eBay LED Lights

[DBordello]

I saw these eBay LED lights mentioned in another thread:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/25pcsLed-In...49?pt=US_Light_Bulbs&var=&hash=item41878440d5

Anybody have any reviews of these? They are cheap, and appear to be easy to hookup.

I'd love to hear someone's thoughts.

 

[Electric_Light]

Run, don't walk away. Anecdotes only go so far when these products imported without the supervision and QC of a reputable brand have huge variation in quality from unit to unit.

 

[DBordello]

Buy two and decide for yourself.
Accept no opinions except from actual owners.
A small amount of experimental funds will give you the only opinion valuable.
Yours.

I would, if I could without buying 25.

 

[black00lightning]

You can but 1 or two. Look at the bottom of the listing.

 

[G_P]

1.Using SMD2835 high quality led chips, super strong light,low fever

It would appear the lights are already coming down with something.....

 

[Electric_Light]

I saw these eBay LED lights mentioned in another thread:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/25pcsLed-In...49?pt=US_Light_Bulbs&var=&hash=item41878440d5

Anybody have any reviews of these? They are cheap, and appear to be easy to hookup.

I'd love to hear someone's thoughts.

The price is way too high for buying directly from China in a case load. I think a whole case would be considered commercial quantity and you'll likely get hit by the customs, so you have to take that cost into account too. I am only seeing 6500K option,which is bluish white. That's the same white used in LED flashlights. Far bluer than most people can handle. "cool" office lighting is 4100K. The drop-in LEDs from reputable brands in the states are 3500 or 4100K.

There's "they say its 2,000 lumens" and there's 2,000 lumens. If you buy verifiable DLC QPL listed LEDs, I would generally trust it, but a generic Chinese eBay listing, no way.

You can but 1 or two. Look at the bottom of the listing.

The most common problems with **** CFLs and LEDs are driver failure and early degradation. It's not something you can test in a week using a few samples.

 

[DBordello]

Got it, they are junk.

 

[Mustang51js]

Is that the right link,it says $380. That ain't cheap to me lol

 

[k-os]

Is that the right link,it says $380. That ain't cheap to me lol

That's for 25 lights.

 

[Norcal]

They do not show any listing from a NRTL, Nationally Recognized Testing Lab. such as UL, ETL, or others, that alone means run like hell.

 

[Electric_Light]

Smells like that brand Lights of America.

 

[rancherbill]

They are probably not UL/CSA approved.

We bought some LEDs from China and the color was terrible. All the good LEDs are going into premium products. These might be seconds.

 

[fastjohnny]

I saw these eBay LED lights mentioned in another thread:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/25pcsLed-In...49?pt=US_Light_Bulbs&var=&hash=item41878440d5

Anybody have any reviews of these? They are cheap, and appear to be easy to hookup.

I'd love to hear someone's thoughts.

First hand experience here. I bought 50, from the same seller in the link. (Your price break on quantity is much better at 50 than at 25. Ordered Christmas day, had 1/2 of them before new years. The rest came a few days later. I am very pleased with them. In my garage, 12'6" ceilings, drywalled, painted white, in an area 24x26, I used 3 rows of 4 or 5 tubes, screwed to the bottom of the truss. They are instant on, provide great illumination, and no complaints with CRI. Would I paint or color match with them? Maybe not, but for general shop lighting, they are fine. Haters gonna hate.

 

[Norcal]

First hand experience here. I bought 50, from the same seller in the link. (Your price break on quantity is much better at 50 than at 25. Ordered Christmas day, had 1/2 of them before new years. The rest came a few days later. I am very pleased with them. In my garage, 12'6" ceilings, drywalled, painted white, in an area 24x26, I used 3 rows of 4 or 5 tubes, screwed to the bottom of the truss. They are instant on, provide great illumination, and no complaints with CRI. Would I paint or color match with them? Maybe not, but for general shop lighting, they are fine. Haters gonna hate.

