Find this recently added at Amazon:
Price $39.99 and free shipping Amazon Prime. $10 each for a pretty light that may be installed most anywhere, by anyone. It is the promise of LEDs that can reduce operating cost more than 90% vs. incandescent bulbs, delivered, if perhaps too cheaply. Dimming is imperfect, and this has only a three-year limited warranty, with no claim of expected operating hours. Do buy it if you want real, efficient light, getting rid of silly point-source incandescent and under-performing CFL and LED lightbulbs that might reduce operating cost only 75%. The added conservation is important. Get used then, to downlighting everywhere. Don't want recessed lighting. We know not to stare at brightness that lights our homes.
Find photos at the Amazon link, including this:
This is really-efficient packaging. Not even tape to slice. I've wondered about cost in shipping volume and some added weight, of container boxes. I have supported the efficiency, accepting delivery to Amazon Locker. If I wanted a return, I could print covering shipping labels. I do not want to return this.
Four attachment kits, together, protected against scratching luminaires.
And the luminaires and instructions. The instructions are printed 8 1/2" x 11" USA dimensions and are legible.
There are discreet OPEN -CLOSE arrows at edge of the lens. You will only be glad, to have them.
This is the entirety of the electronics. Is there something fragile here, that reduces this light to a limited three-year warranty, stated on the box?
At stage left on my comparison stand, a Best World LED, claimed 1100 lumens. At stage right, 1022 lumens Nicor DLS56. Both are claimed 3000°K. I attribute the less-pretty Nicor illumination to actual color temperature of under 2900°K.
Both lights work fairly well on an inexpensive Cooper DAL06P dimmer from Lowe's. The Best World light drops off quicker, and both are nearly dead at about 10% power. Choose a dimmer with range setting to avoid the shutoff.
There are many provisional openings through the luminaire. All but the usually-employed keyways at 3.5" screw pitch are covered with metalized-plastic tape that lets through quite a bit of light. Bugs able to pass through or around the junction box will be crazed by the keyway light leakage, then littering the lens. Know to tape over the keyways and mated screws before resetting the lens. Use white or reflective tape, hoping to not contribute to light-off lens darkness. But, instructions don't warn this. For this instructions deceit, I will knock off one star in my review at Amazon. I believe the manufacturer knows better.
I have really missed low-glare Cost Less 6" LED, discontinued in the interest of offering something cheaper with another nickel in retailer profit margin intended. The Best World LED gives again, decent low glare, but it might be less durable, and it IS worse in dimming. Was cheapening worth it, for customers with can lights, or boxes not overloaded, who did not mind AC/DC converter blocks perhaps more durable?
At 11/20/2017, this post has edit of the luminance table above, to include yet another China offering via Amazon,
Jullison LED, Hong Kong . This time there is no pretense the push to USA of products conceived in China with susceptibility to bug littering of lenses, has any USA sponsorship. Jullison packaging and the Amazon listing are silent on durability of the AC LED circuitry. If these last only three years, they are not good value.
The clear acrylic over diodes is on legs, and itself can collect determined bugs.
The Jullison offering does not deserve separate review. The world does not need this light, with larger diode glare and impossible of blocking bugs at the lens attachment keyways. I will return the light as defective and will offer a negative review at Amazon. The review is largely a criticism of Amazon, who takes full responsibility for the offering. I think Amazon should somehow warn shoppers. My review if accepted, is one-star. I would agree that is harsh for a decent light that saves energy, but
I hope to get the attention of shoppers and of Amazon to design against bugs, in lights that should otherwise never need service with attendant dangers. One danger here is in the random stiffness of lens attachment keys. Palm friction sometimes is inadequate, and turning direction marks on the lens are barely visible. Will one clean out bugs with a hammer or a chisel?
2 comments:
Regarding longevity of LED lighting: Even more than with CFL, the weakness is in the electronics. LEDs do generate waste heat, and neither they nor their supporting electronics tolerate heat well. An incandescent throws lots of heat, but it can live at quite an elevated temperature. If an LED's electronics get hot, they die young.
If fixtures were built with decent heat dissipation, the LED assemblies would probably live forever.
Thank you for this very useful comment. Please tolerate newsiness by the blog author here. First note that I have recently chosen to moderate comments since most are spam, and some quite awful. I am so happy to accept this comment, where in most posts I get no contribution. I want to be part of a process of invention to do better in our homes, in some more wiki-like site inviting of multiple authors. I want all authors then to be identified if they wish. I want to recede, and to even accept original posts from others, properly attributed.
I suspect you have much more to share here about tragedy that LEDs are being pushed as light bulb replacements losing at least half of potential efficiency in advantage over point-source incandescents. I think we need to strongly express the message we can reduce electricity demand more than 90% while doubling illumination, as well-placed overhead downlights. Go further to wire each light as direct current from central and serviceable clever and inexpensive converter electronics. Simple DC luminaires will last forever and must never require service as in bugs removal. Can you confirm that circuit boards with elements other than LED diodes will shorten service life, commensurate with a 3-year limited warranty here?
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