I have purchased various LED's from China via E-Bay ($7 each) for my off-grid shack. 6 6W MR16, warm white 60 degree. These are not quite as bright as 50w halogens, but produce a similar light. I've used them for 3 years and had one fail in that time. They don't have a huge heat sink and do get warm, but not to the degree of the old halogens.
I run totally off 12v and don't have any RF issues with my TV etc. I have read on a number of other forums of RF issues using LED's though some seem to be caused by the transformers down converting to 12v.
I have 3 3w MR16 cool white with I think 25 degree, but I find the light harsh and better suited to a feature spot light etc. ($5)
I have also purchased 4 5W warm white LED's from ALDI ($8 or $9)when they had some on sale, which I have used in my home. The light is not as bright, but they all seem to function well without flicker or RF issues. So far. If they had more of these (When I went back they had sold out) I would have purchased more. Probably good for bedrooms where you don't really need a great deal of light.
Buying LED's direct from China?
(39 posts) (25 voices)-
basewindow
MemberPosted Monday 17 Jun 2013 @ 4:35:48 am from IP # -
zxsunshine
Memberany one understand of VEET? How it works with small installation?
Posted Tuesday 9 Jul 2013 @ 4:43:41 am from IP # -
zxsunshine
Memberit was for LED Lights installation.
Posted Tuesday 9 Jul 2013 @ 4:44:54 am from IP # -
I have been buying LED globes off Ebay and elsewhere for testing and publishing the results, http://www.ledbenchmark.com/
The problem is that you can't trust the specifications when you are buying no name globes. Only occasionally to the no name globes come close to matching their published specs. The brand names aren't perfect either, but you have more chance of getting what you pay for.As a result of this people are getting the incorrect impression that the no name globes are an order of magnitude cheaper than the known brands. If people were able to compare the true specifications the price difference would be much narrower.
Typical false claims include.
- Overstating the brightness (by double or triple the actual output).
- Overstating the wattage (as low wattage LED globes are cheaper to make)
- Overstating the CRI value (a measure of the quality of the light)
- Claiming they use quality chips (Cree, Samsung, etc.) when they don't.
- Overstating the beam angle. So you see claims of 100 degrees when it might be 60D.
- Inaccurate colour temperaturesIn addition to this you see other cost cutting measures. Such as,
- No power factor correction
- High EMI output
- High frequency flickering / low frequency strobing
- Poor transformer compatibility (for MR16 globes).
- Poor dimmer compatibility
- No standards compliance
- Poor heat sinking, leading to overheating an a shorter lift
- No usable warranty
- Poor light distribution (e.g. different colours at different angles)
- Poor tolerance to external factors (heat & dirty mains power)
- Poor packaging / labellingSo buyer beware.
Posted Monday 15 Jul 2013 @ 5:00:19 am from IP # -
Morbo
Membernopooz said:
lED benchmark seems like none of them reach claimed resultsno surprise there, manufacturers claims. And who has a home lab to really test it with calibrated instruments. And even then manufacturer could claim, you just got a faulty one.
I agree though, you get what you pay for. I got really cheap ones, did not last (did not expect that) but were brighter than I expected. Then I worked my way up from there. On the other hand, why would I pay $300 for a 5m LED strip, at beacon? Still cheaper to get one at RSonline then.Posted Saturday 20 Jul 2013 @ 11:35:34 pm from IP # -
I have been looking for good LED lamps for a long time (over 12 mnths).
You have to research your potential supplier (if buying from China) well and even then the info you get may be incorrect.
I purchased a few lamps (T8 tubes & globes) to trial from a supplier from China after researching well, even confirmed that their CE certificate was genuine by contacting the Chinese company that did the CE report but after receiving the samples I found that the lamps would not have passed CE in Australia for safety and EM radiation.
The T8 tubes radiated so much they jammed the FM radio and the globes did not have any isolation between 240V and the low voltage driving the LEDs.
What I am saying is that to buy from China over AliExpress is playing Russian roulette white your safety.
Also several Chinese supplier changed the specs on the brochure they emailed me to suite the specs I was after. ie the specs they gave were different from the specs on their web site for the same product and also quoting products to suite the specs I gave them which were not on their web site but saying they were the manufacturer.
One thing I have found is that they ALL lie.
Be careful, very careful when buying LED lamps from China.Posted Tuesday 13 Aug 2013 @ 11:12:40 pm from IP # -
Lance
Key MasterYep, hate to say it, but I have found the same, pretty much every Chinese supplier I have dealt with (and we are talking many, many of them) all do the same, they make specs up as they go along or to suit the info request, they create BS specs just to beat the competition and they will say anything to get a sale.
There seem to be two main causes. The first is the huge amount of competition there.
The second is that most of the people selling this stuff don't have a clue what the specs actually mean. In my case, where I buy component LEDs, many will refer to devices incorrectly, such as calling a type of LED a T6 or a U2 or whatever when that is just a brightness bin, the type is XM-L or whatever. They simply don't understand what the terms mean, not at all.
So, I always buy samples first and then commit to larger orders when I'm happy with the product.
It should be noted that a CE cert is not the same as a C-Tick, which is required in Australia. Also bear in mind that C-tick is only needed for devices with active components that switch, LED tubes etc that use nothing but passive components like resistors and capacitors don't need C-Tick as far as I know.
Electrical safety approvals for isolation etc are different again, and are not related to C-Tick.
I have to say that for the electronic based bulbs etc I sell, I buy from the large Oz importers as the onus is on them to make sure the approvals are done. If they aren't, they are responsible, not you. It's a good legal buffer to have.
Posted Wednesday 14 Aug 2013 @ 12:35:07 am from IP # -
The Chinese employ young people to do their selling and they do not understand the technical aspects of LED lighting. They always promote an LED lamp first by quoting the power of the lamp when the real issue is the lumen output relative to the power.
These 2 issues are the most important within the same context.
Also, they do not understand the lumen output of incandescent lamps because they have been told by their employer that the lamp they are selling is a direct comparison in light output and they sell this to unsuspecting public who just don't know they are being lied to.
Also the light output of a 60W incandescent lamp in Australia (240V) is different from that of America (100V) but the eye finds it very difficult to pick the difference and this is what the Chinese rely on.
The other problem with these Chinese LED lamps is when you want to replace existing MR16 and GU10 halogen lamps with LED lamps.
Boy what a minefield this is.
There are several parameters to look at and some of them are Lumen output, power consumption, beam angle, warm white or cool white,CRI and then if you find a lamp that has the required lumen output (minimum of 800 lumen to replace a 50W halogen) the heat sink is too long to fit into the tilt gimbal you have installed in your ceiling.
Also, the LED lamp you have chosen may not work with the electronic transformer you have (MR16 style lamps only)Then you have the issue of replacing your existing light globes (bayonet & Edison screw fittings)and there is another mine field.
You would think that the light output would be the same because they are both 60W but they are not and to confuse you even more, the American 100V 60W lamp puts out more light than the Australian one at 240V 60W so be sure you are talking about Australia when replacing lamps.
The CRI in most general home lighting is not as important because most LED manufacturers are getting 75-80 which is OK in most domestic installs. The CRI becomes important in environments where the "real" colour of an object needs to be seen. ie as seen in natural daylight.
As for as C-tick is concerned then the owner of the C-tick can rely on the device having CE and this can be a bit "iffy" coming from China but they all do it (importers relying on overseas CE).Posted Wednesday 14 Aug 2013 @ 1:26:06 am from IP #
