Ordering LEDs direct from China (AliBaba/AliExpress)

[dspiffy]

Trying these next:


http://www.aliexpress.com/item/20pc...0-MR16-E14-B22-GU5-3-Dimmable/1695211199.html


It's the same factory as the other small bulbs I mentioned, but a different seller account.


So far my experiences have been GREAT with the PAR20s (and smaller) and PAR30s. The PAR38s were pretty junky.

 

[dspiffy]

I dont know if I mentioned it previously in the thread, but I bought one LED MR11 from eBay:


http://www.ebay.com/itm/141132893907


It lasted exactly one day.


I didnt have high expectations for it, so far I havent been able to find ANY LED MR11s that meet our needs.

 

[mcnair55]

Would it be a good idea to get in touch with your local council and see if there were energy saving grants available so you could purchase bona fide lights from a reputable source.I would imagine your insurance company would even offer a discount on a lower risk category.

 

[JohnR66]

He's enamored with using crap products. So be it. When the drivers quit or the LEDs fade before they should (hopefully no catastrophic failures), He'll have hopefully learned his lesson.

My friend bought one of those relatively cheap 100 watt LED fixtures for his barn. Probably less than 100 hours of use on it and strips of LEDs in the matrix (COB type LED) have already gone out.

 

[dspiffy]

Would it be a good idea to get in touch with your local council and see if there were energy saving grants available so you could purchase bona fide lights from a reputable source.I would imagine your insurance company would even offer a discount on a lower risk category.

Focus on Energy reimburses for half the cost of LED bulbs. That still makes the in-store PAR30s $15ea or more.

 

[mcnair55]

Focus on Energy reimburses for half the cost of LED bulbs. That still makes the in-store PAR30s $15ea or more.

But would you be buying a good product,from this thread all you have been buying is tat and your penny pinching now by all accounts could prove costly down the line.Remember the Chinese do not throw things away and i will never buy batteries off flea bay for that very reason.

 

[dspiffy]

We simply didnt have the budget to spend any more than we're discussing here. It was either this or stick with the CFL PARs which have abysmal light and high failure rate.

 

[dspiffy]

I received a couple cases of these yesterday:


http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/5073/PAR-105265.html


They are labeled CE and RoSH, just like the Chinese LEDs. No UL.


Is that just as egregious, or not as they are sold by an American company?

 

[DIWdiver]

AFAIK, CE is stricter than UL, so the UL marking would be redundant.

My biggest concern would be lumen maintenance. My experience with cheap LED lights is that after a year, they've lost half their output or more. It would be very interesting to get a cheap lux meter and make a few measurements every week or every month for a year.

 

[dspiffy]

AFAIK, CE is stricter than UL, so the UL marking would be redundant.

My biggest concern would be lumen maintenance. My experience with cheap LED lights is that after a year, they've lost half their output or more. It would be very interesting to get a cheap lux meter and make a few measurements every week or every month for a year.

Shouldnt even need to be that technical. As long as I have at least one unused lamp, after a year, I can compare it to one of the lamps that's been in use 24 hours a day, and see if there is any notable difference.

According to CREE it should take 3 years of constant use before they drop to 85% brightness, and 6 years before they hit 70%.

 

[dspiffy]

The order of dimmable ones came today. I'm home, but wanted to do some testing, so I put one in the track fixture in the spare bedroom. It's controlled by a GE rotary click on/off dimmer, 600w max.


I prefer dimmers that cannot be turned on at full brightness-- therefore either rotary with click off, or slide with off at the bottom. I also dont like it when a dimmer is clicked on, but there is no visible light. At the dimmest setting, you should be able to tell it's on, otherwise you get people turning lights off but leaving the power on.


In this case, the dimmer clicks on and the LEDs start slightly brighter than the halogens. They're brighter than the halogens at full brightness too, so it may be linear. At the very dimmest setting there is a faint flicker visible when I look at the fixture. As I gradually move the dimmer up, the flicker goes away and it gradually continues to full brightness. There is no color change at varying levels, unlike incandescents and halogens.


I'm going to try a few other dimmers when I get to the buildings.


