Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Did you try using high CRI LEDs with color remperature of 2700K–3000K? When I switched from halogen to LED I did just that and the difference is not noticeable, you'll have the same yellowish tint and very natural looking colours. Even with expensive bulbs, extra longevity covers for higher cost.


Not sure if I'm doing something wrong, or just living in a place where the power is so bad, it causes premature failures.

The claimed extra longevity of LED bulbs has not materialized for me.

They seem to fail at roughly the same frequency that incandescent bulbs did in my home, which makes them about 10x to 15x more expensive.


Many complain about this, because they have been fooled into buying low-quality lamps, with bad cooling or bad electronic components.

I have many Philips LED lamps bought some 10 to 15 years ago, which were put in Edison sockets for incandescent lamps, and none of them has become defective during all these years.

However, even at that time, it was not their cheapest model, but one that was claimed to be long-life and I believe that later they have discontinued that model in favor of cheaper lamps.

I have no idea which vendor of LED lamps might sell good LED lamps today, because I never had to search for replacements. I assume that good LED lamps must still be available, but one must not impulse buy them, but one must check carefully the specifications of the lamps and the credibility of the vendor, before making a purchase decision.


I did choose very expensive options (high CRI and ~$14/ea), but I think the problem is that I have enclosed glass lamps from the 60's that don't ventilate heat properly for the LEDs, so they fail every year or 2, just like the incandecents used to.


2700 is really cool. To the GP, if you're looking for something more like daylight but not noticeably yellow, try 3600k or thereabouts.

The actual temperature of the sun is over 5000k (yes, the k in lightbulb temperature corresponds to the Kelvin scale of temperature) but after being scattered by our atmosphere it appears cooler. And where did all that extra light go? It was scattered around, making the sky blue!


The color of the solar light depends on the proportion of yellowish direct solar light and bluish sky light that fall on an object.

When the sky is covered by clouds, which mix the direct Sun light and the sky light, you get a color much closer to the true color of the Sun.


3700-4500 is my range I like these days


If I could run different lighting after sunset, I'd run something high-CRI in your range during the day and a low-CRI 3000 after sunset.

As it is, I compromise.


There are LED lamps which have a "warm dim" feature so that the appear oranger as you reduce the brightness.


Thanks, that's great to know! However, I also had to remove the high-CRI lights from some lamps because I found that they disturb my sleep if I have them on in the hours before bedtime.

I live in a 240-volt country, though, and I've never seen a dimmer switch here.


Personally I find 2700k-rated LED to not even be low-k enough to match incandescent.


I do not like 2700 K to 3000 K lamps, which are obviously yellowish and regardless how high their CRI may be they distort the colors of clothes or any other objects.

I also do not like the bluish cheap 6500 K lamps.

I consider optimum the 4000 K lamps. This appear white with only a very-slightly yellowish hue, which allows the perception of the natural colors of most objects, but it still provides a warmer sensation than a strictly neutral white color (i.e. one around 5500 K).




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: