New Insignia 60 and 45 watt equivalent bulbs with Cree inside

http://www.cree.com/news-and-events/cree-news/press-releases/2012/november/best-buy-bulb

We had one in our staff meeting today, it seems pretty nice and a good price. I am cinsidering buying a couple tomorrow and taking one apart to see what makes it tick.

Too bad it is 120Volts :frowning:

:bigsmile:
Great for my adult children, their spouces and children! :heart_eyes:

fucked To late for me, at 71 1/2 and ageing to dam fast :ghost:

Well, it is US targeted so 120v makes sense. Do you have Best Buy over in Europe?

for the shameless self promotion :money_mouth_face:
Haha, I kid.
Sounds like a good alternative to the bulbs other big boxes sell for >25 bux a pop. I’ll probably get a couple for myself and for my parents if these are only ~$16. Did you hear anything about the CRI rating and the prospects of insignia luminaires with higher CCTs?

-Drew

Nothing I saw had CRI listed sadly. I know as much as I posted here, they never actually sent out the release to use, people just noticed it on our public site and one of the guys drove out and bought one and showed it off at our staff meeting today. Like I said, it seems pretty nice, I think I will buy a couple and take one apart to see what makes it tick.

Just found some Philips 5w LEDs for a few bucks. Not too bright but work well in the washroom. Only about 250lumen.
They are 90-230volt, and have a E26 connector, which should work in e27 as well!

I know, 120V there but some LED interior lights can be found in both voltages.
Seems like best buy UK has ceased operations…

Yea but if they’re only going to be sold in the US why would they add the time ot development and cost in parts to make it compatible with both?

Ok, got em and took one apart, well at least the bulb part, it uses 9 XB-Ds, kindof what I expected, 3 on each of the heatsink fins. Seems to give very nice light output though.

Interesting design. I can't help but wonder how the light pattern is if used in a light with little to no diffusion built into the design. But really nice to see some mainstream power saving lights. Just hope they have proper CRI and color temperature.

It has diffusion, the whole thing is encased in plastic.

was hoping they were flashlights… dang… LED bulbs ok… pretty cheap considering some expensive ones are around 80-200 dollars. Best Buy link

The output is very even with next to no visible shadows in an open fixture.

I was corrected and apparently they are XT-Es.

Dimmable will be very nice. I miss using dimmer’s since I switched to CFL’s. That shape looks cool and will work great in older fixtures that have trouble with the odd CFL shape. Now they just need a 100w equivalent pure, or even cool white model, so I can buy some. I have never liked warm white interior lighting.

Interesting they use so many emitters instead of just a couple of xm-l’s. That doesn’t seem to make sense from economic perspective.

Several smaller, cheaper emitters are more efficient than one big one. Also the lower drive level means you get much longer life. Efficiency and long life are what’s important in LED bulbs. My Sylvania 10W PAR16 bulbs use 4 XML’s to crank out a whopping 500 lumens.

I know, but xm-l’s can be reasonably driven to 2A or more with close to linear output. Life expectancy is pretty high according to CREE themselves:

“Cree currently recommends a maximum drive current of 2000 mA for XLamp XM-L white LeDs in designs seeking the
ENERGY STAR* 35,000-hour lifetime rating (≥ 94.1% luminous flux @ 6000hours) or 25,000-hour lifetime rating (≥
91.8% luminous flux @ 6000hours).”

Heat was probably a consideration. XML at 2A get HOT. The heatsinks would have to be much larger than the ones shown.

Also, IIRC high-voltage/low-current AC-to-DC drivers are more efficient than low-voltage/high-current drivers. That's another benefit of using multiple emitters in series.