Why is it that Home Depot and Lowes only carry 60-100 watt LED bulbs for home use? In the incandescent days you used to be able to buy a 300 watt light bulb. Where can I get an LED bulb > than 100 watts? For home use, not commercial.
Maybe there’s just not demand for such high brightness LED bulbs? I suspect, as is the case with flashlights, there’s a physical limit on heat . I dont think there’s enough heatsinking in a normal bulb fixture.
There are dodgy looking double (and triple, and quadruple!) bulb holders which screw into single bulb socket. Maybe if you have the space just run 4x 100w LED bulbs??
I hope you realize that is 100W equivalent in LED bulbs. I have one actual 25W LED bulb and it is blindingly bright. I don’t use anything over 15W LED in my lamps at home.
The most likely reason is consumer acceptance. If it looks strange, most Americans will not buy it. The traditional US bulb is designated A19 which is the typical round shape we have been using for more than a century. The electronics to convert from AC to the DC current that LEDs use are located just below the plate containing the LEDs. This limits the number of LEDs that can fit in a standard size bulb. I looked at Home Depot a while back and they had exactly one bulb for sale in their stock that was not the A19 design. It is a typical corn bulb with the LEDs arrayed like the kernels on an ear of corn. The electronics are behind the LEDs so you can have many more LEDs in the space of a bulb. I think it was GE. The bulb has an opaque envelope so you don’t see the individual LEDs. If you want one with more lumens, buy a corn bulb or an even newer design using chip-on-board arrays. The latter is brighter and more efficient than the corn bulb. You can buy them online at eBay from both US and international sellers.
Typical A19 bulb design:
LED corn bulb design bulb:
LED chip-on-board design bulb:
If you want to do it on the cheap, buy from eBay sellers in China but expect delivery times to be as long as about 60 days. I just got some bulbs from Hong Kong and they came via Kazakhstan post. Who knows why but they were ordered 11/12/20 and arrived 1/19/21. For corn bulbs, find ones that use SMD 5730 LEDs for the best efficiency or use the COB style.
Here are two sources from China with the cheapest prices including shipping.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/313305661550 corn bulb 12W 1200 lumens in cool white $4.59
https://www.ebay.com/itm/203066464941 chip-on-board corn bulb $3.25 for the E27 base, 12W version
If you want to try one from a US seller, try this 12W 48LED 110V E27 base bulb for $4
https://www.ebay.com/itm/114329619197 but it is the equivalent of a 100W incandescent bulb at 800 lumens
Very informative, thanks, I will pick up a couple of the corn style from the US ebay listing. I was interested for the garage.
I believe the reason is you can’t really dissipate more than about 8W in a standard bulb form factor, while keeping the electronics not too toasty, in a way that is safe and cost-effective.
The corn cob form factor could allow more watts if the LED strips were directly exposed to air instead of being inside a polastic diffuser, but for that to happen you need to be really confident the power supply is well isolated.
There are 15W bulbs but they are larger.
Splitters to the rescue
Maybe check out that guy who sells sunlike lightbulbs with huge heat sinking. He’s on the forum here somewhere and is based out of Russia. Be prepared to pay around $20 a bulb though but they will be very bright and high cri
Howbow one of these?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MMF55RV/
You can “aim” the panels if need be.
I got one. 5000K is rather “white” for indoors relative to 2700K/3000K, but for laundry areas and the like, damn, they’re hella bright.
I even reviewed it in detail, but it’s buried in hundreds of one-liner reviews. 