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What is going on with ceiling fans

290 points · 257 comments · colinprince

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mulanroo · 1790840191 · focus · HN ↗
The part about the LEDs not being replaceable is the one that gets me. Usually it isn't even the LEDs that die first, it's the cheap driver board inside. But since it's all sealed into one unit, a $3 part failing means the whole fan goes in the trash.
The tiny flush-mount ones are funny too. How much air a fan moves mostly comes down to blade span, so a one-foot fan up near the ceiling is basically decoration that happens to spin.
owlninja · 1791039993 · focus · HN ↗
> Sometimes new design phenomena slip past even those of us who are most in tune with the happenings of the built environment.
I went to Wayfair and searched ceiling fans and holy moly this space has changed! I thought to myself, "I don't see these when walking through my local bigbox hardware store?" So I went to Lowe's website and fandeliers are an entire category now.
Gshaheen · 1791040021 · focus · HN ↗
It’s the same story for basically any part of a home. Faucets, furniture, tubs, windows, doors, floors, lamps, you name it.
What a testament to the manufacturing advances that have made it profitable to cater to every possible taste, budget, and architectural layout. It’s incredible actually.
1. Finnucane · 1791040618 · focus · HN ↗
  And also to flood the market with an ocean of cheap, disposable crap that won't even function very well as a fan.
2. jerf · 1791041173 · focus · HN ↗
  I just wish there was some way to replace the LEDs on these things when they inevitably die. And, no matter what large number of years or decades are slathered on the box, inevitably at least one LED panel will blow out three to six months after purchase, nominally still in warranty but good luck getting any service under it, I'm sure. If there was, there could be a place for at least some of these in a house, but the amount of crap that you have no choice but to throw out as soon as the LEDs fry is insane.
  This is why my "fancy" lighting fixture is an old track (whose proprietary lights died a long time ago) wrapped with an extension cable with 5 standard sockets on it, and some standard light bulbs in it. We dress it up with ribbons and stuff for the seasons. It doesn't look as nice as any of the things in that article, not even the gaudy and tasteless ones, but when a bulb burn out, I put a new one in and get on with life, I don't throw out an entire fan and buy a new one.
  I'm old enough to remember when I was promised LEDs would last approximately forever without having to be replaced.
  1. nekusar · 1791041758 · focus · HN ↗
    > I'm old enough to remember when I was promised LEDs would last approximately forever without having to be replaced.
    Yep, I remember that when Obama banned most incandescent lights because 'LED lighting is the future and 100 year lifespans blabla'.
    Mind you, we used CFLs in the warm season, and incandescent in cold seasons. Incandescents are 100% efficient in cold seasons (heater AND light).
    As much as I deign to admit, Trump reversed Obama's ban. And Biden reinstated it. I don't think Trump reversed Biden's reinstatement though. He's been way too busy with wrecking the country for shits and giggles.
    But what the LED manufacturers figured out is they could overdrive LEDs and use substandard electronics for driving them. So sure, LEDs are more efficient, but they're the same old burnout cycle that's forced on us.
    And we know all of this by the fact that Phillips makes "Dubai Lamps", and you can't buy them at any price. <a href="https://hackaday.com/2021/01/17/leds-from-dubai-the-royal-lights-you-cant-buy/" rel="nofollow">https://hackaday.com/2021/01/17/leds-from-dubai-the-royal-li...
    phatskat · 1791042381 · focus · HN ↗
    I don't care much on the politics of it all because I do think a lot of it is silly, especially with how profit-motivated companies will still find a way to profit.
    I will say I've had a number of Hue bulbs starting back in about 2018 and have yet to lose one except for a surge that got an unprotected strip. Otherwise, plenty of white and color bulbs have worked steadfast for nearly a decade while costing a fraction in energy. That said, I do miss the warmth of incandescent lighting, but I don't miss replacing bulbs multiple times a year
    usefulcat · 1791144902 · focus · HN ↗
    > Incandescents are 100% efficient in cold seasons (heater AND light).
    That's resistive heating, which is the most inefficient means of heating. Worse than natural gas or heating oil, and much worse than a heat pump.
    Kirby64 · 1791147434 · focus · HN ↗
    > Worse than natural gas or heating oil, and much worse than a heat pump.
    Worse than a heat pump, yes, but very arguable whether NG is more efficient. Arguably, NG powering central electric power generation and then used for resistive would be overall more efficient. Central NG will be more efficient and also there’s substantially less opportunity for NG leakage if piping was reduced.
    NG is definitely cheaper (at least in the US), but that’s not really related to efficiency or emissions cost.
    Marsymars · 1791149753 · focus · HN ↗
    It doesn't take into account leaks, but modern NG furnaces are substantially more efficient than modern gas power generation.
    Kirby64 · 1791150900 · focus · HN ↗
    I’m not sure that’s easily quantifiable. Yes, thermal efficiency of modern NG furnaces can be ~95% or whatever… but you can also run multi stage heat capturing NG power plants that have very high overall efficiency too. Not 95, but at 60-70%, it’d be a potential wash in terms of emissions if leaks are ~10% (especially considering how much worse unburnt NG is as a leak vs when it’s burnt).
    Also, if you’re in the electric ecosystem, swapping to heat pump systems will obviously be lower overall power in basically every scenario, and it gives an easy transition path unlike NG.
    Marsymars · 1791154125 · focus · HN ↗
    > Also, if you’re in the electric ecosystem, swapping to heat pump systems will obviously be lower overall power in basically every scenario, and it gives an easy transition path unlike NG.
    Maybe... I've got a NG furnace now and am looking at adding a heat pump, and even with a pretty expansive budget, I'm struggling to make the numbers work on actually removing the furnace entirely vs. doing heat pump + furnace.
    Kirby64 · 1791155094 · focus · HN ↗
    I’m not making the argument for total amortized cost. I’m just talking about per energy unit cost, specifically in terms of CO2 or emissions.
    If the evaluation is total lifetime cost to you, using the equipment you currently have almost always wins out. Same with purchasing more efficient hvac and such: the cheapest/lowest efficiency hvac is almost always the most cost effective. That tide could turn with sharp increases in NG or electric prices… but it hasn’t historically been true for many years.
    KETHERCORTEX · 1791173486 · focus · HN ↗
    What do you mean by "inefficient"? 100W goes into the bulb and the same 100W go out. Energy remains in the room. How is it different to burning gas to get the same 100W? Or am I missing something?
    ssl-3 · 1791184620 · focus · HN ↗
    It's inefficient of money.
    A 100 Watt light bulb consumes 100 Watts. It emits 100 Watts. That's 8,190 BTU every 24 hours, and it is perfectly efficient at doing this.
    At $0.1745 per kiloWatt hour, it costs $0.419 to produce those 8,190 BTUs.
    A natural gas furnace at 90% efficiency, meanwhile: Yeah, 10% goes right out the pipe and is lost.
    But if natural gas costs $1.346 per therm, then producing 8,190 BTUs of useful heat costs closer to the realm of $0.123.
    One thing thing costs about 42 cents. The other thing costs about 12 cents. 42 moneys is more than 12 moneys. :)
    ---
    I might opine that the most cost-efficient way of dealing with an incandescent light bulb is to immediately replace it with an LED bulb, and then landfill the old thing even though it still works.
