e-watt LED light bulbs - what has been your experience

FIRST General Forum
#1

Our team has been selling the e-watt LED light bulbs with some success.

For the most part they are pretty impressive when you demonstrate them to a potential buyer.

We have one buyer who bought several of them, using them in ceiling fixtures. A couple of the lights are flickering at a rapid pace. Only some of the fixtures do this, and it doesn’t matter if I switch the bulbs around inside the fixture, they still flicker. If I move the flickering bulb to another fixture, the flickering stops.

So, two points for this post:

  1. Have you run into complaints about flickering LED light bulbs? Any idea of the cause/solution?
  2. What has been your experience with the bulbs?
#2

We’ve actually had some great success due to the dedication of a few of our mentors. I’m not entirely sure if it is allowed, but a store has even agreed to stock the bulbs for us. https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/248565_657682871098_703583_34460588_5451877_n.jpg

#3

Were the bulbs installed in a dimmer fixture?

These bulbs are not dimmable, which is our only complaint so far (we’ve sold several cases of them).

#4

The fixtures were not dimmable. I’m just wondering if the fixture was marginal, maybe less power being delivered to them, flaky wiring or being at the end of a series of fixtures. The building is slightly old (1950s).

#5

For those who are selling a lot of the bulbs, how are you selling them? Do you sell them door-to-door, at a school, at the parent’s workplace, etc? What’s been most successful?

#6

Last I heard, we had sold something like ~$700 worth of light bulbs just on word of mouth alone. They’re pretty easy to sell as long as you push the right points. (Lower cost over lifetime of bulb, longer operating life, money goes to a good call etc.)

#7

Who do you sell them to?

#8

When you walk into a business, check out their lights. If they are using CFLs, give them the pitch. Try to find the operations manager, or whoever is responsible for buying the lights, they are the ones that will be interested.

#9

Any company, school, hotel, individual, etc., that is not bound to a contracted supplier for light bulbs. It is a very easy fundraiser. We’re currently working on Philadelphia City Hall, I believe.

#10

We’ve had at least two bulbs with the flickering problem. Our theory is it may be one or both of the following (or a combination)

  1. Bulb for some reason runs hotter than the others.

  2. In a ceiling can light, this can cause the can-light fixtures to overheat protection switch to trigger, causing flickering. The can’s trigger might also be more sensitive to other cans. Other factors might be amount of insulation/air space above the fixture in the ceiling/attic.

Note that the bulbs are not recommended for enclosed fixtures where little or no air can circulate.

#11

Family, Friends, a Few Members of Administration, and last I heard we were talking with the Building and Grounds department to see if they had any use for the bulbs.

#12

In our experience, the bulbs are pretty easy to sell one or two to someone to try out. People seem to like the fact that they are warmer lights than CFLs and give off a similar appearance to incandescents. We have had a few requests for dimmable bulbs as well as different wattages.

My complaint is that the bulbs MUST be purchased from the supplier using a credit card. Our school doesn’t have a credit card we can use, so that means a mentor or parent has to put it on their credit card and have a check cut from the school for reimbursement. Of course, the school doesn’t like to reimburse for large amounts, which means we’ll have some trouble if we want to sell a large volume of LED bulbs. (which we do!)

#13

Has anyone done price comparisons for comparable products?

I did some internet searching and found a similar product for $40, which is what we use in our sales pitch.

#14

Recently, Home Depot or Lowes (I forget which, my dad just casually told it to me) had similar bulbs on sale for $10. There was one on Home Depot’s website a few weeks ago that was similar, costing $40, I believe, but that seems to no longer be there. As of now, the FIRST LED bulbs do seem to be the cheapest/best ones available, but it seems like more and more similar bulbs are becoming available.

#15

Kinda made over 4k on these guys so far…

#16

Suhweet! Any tips on how you are selling them?

#17

Why do you need to keep inventory? Can’t you (as the Girl Scouts do) just take orders, and purchase the bulbs with the customer’s cash already in-hand?

#18

I heard a rumor that their local itty-bitty airport uses them to line the runways. I wonder if I can get MKE’s airport to do the same…

#19

Uh, I found $25 for what literally looks like the exact same bulb.

#20

are the color temperatures and lumen output the same as FRC bulb?

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