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Why is LED lighting still so expensive?
Howard_Casto:
I agree 100% but it's all a matter of adoption rates. If they started doing innovatite things like that and didn't bother with the (admittedly crappy) led bulbs they might never catch on.
Try explaining to consumers why they should buy all new furniture and completely remodel their home because now they can light up. On the other hand, throw a more modest solution out there and people will be willing to try it. If it catches on enough, people eventually will start buying products specifically designed for LEDs.
But the problem is our home wiring as well. Every socket in our home is raw AC current. That made sense in the early 1900's when power first came to the home, but now I would say about 85% of what we run in our home actually runs dc and low voltage/wattage dc at that. So every applicance has it's own ad/dc converter. They are typically active even when the device is off. This wastes far more power than any bulb could. Homes really need a centralized ac/dc converter and a low voltage socket.
Either that, or the way ac/dc converters and/or wall warts operate needs to be radically re-designed. They are constantly on because most applicances have a "soft" power button. I don't get this.... back in the day, pcs had "hard" power buttons and they worked just great, but they switched to soft ones and thus all electronics followed suit. Make all appliances have a hard power button and you are good to go.
SavannahLion:
I can answer that last comment. I came across that exact thing about er.... Five or so years ago when I worked at a records storage facility.
Remember the old AT power supplies? They brought a mains switch to the front of the PC. Around the time ATX was introduced there was a concern that the AT style switch put consumers at risk should the switch and cable fail and short to the metal case. I saw hints of lawsuits but I never found them so I never learned if it was just the fear or if there were actual lawsuits. So ATX moved the switch into the PSU and spec'ed a soft switch instead.
Fast forward a few years and companies started dropping "hard" switches entirely. I know I've read a couple of white papers citing the above as the reason for dropping the hard switches. In reality, I think the bean counters are the primary influence. The safety angle is a bunch of crap IMHO.
Fast forward again to today. There is/was a bill trying to make its way to law requiring manufactures to include a true hard switch or to reduce power consumption to a specified level during standby (this is a little different than the Energy Star stuff). IIRC, opponents cite the AT problem as one source of why hard switches should not be required. I didn't follow this paticular bill so I dont know what came of it.
SavannahLion:
The desire for hard switches is very real. My current home has at least one power socket switched by a wall switch in every room. Annoying as hell since it's always the first switch when walking into the room but the socket is in the most inconvient locations for a proper lamp.
In the UK (IIRC) all sockets have their own "master" switch.
I forgot to comment on that about adoption. No one is saying that people should toss their furniture or remodel their homes. What it is is that there is so very little offered to anyone who would be interested and what is available is crazy expensive.
Howard_Casto:
Well that's just dumb. AT switches had a crazy amount of insulation around them. The insulation was typically thicker than your average power cord. They also had a layer of mastic heat-shrunk around the entire switch preventing errant shorts due to switch failure. I built pcs from scratch during that era.. hundreds of them! I never ran into a shorting issue, a frayed wire or anything close to a problem.
Also the flaw in that logic is that there is still ac current in the system and thus it does not eliminate the possibility of a short. The two sense wires run back to the powersupply, which ties those sense wires, via a relay, to the unregulated current. So a short is still possible.
And although I agree that safety is paramount, to anything citing risk of shock as a reason for removing a good feature I direct them to the toaster. Yes the toaster.... a series of un-insulated wires hooked directly to your wall socket that anyone can touch while in operation just by sticking their hand in the bread slot. They are extremely dangerous and yet you rarely hear of someone getting shocked by their toaster.
Cakemeister:
For $10 apiece I would be all over the Philips L-prize bulbs. But they are selling for $46 on ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Philips-10-Watt-60W-LED-A19-Soft-White-Light-Bulb-L-Prize-Award-Winner-423244-/130755659734?pt=US_Light_Bulbs&hash=item1e71a507d6
But, then again, my kids are gone now so there aren't any unnecessary lights on in the house anymore. :)
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