    4-packs of 100 Watt-equivalent LED bulbs are $12.97 at Wal-Mart, or about $3.24 per bulb. If it's the heating season and natural gas is being used at 90% efficiency, then replacing the incandescent pays for itself in about 300 hours of use. The LED will then continue to work and save money for thousands of additional hours.
    ssl-3 · 1791152129 · focus · HN ↗
    [delayed]
  2. AnimalMuppet · 1791042011 · focus · HN ↗
    Yeah. It's not just cost, it's time. If I have to replace the fan, that's a trip to a hardware store, then a half hour (at least) to remove the old and install the new and get it wired correctly, so that it works and doesn't burn my house down. Then I have to take the old one apart far enough to fit it into the garbage can.
    Replacing a bulb is a trip to my stash of bulbs in the laundry room, then throwing the old one in the trash.
    I don't have time in my life for a fan with non-replaceable bulbs.
  3. 15155 · 1791042016 · focus · HN ↗
    LEDs rarely die unless cooling is inadequate. DC/DC and AC/DC circuitry is a far more likely culprit.
    In either case, learn to do hot air rework?
  4. amluto · 1791043504 · focus · HN ↗
    Your local inspector may have opinions about this, but you can buy all the components of an excellent LED system from your favorite electronics distributor, e.g. DigiKey.
    Don’t waste your time or eyeballs with “driverless” devices. Get a chip-on-board LED, e.g. Bridgelux’s products, along with a matching driver (I like Luminus Devices’ small drivers - they have good startup and dimming behavior).
    Aside from usual electrical safety, anyone designing what is effectively a luminaire needs to make sure that the driver matches the LED and that the driver is compatible with the dimmer in use. Matching the LED means that the driver produces an amount of current that that LED’s datasheet data is acceptable and that produces the amount of light that is desired and dissipates an amount of heat that can be managed. And that the LED’s voltage drop at the design current is in range for the driver. These LEDs are constant current devices, so you’re thinking about current first and voltage second. Read the datasheets!
    Unfortunately many cheap luminaires are based on modules that are either driverless LEDs (which are terrible due to essentially unavoidable flicker and lack of regulation) or are line-voltage-supplied integrated devices. These are likely to be hard-to-find modules. There may not be room for a discrete driver and separate LED.
  5. someonebaggy · 1791045085 · focus · HN ↗
    Have you tried replacing the LEDs or have you just assumed it's impossible because it's not a bulb?
    jerf · 1791071055 · focus · HN ↗
    It depends on the specific fixture.
    But then, the problem is, it depends on the specific fixture. They aren't exactly putting "EASY TO REPLACE LEDS" on the box. I can't climb up to the store display model and start hacking away at it to see if I can get to the LEDs, replace them, and reassemble it correctly.
    What I saw last time I was in a store where the fixtures were on eye level looked like a lot of glue, one-way tabs, and LED strips of unknown and custom provenance were being used. I'm not really looking for this sort of experience in a lighting fixture. YMMV and more power to you.
    ssl-3 · 1791151550 · focus · HN ↗
    [delayed]
  6. NoMoreNicksLeft · 1791186278 · focus · HN ↗
    I installed new fans a few years back. They all use those little 6" disc LEDs. They're replaceable. Is there some other type I've not heard of?
3. mcphage · 1791042233 · focus · HN ↗
  > The sea was purple. The beach they were on was composed of tiny yellow and green pebbles - presumably terribly precious stones. The mountains in the distance seemed soft and undulating with red peaks. Nearby stood a solid silver beach table with a frilly mauve parasol and silver tassles.
  > In the sky a huge sign appeared, replacing the catalogue number. It said, Whatever your tastes, Magrathea can cater for you. We are not proud.
  Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
4. matheusmoreira · 1791044306 · focus · HN ↗
  > every possible taste, budget, and architectural layout
  Except "traditional" it seems.
  1. masklinn · 1791053126 · focus · HN ↗
    Or “fit for purpose”.
  2. aaron695 · 1791154903 · focus · HN ↗
    [dead]
  3. kube-system · 1791167810 · focus · HN ↗
    Have you looked?
    <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hunter-inch-Indoor-Ceiling-Light/dp/B00DF4ICOY" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Hunter-inch-Indoor-Ceiling-Light/dp/B...
5. marcosdumay · 1791044920 · focus · HN ↗
  Except that it doesn't.
  All of the stuff available is basically a mix of the elements the author puts on his 8 images on the beginning of the article. Where only 2 of them have fans that can actually vent a room.
nekusar · 1791040412 · focus · HN ↗
Quite a lot of deserved hate, honestly.
1. Almost all are "appified", aka proprietary crappy BT protocol with required corporate spy/app.
2. Non-replaceable LEDs means burnout = e-waste.
3. LEDs are overdriven meaning they're intentionally ran to burn out sooner.
4. Many of the "fans" are indeed blades on a motor. For they blow? Nope. But they do indeed suck.
5. Many are just hideous and garish pieces of garbage. But "in matters of taste, the customer is always right".
cricalix · 1791040450 · focus · HN ↗
Obligatory Tech Connections video?
<a href="https://youtu.be/_KWdCqpXB7A" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/_KWdCqpXB7A
1. ibejoeb · 1791040993 · focus · HN ↗
  I will never love anything as much as Alec loves oil bath motors.
  1. iamatworknow · 1791041703 · focus · HN ↗
    What about the latent heat of vaporization?
    ibejoeb · 1791042777 · focus · HN ↗
    Well now you've got me backed into a corner...
2. hammock · 1791171280 · focus · HN ↗
  Surprised this isn’t the top comment. Great video. TLDR fans have changed look but only gotten worse and the best fans are using 100 year old design that you have to oil every year
chasd00 · 1791040477 · focus · HN ↗
the gamerfan is a new one for me. haha i had no idea..
1. ludicrousdispla · 1791043641 · focus · HN ↗
  I bet a matrix of cpu fans mounted to the ceiling would work rather well, rb lighting is optional.
doctorpangloss · 1791040495 · focus · HN ↗
"AI dOeSn'T hAvE tAsTe, ur j0b iS sAfE"
Meanwhile, making products for the tasteless: $$$
1. cindyllm · 1791040770 · focus · HN ↗
  [dead]
DennisP · 1791040764 · focus · HN ↗
The "weird blades" fan is similar to recent propeller designs, which are especially efficient and quiet. It's probably a really good fan.
1. anal_reactor · 1791063891 · focus · HN ↗
  While I admire the humor of the article, the overall vibe feels like the author simply cannot imagine that practicality isn't the only requirement when it comes to design, and on top of that, thinks that American marketing is the only god-approved style of marketing.
  I recommend the author to go and talk to a few women. It's a very demanding request, but I insist on it. Once he understands and internalizes the logic of "my shoes are uncomfortable but they fit my purse", he'll be able to:
  1. Understand that different designs have different proportions of practicality and looks, because different customers can have different expectations. I know it's hard to believe, but there are places on Earth besides Arizona, and in some places you only need to turn on the fan once a year gently, all the other days it just hangs there and is visible. Just like a woman won't be putting hiking shoes for an event where she's sitting by the table all day long (men tend to do that).
