LED light bulbs from Lights Of America

Redbelly98

I recently bought some LED light bulbs, made by Lights Of America, at our local Ace hardware store. Lights of America part number is 2026LED-30k and 2026LED-65k.

So here are some of the claims written on the packaging:

Uses 1.5W
Replaces 40W bulb
90% more efficient than incandescent and halogen bulbs

NOT on the package:
Lumens rating

Also missing: any mention of this product at their website.

Okay, for starters, when I got home and tried them out, they definitely do NOT look as bright as a 40W incandescent bulb.

Secondly, they're efficiency and power claims on the package are inconsistent with one another. 1.5W vs. 40W would mean 25 to 30 times more efficient, not 90% more.

Finally, similar bulbs by Philips indicate these 1.5W bulbs are closer to the light output of a 10W incandescent. (Philips has 1W LED = 7W incandescent, and 3W LED = 20W incandescent) That's still an impressive 6 to 7 times the efficiency.

I imagine they thought people would be put off by a 10W equivalence claim, since that is not a commonly used wattage. And to make a truly 40W equivalence would require 4 times the number of LED's. They are already charging $9 or $10, so perhaps they don't think they would sell if they had to charge more.

Proton Soup

i've never had much luck with LoA products. the fluorescent screw-in bulbs i've bought failed quickly. naturally, this erodes my confidence in the idea that one can save either energy or money with them. i believe i ended up wasting both.

i do think LEDs will eventually be the way to go, but i still wouldn't buy from LoA.

nottheone

I hate to say this but the product looks like it lives up to half its claims. It doesn't make any claims as to a luminosity replacement it just says replaces a 40W with a 1.5W. They meant that it will fit, not be as bright. The wording is purposely vague so people will assume it will be as bright. Most people won't realize that there is no way an LED using 1.5W can be even close to as bright as a 40W incandescent, that would be about 2600% more efficient wouldn't it? The 90% more efficient claim would take some some creative defense but I think a lawyer could do it.

mgb_phys

A lumen is roughly the power in the visible band
A 40W light bulb puts out about 2% of the energy in the visible (about 12 lm/W = 500 lm)
For a 1.5W (perfectly electrically efficent ) source to match a 40W bulb it would need to achieve around 330 lm/w

A perfect source monchromatic source in the middle of the visible is 680 lm/W - no broadband source is going to manage 500 lm from 1.5W, a green laser diode might, but only because of the definition of a lumen.

russ_watters

I can't comment specifically on the output light claim, but...
You're not completing the math, so it isn't clear to me that you have it right. 40/1.5= 26.7. That's 26.7 times less power. That's not in terms of efficiency or "more efficient" - it's upside-down. In terms of efficiency, that's 1/26.7 = .0375 = 3.75% as much power or 1-3.75%=96.25% more efficient.

But since the claim is 90% more efficient, not 96%, then it should put out 1.5/.1=15 Watts of light (equivalent). Seems an odd claim to me - not technically false if that's what it really puts out, but definitely misleading since the words imply something different than the numbers say.

Redbelly98

Well, that makes more sense. And if the light output is 15W-equivalent, that's comparable to the Philips numbers.

heartstopper

they are using a bit of deception here. i bought some too and was similarly disappointed. i had previously gotten some LofA bulbs at Costco (floodlight bulbs) and was reasonable satisfied though the light is more directional than i wanted.

i then bought some of these, same ones you have, off the internet and was questioning them much like you. their words are deceptive. after searching a bit on the internet i found out these bulbs put out the equivalent to a 25W bulb... but they say to replace your 40w bulb with them. I am not totally up on whats available from lightbulb manuf but i don't think 25W bulbs are common so you would use these to REPLACE a 40W light bulb instead of a 25W bulb. anyway, the improvement in efficiency is reduced considerebly to NEAR the 90%.

also, the color of the light is dependent upon the "color temperature" f the bulb. the ones i got are 30K. they make another one of the same type at 65K. the 65 K would be MUCH whiter than the 30K.

personally, i don't think i would buy more of LofA bulbs. I've had many early failures of the CFLs and am greatly dsappointed. of course, to take them up on their warranty you have to have the receipt to show when you bought it.

nonetheless, i have put these bulbs in porch lights and the refrigerator. besides using LESS energy than standard appliance bulbs, they will not dissipate as much heat into the frig so that will help with the operation of the frig.

heartstopper

you will find equivalent CFL lumen output to be a dimmer quality of light. this is because of the color temp being diferent. the good CFLs with high color temps tend to be MUCH higher in cost than the cheaper ones (that are so prevalent today) that neither provide a good light OR the life that they claim.

Pythagorean

When it comes to lumens for LEDs, most manufacturers claim about double what their LED actually puts out.

