A strange pricing scheme for LEDs ...

[wildebus]

I was looking for suitable LED bulbs to fit inside my Awning light (which has been adapted by the previous owner and has a couple of G4 Bulbs screwed into connectors and just 'resting' in place with no holders as had been removed) and came across these which I thought would give a go....

They are an LED disc so the light shines outwards only (a bit like an LED Festoon bulb). Seemed a good idea in an awning light fitting.

The unusual pricing scheme?
Well, a pack of 5 lights is £15.99 - https://amzn.to/2WCFX26

But click the option for a pack of TEN lights, and the price goes down to £15.31 - less than half the price per bulb. It is cheaper to buy the 10 and throw half away then buy the 5. Very odd.

Anyway, arrived today along with a bunch of G4 bulb holders so just need to work out how to mount and jobs a good 'un (hopefully!)

 

[SquirrellCook]

Keep the spares, many LED's have a very short life. I've had to go back to filaments in Murky due to failures. The expensive branded ones still work!

 

[wildebus]

Keep the spares, many LED's have a very short life. I've had to go back to filaments in Murky due to failures. The expensive branded ones still work!

The aftermarket LEDs that were fitted were pants.
I have one Overhead Electrics Locker that has an LED G4 bulb fitted. Today it went more intermittant than usual and I had to squeeze the bulb for it to light! squeeze ... On, release ... Off. Weird or what. (can't see it but guessing a dry joint on one of the pins).
Fitted one of those disc LEDs in its place - incredibly bright! like night and day in comparision (or dawn and day if squeezing old bulb )

Really is a joke when they say LEDs have a 25,000 hour life or whatever ... not sure if any I have bought have lasted more than 2 years. I bought a pack of G4 Halogens to retrofit in the Motorhome.

 

[mistericeman]

Th

The aftermarket LEDs that were fitted were pants.
I have one Overhead Electrics Locker that has an LED G4 bulb fitted. Today it went more intermittant than usual and I had to squeeze the bulb for it to light! squeeze ... On, release ... Off. Weird or what. (can't see it but guessing a dry joint on one of the pins).
Fitted one of those disc LEDs in its place - incredibly bright! like night and day in comparision (or dawn and day if squeezing old bulb )

Really is a joke when they say LEDs have a 25,000 hour life or whatever ... not sure if any I have bought have lasted more than 2 years. I bought a pack of G4 Halogens to retrofit in the Motorhome.

There are LEDs and there are LEDs...

Cheap LEDs over driven to make them brighter than they are designed to be ends with shortened service life (its why cheaper chinglese led torches are often bright but short lived)
I've some very bright torches I use for exploring old mines that a friend of mine built....
They involve large heatsinks to keep the (expensive branded) over driven LEDs cool....

It's sort of the equivalent of running a 240v lamp on a 110v supply....
They last a long time with little difference in brightness

 

[SquirrellCook]

This what I have used in Murky and now Betty.

773-6939

Looks like replaced with these.

R6-C2835-24-42-IP20 | PowerLED 24V dc White LED Strip Light, 6000K Colour Temp, 500mm Length | RS

uk.rs-online.com

 

[mb2tv]

I was looking for suitable LED bulbs to fit inside my Awning light (which has been adapted by the previous owner and has a couple of G4 Bulbs screwed into connectors and just 'resting' in place with no holders as had been removed) and came across these which I thought would give a go....

They are an LED disc so the light shines outwards only (a bit like an LED Festoon bulb). Seemed a good idea in an awning light fitting.

The unusual pricing scheme?
Well, a pack of 5 lights is £15.99 - https://amzn.to/2WCFX26

But click the option for a pack of TEN lights, and the price goes down to £15.31 - less than half the price per bulb. It is cheaper to buy the 10 and throw half away then buy the 5. Very odd.

Anyway, arrived today along with a bunch of G4 bulb holders so just need to work out how to mount and jobs a good 'un (hopefully!)

Cannot explain the strange pricing structure.
The reason the cheap LED are usually not the LED themselves, it is the circuitry around them that fails (regulators, capacitors etc.). The net effect is not different, it stops working .

 

[trevskoda]

I have them flat disc types in my main lights, mix of p white and soft switchable for many years with no bother, all from china via ebay

 

[st3v3]

It's probably an automatic demand based algorithm doing the pricing. Yes, very daft!

 

[Squiffy]

I have them flat disc types in my main lights, mix of p white and soft switchable for many years with no bother, all from china via ebayView attachment 4718View attachment 4719View attachment 4720View attachment 4721View attachment 4722

Same here, I've had 8 cheap g4 style led main and reading lights for 7 years and not had to replace any of them also strip under locker leds, I changed to the type of leds Dave is using in my previous van 16 years ago and they lasted at least 6 years and were still working when I sold the van. It's not as though we only use the van once or twice a year we use it every weekend from Friday through to Tuesday so the leds are pushed regularly. Phil

 

[Nabsim]

Was it the postage costing more than the parts that caused this? Happens a lot with small easy pack stuff

 

[wildebus]

Was it the postage costing more than the parts that caused this? Happens a lot with small easy pack stuff

It does not seem to happen anymore, but you used to be able to buy stuff from Aliexpress and from eBay (for stuff coming from China), where the total price, including shipping from China to UK, was less than what it would cost you to just send the same part within the UK.
Chinese Factories were able to do this as the CCP self-declared that China (2nd largest economy in the world) was a "developing economy" and as such the postage services of the recipient countries had to pay for the postage costs, not the senders. So it was actually the UK Govt, as owners of RMG, who paid for your cheap chinese junk