RGB LED bulbs, ac powered

Dave_H

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 3, 2009
Messages
1,348
Location
Ottawa Ont. Canada
Who else has played around with low-cost RGB LED bulbs powered by ac?

A local dollar store had them for $4 which includes small IR remote which works within a few feet.

Bulb marked 3W, 200 lumen which seems reasonable though hard to compare efficacy with white bulbs.
Package marked brightness is "30,000 lumens" which I suspect actually means 30k hour lifetime (nice
if true). I joked with cashier that 30k lumens should light up most of the store. Package errors are sometimes
reason why otherwise good products get sold off cheap.

It also has colour shift effects and 4-level brightness control.

Light output is modest but may work fine for outdoor (small porch or shed) or indoor low-level e.g. nightlight.

Interesting thought is to use regular colour, white or some bright tint., but easily switchable for occasions:

-green for St. Patrick's day.
-orange or purple for Halloween
-yellow as bug-light.
-I would avoid red for outdoor light!

On that note due to colour mixing, the white has some other visible colours; and yellow from RGB is mediocre,
which is a known shortfall. However, not bad for the price and versatility!

Dave
 
Joined
Apr 13, 2020
Messages
336
Have one in a porch light that gets changed to match the seasons, but likely is quite a bit brighter. Would never buy another. Everything now is either Philips Hue and/or better quality WiFi units that can talk to Google/Alexa. The remote is a pain in the butt unless you change very infrequently.
 

Dave_H

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 3, 2009
Messages
1,348
Location
Ottawa Ont. Canada
What can I say...this bulb cost <$5 after taxes and is not meant to replace high-brightness colour LED
bulbs which cost 10's of dollars each. If wireless remote control is essential and cost is no obstacle,
then Hue or similar bulbs may be the answer. For me, the simple ability to set colour and leave it
for some time is good enough.

Store sold these out quickly, looks like a one-time deal (liquidation maybe). I won't be "taking the lid off"
to see what's inside just yet. However, the same "dollar store" had another deal on a set of two 3xAAA powered
bulbs for the same price, with RC. The plastic diffuser popped off easily, found it uses RGB+W: five
SMT white LEDs plus a single large 6-pin RGB LED; could post an image if anyone is interested.

Dave
 
Joined
Apr 13, 2020
Messages
336
I think I paid $13.00 CDN + tax for the Philips Wiz bulbs, or about $9.25 USD. They are very bright in color (maybe couple hundred lumens), but 800ish in white. I have some others in a similar price range that I bought a four pack of.
 
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