If anyone thinks a video would help I'll make one.

 

[dspiffy]

600w no name rotary dimmer: click on, nothing. As you turn the dimmer, the lamps come on to 15-20% brightness, then evenly continue to full brightness


1000w Cooper dimmer: click on, nothing. Nothing for a while. Then out of nowhere 50% brightness, then full. I hate these Cooper dimmers


1200w dimmer from Taiwan: Click on to about 10% brightness, then evenly continue to full brightness.


I did not notice any flicker with any of these dimmers


I tried one of the non dimmable bulbs on a dimmer, just to see. It comes on at full brightness and stays at full brightness no matter the dimmer position. No flicker, no variation, no nothing, just on.

 

[RoGuE_StreaK]

Are you sure the flicker isn't just being masked by the brightness? Try waving your hand in front of the light and see if you get a strobing effect. Some of these lights have very basic rectification without any smoothing caps, which can be an unenjoyable experience

 

[ken222]

Thanks for all the info about these Chinese LED's!
I'm always concerned about CRI, do you have any idea what the CRI value is?

 

[dspiffy]

Are you sure the flicker isn't just being masked by the brightness? Try waving your hand in front of the light and see if you get a strobing effect. Some of these lights have very basic rectification without any smoothing caps, which can be an unenjoyable experience

No, if you bump them up only slightly from the very dimmest setting, it goes away. I've also seen the power supplies, they do have two filter caps.

Thanks for all the info about these Chinese LED's!
I'm always concerned about CRI, do you have any idea what the CRI value is?

The manufacturer claims 90. To my eyes the light looks identical to the LED bulbs sold at Menards, which all have a CRI in the 80-90 range.

 

[SemiMan]

AFAIK, CE is stricter than UL, so the UL marking would be redundant.

My biggest concern would be lumen maintenance. My experience with cheap LED lights is that after a year, they've lost half their output or more. It would be very interesting to get a cheap lux meter and make a few measurements every week or every month for a year.

CE is stricter than UL? .... No. Mostly a self cert. No independent thermal tests or material tests or factory audits or really much of anything for that matter. Of course a lot of the time that CE is China Export .. Not the CE you are thinking .

 

[Arthur8994]

I had similar issue, i needed to replace about 80 of GU10 LED lamps in my house, i tried some on ebay which were junk and also ordered some on alibaba and quality was just not there, the LED lamps with GU10 base looks ok but they just weren't bright enough. I tried several sites including amazon but the best lumen output Gu10 led i got were from www.LightExports.com they have tons of different ones and even the ones that output 70W of halogen light, which was slighly strange since i didn't know GU10 lamps come in 70W its too much heat. Anyhow the ones i got were CREE GU10 6W Dimmable in warm white which easily output 50W of light with approx 500 lumens, i would get these again if i have to but know i am set since these are rated for 40,000hrs. Definitely recommend these.

 

[dspiffy]

I had similar issue, i needed to replace about 80 of GU10 LED lamps in my house, i tried some on ebay which were junk and also ordered some on alibaba and quality was just not there, the LED lamps with GU10 base looks ok but they just weren't bright enough. I tried several sites including amazon but the best lumen output Gu10 led i got were from www.LightExports.com they have tons of different ones and even the ones that output 70W of halogen light, which was slighly strange since i didn't know GU10 lamps come in 70W its too much heat. Anyhow the ones i got were CREE GU10 6W Dimmable in warm white which easily output 50W of light with approx 500 lumens, i would get these again if i have to but know i am set since these are rated for 40,000hrs. Definitely recommend these.

I took a look at your site. The prices are higher that buying bulbs in American stores.

 

[dspiffy]

Tried a LUTRON dimmer today designed for LEDs. Because of the trim I was able to get the bulbs a lot dimmer than any of the other dimmers I tried before. However, like some of the other dimmers, at specific levels there is a faint flicker. That flicker is not there at all with the Taiwanese dimmer.


Two of my high end Sylvania PAR38 LEDs from the supply house have started making an odd buzzing sound. These are the ones with the best quality light.

 

[SemiMan]

Probably always buzzed with a dimmer.