G W Posted January 13, 2017 Posted January 13, 2017 For those that are near a Costco, I picked up a 4-pack of fully dimmable LED A19 bulbs for $10.99. These are bright (1600 lumiens at 3000K), fully dimmable and work great with Insteon dimmers.
Techman Posted January 13, 2017 Posted January 13, 2017 For those that are near a Costco, I pick up a 4-pack of fully dimmable LED bulbs for $10.99. These are bright, fully dimmable and work great with Insteon dimmers. What's the color temperature of the bulbs?
G W Posted January 14, 2017 Author Posted January 14, 2017 They dim so low I can barely see that it's on. I'm using these in my outside fixtures. I just set it to 1% and it barely glows.
larryllix Posted January 14, 2017 Posted January 14, 2017 For those that are near a Costco, I picked up a 4-pack of fully dimmable LED A19 bulbs for $10.99. These are bright (1600 lumiens at 3000K), fully dimmable and work great with Insteon dimmers. I have access to three Costcos within 3 hours drive from me. Unfortunately, they all carry different light bulb products. Thanks
502ss Posted January 14, 2017 Posted January 14, 2017 Those that don't have a Costco near by can get them on good old Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/100-watt-Dimmable-bulbs-pack/dp/B01MFGH6EQ
larryllix Posted January 14, 2017 Posted January 14, 2017 Those that don't have a Costco near by can get them on good old Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/100-watt-Dimmable-bulbs-pack/dp/B01MFGH6EQ Yup good old amazon for the best prices around and fastest shipping under a month. Prime membership was cancelled after a few tests of shipping times were not met.
MWareman Posted January 14, 2017 Posted January 14, 2017 Those that don't have a Costco near by can get them on good old Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/100-watt-Dimmable-bulbs-pack/dp/B01MFGH6EQ Wow, $25.... Got 2 Costco's I can check. Hope they have some. Been looking for dimmable that go down to 1% for a while!
jtara92101 Posted January 14, 2017 Posted January 14, 2017 Define "goes to 1%". MANY bulbs "go to 1%", if you define it as staying at the same level from ~ 1% to ~10%. Best way to see it visually is to put an incandescent in a second fixture on the same dimmer. When you are done with your test, take out the incandescent, because the cognitive dissonance will drive you nuts! It is better that it stays at some low level with no steps for the first ~10% than that it cuts off at ~10%. But it's still not "architectural dimming". I think some bulbs now use the same trick that the "warm glow" bulbs do, but without a different in color temperature, just in order to stay lit at low levels.
larryllix Posted January 14, 2017 Posted January 14, 2017 Define "goes to 1%". MANY bulbs "go to 1%", if you define it as staying at the same level from ~ 1% to ~10%. Best way to see it visually is to put an incandescent in a second fixture on the same dimmer. When you are done with your test, take out the incandescent, because the cognitive dissonance will drive you nuts! It is better that it stays at some low level with no steps for the first ~10% than that it cuts off at ~10%. But it's still not "architectural dimming". I think some bulbs now use the same trick that the "warm glow" bulbs do, but without a different in color temperature, just in order to stay lit at low levels. Yeah, those WarmGlowTM bulbs drive me nuts. Why wouldn't they make a bulb colour starting at 3000K or even 4100K instead of their already orange 2500-2700K? Great idea but lousy colour range. Perhaps they will rethink that one later. Sure would be nice to have an arc-weld bright work light that can turn into an evening cozy lamp with the flick of a vocal switch.
G W Posted January 14, 2017 Author Posted January 14, 2017 This is an example of why so many are tired of the forum. A positive post about a bulb at a good price gets turned into off topic complaints. I wish I had not posted this. If I could delete this entire thread, I would.
502ss Posted January 14, 2017 Posted January 14, 2017 Yup good old amazon for the best prices around and fastest shipping under a month. Prime membership was cancelled after a few tests of shipping times were not met. Feit bulbs.jpg Sorry you have bad luck with amazon!! I have been a prime member for 5 years and out of the thousands of items I have ordered I have only had a handful of issues! No complaints here! As far as prices go, yeah not everything is the cheapest but I don't own a membership to Costco or others and I am a 20-30 minute drive each way to any big box store so amazon works for me! Everyone has there own opinion though!
larryllix Posted January 14, 2017 Posted January 14, 2017 Sorry you have bad luck with amazon!! I have been a prime member for 5 years and out of the thousands of items I have ordered I have only had a handful of issues! No complaints here! As far as prices go, yeah not everything is the cheapest but I don't own a membership to Costco or others and I am a 20-30 minute drive each way to any big box store so amazon works for me! Everyone has there own opinion though! You don't deal with amazon.ca Costco online doesn't require any membership. Costco stores are inconsistent and don't carry much variety.
jtara92101 Posted January 14, 2017 Posted January 14, 2017 Only because this is the Coffee Shop. Where drift ought to be expected. Darn, this one is too orange too!
mango Posted January 14, 2017 Posted January 14, 2017 Define "goes to 1%". A very generic question I suppose. I'm after the best possible ramp to/from off without steps or sudden on/off. A difficult thing to try and achieve using traditional dimming at the switch, chopping out bits of AC supplying the hardware of the bulb that needs to do the dc dimming. Some bulbs respond better than others.