Kupper

I purchased 6 of the 2025LEDE12-30K1.5 watt 30ma lights for a hallway. The light output is nowhere near 40 watts as claimed and 10 watts would be a strech. That said they did produce enough light for the area. The big problem is the 50% failure rate in 60 days that rates these lights a big expensive zero!

bobbythebuild

Try aiming them up onto a white ceiling. LED lights are extremely directional, much more directional and focused than even very focused and directional incandescent, halogen, etc light. If they are pointed upward to a white ceiling, they will seem about 10x brighter and they will light up the entire room (or at least part of the room). We have 9 of these in our main room and our energy bill is more than 20% less for the entire house, because these LED lights use a small fraction of the energy of regular lights and moreover because in the summer, this gain is at least twofold because the A/C has much less to cool off since these bulbs produce much less heat, as well.

ECHOSTONE542

Hi, I am a sales in a LED lighting company. to tell you the truth, the LED lights really saving energy, and it really lighter than traditional lights, but the problem is that not that much. Generally speaking, 1W LED can equals to 5W traditional lights. but this also depends on the technology of the manufacture, even the same chip. Cree chip is nearlly the best, but expensive, manufactures may use other brand chips, but the mounted technology is also a key point.

Tom4748

We bought LED lights by Lights of America at Sams Club (3 chandeliers for $14.86). Two of the three burned out in less than 3 months. Kept the receipt. The package stated they would last 2 years! A VERY POOR PRODUCT! Our old, regular lights lasted 1-2 years!

Foxman09

I met the same problem here in China. I often had to replace new bulbs after several months. The manufacture even claim that they can last 4 years.

mugaliens

After years of dragging my feet while enjoying my two 300 W halogen torchierre lamps, I bit the bullet earlier this summer and replaced them with two 39 W flourscent lamps (two bulbs each, a 13 W and a 26 W).

Cost of the lamps: $40 for both. Cost of the bulbs: $20.

At 11.52 cents per kW-hr, and an average daily use time of 12 hours, they're saving me 10.78 cents per day. I'll recoup their cost in 556 days i.e. 1.52 years.

But that's direct cost of the electricity usage alone. As they produce a lot less heat, they save bucks in the summer, but I have to make up for that lost heat in the winter, so I figure it's a wash in that regard.

I did look into getting LEDs instead of CFLs, but when I did the math, the additional expense of the LEDs compared to mere incremental gains didn't make good financial sense, and I'd read about burn-our issues with the LEDs as well, so I chose to go with the CFLs.

They're advertised to last 6 years, but at what usage rate? 24 hrs/day? Time will tell!

Redbelly98

But, how do you heat your house/apartment? Pretty much any other type of heating is cheaper than heating by electricity, so you should be saving in the winter as well.
Where I live (NJ, USA), electrical energy costs 3 to 4 times what natural gas heating costs.

mugaliens

Much of what I say on this subject comes from owning three houses, a traditional ranch in NC, a condo in NC, and another ranch in Las Vegas. In addition, I helped my uncle build his own house. Not design, just build, but he shared all his design plans with me, and they were his own designs from the ground up. He has four degrees, including two masters, and has just been there, done that, so I don't argue with his stuff.

Here in Colorado, they've got a natural gas line from the gulf, so it's less expensive than electric for heating. Waste heat from incandescent's remains less efficient than going with CFLs and heating the loss with natural gas. Given the fact the size of my place is much the same as it was in Germany, I'm wondering why my erg requirements are fully twice what they were in Germany?

Yes, the designs here in the states are that bad. It's a builder's market, but that is absolutely no excuse for buying into homes which are less than one third as efficient as they could be. I have a friend of mine who lives out east of Falcon, CO, who owns a ranch that has twice the square footage of my apartment, yet his year-round energy bill is less than 25% of mine. Then again, he, too, designed and built his own own, about 18 years ago, and did it right, with both passive solar heating and cooling.

Let's face it - the homebuilders in the U.S. absolutely are NOT focused on energy. My uncle pays less, on average, than $50 a month for either heating or cooling, even though he lives in a 3,000+ sq ft house in Michigan, and in the winter months, it rarely tops $70/mo.

Does your heating/cooling bill look like this? Mine doesn't. Mine is through the roof because my apartment complex was built to "traditional" standards.

NJ - little natural sunlight during the cold winters, some fairly sweltering days during the summer, no chance for evaporative cooling....

You folks need to insulate! And recapture as well as air exchange and climate control. You need fully sealed houses, insulated, forced-air basements, R-50 walls, R-75 ceilings, air-exchange systems, and block houses.

I'm just repeating my uncle's requirements, as you're both in the same part of the country, although in MI he gets some cold storms that you folks don't.

We're just not doing it right, folks! That's why nearly ALL of us are paying 3 times as much for heating and cooling than we should be!

Come on! This is one thing we can, as a group, tackle successfully, and without any loss to personal comfort (a gain, in fact, when it's done right, and at zero extra cost).