CREE LED Bulbs - Home Depot

[TheProfessor]

Well, I am on my 3rd CREE LED bulb on same bathroom fixture.
100 watt = 18 watts.

The first one lasted a little over a year. The 2nd (same model) lasted about the same amount of time. About a year.

The package states 17 years.

When I took the bulb out the base was hot enough to burn hand. The base does have baffles to dissipate the heat. That is what was hot.

Home Depot exchange - no charge. Just get another one. But did have to politely push the return lady a bit.

So where is the 17 years? And the fixture is open to the air.

[IslandRadio]

Hmmm.. that doesn't sound good. Is this an enclosed fixture?

I just bought 6 60 watt equiv. lumens LED bulbs (Sorry, I don't remember the manufacturer). They run almost cold at the bulb end. Have not unscrewed the bulb immediately after long use to see what the base temp is... This is above a mirror, so the bulbs are exposed to the open air.

Obviously, there is some power dissipation in the switching power supply going from 120V to whatever voltage and current the LED requires.

I suppose the bulb base is the "heat sink", but many standard receptacles are essentially insulated (thermally) from pretty much everything else, so their ability to carry heat away is severely limited.

Sorry you're having trouble. It's a pain to return anything, and keeping track of this sort of stuff is also cumbersome.

[Rusty]

Well, I am on my 3rd CREE LED bulb on same bathroom fixture.
100 watt = 18 watts.

The first one lasted a little over a year. The 2nd (same model) lasted about the same amount of time. About a year.

The package states 17 years.

When I took the bulb out the base was hot enough to burn hand. The base does have baffles to dissipate the heat. That is what was hot.

Home Depot exchange - no charge. Just get another one. But did have to politely push the return lady a bit.

So where is the 17 years? And the fixture is open to the air.

Hope you have better luck with your new tractor (if you buy one). :)

[TheProfessor]

Hope you have better luck with your new tractor (if you buy one). :)

The Ariens manual transmission has engine made in USA.

"Thank you for contacting the Ariens Company. The A17KG42 is a Marketing designation. I believe the Model you are looking at is Model 936087 which has a Kohler engine. Kohler builds their engines in the U.S."

Have to wait for next Spring. All stock gone. Model may or may not be available as each year some models change.

And note. I just drove my neighbors newer hydrostatic lawn tractor/mower. And I just don't like it.

[Outdoorsman]

Home Depot exchange - no charge. Just get another one. But did have to politely push the return lady a bit.

You saved a receipt for the purchase of light bulbs for 2+ years?

[HellRaZoR004]

If you buy things at homedepot with a credit card they can look it up that way for you. No receipt needed.


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[tbonies]

I have bought several CREE LEDs at HD with no issues at all. Either you are very unlucky or need to change out your fixture.

[TheProfessor]

You saved a receipt for the purchase of light bulbs for 2+ years?

No receipt.
But yes, it is always a good idea to save every receipt.

I had telephoned CREE when the first one that quit. I was going to send it back to CREE. But was advised just to take it to Home Depot for an exchange.

But yes, good advice to keep receipt for everything.

[Descant]

I probably won't have this house/camp/light fixture for 17 years, so the 4x cost for LED over incandescent is a rip-off to me. A double rip-off since I have had several LED's fail. I replace with Incandescent now whenever possible. I have had good luck with installing new fixtures that come with LED lamps, so I suspect the fixture, not the lamp, may be the problem. If you're talking about a camp used 20-40 days a year, there aren't many of us who will need the longevity of an LED, and the lower power consumption is not an offset either.

I like the new fixtures, but it turns out the EPA mandate to reduce incandescent lamp availability makes as much sense as requiring ethanol.

[IslandRadio]

One thing I really DO like about LED lights (at least the ones I got) is the fact that the light is VERY nice. The color is great, and there is no blinking whatsoever.

[TheProfessor]

One thing I really DO like about LED lights (at least the ones I got) is the fact that the light is VERY nice. The color is great, and there is no blinking whatsoever.

They come in two "colors". Two different type of white light. Warm and cool light. Or some such wording.

[SIKSUKR]

I wonder about if the fixture is allowing the heat to disapate properly.

Heat sinks have made LED bulbs the freaks of the lighting world. Metal collars and other heat sinks serve to draw away heat from LEDs to ensure long life, but they also give LED bulbs an unfamiliar, bulky look and add to their costs.

LED maker Cree on Tuesday is introducing a new consumer bulb that does away with the metal heat sink seen on most LED bulbs. The dimmable bulbs come with a lower cost, too: $7.97 for a 40-watt and 60-watt equivalent, down from $9.97 for a “soft white” version. The “daylight” version with whiter light costs $8.97.

The new design employs a few engineering tricks and the company's latest generation of high-power LEDs to reduce the cost, says Mike Watson vice president of strategy at Cree, which makes LEDs atop silicon carbide wafers.

Thermal management represent about 25-30 percent of total cost in an LED bulb, second only to the LEDs themselves

To remove the heat sink, engineers created a new structure to house the LEDs. The company’s previous bulbs used a metal “tower” that held the LEDs in the center of the globe and also served to transfer heat to a metal collar at the bulb’s base. These heat sinks can be big: with Cree’s 100-watt equivalent product, the heat sink is nearly as large as the bulb.

In its new design, heat is removed from the LEDs through convection, or a flow of air through the bulb. The LEDs are mounted on circuit boards, rather than the metal tower. As the diodes heat up, they draw air from outside the bulb through small vent-like openings at the base and on the top. Because hot air rises, air flows continually through the bulb to cool the LEDs. The airflow circulates whether the bulb is vertical, horizontal or upside down, Watson says.

In addition to lowering cost, Cree is also seeking to make LEDs look more familiar, so consumers will replace incandescent bulbs and compact fluorescent lights (CFL), he says.

Other lighting companies have taken different routes to thermal management. UGetLight and Switch both have a liquid-cooled bulb, which Switch says ensures long life and makes bulbs safe for enclosed fixtures. The most recent products from General Electric and Philips have eliminated ungainly heat sinks in their first-generation bulbs with more sleek, tapered metal bases near the bottom.

"We believe the most light in a small space or the most lumens per wafer wins in the end."
—Mike Watson, vice president of strategy at Cree

Heat sinks and other forms of thermal management represent about 25 to 30 percent of the total cost in an LED bulb, second only to the LEDs themselves, Watson says.

Cree was also able to lower costs by using fewer LEDs—eight instead of 10 for a 60-watt equivalent. Its latest high-power LEDs run at a higher current to produce more light in a smaller amount of space. In general, running more current through LEDs will degrade their life. Watson says the Cree’s LEDs are designed for high power and its latest consumer bulbs have the same 25,000-hour projected lifetime, which can be more than 20 years depending on use.

"We believe the most light in a small space or the most lumens per wafer wins in the end," Watson says. "Having a high-power LED means you can drive the product harder and at higher temperatures reliably."

Cree’s 60-watt equivalent consumes 11 watts, compared to 9.5 watts for its current product, and the 40-watt equivalent still draws six watts.

The LED lighting industry is in a race to bring down the purchase price of bulbs and entice consumers to try them, putting the technology on a relatively rapid cost reduction curve. And as prices creep under $10 and approach $5, more consumers are likely to buy LEDs and fuel faster adoption.

[Patofnaud]

And you can buy the new Cree bulbs by the case..

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QSIQ5MA

8 for $47.

I bought a case a couple weeks ago. They feel lighter, but work fine.