  2. See the concept of "style". It might sound like an outrageous claim, but bear with me: different people like different things! Just because author doesn't like particular design, it doesn't mean that the design is objectively ugly. Shocking, I know. Different people want to build different vibes in their rooms, which is why we have a variety of designs, fitting different styles.
  If the author can stomach the idea that there is life outside of Arizona, I'll try an even more radical idea: China exists. Like, really. 1 billion people that aren't Americans. They don't speak English. They don't use Latin alphabet - they actually don't use an alphabet at all! They don't say "Hello, how are you? I'm good, thank you, what about you?". I'd really love the author to spend a few minutes to imagine that. Because my argument is that, even though I have little proof of it, the Chinese might enjoy different ways of having the product presented, and the author is bitching about seeing marketing that was designed by and for the Chinese audiences.
  Many times I pass by an ad and I think to myself, "This ad obviously targets American customers but I'm in Europe. Do Americans really think that their culture is the default, universal culture that joins all of humanity?".
  1. egypturnash · 1791151267 · focus · HN ↗
    Kate Wagner is the creator of the viral blog McMansionHell, which roasts the world’s ugliest houses from top to bottom, all while teaching about architecture and design. [...] Kate prefers the pronouns she/her or they/them. - <a href="https://mcmansionhell.com/about" rel="nofollow">https://mcmansionhell.com/about
  2. KETHERCORTEX · 1791174683 · focus · HN ↗
    > (Chinese) don't use Latin alphabet
    They use Latin alphabet. For typing in Chinese
2. Driver8 · 1791145285 · focus · HN ↗
  Just to add the name, it's called a toroidal propeller.
jmbwell · 1791041129 · focus · HN ↗
On behalf of my late mother, these look impossible to clean
mcphage · 1791041157 · focus · HN ↗
This kind of reminds me of the “Island” situation on Magic: the Gathering cards. An island is a piece of land, surrounded by water. However, due to 30+ years of needing to draw new versions of islands, Wizards of the Coast has expanded what it means to be an island, ending up with things that are… not that: <a href="https://imgur.com/a/xVnyP" rel="nofollow">https://imgur.com/a/xVnyP
1. jaggederest · 1791179257 · focus · HN ↗
  To be fair all of those islands are awesome and mega pedant time
  > is Venice an island or is every block in Venice an island? Is Venice an archipelago?
  Fun fact: Venice is, in fact, an island, and every block in venice is an island, and venice is an archipelago: <a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/TfbkNvrLU55E9n9KA" rel="nofollow">https://maps.app.goo.gl/TfbkNvrLU55E9n9KA
donatj · 1791041190 · focus · HN ↗
My wife and I were out recently looking at ceiling fans to replace the one in our dining room, which has committed no crimes, other than having the appearance of being very much from the 1980s.
I was taken aback by how few of the fans had replaceable lightbulbs! In the entire store there were maybe three or four options with a replaceable bulb!
Call me crazy, but a nonreplaceable LED is a complete dealbreaker. I go through so many LED bulbs! I don't know if my electricity is like particularly bad or if that's just normal? The first LED bulb I ever bought (Shout out EarthLED) in 2008 for like $30 is still going strong, but every bulb I buy these days lasts like two years tops.
Anyway, we did not buy a fan.
1. christophilus · 1791041246 · focus · HN ↗
  My pet peeve is remote controlled fans. I want a physical cord or switch. The remotes are so flaky and annoying.
  1. samudrijan · 1791041567 · focus · HN ↗
    Your fan doesn’t need Wi-Fi?
    nekusar · 1791042080 · focus · HN ↗
    No, my fan is NOT part of the botnet, nor will it ever be.
    cosmicgadget · 1791043612 · focus · HN ↗
    Just make sure your fan is on the latest firmware!
    sgc · 1791049049 · focus · HN ↗
    Don't do that! v041 has been compromised upstream by a supply chain attack and big fan doesn't want us to know. You have to use v040 until it has been fixed. Also, used the hacked flashing software because the official version is spyware. Did you even read page 723 of the support thread?? I can give you more info when I am done patching my toaster.
    UnlockedSecrets · 1791150345 · focus · HN ↗
    Can you give me more information on the toaster? I am tired of it toasting slurs into my unlicensed bread....
  2. WaitWaitWha · 1791043289 · focus · HN ↗
    My MinkaAirs use 303MHz remotes. No pull chains. This frustrated me so much, last night i got an ESP32-S3 + CC1101 and reverse engineered the signal to the fans to be also control it from Home Assistant. Now, if i lose or break the controller, i can still switch the fans & built-in LED on & off another way. not perfect, but it is in my control.
    cmclaughlin · 1791043537 · focus · HN ↗
    How did you reverse engineer the signal?
    I’ve looked at a product called Bond that seems to facilitate it. But haven’t yet tried it.
    Zircom · 1791055377 · focus · HN ↗
    Probably not anything more complicated than running some kind of signal receiver while clicking each button on the remote and then capturing/replaying it. I highly doubt there's much if any security around the fan remote signals lol.
    cevn · 1791061366 · focus · HN ↗
    Probably AI, it is really good at it. Stuff that normally takes days to reverse is taking minutes now.
    zbrozek · 1791157783 · focus · HN ↗
    I did exactly the same thing for a different brand of DIP-switch-addressable remote-control fan back in 2016. It's been wonderful.
    It wasn't that hard; I used gnuradio with an SDR to see what the remotes were sending and just pressed buttons and flipped switches until I figured out what all the bits were. There was no encryption whatsoever.
  3. cmclaughlin · 1791043437 · focus · HN ↗
    This annoys me too. My Casablanca fans have a wall switch which is hard wired to power only for on/off, but the fan and light controls are sent via a radio frequency signal. The most frustrating part of this, is that the RF transmitter inside the wall switch is battery operated. I have to unscrew the wall switch a couple times a year to get to the batteries.
    Gibbon1 · 1791064393 · focus · HN ↗
    As someone that designs battery powered RF devices. It's shocking an disheartening seeing stuff like that.
    Things drawing an average of a few hundred microamps while the fan is running. Probably because it's blasting a keep alive packet once a second or so. It does that because a transceiver costs an extra 50 cents.
  4. 15155 · 1791043682 · focus · HN ↗
    DC fans are infinitely superior to AC fans (noise, torque, longevity, etc.), which is unfortunately why this became a thing.
    There's no clean mechanism to control a fan's speed in-band on a normal AC wall switch.
    simoncion · 1791143336 · focus · HN ↗
    > DC fans are infinitely superior to AC fans (noise, torque, longevity, etc.), which is unfortunately why this became a thing.
    What?
    Every house I've ever lived in over my many decades of life has had ceiling fans. I've never known one to fail, never known one to be noisy, and never known one to have inadequate power. I've personally installed a couple and know those got wired straight into AC mains power... so unless they have a converter built in, I figure that every ceiling fan I've ever lived with has been AC powered.
    Unless you've been working with absolute bottom of the barrel fans (and those fans are worse than I could possibly imagine), this smells like industry propaganda to me.
    > There's no clean mechanism to control a fan's speed in-band on a normal AC wall switch.
