED, say in spot lights, you'll make a saving - if you're switching from CFL to LED, you need to weigh up if the instant on is worth the cost to upgrade.

Floodlights outside are another matter. Two years ago I upgraded my existing four halogen floodlights with a combined 950W, to five daylight flood lamps with a total of 50W. The light is brighter, provides better coverage and costs a whole lot less. I had one unit fail (and replaced under warranty) in about four months, otherwise they're going strong. By now I'd expect to be replacing bulbs in the old floodlamps. The lamps only cost £11 each off ebay.

Biggles

JethroUK wrote: »

If new LED bulbs can produce the same light output as 100 watt Edison with only 10 watts

They can't. Who on earth told you that?

Never bother with looking at watts, just look at lumens. If you're looking for the equivalent of a 100w incandescent, you need something that chucks out about 1,300 lumens. There are LED bulbs that do, but they're very expensive at the moment. They will get cheaper.

Ben84

LED and CFL are about equally efficient, and to replace a 100w I'd expect you'd need a roughly 20w bulb. You can get LED bulbs like this (Philips make some), but they're costly at the moment. Too costly to be attractive in supermarkets I'd guess.

ed110220

Because the masses wouldn't know a lumen if it hit them over the head, therefore anyone can sell any old 'energy saving' lamp no matter how poor.

Ectophile

LEDs don't like getting hot - it makes them fail much quicker than they should. They may be more efficient than old filament bulbs, but each LED still gets warm, as does the circuit needed to drive it from the mains.

That's not a problem for the cheap LED lamps which are only a couple of watts. But for larger wattages, it becomes a serious problem. The only solution is to use the best new designs of LED, and fancy cooling systems to carry the heat away from them. The end result are lamps that are so expensive that no supermarket shopper is going to buy them.

Hintza

And why aren't the bulbs the same size. :mad:

After cogitating for a bit I decided to buy two 9W ones to fit in two of 8 bulkhead fittings in the stables to give them a try..........I can't get them to fit into the light, they are too long. To make thinks worse they are Edison screw and those are the only fittings (bar one standard lamp) to take Edison Screw.

RobGuggle

Hintza wrote: »

And why aren't the bulbs the same size. :mad:

After cogitating for a bit I decided to buy two 9W ones to fit in two of 8 bulkhead fittings in the stables to give them a try..........I can't get them to fit into the light, they are too long. To make thinks worse they are Edison screw and those are the only fittings (bar one standard lamp) to take Edison Screw.

I changed all my 60w incandescents for this LED Bulb which is fantastic.
http://www.energysavingled.com/product/led-bulbs/9w-led-bulb/

The fitted perfectly and the difference in size is pretty marginal,

almillar

LED are still developing. They're getting brighter every year at the same (legacy) sizes. Why do you expect the supermarkets to be at the cutting edge of lighting technology would be my question?! They want to sell CHEAP bulbs not the BEST bulbs. Even the well branded ones can be out of date and dim.
Why do they do it? Because people buy them, thinking they've got a 'cheap' LED light for £5, when £10 would have been better value. This will give LEDs a bad reputation.
IKEA's LEDs are particularly dim, and not cheap at all in my opinion.