Cree LED Light Bulb Review

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  • CDN_VT
    CDN_VT Solar Expert Posts: 492 ✭✭✭
    #32
    Re: Cree LED Light Bulb Review

    I use strobes all the time , only way to stop the fling wings /turbine / turbo / blowers etc. for a close inspection. Here one must keep the freeze frame in perspective .Not a Disco !
    I like almost daylight in the shops, spotless floors as well as they can be. With age , the daylight is becoming dusk. I did get to see the LED suspended ceiling lights , poor for the $$$$.

    VT
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  • fixitmanarizona
    fixitmanarizona Registered Users Posts: 4
    #33
    Re: Cree LED Light Bulb Review

    I've found that the standard "CRI" means nothing to me. My eyes are a better judge.. FOR ME. The Cree LED in warm white look just about like a standard incandescent. The cool whites look just like the damn CFL, which is fine for reading but garish for anything else. I've tried ones with a higher "CRI" and they're just garish, I absolutely refuse to use CFL or even tube fluorescents for ANYthing, since the light quality is so bad. They're not even good enough to simulate a skylight on an overcast day, in my opinion.
    I really like these Cree warm whites in 40 or 60 W equivalents. They're also dimmable, no problems, even with old fixtures, meaning my 3-way lamps work fine. I used to use 60 watt in one lamp by my computer, but found the 40W equivalent warm white Cree is just as bright. I normally use that lamp on "medium" setting, and the Cree works great there. I haven't tested current draw on it at that setting, but <9 W as opposed to say 30W for an incandescent is probably a good thing, anyway.
    Also put some in ceiling fans, upside down. Again, dimmable, and don't have to use them on full setting to get the same light as an incandescent, and won't use CFL's which I've tried in the ceiling fans and they blow almost immediately, even the "dimmable" ones which cost much more.
    I did put some of the damn CFL's at 50 cents each (subsidized) in a rental. I DON'T have to live there, and I wasn't going to put ten dollar bulbs in that someone would walk off with, it was that or dig into my stock of standard bulbs, which I'm saving for closets, and such, and for places where a bulb that gives off heat (incandescent) is a good thing, such as keeping an outside water tank from freezing in the winter (IF I ever get my haul water property back, or another place like it.)
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  • fixitmanarizona
    fixitmanarizona Registered Users Posts: 4
    #34
    Re: Cree LED Light Bulb Review

    Don't go by the CRI. The warm white Cree's for under ten bucks look JUST like an incandescent to my eyes, whereas some of the DAMN CFL's with higher CRI's are garish and un-natural. The cool white Cree's look just like fluorescent if you like that sort of horrible lighting.
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  • williaty
    williaty Solar Expert Posts: 60 ✭✭
    #35
    Re: Cree LED Light Bulb Review

    CRI is a valuable spec for predicting what light output will look like, however, it's not the only spec. Once CRI rises above 90, it's a pretty good bet that if two lamps claim to have the same CCT, they'll look alike. The difficulty comes in at CRIs of 85 and below, getting MUCH worse as CRI drops. Once you're below that point, think of it as being more ways to be wrong. There's really only 1 way to be "right" and get a 90+ CRI. However, there's a lot of different ways to be wrong and get a 70 or 80 CRI. This means that to lamps that have the same CCT and CRI might not look anything alike because they're achieving the same numbers via very different emission spectra. Another complication is that CFLs are available off-the-shelf at most stores in 2700K, 3000K, 4000K, 4100K, 5000K, and 6500K. Most of the time, they use words rather than numbers to describe the CCT. Warm white, soft white, bright white, daylight, sunlight, etc. It makes it a crap shoot to know if you're getting the same thing if you buy it from two different stores, two different brands, or even just the same store, same brand, same model but a year or more apart. So, it's entirely possible you haven't liked some of the CFLs (I hate them, btw) with higher CRIs just because you were expecting a CCT of 2700K and the product you actually got didn't properly state that it was actually 4100K.

    Lighting is a mess on the consumer level, basically.


    FWIW, I broke my first CREE LED A19 yesterday. Bumped a box into it and sheared the globe right off the base. The emitter still worked (though I wasn't willing to leave it in place since it has exposed mains voltage) and the envelope fell to the concrete floor. The glass shattered but the silicone overcoat lived up to the advertising and held the pieces together so there was no cleanup or sharp edges.
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,613 admin
    #36
    Re: Cree LED Light Bulb Review

    You still have to be careful with any "white" LED--They bin for specific color / CRI's... Some bin out a "little warmer or cooler". Get a sample of the LED you think you will like and check it out before you buy 10 more of them.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • sunbunny
    sunbunny Solar Expert Posts: 59 ✭✭✭✭
    #37
    Re: Cree LED Light Bulb Review

    I bought 4 of the CREEs. I wanted one for a lamp that the switch was broken and I just screw the bulb in and out. GENTLY !
    The glass 'bulb' part is just glued on with hot glue and since it's cheaply made with lumps on the edge it didn't stay glued very long.
    Bulb still works fine. I like the light and I'm picky.

    How will LEDs do with power surges ? I'm the last on the line and I blame that for going thru bulbs at an alarming rate. Certain light fixtures just blow bulbs too often.
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  • waynefromnscanada
    waynefromnscanada Solar Expert Posts: 3,009 ✭✭✭✭
    #38
    Re: Cree LED Light Bulb Review

    Bugs me that for the last year, all that's available in my area are 2700K. Far too yellow/brown light for me. I MUCH prefer 3000K for inside, but for outside use, 4100K. Snow looks very natural under 4100K, anything less makes snow look like something you should definitely NOT put in your mouth! Would you eat brown snow? But more than that, even grass and tree leaves only look natural under 4100K. The difference is amazing. I just refuse to buy 2700K, I'll go back to CFL first, if I have to.
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  • john p
    john p Solar Expert Posts: 814 ✭✭✭
    #39
    Re: Cree LED Light Bulb Review

    Something of interest mabe about longevity of at least one model Cree led..
    In 2006 bought 8 x 1W MR 16 AND 12V And 4 MR 16 3W and 12V..
    They are on 12 hrs a day 7 days a week.. up to now a bit over 30,000 hrs
    All still working but 3 of the 1w have a weak yellow light output about (29.87%). And 1 of the 3w..Same..
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,613 admin
    #40
    Re: Cree LED Light Bulb Review

    LEDs need a "ballast" to control/limit their operating current. That can run from a simple resistor to a pretty complex temperature corrected current mode power supply.

    It is the ballast that will be "seeing" and controlling what happens if there is a surge. With the world wide voltage support for electronics (i.e., 100 VAC in Japan to 264 VAC in Australian outback), the electronics can be pretty surge resistant.

    LEDs themselves have a non-linear response to voltage (increase voltage a little, current dramatically increases; temperature increase, current increases a lot)--So LEDs themselves are very sensitive to surges/changes in voltage (and that is why they need a ballast circuit to control current).

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • islandguy
    islandguy Solar Expert Posts: 80 ✭✭✭✭
    #41
    Re: Cree LED Light Bulb Review

    I've been using some 3000k bulbs from Amazon, mfg lighting EVER - sold by neon mart. These bulbs have worked for a couple of years now on the MSW inverter. These are called the warm white bulbs. Company also makes a 6000k bulb that doesn't last even on grid power.

    The company, Neon Mart, also stands behind their warranty. After purchasing the white ones for a hotel project, they sent replacements for almost all of them within the first few months.
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