    OP is asking for a normal pull chain or switch... one that's attached to the fan housing, not some doodad that's embedded in the wall and needs to be specially wired into the fan electrics. I've been to the houses of a few friends that have had fans controlled with a handheld wireless controller, and I can confirm that that was -overall- way worse than hauling my ass up to pull a damn chain.
    toast0 · 1791157737 · focus · HN ↗
    Where are you getting ceiling fans that don't squeak and/or hum? (Or perhaps, what are you doing to maintain them)
    I'm pretty anti remotes and apps for things, but it's pretty handy when my spouse can start the fan from her phone in the middle of the night instead of waking me to go turn it on in the middle of the night.
    Our current one isn't too loud and it has a nice range of speeds so you can run it without it getting super wobbly. But overall, I still dislike fans. :p
    apothegm · 1791166777 · focus · HN ↗
    The ceiling fan in my bedroom was installed no later than 1981 (possibly a few decades earlier) and is utterly silent. On high you can hear the rush of air and thats it.
    jdyer9 · 1791167097 · focus · HN ↗
    Not op, but we have old, AC ceiling fans that are wall controlled. They run 95% of the time, no maintenance, no squeaks, no nothing. Obviously anecdata, but this is representative of my entire life's experience with AC ceiling fans. I doubt these were either the cheapest fans nor the most expensive, fwiw. I'm sure the prior owner did nothing to maintain them either
    15155 · 1791171997 · focus · HN ↗
    > AC ceiling fans that are wall controlled
    I should have been more specific - yes, you can "dim" AC fans and it's purely electrical. "Dimming" DC fan and similar switching loads requires detecting shaped pulses - and is really dirty and not something you want to do.
    coryrc · 1791166539 · focus · HN ↗
    I don't know about those reasons, but an AC fan uses ~100W on low and my DC fan uses 5W. You tune out the hum, but the AC fans hum and the DC fans don't.
    But I don't think torque or longevity are actual issues with AC fans. Just efficiency and noise.
    15155 · 1791172155 · focus · HN ↗
    > torque
    DC fans don't have the hum, get up to speed faster, etc. They can operate at a far greater range of power and still maintain high torque output. AC fans operate in a much narrower envelope.
    > longevity
    AC fans typically use brushes and slip rings.
    15155 · 1791172321 · focus · HN ↗
    > I figure that every ceiling fan I've ever lived with has been AC powered.
    Every high-end fan sold today is DC. It's possible that you didn't see the power supply.
    > way worse than hauling my ass up to pull a damn chain.
    Many people have high ceilings where a pull chain couldn't be humanly reached. Sure, this might work if you have 8' ceilings. Which high-end fans have pull chains?
    tiew9Vii · 1791174371 · focus · HN ↗
    DC is much quieter and energy efficient. Can't comment on the longevity etc
    Technology Connections "Ceiling fans: the simple idea we keep screwing up" YouTube video is interesting. The old old fans had oiled bearing baths and overbuilt motors, extremely overbuilt compared to today standards which means they'll probably keep going forever. If you are nerdy and interested it's worth a watch.
    <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KWdCqpXB7A&t=3539s" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KWdCqpXB7A&t=3539s
    Marsymars · 1791149122 · focus · HN ↗
    > There's no clean mechanism to control a fan's speed in-band on a normal AC wall switch.
    I went through this pain when I bought ceiling fans a few years ago. Various manufacturers offer switches or remotes you can attach to the wall but that take batteries - the options for actual wired switches are slim. I ended up with a few hardwired Big Ass Fans wall controllers that work pretty well - but their current-gen wall controls are hardwired bluetooth remotes, which is subpar for something that's connected via wire. (And they cost $210/each, which is pretty egregious for a wall switch.)
    mauvehaus · 1791149724 · focus · HN ↗
    > There's no clean mechanism to control a fan's speed in-band on a normal AC wall switch.
    There absolutely is. If you have a fan with a light controlled by separate wall switches, you have two hots running to the fixture. Take one, and leave it unswitched always on to the fixture, and use the second switch (or fan controller) and use it as an input to the controller on the fan. Done.
    Unfortunately, I haven't seen this implemented anywhere.
    This message brought to you by the hours I've spent annoyed by exactly this misfeature in our new bedroom fan. Fanimation does sell a wall mounted remote that can be wired inline with a switch, so at least there's a single point for master power and a remote you can't lose. Unfortunately, there's a noticeable delay between flipping the switch and the light turning on.
    15155 · 1791171372 · focus · HN ↗
    > If you have a fan with a light controlled by separate wall switches,
    This is common, but it's also not uncommon for only one circuit to be wired.
    > Unfortunately, I haven't seen this implemented anywhere.
    Many Z-wave switches use the three-way traveler line for out-of-band signaling (instead of a traditional three-way switch arrangement.) (Homeseer, Inovelli, etc.)
    tiew9Vii · 1791173539 · focus · HN ↗
    > There's no clean mechanism to control a fan's speed in-band on a normal AC wall switch.
    There is.
    I specifically purchased a Fanco Horizon DC fan as it has an optional physical wall switch which connected to the existing wiring for the fan it was replacing.
    The caveat being if you use the wall remote, it's not compatible with the model with built in LED light fixture. This was a non issue for me as wanted to avoid any fan with built in LED light due to when the led panel fails, it'll be extremely difficult to replace vs having independent lights in the room.
    I think most DC fans don't support wall remotes because it's cheaper and simpler not to, and provide a remote control instead. It's not a technical issue as you can absolutely find DC fans with wall controllers they are just harder to find.
    15155 · 1791174190 · focus · HN ↗
    > There is.
    How did it work electrically? This is what I mean by "clean."
    tiew9Vii · 1791175008 · focus · HN ↗
    Not an electrician, wiring diagram is page 7 if it helps: <a href="https://fanco.com.au/wp-content/uploads/manuals/horizon-manual.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://fanco.com.au/wp-content/uploads/manuals/horizon-manu...
    eichin · 1791177491 · focus · HN ↗
    mmm, I don't know if you'd call it clean but I have a late-1990s ceiling fan with a feature they called "fan flick" - turn it on, it comes on at the last selected speed. Want to change the speed? flick the power switch (toggle it quickly) and it changes by one notch. It's tedious, and you only get to change it one direction until it wraps around - but no wireless, no additional wiring, just "short power interruption" as a signal...
  5. mmooss · 1791058764 · focus · HN ↗
    In two apartments, the remote affected the neighbor's fan and vice-versa. At first I wondered at the fan's erratic behavior, especially switching modes soon after I changed it. Then I guessed the problem and spoke to the neighbor.
    I tried changing channels in the remote but that didn't seem to help much. With the second neighbor, the fans were in my living room and their bedroom. We agreed to control fans in shifts (I turned mine off at night).
    It's hard to believe it's just a very unlikely coincidence. Maybe the channels are too few or narrow to be useful? How hard would it be to implement some psuedo-UID?
    simoncion · 1791143607 · focus · HN ↗
    > How hard would it be to implement some psuedo-UID?
    Are you mad? That would cost low-single-digit pennies per unit!!! </pennypinching_bigco_derision>
    pdonis · 1791154108 · focus · HN ↗
    Sounds like the old Steven Wright joke about having a switch in his apartment that didn't do anything, he kept turning it on and off and nothing happened. Then a guy in France called him and said, "Cut it out."
    mcswell · 1791167949 · focus · HN ↗
    I bet the controller and the fan have a DIP switch for preventing this interference. See my post below (search for "poltergeist".)
    mmooss · 1791185524 · focus · HN ↗
    You're right, it did. Unfortunately, I tried that without success:
    That's what I meant when I wrote, "I tried changing channels in the remote but that didn't seem to help much.", and wondered "Maybe the channels are too few or narrow to be useful?".
