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New Low(es) LED price point

5K views 47 replies 16 participants last post by  Electric_Light 
#1 ·
Standing in Westborough MA Lowes as I write. 65 br 30 replacement LED. 11 watt 3000k $8.98 for a two pack. Led for the masses!

 
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#2 ·
Standing in Westborough MA Lowes as I write. 65 br 30 replacement LED. 11 watt 3000k $8.98 for a two pack. Led for the masses!

View attachment 25342
Hopefully they last. I bought some bargain version brand I had never heard of last year at home cheap-o, they are already dead. They were listed on the package for BU use in can lights, but I think that was the issue, they over stated that. The cans I used them in had blown in insulation above them, so no venting into the attic space. I think when these things were tested (if at all), they must have used vented cans. The heat sink areas on them were too hot to touch when working.
 
#5 ·
Canadian company, manufacturing in China.

Nina Gupta left the fashion industry and established Lamptronics, the North American marketing arm for Phoenix Lamps. In 1996, with the company renamed Greenlite, Gupta established production lines in China with the aim of importing compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) into North America.
... left the fashion industry...

Another very highly qualified technical individual running an energy related business...
 
#11 ·
The home depot ones or the lowes ones? This guy mentioned he experimented with various dimmers to find the one that worked. I don't know which model of dimmer he ended up with. I finally bought some of the Halo WH560 ones for a customer, one ended up in the shower and the other in his office. Bought one for the inlaw apt shower too. Too soon to tell but my dad was happy with his and the customer was thrilled.
 
#18 ·
Non of the LED's I install flicker, but I use the CFL/LED Lurton maestro dimmers. You have to use leading edge dimming.

I only do the Cfl/led dimmers now, even for halogen/incandescent... Too many call backs from customers who have swapped out their bulbs for led and now their dimmer doesn't work. Pain in the butt.
 
#19 ·
Non of the LED's I install flicker, but I use the CFL/LED Lurton maestro dimmers. You have to use leading edge dimming.

I only do the Cfl/led dimmers now, even for halogen/incandescent... Too many call backs from customers who have swapped out their bulbs for led and now their dimmer doesn't work. Pain in the butt.
Ill try maestro...ive been using adriani's and divas....if they work out ill start pushing them again.
 
#21 ·
I'm treating LED lamps like I do all the new gadgets - iPhones, Xboxes, etc. I let the rest of the world deal with all the "brand new product" hiccups for a few years. All the failures, recalls, replacements, etc. By then most of the kinks are worked out and the product is great. Furthemore, at that point, usually there is another brand new product that has already rendered it obsolete, so the price drops significantly.

That's when I come in. I still have an iPhone that's already 3 generations out of date. I've got about 15 CFLs that I bought like 5 years ago that have moved from house to house with me and go in the lights that I most often use. After they get the whole LED lamp thing figured out and the industry settles down and we don't have products manufactured by fashion designers, then I will probably go in and snag a bunch :thumbup:
 
#25 ·
LED tape for undercabinet lights is deeeaaddd sexy. I also saw LED tape installed in crown molding that was dropped down from the ceiling in an assisted living facility to act as night lights. It gave the hallways a gentle glow when the regular lights were off.
 
#29 ·
They're big houses and the bigger the house, the cheaper the customer. I have multimillionaires trying to get refunds on decora single pole and 3way switches when I swap them out for dimmers. I don't want the damn things and have no use, but they are persistent.

I'm pretty sure the regular maestros and the cfl/led maestros are the same price from my wholesaler.

Rich people are good about paying their bills, but they didn't get rich by just giving money away... They want to know the numbers on everything. That's why they cheap out on halogens bulbs during construction, then pay a bunch to switch to dimmers to save money, then pay even more to switch to LED bulbs, then have to pay more to switch to cfl/led dimmers. They aren't that happy about it all, but they pay the bill.

Leaves me feeling bad about it though..so I just do cfl/led dimmers how, there is no choice.
 
#30 ·
I have multimillionaires trying to get refunds on decora single pole and 3way switches when I swap them out for dimmers.
Doesn't sound like the kind of customers you should want to have...


Rich people are good about paying their bills, but they didn't get rich by just giving money away... They want to know the numbers on everything. That's why they cheap out on halogens bulbs during construction, then pay a bunch to switch to dimmers to save money, then pay even more to switch to LED bulbs, then have to pay more to switch to cfl/led dimmers. They aren't that happy about it all, but they pay the bill.

Leaves me feeling bad about it though..so I just do cfl/led dimmers how, there is no choice.
So you feel bad because your rich customers were being really cheap and not wanting to pay you to do the whole job up front, so you just throw in the more expensive dimmers... :thumbup::laughing:
 
#40 ·
I think what manufacturers and these groups think is adequate and what we are used to may be different things. I deal with housing and worry that the so called equivalent might produce significantly less than whats there now, next thing you know, some tenant is suing. Then again, what I have seen for gas stations that have converted, ones that I frequent locally look good and someone has done their homework. Looking at them at shows doesn't do it. I need to install some at my customers sites with proper photometrics done to gain some confidence. I sold a couple of led cans to the owner of the housing properties and he called me a few days later to tell me the one in the shower was awesome, so maybe we can sell some pole light replacements.
 
#43 ·
I try to explain to people that not everything is compatible. Some of the better led products are very forgiving of what dimmer type they are on. Others, usually less expensive products aren't. This especially to customers adamant that they are providing their own materials. Some have been savvy enough to experiment on their own. Most have at least listened. The early cfl dimming thing was a disappointment too.
 
#44 ·
I usually try to explain small upgrades to customers and how they can really help, but many times they don't want to pay even a minimal cost more.

Everything from installing fan rated boxes for ceiling fixtures to extra circuits or a raceway to the attic. In the end, it's up to them. If they don't want it, I am happy to come back later and install it. If they think I am "greasy" for not throwing it in for free up front, then they could call someone else.
 
#46 ·
You can't know everything and if you aren't making some mistakes here and there, you aren't doing much, aggravating as it is. That's been one of the problems with LEDs, standards, whose product works with whose and how well. It is getting better though. I have gotten into this stuff slowly.
 
#47 ·
I think as soon as the government throws some decent rebates out, is what fuels the instant LED explosion. They weren't popular here AT ALL 2 years ago. Now they're almost standard.

You can't buy a 100W incandescent any more and I heard next year you won't be able to buy a 60W incandescent. LED's are becoming the standard. We bought cases of 100W bulbs, which are going to be extremely valuable in a couple years.
 
#48 · (Edited)
I'm posting here, because this thread came up in related threads.
That's the company that printed off their own certification label.
http://www.ledsmagazine.com/articles/2010/05/greenlite-runs-a-red-light-at-lightfair.html

"Greenlite of Montreal, Quebec, a CFL manufacturer and now an LED-lamp purveyor(generally an importer reseller), was speeding a little too quickly on the way to market and was caught on the radar of the US Department of Energy’s Lighting Facts program late on Thursday at Lightfair.

As shown in the picture, taken at the DOE booth at Lightfair on Thursday, the product packaging graphics include the Lighting Facts label, which was determined to be a counterfeit.

On Thursday it was confirmed that not only is the label a counterfeit, the appropriate documentation for the product in question has not been as submitted and that is likely also due to the fact that Greenlite itself is not even a Lighting Facts Partner." :eek::blink:
 
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