jtara92101 Posted January 14, 2017 Posted January 14, 2017 A very generic question I suppose. I'm after the best possible ramp to/from off without steps or sudden on/off. A difficult thing to try and achieve using traditional dimming at the switch, chopping out bits of AC supplying the hardware of the bulb that needs to do the dc dimming. Some bulbs respond better than others. There are multiple issues at play here. One - which you've just pointed-out, and the one I had in mind - is the difficulty of designing an internal dimmer circuit within the bulb that can 1. "read" either the smoothed AC voltage level and/or the actual chopping pattern presented at the socket in order to determine the desired dimming level AND 2. at the same time provide needed voltage/current to the LEDs given a very wide range of input AC voltage, i.e. 120V at full and 1.2V at 1%. An additional issue, though hinges on the different characteristics of incandescent vs LED bulbs. Step an incandescent at a reasonably high rate, and you won't see steps. It takes some time for the filament to head up/cool down, and this smooths the steps. As Insteon has discrete steps (AND the size of the steps varies, depending on whether controlling locally from the switch or remotely over the Insteon network!) it will be easy to notice the steps with an LED that doesn't take some counter-measures. It seems to be (by observation) that some bulbs must have some internal circuitry that will smooth steps in input voltage, and (most) do not. The circuitry inside the bulbs is doing a tremendous amount of ultimately unnecessary nonsense to accommodate common AC dimmers. It is necessary, though, because of how our homes are wired today. LED lamps that are designed with their own internal dimming circuit that works with a constant 120V input (e.g. Hue) or those that use an external "ballast" (e.g. dimmer) that works with a constant 120V AC input have no trouble achieving true architectural dimming, with a continuous range down to 1% or less with no dropout. It is as if the automobile were never invented, yet the internal combustion engine still was. We might be riding around on mechanically-assisted horses with a strapped-on motor! The arrangement of pulleys and chains and leg-pushing/pulling pistons might get ever so clever over the years. But would I think always seem a bit uncanny. So, just how clever is this bulb, really?
mango Posted January 14, 2017 Posted January 14, 2017 Very well said. I have some LIFXs on order to play with but to retrofit them to an expensive pre installed dimming setup is not pleasant
apostolakisl Posted January 15, 2017 Posted January 15, 2017 Was at costco today. THey have those bulbs, but not at that price. They were like $15. Didn't need any so didn't buy. Did buy the Feit 6 pack of 40 w eq candelabra which consume 3.8 watts for $19.99. I was skeptical. But I have to say, they look essentially perfect. When off, they look slightly different than an incandescent, but the difference is hardly noticeable. Basically, the "filaments" are sort of thick and yellow looking. But the base is identical to incandescent. They don't have that big fat white base and they also don't have that funky looking prism like led reflector. Once you turn them on, they look exactly like incandescent. They dimmed well and had very pleasant color. I put them in a chandelier in my daughters bedroom. I doubt she will notice I changed them. We'll see. Of course, now the big one. Will they last the 15,000 hours promised. Probably not. You can get them on ebay for ever so slightly more money. But no tax, so it probably is about a wash. http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/361878596510?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true
kohai Posted January 15, 2017 Posted January 15, 2017 Yeah, those WarmGlowTM bulbs drive me nuts. Why wouldn't they make a bulb colour starting at 3000K or even 4100K instead of their already orange 2500-2700K? Great idea but lousy colour range. Perhaps they will rethink that one later. Sure would be nice to have an arc-weld bright work light that can turn into an evening cozy lamp with the flick of a vocal switch. I've had decent luck with the WarmGlow, but I only own 6. I have a hard time finding warm enough LEDs. My home is arts and crafts style and the warm incandescent bulbs look great and they're often slightly dimmed. The white has to be warm or it looks bad. LEDs struggle to get warm enough for me or dim right (or they buzz). Even the WarmGlow isn't as warm as the regular incandescent. So, there is a market for it.
mango Posted January 15, 2017 Posted January 15, 2017 This is an example of why so many are tired of the forum. A positive post about a bulb at a good price gets turned into off topic complaints. I wish I had not posted this. If I could delete this entire thread, I would. Just read this. I hope me asking how they perform when dimmed wasn't construed as off topic. I see other replies about price/performance/different makes and models.
k7zpj Posted January 25, 2017 Posted January 25, 2017 Very well said. I have some LIFXs on order to play with but to retrofit them to an expensive pre installed dimming setup is not pleasant The LIFX bulbs will work with Insteon dimmers as long as you have them at 100% and .1 sec ramp rate. I have been running LIFX bulbs for several months with both 2476D and 2477D dimmers without any issues at all.
stusviews Posted January 25, 2017 Posted January 25, 2017 The LIFX bulbs will work with Insteon dimmers as long as you have them at 100% and .1 sec ramp rate. I have been running LIFX bulbs for several months with both 2476D and 2477D dimmers without any issues at all. That seems to make a dimmer useless except that a dimmer doesn't click.
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