Still are cheap untested junk, NTRL listings cost money since UL or others do not list for free, you get what you pay for and since they come from that free for all, wild west show, China, I'd rather have them at least meet some minimum safety standards, let the buyer beware......

 

[DBordello]

First hand experience here. I bought 50, from the same seller in the link. (Your price break on quantity is much better at 50 than at 25. Ordered Christmas day, had 1/2 of them before new years. The rest came a few days later. I am very pleased with them. In my garage, 12'6" ceilings, drywalled, painted white, in an area 24x26, I used 3 rows of 4 or 5 tubes, screwed to the bottom of the truss. They are instant on, provide great illumination, and no complaints with CRI. Would I paint or color match with them? Maybe not, but for general shop lighting, they are fine. Haters gonna hate.

Glad to hear some first hand experience. I have an almost identical garage.

It sounds like you only used 15 of them. Why did you order 50? Would you recommend them?

 

[fastjohnny]

Still have more places to use them. Yes, i'd recommend them.

 

[k-os]

Still have more places to use them. Yes, i'd recommend them.

Do you have any pictures of your install? I was planning on trying these out when I replace the lights in my garage.

 

[Elginz]

Not really related, but I have found that cheap LED replacements for cheap CFLs are just that, and last about as long.

 

[Electric_Light]

First hand experience here. I bought 50, from the same seller in the link. (Your price break on quantity is much better at 50 than at 25. Ordered Christmas day, had 1/2 of them before new years. The rest came a few days later. I am very pleased with them. In my garage, 12'6" ceilings, drywalled, painted white, in an area 24x26, I used 3 rows of 4 or 5 tubes, screwed to the bottom of the truss. They are instant on, provide great illumination, and no complaints with CRI. Would I paint or color match with them? Maybe not, but for general shop lighting, they are fine. Haters gonna hate.

Thanks for your experience. Now we have an idea of what we can expect for the first few days.

You've had them for about 600 hours. If you had them in a continuous operation, that's the maximum hours you could have put on them.

1.) The low power use and the very long life to justify the purchase price are the selling points of LED products. I could get 600 hours out of ordinary filament bulbs, so the test isn't inadequate to say anything about the main points. A huge problem with junk CFLs and LEDs is premature failures or slouching. Lumens and watts are important. We don't believe it just because that's what's said on the box if it came from China and there's no independent verification. see the discussion here http://www.tradeshowproducts.com/article.php?aId=21


2.) You can't measure CRI yourself unless you have a spectroradiometer with a software.
http://designingwithleds.com might let you send one in for testing.

Would you mind running five of so 24/7 in warmest part of your house with the least air flow around the clock for 6 weeks? $9 or so in power bill in the name of science.

Let us know how they look when you compare it to a brand new one side by side.

 

[fastjohnny]

I've got a string of 5 plugged in that have not been off since I installed them on New Year's Day. No noticeable difference than ones that are only on when I'm in the shop.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Just reading the text makes me leery. A 70 cri is junk, too...

Tommy

 

[Electric_Light]

I've got a string of 5 plugged in that have not been off since I installed them on New Year's Day. No noticeable difference than ones that are only on when I'm in the shop.

So, you have all of 624 useful hours or so out of 60,000 hour claimed life and probably at a relatively cool temperature.

This isn't anything against you, but it means about as much as a report that your rental car ran as well as the day you rented it when you returned it after 200 miles of use. If rental cars on average are supposed to last about 3,000 miles, a feedback from each rental is a meaningful evaluation of useful life vs claimed life.

 

[fastjohnny]

So, you have all of 624 useful hours or so out of 60,000 hour claimed life and probably at a relatively cool temperature.

This isn't anything against you, but it means about as much as a report that your rental car ran as well as the day you rented it when you returned it after 200 miles of use. If rental cars on average are supposed to last about 3,000 miles, a feedback from each rental is a meaningful evaluation of useful life vs claimed life.

