whats up with the LED extravaganza?
LED's have been around since the printing press but now all of a sudden manufacturers want to put LED's in everthing
christmas lights, TV's, laptops, etc

12/23/2009 10:12:30 PM

are you against LED things

12/23/2009 10:13:21 PM

no im pro LED, just befuddled at how it is all of a sudden the hot technology

12/23/2009 10:14:25 PM

12/23/2009 10:15:02 PM

this should be in tech talk, at no point did i anticipate seinfeld entering this discussion

12/23/2009 10:16:40 PM

i was actually going to post that seinfeld pic, but ive posted it so often before, i decided against it

12/23/2009 10:17:10 PM

^^really?

[Edited on December 23, 2009 at 10:17 PM. Reason : ]

12/23/2009 10:17:29 PM

they're going to have to come down a lot more in price before I change out the lighting in my growroom.

12/23/2009 10:19:25 PM

^^just playin man

^the cost savings are very good according to news 14
christmas tree lights power usage cost over christmas season
regular: $10
LED: 15 cents

im sure its the same with other uses

12/23/2009 10:29:06 PM

Quote :

"according to news 14"

there's your problem

12/23/2009 10:29:53 PM

i think the cost of LED's has come down so much that its feasible to include them in lower-grade consumer shit...

12/23/2009 10:54:03 PM

They're a kind of semiconductor, they've gotten cheaper, smaller and more efficient, so they're used more. Yeah they had them decades ago, but you couldn't have made an HD screen out of those and they were a few dollars a piece where now you can get 3mm ones for 6c a piece in bulk.

12/23/2009 10:55:05 PM

^^for a 150W metal halide streetlight replacement, the LED versions consume ~100W. Unfortunately, they cost $1,000 more and have some serious concerns about durability when exposed to the elements.

12/23/2009 10:58:17 PM

no technology emerges already perfect, except for my invention, stab phone.

12/23/2009 11:06:12 PM

it doesn't have to be perfect, but it would be nice if it was economically justifiable when it got pushed on us.

12/23/2009 11:08:49 PM

they're investing for its future feasibility, you can't blame them for trying to start getting some of that money back from the early adopter crowd.

12/23/2009 11:10:01 PM

they're recouping their R&D dollars by getting cozy with politicians and forcing their products into traffic signals and streetlight replacements around the country. little trinkets such as christmas lights aren't going to account for much of the market share.

12/23/2009 11:19:41 PM

If you're going to worry about corporate interests getting what they want from our corrupt congressmen I would worry more about our food supply, medical care, entitlement system or military endeavors.

12/23/2009 11:25:03 PM

I just don't think LEDs are warm enough to be Christmas lights. I do think LEDs work well when representing ice or snow (snowflakes, icicles, and so on).

[Edited on December 23, 2009 at 11:30 PM. Reason : .]

12/23/2009 11:30:00 PM

why? I don't work in those industries, so the retarded propaganda that gets spread through those industries doesn't affect me on a daily basis.

12/23/2009 11:31:21 PM

its not like those incandescent strings are some old time tradition, they appeared after world war two and became popular in the 60s.

12/23/2009 11:31:52 PM

A strand of regular Christmas lights is $1.99 at big lots........it would take like 5 years to save enought electricity using LED lights to justify the up front cost.

12/23/2009 11:37:11 PM

except the regular kind need to be replaced almost every year.

12/23/2009 11:39:53 PM

the 3 watt really bright ones are still around 5-10 dollars

i'm waiting for those to come down in price and then i plan on replacing some of the lights in my house with them

12/23/2009 11:51:07 PM

Quote :

"except the regular kind need to be replaced almost every year."

I looked at the LED ones and they do not look any more durable or heavy duty. They are all gonna break if you jerk the shit out of them when they are tangled up.

12/24/2009 9:01:34 AM

The LED's will need to be replaced every year. Unless you pop every LED cartridge out, fill that socket with dielectric grease and put heat shrink tubing on the plastic covered wires, then it will most likely fall apart every one or two years when exposed to the elements.

12/24/2009 9:39:32 AM

while red and green LEDs have been around for a long time, blue LEDs are relatively new to the scene

color is determined by the specific semiconductor material and blue is now possible because of the development of GaN, InN, and AlN

Cree in Durham is a big player in the blue LED market which is why their LEDs are used at RBC and the oak tree shimmer wall downtown

now Cree and other LED makers are trying to cash in on the general white lighting market, which is huge

white LEDs can be made by combining 3 red/green/blue LEDs or by a single color LED emitting through a phosphor, but so far I am not impressed with the cost and chromaticity of available white LEDs

12/24/2009 11:25:30 AM

LED's last forever. the ones that they use in pool lights last about 10 years? and they're just overall a more green choice for lights that are completely pointless

12/24/2009 1:14:49 PM

I just think it's funny how advanced LED technology really is

and the OP is just taking it for granted and think that it's been around forever

12/24/2009 6:08:58 PM

Quote :

"LED's last forever"

you can only say that if you're making a sales pitch, because it's not true at all. A quick glance at the traffic signals on Glenwood will prove that to you.

12/25/2009 11:24:40 PM

I was waiting for someone to mention CREE and fin finally did

It probably would be a great time to get on board there if you can. They seem to be hiring a lot and will only get busier over the next few years.

12/26/2009 12:26:59 AM

Quote :

"I just think it's funny how advanced LED technology really is and the OP is just taking it for granted and think that it's been around forever"

12/26/2009 1:34:06 AM

Quote :

"except the regular kind need to be replaced almost every year."

what My parents have had their Christmas lights for about 10 years now. Other than changing a bulb here and there they're doing fine.

12/26/2009 7:56:20 AM

Quote :

"A quick glance at the traffic signals on Glenwood will prove that to you"

there are weaker links in the chain, not the LEDs

12/26/2009 9:01:37 AM

at any rate they are better than CFL

12/26/2009 9:11:00 AM

its because the Chinese keep putting LED in our toys.

12/26/2009 11:10:25 AM

Most new cars seem to come with LEDs now... even cheap cars such as the Corolla and Camry.

12/27/2009 4:24:41 PM

First world philosophical queries.

12/27/2009 4:26:31 PM

Quote :

"Introducing the most technologically advanced piece of clothing since the Hypercolor t-shirt ... the LED scrolling belt buckle. And this is the cheapest place to get them anywhere. You probably have a lot of questions, so let’s just get right to those. Does it come with batteries and instructions? Yes! Can I program it with custom phrases? Yep. It can hold up to six unique messages at a time, with each message being 256 characters long. You can change these messages at any time. Can I change things like the speed of the messages and how bright the display is? Yes. Is this buckle compatible with the standard buckle belt? Yes. We don’t sell actual belts, but you can probably use any existing buckle-style belt you have. Or get one at, like, any store. Can I put my MP3s on it? No."

http://www.bustedtees.com/scrollingledbeltbuckle

12/27/2009 4:30:16 PM