Importing LED bulbs

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Importing LED bulbs

nofam

1094 posts

Uber Geek

#210460 28-Mar-2017 14:03

Hi guys,

Am currently speccing lights for our new build, and am struggling with the $20 - $30+ lighting retailers are charging for the retro/incandescent-look LED lamps (more if you add dimming). I appreciate that importing the lights themselves is a likely world of pain unless you get them locally certified, but is there any reason that lamps can't be brought in?

And if it's possible, does anyone have a source of reasonably priced, good quality lamps?

richms

28176 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1749423 28-Mar-2017 14:18

If you are talking the filament ones, then there are many that have massive unacceptable flicker, not found one that is both dimmable and flicker free even looking at the local shops, also they are all the 2700k orange locally, there are some 6500k daylight ones on aliexpress but that looks daft, would be happy with an actual white 4000k one but seems noones making the filaments in that colour.

Ive bought some of these ones - good and flicker free and cheap.

As were these in the Nature White + 8W + No + Clear E27 100to240V which they sent me warm white for but again, no flicker, perfectly stable when looking at the light output with a solar cell and oscilloscope.

Bought some of these ones because the description said no flicker and they were flickery trash, loads of 100Hz flicker, so unless you like living in a place that looks like its lit with an old CRT tv then avoid them.

Stuff all information on what the drivers on them are, some seem to just be a capacitor on them. Watch big clive on youtube who pulls some apart. Basically if it looks bad on video, it will be worse in person.

Richard rich.ms

timmmay

20580 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1749440 28-Mar-2017 14:29

I had trouble with dimmable LEDs bought locally. If you want dimmable buy locally from a retailer that sells the combination of light, driver, and dimmer, and will back it up.

You don't really need those retro style LED bulbs. Just use regular ones. You won't look at the lights after they've been in for a while.

dryburn

430 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1749442 28-Mar-2017 14:30

I have also thought about importing some normal bulbs.

nofam

1094 posts

Uber Geek

#1749443 28-Mar-2017 14:30

Brilliant, thanks @richms, exactly what I was after.

richms

28176 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1749459 28-Mar-2017 14:50

I will add that its like anything else on aliexpress, if the seller is one of those sells everything sellers, there is almost no chance you will get the same thing on a second order from them, so ordering 1 or 2 to see if they are any good only works on sellers that specialize in the item and are likly to have one or 2 factories they get from, where as the sells everything sellers will just send something that looks about right that they pick up from wherever inorder to fulfill the order.

Richard rich.ms

SirHumphreyAppleby

2844 posts

Uber Geek

#1749460 28-Mar-2017 14:50

Do you particularly want retro-style bulbs, or are you just looking for something a little closer to a normal light bulb?

I've used these in a few rooms around the house. You should be able to pick them up locally for about $10 each.

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/BULPAN14117

richms

28176 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1749517 28-Mar-2017 15:51

Also they have a sale coming up so prices on anything that is going to be on sale have gone up so the discounts look better. Last few weeks I have seen many things on my wishlists go up. Either buy when the sale is happening or wait a while afterwards for the normal pricing to return.

Richard rich.ms

Tradepub

Free professional, reference and technical white papers (affiliate link).

neb

11294 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1750273 29-Mar-2017 16:49

richms:
I will add that its like anything else on aliexpress, if the seller is one of those sells everything sellers, there is almost no chance you will get the same thing on a second order from them, so ordering 1 or 2 to see if they are any good only works on sellers that specialize in the item and are likly to have one or 2 factories they get from, where as the sells everything sellers will just send something that looks about right that they pick up from wherever inorder to fulfill the order.

I was going to say the same thing. The problem with ordering from China is that you're going to get random colour temperatures, random build quality, and random lifetimes. I got some cheap MR16's a while back from different vendors and every single one of them has failed, some in as little as a month or two. A friend of mine got them locally from some LED lighting place and encountered all three of the problems I listed above. The advantage in this case is that since he got them locally, he had the CGA to back him up. However, since the vendor could only replace them with more dodgy imports, it didn't help much.

After the bad experience with the MR16s, I ended up getting NZ-retail-priced (i.e. somewhat pricey) ceiling lights from Bunnings. That was four years ago, they're a warm white (not blue or green-tinged white), no flicker, and none of them have failed. If they did, I could go down to the local store and swap them out without any problems. This is one case where you get what you pay for...

neb

11294 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1757263 5-Apr-2017 20:26

neb: After the bad experience with the MR16s, I ended up getting NZ-retail-priced (i.e. somewhat pricey) ceiling lights from Bunnings. That was four years ago, they're a warm white (not blue or green-tinged white), no flicker, and none of them have failed. If they did, I could go down to the local store and swap them out without any problems. This is one case where you get what you pay for...

Just out of curiosity I checked the LED lights with a spectrometer, and was pleasantly surprised to find they produce a continuous spectrum that's almost identical to daylight. The CFLs I have in one or two other rooms in contrast produce strong discrete bands at red, blue, indigo, and violet.

Kiwifruta

1423 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#1757291 5-Apr-2017 22:16

About a week or two ago I bought some warm white 800 lumen LED bulbs from The Warehouse for $3 each.

I put them in the hallway and toilet, so far so good. I don't have light meters etc to test them with just my eyes.

The brand is edapt. The bulbs came with either bayonet or Edison screw fittings. They weren't available in cold white nor at other lumen levels.