You asked for an evaluation after 6wks. So far it's been 4 wks. Shop has been continually heated, 60 or so degrees. My garage is a working shop. Real world answers, not hearsay or speculation. At this point, they certainly beat the fluorescents they replaced. It is interesting to read your posts, and watch you critique a product, request a review "in the name of science" and then dodge and weave after requested review to date saying it is meaningless. Nothing against you though. Are there more expensive lights? Sure. Are these doing a fine job for the application? Absolutely.

 

[Electric_Light]

You asked for an evaluation after 6wks. So far it's been 4 wks. Shop has been continually heated, 60 or so degrees. My garage is a working shop.

If you can do this in a crate with just enough slits in the box so the air holds 110-120F and run them for six weeks. 1000 hours and that's more like a real life warm weather day time use at the ceiling. A visual color comparison against the aged, vs unused. Integrating tube test.

Products with various qualifications gets like 6,000 hours of lab test to weed out the worst of products and the life is extrapolated from the test.

You can read the here https://www.energystar.gov/ia/partn...011/LED Lighting Standards in ES Programs.pdf

The one you bought probably didn't get a lab test or failed badly.
60F is a super light duty condition and it's more lenient on LEDs than lab conditions. I'd like some run time at 120F ambient. Maybe inside a metal cabinet? Heat is the overwhelming factor that causes premature ballast/driver failures and significantly accelerates permanent LED decay. Light fixtures in garages and warehouses in SUMMER operate under the toughest conditions. It gets surprisingly hot at the height fixtures are hung. Street lights get cooked, but they don't get turned on while they're cooking.

Real world answers, not hearsay or speculation.

600 hour during the winter is inadequate unless these are lamps with an expected life of 2,500 hours or so. When CFLs were new and there were no quality standards, we had huge issues with premature failures and you probably will if you buy no name imported stuff.

There are special high performance T5 lamps meant for lightly or un a/c'ed shops. They take 5 minutes to reach full brightness but can operate to 175F ambient and ballast driver box can be rated 185F case temperature. http://www.usa.lighting.philips.com/pwc_li/us_en/connect/tools_literature/downloads/p-6077.pdf

You'll need an LED fixture with a monster case and a fan. I don't even like putting regular electronic ballasts T8 close to the roof since I'll the ballast can fry and I go for special high temp.

At this point, they certainly beat the fluorescents they replaced.

Many residential T12 fixtures with a magnetic ballast ran the lamps at about 50% output. They were terrible if the area was colder than about 60F. Some had a very crappy ballast (no name stuff) that would destroy the lamps in about a year even in residential use.

Are there more expensive lights? Sure. Are these doing a fine job for the application? Absolutely.

People buy them to "save money" in electricity. Provided you're delivering the same lumens, you're not saving any money if the bulbs don't last long.

 

[fastjohnny]

EL, can you give a recommendation for a similar style light that passes your muster? You know, so I can set them up side by side, and see how they compare over time.

 

[falcon64]

Sorry EL I have to take FastJohnny's side here.

1) I do not live in a hot climate. In fact I can guarantee my lights will never be surrounded by 120f temps. So what the hell would I do that test for? And if it ever got that hot I sure as hell wouldn't be in the barn working on anything.

2) He did the test in the name of science like you asked him to do. In fact you didn't even allow him to complete the time frame you asked him to before you started ragging on his testing environment.

3) Lets just say the light gets dimmer after certain hours for what ever reason. As long as the owner doesn't care what is the big deal? What if the light gets dimmer but last 37 years like it says on the box? I guess we wont know because it hasn't been 37 years. And how are you going to find out if you never buy one and try it out?

I read your posts and others in the lighting field and you guys are bashing LED lights. I don't get it? If the technology is going that way, which it is, then what is the point of steering everyone towards T8 or T5 lights.

I built a new barn that needs lights. I started reading these threads and I am having a hard time sifting through whats BS and whats not.

 

[Electric_Light]

Sorry EL I have to take FastJohnny's side here.