  6. m463 · 1791090333 · focus · HN ↗
    I want more POE devices.
    It might be that POE power supplies get hot - I've noticed the POE hats for the raspberry pi need a fan
    Kirby64 · 1791148699 · focus · HN ↗
    The POE hats for something like a pi convert the high voltage (~48v) down to 5V, so efficiency is going to be generally middling if you don’t spend a lot on the components. I imagine they’re running 80% efficiency or so, which would be an easy 3W of dissipation at peak or so.
2. madaxe_again · 1791041461 · focus · HN ↗
  It's bad power - transients apparently kill LEDs quickly.
  Me - I have the exact same bulbs in my off grid property, and in my on-grid property. On grid, it's about 18 months MTBF. Off grid - it's been seven years and I haven't had to replace a single bulb yet. On-grid our power is anywhere between 205 and 235v, often has spikes up to 260+, and has like 99% uptime. Off grid, it's 230v, day in, day out. Grid power is terrible in most places.
  1. adamgordonbell · 1791042297 · focus · HN ↗
    Is there a solution for this?
    I have this issue as well, of burning thru LED lights.
    someonebaggy · 1791043159 · focus · HN ↗
    Systems built of separate parts instead of LED light bulbs made as lightbulbs. LED strips and LED drivers.
    quickthrowman · 1791055548 · focus · HN ↗
    Yes, buy LED lamps that are rated for enclosed fixtures when you install them in an enclosed fixture.
    LED lamps fail early when they’re overheated, and standard LED lamps will overheat in an enclosed fixture.
  2. chrismorgan · 1791169031 · focus · HN ↗
    I grew up in Australia and now live in Hyderabad, India. Pretty good chance I’ll be building a house in the next couple of years, and I’m of a strong mind to go off-grid for power for this sort of reason. Appliances and other devices (ACs, fridges, computers, laptops, chargers, even fans and lights) fail at far greater rates than in Australia, and I believe most of that is about power quality (though sometimes it’s about higher ambient temperatures, far more dust, possibly lower component quality). Given how often the power goes out, you want a home inverter anyway, so increasing the battery capacity further and adding solar isn’t such a huge extra cost; and if it reduces appliance failure rates as much as I expect, I genuinely suspect it’ll be cheaper in the long run, even with the grid price being 0.05–0.10 USD/kWh.
    Now if only DC wiring and appliances were more common/mature, could possibly drop the “inverter” part altogether. If I were single I’d try more seriously for a full-DC system, but as a married man I’ll probably just stick with everything AC.
3. comrade1234 · 1791041630 · focus · HN ↗
  Led bulbs should last you 20 years. I once lived in a place with dodgy power and led bulbs would burn out - sometimes less than a year. You could also turn the microwave on and see the lights dim.
4. phoghed · 1791041766 · focus · HN ↗
  Overhead light is generally dogshit anyway, just get a fan with no light
  1. phatskat · 1791042098 · focus · HN ↗
    Overhead lights may generally suck, and I can say that I've been grateful to have one every time I've needed it.
  2. donatj · 1791042328 · focus · HN ↗
    As opposed to what? A bunch of lamps?
    phoghed · 1791066867 · focus · HN ↗
    Yes, a bunch of lamps. Not a joke. Look at any room with a bunch of lamps vs a ceiling fan
    dalmo3 · 1791094295 · focus · HN ↗
    Second this. My apartment has wall lights only, except for the kitchen. Very cosy.
5. 15155 · 1791041897 · focus · HN ↗
  110VAC "LED bulbs" are not the same thing as the LEDs on a PCB in a DC motor ceiling fan.
  "LED bulbs" die because they have to rectify 110VAC (hot) into LEDs (hot) into an enclosure that was designed for incandescents.
  In a proper enclosure, with cooling (it's a fan), they will actually live their fully-stated lifetime, assuming the fan's upstream power supply makes it.
  1. ajsnigrutin · 1791042390 · focus · HN ↗
    > In a proper enclosure, with cooling (it's a fan), they will actually live their fully-stated lifetime - assuming the fan's upstream power supply makes it.
    But in an "old school" hardware, you'd then replace the bulb and get a new "lifetime" out of it, here you have to throw everything away.
    An AC motor has basically nothing inside that can fail (maybe the capactitor, but that can be replaced), and can work for a hundred years and more if properly maintained (mostly cleaned).
    On average ~6 hours per day (living room with night owls living there), is ~2000 hours per year... 5 years at 10.000hours expected lifetime for the leds, 10 if the stated lifetime is 20k hours... that's not really that long.
    someonebaggy · 1791043044 · focus · HN ↗
    You can replace parts that don't come in nice detachable sockets.
    Lightbulbs came in sockets because they were meant to fail. First by accident, later intentionally. They were also quite breakable because they were made of glass. LED lights don't have these problems unless they're designed to. Which is the meta-problem - how do you know which ones are planned obsolete?
    convolvatron · 1791043523 · focus · HN ↗
    I build lights with cob modules with phosphor (bridgelux), and unless I screw up the thermal interface, I get many years out of modules that cost < $5 each. one thing is that the thermal paste is too fiddly for most people, voltage/current tends to drift around and 0.5V is a big difference here. mechanically they tend to use a couple different form factors, but not 100%. the 10 watt units I had been using were bigger than the 15w I use now, and the mounting spacing went from 0.75 to 0.71
    I would hope that at least some of this would get standardized over time
    15155 · 1791043476 · focus · HN ↗
    > An AC motor has basically nothing inside that can fail
    Let me know how the non-replaceable sealed bearing packs in these AC or DC fans do after 10,000 hours.
    In a proper/high-end DC fan, the bearings are failing before any motors or LEDs.
    simoncion · 1791143993 · focus · HN ↗
    > Let me know how the non-replaceable sealed bearing packs in these AC or DC fans fare after 10,000 hours.
    ...your AC-powered ceiling fans are failing after a little under fourteen months? What garbage are you buying?
  2. quickthrowman · 1791055387 · focus · HN ↗
    There are LED lamps rated for enclosed fixtures. If you buy and use them in enclosed fixtures, your lamps will last longer.
    A recessed can or “upside down” ceiling fan globe with an open bottom is technically an enclosed fixture since heat rises.
    15155 · 1791060502 · focus · HN ↗
    > A recessed can or “upside down” ceiling fan globe with an open bottom is technically an enclosed fixture since heat rises.
    Typically fans with built-in LED downlights are engineered to actually dissipate heat - and they have a much larger area to do it in. Edison-format bulbs are inherently space-constrained.
6. Youden · 1791042029 · focus · HN ↗
  When an LED bulb dies, it's typically not the LED, it's the electronics driving it. This is worsened substantially by heat. If you have recessed downlights or something, that's close to worst-case for an LED bulb.
  Lights with non-replaceable bulbs can actually be far better, because they can be designed for their environment. Recessed downlights with built-in LEDs for example can thermally couple the LEDs directly to the metal housing, so the heat can be dissipated into the surrounding air, instead of into the recess.
