Deals on LED lightbulbs?

blackjackel · Jan 27, 2008

I've been looking for ways to become really energy efficient and i found these LED bulbs:

http://cgi.ebay.com/PAR38-CREE-XR-E...W-LED-E27_W0QQitemZ200160834114QQcmdZViewItem

they spend like 15W and they give out the light equivalent of a 120W incandescent bulb, thats 8 times less energy used for the same output... In addition, these bulbs last an average of 5 years (10 years maximum) and I'm talking CONTINUOUS 24 hour a day 7 days a week 360 days a year use for 5-10 years, not the "4 hour a day only" BS that you see on bulbs marketed in the store. So in reality and with regular use they will last 10-20 YEARS.

Problem is, there aren't that many that are very strong, and the ones that are are $100 a pop... and I really can't see why... I mean LEDs are cheap to manufacture and make and the circuitry can't be too expensive...

There must be some cheap chinese knockoffs that I can buy for 25 bucks a pop or something...

So I'm looking for at LEAST 1000 lumen output, I've done my searching and came up with nothing :/

Automata · Jan 27, 2008

We went through the same thing you did.

I was confused at how they were so expensive. LED's take a rare element to work...meaning they can cost from $2-3 per LED!!

Combine that with 25+ LEDs...manufacturing costs...etc...and you have a high price.

There are people working right now to see if they can make an LED work without such expensive materials.

thegreek · Jan 27, 2008

I also tried looking for LED but the ones I found were overpriced. Fluorescent lights are the way to go unless you build a LED bulb yourself

Karadhas · Jan 27, 2008

twisty flourescents you can buy at costco work well too, i've been using the same one in my bedroom for several years now.

gangaskan · Jan 27, 2008

thideras said:
We went through the same thing you did.

I was confused at how they were so expensive. LED's take a rare element to work...meaning they can cost from $2-3 per LED!!

Combine that with 25+ LEDs...manufacturing costs...etc...and you have a high price.

There are people working right now to see if they can make an LED work without such expensive materials.

but then again I'm sure the costs per LED that bulb makers get is far less then $2-3 per ... possibly .50 cents? if not less presuming they buy in million + quantities

edit: looking at the ebay auction, these do look far more then your Average LED my mistake

drshivas · Jan 27, 2008

IIRC, a part of the issue with LED bulbs being so expensive is pure white LEDs are expensive to make. And most white LEDs are blue LEDs with a coating, and blue LEDs are expensive to make too.

Here's a 3 year old discussion on this issue. I think there's been advances since:
http://sci.tech-archive.net/Archive/sci.electronics.basics/2005-01/0791.html

There's been breakthroughs in efficiency though:

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inqui...ia-makes-breakthrough-on-white-led-efficiency

I can't wait till I can replace all my twisties w/ LEDs...

nd4spdbh2 · Jan 27, 2008

when www.lsdiodes.com was still up and running they had some INSANLY bright true pure white led's

http://www.lsdiodes.com/shop/index...._id=37&zenid=77bc880dfbe1d0f0d5d3ed1c355e796e

i picked up 2 of them a while back and i swear the 2 of them would blind you if you looked directly at them from like 3 ft away. Too bad the owner of lsdiodes has moved on to other ventures. I was able to get 10 free blue LED's when they closed hehe!

thegreek · Jan 27, 2008

nd4spdbh2 said:
when www.lsdiodes.com was still up and running they had some INSANLY bright true pure white led's

http://www.lsdiodes.com/shop/index...._id=37&zenid=77bc880dfbe1d0f0d5d3ed1c355e796e

i picked up 2 of them a while back and i swear the 2 of them would blind you if you looked directly at them from like 3 ft away. Too bad the owner of lsdiodes has moved on to other ventures. I was able to get 10 free blue LED's when they closed hehe!

that LED you mentioned has a 22,000 mcd (not available anymore). superbrightleds.com has a similar LED with 18,000 mcd

nd4spdbh2 · Jan 27, 2008

ya i had em runnin full tilt pumpin out 24000 they were friggin bright!!!

Hazaro · Jan 27, 2008

You could always check for those bulk asia sellers. I think two people on here have ordered from a bulk asian retailer with good results on eBay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Lot-of-100-X-5m...ryZ66952QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

55,000 mcd: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/100X...022QQitemZ350016732380QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

You guys suck, I'm thinking about buying some 280kmcd LED's now.

http://cgi.ebay.com/50-PCs-10mm-40-...ryZ66952QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Niku-Sama · Jan 28, 2008

i wonder if this would be good for a home brew projector
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350016731654

thegreek · Jan 28, 2008

Niku-Sama said:
i wonder if this would be good for a home brew projector
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350016731654

$40 for 1 LED which is equivilent to about a 40w bulb? no thanks

blackjackel · Jan 28, 2008

erm, i'm not looking for leds by themselves but rather complete LED bulb setups....

I bit the bullet and ordered one LED bulb for $100 from CREE, its supposed to output 1100 lumens at 15 watts..

But I'm still looking for some good led bulbs...

dano · Jan 29, 2008

Here are LED bulbs for $4.99 each.
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?InvtId=18-LED-CLR&cpc=RECOM

I wonder how bright they are...

blackjackel · Jan 29, 2008

dano said:
Here are LED bulbs for $4.99 each.
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?InvtId=18-LED-CLR&cpc=RECOM

I wonder how bright they are...

Those would be very dim, i'd say 50 lumens max... to put that into perspective a regular 100w incandescent puts out ~ 1000 lumens.

So i'd say its equivalent to a 3W-5W incandescent, or those little candle-like shaped incandescents with the mini screws...

thegreek · Jan 29, 2008

blackjackel said:
erm, i'm not looking for leds by themselves but rather complete LED bulb setups....

I bit the bullet and ordered one LED bulb for $100 from CREE, its supposed to output 1100 lumens at 15 watts..

But I'm still looking for some good led bulbs...

Link?

thegreek · Jan 29, 2008

this fluorescent bulb also outputs 1100 lumens at 15 watts - cost $4 a piece

http://www.1000bulbs.com/15-Watt-Compact-Fluorescents/11944/

and 1100 lumens is actually equivalent to a 75-80 watt bulb

MR-FIX-IT · Jan 29, 2008

A few LED bulb sites

http://www.ccrane.com/lights/led-light-bulbs/index.aspx

http://www.ledbulbs.com/

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/02/led_bulb_replac.php

http://www.betterbulb.com/products.html#ccfl

http://www.ledlight.com/LZHousehold.aspx

http://www.superbrightleds.com/edison.html

blackjackel · Jan 29, 2008

thegreek said:
this fluorescent bulb also outputs 1100 lumens at 15 watts - cost $4 a piece

http://www.1000bulbs.com/15-Watt-Compact-Fluorescents/11944/

and 1100 lumens is actually equivalent to a 75-80 watt bulb

There is no way a 15W florescent will output 1100 lumens, you will see that different sites vary about what they say, any many lie.

blackjackel · Jan 29, 2008

thegreek said:
Link?

http://cgi.ebay.com/PAR38-CREE-LED-...ryZ20706QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Deals on LED lightbulbs?

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