1) I do not live in a hot climate. In fact I can guarantee my lights will never be surrounded by 120f temps. So what the hell would I do that test for? And if it ever got that hot I sure as hell wouldn't be in the barn working on anything.

You don't, but many people here do. I've seen members from Las Vegas. Lubbock, TX. Phoenix, AZ. Barns and shed lighting in a working environment needs to operate during the day time and it gets hot like a parked car at the height of fixtures. Many people don't realize it.

2) He did the test in the name of science like you asked him to do. In fact you didn't even allow him to complete the time frame you asked him to before you started ragging on his testing environment.

I didn't ask him until like two days ago and he didn't mention that he had it running 24/7 non-stop until I asked. so I wonder... In any case, when they claim 60,000 hour life, one 600 hour test drive is not adequate especially when the selling advantages are efficiency and longevity and do not come with usable warranty to back it up. What if you were offered 100,000 mile tread life tires with no usable warranty at 75% the price of 80,000 mile tires from a reputable shop with a local warranty, but more expensive than 50,000 mile tires from them? No practical way to return and you only have one testimonial from someone who put in 1,000 miles. He doesn't have what it takes vouch for the main point. You see? Nothing personal.

The price isn't that good for something without a usable warranty compared to supply house drop-in LEDs with a 3 year warranty.

3) Lets just say the light gets dimmer after certain hours for what ever reason. As long as the owner doesn't care what is the big deal?

If you buy a brand new performance car and 2 years later, it dynos 30% less or it gets 30% lower average mpg than it did 3 months after purchase, you're ok with that?

What if the light gets dimmer but last 37 years like it says on the box? I guess we wont know because it hasn't been 37 years. And how are you going to find out if you never buy one and try it out?

It defeats the purpose, because you could have started off with a technology that do not severely degrade and use less energy. Premature severe degradation and failures have been issues with both CFLs and LEDs which is why Energy Star imposed strict warranty and performance requirements to qualify to have the label.

I read your posts and others in the lighting field and you guys are bashing LED lights. I don't get it? If the technology is going that way, which it is, then what is the point of steering everyone towards T8 or T5 lights.

Lifetime warranty brake pads, you just pay the labor.

Specification grade T5HO and T8 have proven long efficiency performance, life and reliability in harsh industrial or agricultural environment. They can handle getting left on from noon to 6PM in the hottest of the weather every day for years with minimal issues.

I built a new barn that needs lights. I started reading these threads and I am having a hard time sifting through whats BS and whats not.

They could be fine in Super Light Duty residential duty when they lights that average 30 minute a day on weekdays and 3 hour continuous use on weekends.

 

[falcon64]

Fair enough you make some good points. The issue i have is that even the cfl lights are not all that and a bag of chips. They dont like cold weather and i have had issues with the ballast in the past

As for the warranty most are a joke imo so i dont rely on them

We are talking about a $10 light bulb here. I ordered ten from ebay. Ill get them installed and see how they are.

 

[cybrdyke]

We are talking about a $10 light bulb here. I ordered ten from ebay. Ill get them installed and see how they are.

Who knows? Maybe you'll like them. FastJohnny seems to like his. And isn't that all that really matters? If you get light that is adequate for what you are doing and you get it for a good price, then
Good luck.
CD

 

[Electric_Light]

Fair enough you make some good points. The issue i have is that even the cfl lights are not all that and a bag of chips. They dont like cold weather and i have had issues with the ballast in the past

Absolutely. How long ago? The "Energy Star" rules for consumer LED products is the refined version of the rules for CFLs. Look at all the earlier LED bulbs that used a bunch of those indicator type LEDs. "dead pixels" were very very common. Many people fall for gimmicks. That's why there are scam telemarketers.

Failing waaaay earlier than they should and buzzing noise were some of the most common complaints about CFLs and retailers were mostly concerned that products would ride past the the return periods so it's no longer their problems. Buying 12 lamps and 8 of them failing after a 13 months, but far less than the touted 6 year. Replying to someone who asked "what if it lasts however many years..." A scammer can talk you into lending him $100 and promise to pay you back $150 over one year and actually pay you back $10 a month for 3 month and stop paying. You lost $70. Many people are too technically unaware to realize that eBay energy saving products are a very high risk investment with a predictably low rate of return and extreme risk of default.