  1. bradknowles · 1791059466 · focus · HN ↗
    Maybe in theory. In practice, the Phoebus Cartel was a real thing, and they limited lightbulb lifespans, worldwide. The same thing exists today, albeit more because companies that sell lightbulbs want to keep selling them, instead of putting themselves out of business. So, many LED lightbulbs are intentionally designed to fail early.
    The only place where this doesn’t happen is in the country of Dubai. Because of national law, lightbulbs sold there are required to have very long lifespans. That’s why there is a world-wide grey market business for taking existing LED lightbulbs apart, snipping off a resistor so that they pull about half the amperage and then putting them back together, and suddenly their lifespan is increased by 10-100x. This is called a “doobie”, after the name of the country. Check out “bigclivedotcom” on YouTube if you want to see this in action.
    You will notice this if you buy Philips Ultra Definition bulbs in Dubai, versus the same bulbs sold at the same amount of lumen output from the UK or elsewhere in the world. The “doobie” version has twice as many LED filaments inside, compared to the UK version. Same price, way different life span. Philips is one of the better manufacturers of lightbulbs, and nowhere remotely close to the only one doing this.
    With regards to LED light fixtures (ones that don’t allow you to screw in your own bulb), most manufacturers do the same thing. They’re designed to fail early. Who wants light fixture styling that is fifty years old, just because the LED lights inside haven’t failed yet? They want to make you buy new fixtures every couple of years, just like they do for bulbs.
    Yes, there are exceptions in both cases. But they are the rare exceptions, not the rule. And if you haven’t studied up on the Phoebus Cartel, you can start with the article on Wikipedia.
    Youden · 1791099101 · focus · HN ↗
    I'm well aware of the Phoebus Cartel. It's not as straightforward as often reported. Have a look at Technology Connections: <a href="https://youtu.be/zb7Bs98KmnY" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/zb7Bs98KmnY
    Dubai isn't a country. It's a city in the United Arab Emirates.
    The Dubai bulb isn't some trick Big Lightbulb doesn't want you to know about, it's an engineering tradeoff: lower current on more filaments gives you higher efficiency and lower temperature but at higher cost and with substantially lower light quality (CRI).
    You'll find that after EU energy labeling, there are products available to European consumers that well exceed the specifications of the "Dubai" bulbs. Look for EU energy class A. They often come with a 5-year warranty and rated lifespan of 50000 hours. The "Dubai" bulbs were rated for 25000 hours. You'll also find though that they're substantially more expensive and usually don't have a CRI above 90.
    Regarding planned obsolescence, in many cases I can believe that a product will fail earlier than it would if designed for longevity. Rather than planned obsolescence, I believe this is simply a result of being cheap, a consequence of the race to the bottom. If you're buying cheap Chinese fixtures for $10, or cheap Chinese bulbs for $2, you're not going to get a high-quality, long-lasting product.
    If you want products that last a long time, buy them and use them properly. If you want bright lights, make sure they're adequately cooled. Consider buying lower-voltage fixtures and bulbs so that you can have a separate power supply and don't put the full ~230V to ~3V conversion in a tiny space.
    DougN7 · 1791119454 · focus · HN ↗
    I would love to buy an LED bulb that lasts a long time. I thought the reason for their premium price was supposed long lifetime. Mine all last as long as the older bulbs but cost 5X as much. Where can I buy such bulbs in the US?
    usefulcat · 1791144344 · focus · HN ↗
    There can be a lot of variation. From what I've seen, I'd say 2-5 years is a typical lifespan for an LED bulb. We have some recessed lights in the kitchen that require brighter bulbs, and those typically last only 1-2 years. But then we also have some other (non-replaceable!) recessed lights that are 14 years old and still work fine.
    There was one time I bought some cheap ones from Amazon, and several of them failed within a few months. There was also an LED bulb in the front porch light (so, outside) that lasted around 10 years, despite being outside and used daily. I had several of that same type and that particular one lasted longer than all of the others, where the others were all inside and not installed upside down. So yeah, it varies.
    dylan604 · 1791147126 · focus · HN ↗
    My Philips Hue bulbs are going strong for just over 7 years now. They are the premium bulb in my experience. I've bought other LED strips using controllers compatible with Hue, but they died where there are obvious burned points all along the strip. We all have different experiences that will counter each other, so it's frustrating to no end on finding trust worthy devices.
    Regardless of all of that frustration, thank the gods we no longer have to deal with CFL
    buttocks · 1791167180 · focus · HN ↗
    Huh, I actually liked CFL and the quality of light they produced.
    aaronbrethorst · 1791168679 · focus · HN ↗
    ಠ_ಠ
    wat10000 · 1791164552 · focus · HN ↗
    I bought the cheapest LED bulbs from Home Depot when I moved into my house many years ago, and I have to replace maybe 2% of them a year.
    eszed · 1791171012 · focus · HN ↗
    I have yet to replace any of the LED bulbs I bought at Costco in 2013. I dunno who manufactured them, or what kind of unobtainium they're made from, or whether I will jinx them by talking about it, but they just... Keep on going. Basic Edison screw-ins, from the first generation of bulbs that emitted warm light, that I've used exactly as I would any light-bulb. They weren't really expensive - maybe $2-3 apiece, though I really don't remember - and, I dunno. I hear everyone constantly complaining about their LED bulbs, and maybe they've been enshittified since, but I have absolutely no complaints.
    lucumo · 1791178697 · focus · HN ↗
    I've been using LED lights for over a decade. Can't say I have replaced any of them.
    And nowadays you can get E27 LED bulbs for 75 cents at IKEA, which is cheaper than incandescents ever were. Not sure how they managed that, because it sounds insane.
    Neikius · 1791144087 · focus · HN ↗
    Biggest problem of leds is we have no good standards. Classic screw in bulb makes no sense with LEDs. Other formats usually mean you are screwed when you have to replace. So far LED strips seem the best way. A bit of soldering but you can replace them by parts.
    dylan604 · 1791146896 · focus · HN ↗
    Screw in bulbs make plenty of sense. You are not going to get people to convert to LEDs by forcing them to replace every single fixture in their home. That would be ridiculousmaxxing.
    rcxdude · 1791151101 · focus · HN ↗
    It would be nice to have an updated standard for newer buildings, though. In practice fewer and fewer fittings are using screw-in lightbulbs at all but there's not another standard.
    dylan604 · 1791156722 · focus · HN ↗
    What happens when something does go wrong though? Now, you have to replace the entire thing instead of just simply replacing a bulb. If only we had some other previous existing examples of fancy tech that used non-replaceable parts requiring a full replacement...
    Izkata · 1791162814 · focus · HN ↗
    I think they're suggesting a lightbulb equivalent of going from USB-A connectors to USB-C. Replaceable bulbs in sockets that are just as easy to use, but with a smaller profile.
    dylan604 · 1791166511 · focus · HN ↗
    The problem is going from mains voltage to 3.3v means some sort of waste heat. Rewiring the whole house to 12v is one idea I've seen, but again, total house rewire and fixture replacement. In the mean time, it's A9 bulbs with LED electronics going from 120v to 3.3v generating heat. Making cheap electronics means that heat will kill the electronics. Making good electronics at a higher retail price is the solution, but consumers are not educated enough so all they see is sticker shock.
