LED Blog: LED Lighting And All Things Green

Super cool 21W bulb with an insane heatsink

Sorry guys, for the lack of updates. We’ve been VERY busy looking for some new manufacturers and new products. LED light bulbs and the technology that powers them is changing so fast, I’d almost say that the ones you’ve seen online 1 year ago are already obsolete.

The biggest advance we’ve seen is with heatsinking technology. Since LED dies/chips only get marginally better, the only other thing that manufacturers can do is cluster more LED’s together, and drive them harder.

More power means more heat, so they’re forced to come up with some insane heatsink designs (they’re starting to look like computer CPU heatsinks). I wonder if any CPU heatsink manufacturers are making LEDs……

The guy you see on your left is a whopping 21W LED floodlight that is DIMMABLE and is meant to replace about a 100W incandescent flood. 80% savings and it lasts 10x longer…NICE. Price? Well, let’s see if we can get them over here and we promise you we’ll get the lowest price possible.

So stay tuned and we’ll keep you updated on our status in the hunt for better, brighter LED bulbs. What’s the most common bulb you’d like to replace in your home or store? Floodlights? Halogen or Globes? Leave a comment and let us know…

We have our own website, that sells products but I can’t help but tip my hat to this company. LLF Inc. who was bought out by CREE one of the main LED Chip Manufacturers in the US has the best led fixture out there right now:

They sell a 6-inch and 4-inch LED fixture that you can install in new construction or retro-fit into existing cans (plug and play):
What’s so great about it?

• It’s CHEAP - I’ve seen it sell for well under $100
• It’s bright (enough) - equivalent to a 65W bulb using 12W
• It’s widely available - type in “CREE LR6″ and you can find it both on the internet and in the majority of electrical wholesale stores (No Home Depot or Big-Box retailers yet). Also from what I’ve heard from the wholesalers - it’s selling like hot cakes.
• It’s dimmable on any pre-existing system or using any standard dimmer.

This is a BIG deal especially in homes because having seen and personally talked to a large number of manufacturers from China, USA, Korea, Taiwan the one thing they can’t seem to nail down is dimmability. 100% of all the manufacturers are in one of these categories for dimmability:

1. It dims partially - only down to about 30% then it start flickering
2. It dims on their own proprietary dimmer - which means you have to switch out your nice looking dimmer for a plain jane knob dimmer typically
3. It dims using a remote control - HUH?! - Why would you want to have a remote to dim your lights?!? - oh and to make it work you have to throw in a transformer (proprietary of course) between your power supply and the lights.
4. They say it dims - and it doesn’t at all. When you put the bulb on a dimmer, and try dimming it produces a seizure inducing flicker.

So hat’s off to Cree, though these aren’t as easy to install as these screw-in LED spotlight bulbs. For your marketing and foresight. By the way, we’re actively looking for a BRIGHTER, DIMMABLE solution that will compete directly with the LR6. And when we find it, you can guarantee you’ll see it in our store.