The current performance standards for LEDs have exit clause written all over them so the manufacturers can use the field as the playground without responsibility. A one line in performance requirements can mean the difference between a wasted investment vs the manufacturer getting held responsible to replace or pay to re-replace every single LED fixture in every gym within a school district.

A performance requirement with existing technology as the gold standard holds manufacturer responsible for significantly under-performing experimental products like LEDs not going as well as expected. If the warranty simply said "70% threshold" they'll get away with claiming the blue curve while performing like the black curve which could have been accomplished using much cheaper existing technology. Standard fluorescent technology is proven with enough historical data that this is not likely to happen.

The higher you fly, the harder you crash. Spending $2,000-3,000 for a shop full of fixture is taking a very huge increase in risk for a very small increase in possible return. That's how you should think if you're buying them for savings rather than "just because I feel like it".

As for the warranty most are a joke imo so i dont rely on them

We are talking about a $10 light bulb here. I ordered ten from ebay. Ill get them installed and see how they are.

Yes we are as long as we keeping it at $10 or so.

Investors for ED technology are taking a risk like you are. Their investment and your investment can crash equally hard, but their investment has a sky high potential and yours have a ceiling at about 2% possible gains through energy savings. LED

Who knows? Maybe you'll like them. FastJohnny seems to like his. And isn't that all that really matters? If you get light that is adequate for what you are doing and you get it for a good price, then
Good luck.
CD

I got a feeling that someone may have been motivated to get us to spend more money with that seller when I read "from the same seller... price break is a lot bigger when you buy a lot more" can you hear "want more money.. now"

 

[fastjohnny]

EL, Still waiting on your recommendation for a 4' LED Strip light.....

 

[fastjohnny]

I got a feeling that someone may have been motivated to get us to spend more money with that seller when I read "from the same seller... price break is a lot bigger when you buy a lot more" can you hear "want more money.. now"

Not sure exactly what you are trying to infer. Just to be perfectly clear, I'm not the Chinese seller on ebay, and I've been registered on garage journal far longer than that seller has been on ebay, or for that matter, you have been on garage journal.

If you can't understand volume pricing, I'm not sure how else to explain it.

 

[Electric_Light]

EL, Still waiting on your recommendation for a 4' LED Strip light.....

One that is made with glass tubes filled with mercury

 

[falcon64]

$2 to $3 k on shop lights?? You obviously have more money that me. I would never drop that kind of coin on any lights.

 

[bigredmf]

Fastjohnny
How are those lamps working out
I was intrigued and pulled the trigger but I believe they will be delayed by Chinese New Year

Any chance you could post some pics?

Thank you

Red


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[67carl]

Come on! We need to SEE!

 

[fastjohnny]

Will try to get pics this week end.

 

[k-os]

Will try to get pics this week end.

That'd be great. I'm planning on buying some of these this month so would love to see how well they're working for you.

 

[6768rogues]

I retired as facility director for a large public school. When I was there, LED lights were coming into the marketplace. A salesman visited my office to try to sell me some but they had no UL or other certifications. I checked with NYS Dept. of State (code people in the state capital) and fixtures have to be listed, bulbs do not. However, they said they would not put unlisted bulbs in a public school. Personally, I would not use them at home, either. Are the ones in question tested by UL or another competent lab? If not, why not and do you want to use them?

 

[jtpfarm]

I sell these lights myself. Mine are more expensive, BUT, mine are CE, ROHS, and UL listed. same design, but way better quality than the ones in the ebay link. Also, mine carry a 3 year warranty. Also my HO version has 135 lumen/watt. I have thousands of the out in use and everyone loves them. When you figure starting new, the LED is the same or slightly less than the T5.
If I have them in stock my customers get them in less than a week.