    Your comparison of USB-A to USB-C is nonsensical and does not actually acknowledge the issue of why the existing screw in bulb direct replacement have issues
    shawn_w · 1791167103 · focus · HN ↗
    The LEDs themselves also produce heat.
    bombcar · 1791168755 · focus · HN ↗
    12v blows over any form of distance.
    Screw-in sockets are more durable and long-lasting than any replacement so-far, most of which have been replaced again (remember those weird fluorescent mini-bulb sockets?).
    bluGill · 1791168988 · focus · HN ↗
    12V is too high for your LEDs, you still have the power supply. 12 volts is not near enough voltage for a house. You can get around it with very big wires but copper is extremely expensive. Even in cars, 12 volts is borderline. Trucks are fairly often go to 24 or higher voltage because even at the size of a large truck (semi), higher voltage is an advantage.
    Well, we can certainly argue with 110 or 220 is a better voltage for a house. It is quite clear that 12 volts is too low.
    vel0city · 1791169672 · focus · HN ↗
    It doesn't need to be for the whole house, it just needs to be for the lighting fixtures. Obviously nobody is going to use a microwave or blender on 12V. It's not like our bulbs plug into NEMA 5-15 outlets. Having good DC standard voltages and plugs would be incredibly useful. Don't bother running 12V everywhere, but like after the 120V light switch go to a single controller that then drives the lights for that room. Or have that be in the box with the switch, although that might still have the same kind of cramped heat issue.
    And it's not like we need to just stop producing Edison socket styles tomorrow. But let's make sane standards today.
    cruffle_duffle · 1791173334 · focus · HN ↗
    My vote would be 24v or 48v. You cannot power substantial LED with 3.3v. You’d spend a fortune rolling out ultra-thick gauge wire to avoid pissing away non-trivial amounts of power into heat. Many, many LED strips come as 24v. It’s the perfect balance of wire gauge for the amount of power you’ll be drawing.
    Spooky23 · 1791183171 · focus · HN ↗
    [delayed]
    sixtiethutopia · 1791169932 · focus · HN ↗
    The lightbulb that you're throwing away also contains all the same electronics that a larger light fixture does, just in a smaller and less thermally efficient space.
    Mounting options that allow larger LED lights allow you to use lights that are more thermally efficient without sacrificing any replaceability. JIS C 8310 mounts for example.
    CDRdude · 1791152415 · focus · HN ↗
    > Dubai isn't a country. It's a city in the United Arab Emirates.
    I learned recently that Dubai is also the name of the emirate. I don’t have a good understanding of the UAE governmental structure, but the Emirates do seem to have their own governments. Maybe it can be thought of as a country in the same way Scotland can be thought of as a country.
    jcranmer · 1791171332 · focus · HN ↗
    The United Arab Emirates is a federal state, like the US or Canada (and notably not like the UK--Scotland is a devolved component of a unitary state, not a member of a federal state). The Emirate of Dubai is thus most closely analogized to a US state or a Canadian province, though I'm not entirely sure off-hand how the power of a UAE Emirate compares to federal subjects in the countries whose politics I'm more familiar with.
    Also, Dubai is effectively a city-state, as the vast majority of the population of the Emirate lives in the city itself.
    Spooky23 · 1791182937 · focus · HN ↗
    [delayed]
    Neikius · 1791143984 · focus · HN ↗
    Read about Dubai light years ago. I am happily surprised someone else knows about this too :)
    Marsymars · 1791148828 · focus · HN ↗
    > The only place where this doesn’t happen is in the country of Dubai.
    As far as I'm aware, we've got comparable bulbs available in Canada. We've got the Philips 95 CRI ultra definition bulbs and the ultra efficiency bulbs.
    The UltraEfficient bulbs seem better-specced than the Dubai bulbs - the standard A19 of the latter is specced for 6W/600 lumen/25k hours at 80 CRI, while the bulbs I can buy at the drug store here are specced for 5W/810 lumen/50k hours at 80 CRI.
    HnUser12 · 1791150607 · focus · HN ↗
    Interesting. I was just thinking I have never had to replace a single bulb in my apartment. I have lived here for five years and the bulbs weren’t new when I moved in.
    I also have Nanoleafs that I have had for about six years and so far no issues. They run for about 12 hours a day on most days.
    I am in BC,CA. I gotta take apart my lights and see what they are.
    kube-system · 1791166094 · focus · HN ↗
    There's definitely no cartel today, there are wayyy too many manufacturers for that to be a practical reality.
    The reason most consumer LED bulbs fail early today is because consumers are low-information buyers who make purchase decisions based overwhelmingly on price and secondarily on aesthetics. The typical buyer has no way to accurately judge the actual design longevity of a bulb on the shelf. Yes, bulbs have lifetime ratings, but even if people bother to read them, those ratings in many places are not well regulated and reflect an ideal scenario that oftentimes is not reflective of real-world use.
    The sales success of these race-to-the-bottom bulbs has driven higher quality bulbs off of the shelf at most retailers. You can get well designed long-life LED lighting, but you'd need to step up to commercial/industrial options. There are long life bulbs available, but they generally are designed for uses where they are difficult to replace... because in those use cases a high product price can be justified by lower labor costs to maintain their installation... e.g., bulbs for use high up on a structure, factory lighting, continuous use, etc.
    The reason Dubai has better bulbs is simply because they have decided to require it. The reason the US has shit bulbs is because Americans love buying $0.80-1.50 light bulbs. The Dubai bulb is an order of magnitude more expensive. This is a hard sell at Walmart. And the TCO of the $0.87 bulbs on Amazon is still less even accounting for early failures if you are a homeowner who is not factoring in labor costs.
  2. grvdrm · 1791155609 · focus · HN ↗
    Just an anecdote but I had a huge number of LED MR16 bulbs in my house. Bunch of different brands. They were all crap so we replaced every downlight in my house with an LED disk instead. I’ve stopped thinking about light bulbs altogether.
  3. toddmorey · 1791162228 · focus · HN ↗
    Maybe they can be designed for thermal management, but very few of them really are. I'm also finding the LED is the most likely failure point, so I prefer to find fixtures with replaceable LED bulbs so I can install the ones I know to be reliable. That way the entire fan isn't junk when the LED dies.
    kube-system · 1791167422 · focus · HN ↗
    Integrated LED fixtures are usually quite easy to fix when an LED actually fails. Check them all with a multimeter in diode mode and you know which one to replace.
  4. onlyrealcuzzo · 1791162340 · focus · HN ↗
    > Lights with non-replaceable bulbs can actually be far better
    Operative word here is "can".
  5. wafflemaker · 1791171917 · focus · HN ↗
    Doesn't the LED going out after 2-3 years make it not only way more expensive (LEDs are easily 10x or more than a regular incandescent light), but also way less energy efficient and much worse for the environment?
    These lightbulbs, while using less electricity, use much more energy to produce. And I wonder what with their substrates, if that isn't more difficult to recycle too. I'm not sure, and don't want to judge, but if both every efficiency and recycling are harder, then these bulbs aren't really energy and environmentally efficient.
7. Aurornis · 1791042224 · focus · HN ↗
  A lot of comments are trying to defend this by saying a properly designed light could last some amount longer, which is true, but misses the point. These designs couple the light and the fan. That’s an extra failure mode that doesn’t need to exist.
