Until there’s an LED bulb which is advertised as dimmable, rated for enclosed fixtures, and flicker free, we don’t have an ideal LED bulb.
Right now as far as I know you have to trade between those features. You can have flicker free but not the other two, or the other two but not flicker free.
You could take a flicker free Waveform bulb and attempt to dim it, and also put it in an enclosed fixture, but it will lose brightness relatively quickly in an enclosed fixture.
I just use Incan/Halogen where I want dimming, which is bathrooms and bedrooms. This is better than LED dimming because the CCT also drops as the bulb is dimmed.
An alternative option to LED bulbs is to build a custom system with dimming LED drivers, like certain models from Meanwell, and use some super high CRI COBs like Bridgelux Thrive. Then you can have it all, but this is not very practical outside of a new home construction, or a garage or basement environment, or a stand alone lamp.
About the “California Building Energy Efficiency Standard CEC JA8-2016 Title 24” which the 90+ Lighting bulb is advertised as complying with:
• CRI must be ≥ 90
• R9 must be ≥ 50
• Flicker must be < 30%
• CCT lower than 4000
• Rated life ≥ 15,000 hours
• Minimum 10% dimming required
I have not noticed flicker or any effects of flicker from the 90+ bulbs.
How about these Philips LED Frosted Dimmable Warm Glow Effect A19, Ultra Definition, Flicker-Free, EyeComort bulbs? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B92VRHJ2
CRI 95
R9 84
800 lumens
Dimmable
Suitable for enclosed fixtures
No flicker that I can detect using my high speed camera at 240 fps. I haven’t tried a photodiode yet. The only other lights I have seen with no flicker are the strips I have from Waveform. Even my Halogens have more flicker.
Plus, these are ridiculously cheap. <$3 each.
I don’t really know how they did it. I think they are cheating on the R9 a bit by adding some red LEDs in there. The spectrum plots aren’t as nice as Waveform bulbs, but pretty close.
They have a whole family of bulbs with the same CRI 95 spec. I am going to try the A21 1600 lumen bulb as well. I couldn’t find it in the energy star database, though. Any ideas why? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B8TMM25D
I was hoping to get this bulb, because I prefer 3000k and 1600 lumens in an A19 form factor! But, it seems to be impossible to order, since every time I order based on the UPC 046677561079 I get the old version!
New version with great specs:
Old version with not so good R9 and not rated for enclosed:
They do not say if the bulbs are rated for enclosed fixtures or recessed fixtures. Where did you see this claim? (edit: I see now, on the energystar.gov page)
Unfortunately Philips provides no photometric reports, no details regarding the flicker characteristics. One might be able to procure these from Philips.
The feature where the CCT lowers as it dims is nice, although a reviewer mentioned: “at about 90% dimmed, they seem to lose most of the amber color and go back to a soft white.” The dimming behavior might be dependent on the dimmer controls used. Ideally the bulb would be 3000k at the top end instead of 2700k, and ~1900k at the bottom or whatever can be realistically achieved.
My guess is the photometric data will look like this, from a different Philips bulb:
One user measured a similar spectrum from these specific bulbs here:
I haven’t noticed anything unusual in the dimming behavior. The CCT lowers. Maybe at the lowest level it gets cool again, but it’s hard to say. Our eyes aren’t that good at recognizing color in extreme darkness.
I’ll measure the flicker percentage, but it looks very good. I’m not sure how they did it. I can see a 12 uf capacitor in the bulb. I’m guessing there is an IC in there, since it has a delayed turn on. Maybe a linear regulator to even out the remaining ripple? But no idea how they did all that with no external cooling. I might have to tear down one to see the inner circuits.
Longtime lurker here, but wanted to see if anyone has experience buying from Yuji LED? I’m reviewing their shipping policy and I’m a bit concerned if the shipping is reliable with international import duties and whatnot. I would hate to spend hours dealing with FedEx or DHL while they hold my goods ransom. I’m based in Los Angeles and I’m hoping to pick up a few of their A19s, and their adjustable-zoom PAR38 also seems pretty cool.
Hi, in Europe I can get cheap LED bulbs from a Czech brand called EMOS.
Their previous version E14 / 2700K (ZQ1223) was CRI 97 with R9 = 90. I could get these for about 4 EUR each.
Their new version (ZQ1225) is with Bridgelux Thrive LEDs yet they are ridiculously cheap, under <2 EUR each.
What’s interesting is that although Bridgelux Thrive is CRI 98 with R9 over 98, their light built on this LED is only CRI 94 wih R9 = 50.