  It also prevents the user from changing the bulb if they want a different color temperature or better CRI. Most of the built-in lights I see are in the 3000-3500K range, which is cooler the warm white I’ve chosen for the house. If I could swap the bulb it would be an easy fix, but if it’s built in then I’m stuck with it.
  1. someonebaggy · 1791044624 · focus · HN ↗
    Does the design actually stop you from replacing the parts or is it just more difficult than plugging in a power plug?
  2. uxp100 · 1791046040 · focus · HN ↗
    I think they mostly are switchable. At least the ones I’ve seen.
    Aurornis · 1791059208 · focus · HN ↗
    Those are generally bad quality because they’ve split the LED budget across twice as many modules.
    A high CRI single color temperature bulb beats them in light quality.
    Most people aren’t going to notice, but if you’ve done any work with color, lighting, or photography then the average consumer LED lights feel terrible. They’re mostly blue light with a little bit of other colors to make them appear white to the eye.
  3. BoxOfRain · 1791143729 · focus · HN ↗
    Yeah anything which forces you to use whatever the manufacturer chooses is an instant no from me too. I don't have any fixed lights cooler than 2200k at home, the standard 3000k 'warm' white is going to look crappy the majority of the time.
8. harpiaharpyja · 1791042698 · focus · HN ↗
  It's funny how popular it is to take an extremely durable and long-lived light-generating technology and pair it with the cheapest short-lived power electronics.
  1. harpiaharpyja · 1791043145 · focus · HN ↗
    To add to that, my advice is to look for LED lights where the AC-to-DC conversion is done by a power brick separate from the lights. Not only does that mean you can replace them separately, but generally these will be much more robust as the power electronics won't be as constrained by size.
    I wish it caught on to have LED lights powered by a barrel jack DC plug like you have for most electronics. It would be a huge win for longevity. Sure it's not backwards compatible with fixtures designed for light bulbs, but the cases we're discussing here are complete light fixture replacements anyways... The DC box could be hidden away in the ceiling.
9. mft_ · 1791048263 · focus · HN ↗
  Interesting; I’ve literally never had an LED bulb die that can remember. I’ve got a bunch of Ikea Tradfri bulbs that are now ~8y old and used daily. (240v here btw.)
  1. dpark · 1791051024 · focus · HN ↗
    I’ve replaced at least a dozen. Multiple brands, ranging from rando amazon brands to name brands like CREE and GE.
    I’m under the impression at this point that they just do not do well inside can lights. I honestly don’t think the average lifespan is much higher than incandescent in that scenario.
  2. SoftTalker · 1791143359 · focus · HN ↗
    Mine typically last a year or two. Very frustrating to pay 10x what incandescent used to cost for about the same life or marginally better.
  3. simoncion · 1791144444 · focus · HN ↗
    > I’ve literally never had an LED bulb die that can remember.
    This 120v-using USian has had many fail, and if they don't fail by intermittently blinking and flickering [0], they fail by slowly giving me worse and worse and worse headaches [1]. Unless you choose to count the fact that they were technically still emitting light, I've never gotten the rated lifetime out of a screw-in LED bulb.
    [0] ...as all of the ACE Hardware ones did...
    [1] ...as all of the dimmable [2] CREE ones did...
    [2] These were never attached to a dimmer. At the time, the advice was to get LED bulbs rated for use in a dimmer, as it was believed that that would get you higher-quality construction.
10. rahimnathwani · 1791085266 · focus · HN ↗
  I bought this fan from Amazon: amazon.com/dp/B085W7Q7LF
  I bought some high CRI LED bulbs from some place recommended in an HN post.
  1. ButlerianJihad · 1791167236 · focus · HN ↗
    Chances are that you didn't. You bought an item through Amazon from a vendor in their marketplace.
    Being that you're unwilling to name the vendor or brand, or even a proper link... it doesn't seem a rousing recommendation. Is it an affiliate link, I wonder.
    rahimnathwani · 1791169126 · focus · HN ↗
    I just checked my Amazon order history. It says it was sold by Amazon. When I visit the listing now the 'buy box' isn't Amazon.
    Prominence Home Saybrook, 52 inch Indoor Farmhouse LED Ceiling Fan with Light, Pull Chain, Three Mounting Options, Dual Finish Blades, Reversible Motor - 51592-01 (Matte Nickel)
    Sold by: Amazon.com
    Supplied by: Other
    $99.22
11. wheels · 1791143339 · focus · HN ↗
  Yeah, I have so many LED bulbs that are rated at "10+ years". I put all of the lights in my apartment 5 years ago. I'd say the failure rate is 10-20% at this point. The particularly painful one is the downlights under my kitchen cabinets. They require removing the entire probably 30 kg board that I have them mounted in, which requires clamping things up and undoing 6 heavy duty screws, and the whole process of changing one takes about an hour. 2 of the 5 have failed in 5 years.
  1. ryandrake · 1791150897 · focus · HN ↗
    Same here. We have had outdoor hanging string lights for ~10 years with nice incandescent bulbs that occasionally burn out. I thought I would join the 21st century and started replacing the burned out ones with LED versions. Big mistake. In about 3 years, half of the new LED one have already failed. Managed to find a new pack of the incandescent ones and so far so good.
    Gigachad · 1791169429 · focus · HN ↗
    Were those LED versions rated for outdoors? I imagine most aren't waterproof.
  2. adrian_b · 1791185401 · focus · HN ↗
    Like for most consumer products today, the problem is that when buying LED bulbs you do not know their real quality.
    LED bulbs can be designed to live almost forever, but many of them are not designed so, for savings in cost, but the selling price may be poorly correlated with the manufacturing cost.
    I have about two dozens Philips LED bulbs (4000 K color temperature and equivalent with old 100 W incandescent bulbs, i.e. 1500 lumen) of the kind that fits in legacy sockets for incandescent bulbs. They were bought more than 15 years ago and all continue to work perfectly fine. I did not have to replace any of them.
    Nonetheless, if I would buy today new LED bulbs, even of the same brand, I think that the chances are slim that they will be equally reliable.
12. Neikius · 1791143890 · focus · HN ↗
  Early LEDs were fine. Then they overclocked them a bit too much and they just break now. Too much current and so on. You can make a very simple led very bright but it won't last. If you undervolt them instead they are dim but last forever. So the deal is to have many undevolted LEDs. Ofc that is pricier...
  1. Frenchgeek · 1791145423 · focus · HN ↗
    Not exactly forever: I have a 20+ years old led "bulb" (it's large enough to deal with its own heat) that is barely able to light up a closet now...
13. hgoel · 1791145105 · focus · HN ↗
  I'm pretty surprised, I've had LED bulbs for ~5+ years without any dying. I also wouldn't accept a nonreplaceable LED in a ceiling fan though.
14. ls-a · 1791146693 · focus · HN ↗
  [dead]
15. Gravityloss · 1791146744 · focus · HN ↗
  I had a car that had non replaceable light bulbs in the rear blinkers, just a strip of led integrated deeply in the tail light assembly. Of course the blinker died. Replaced the whole assembly. (And replaced the whole car later). Apparently some enthusiasts do disassemble them and replace just the led strip, probably requiring soldering etc. This company had designed cars for about 120 years at that point but still seemed to commit easy mistakes...
  1. AustinDev · 1791149638 · focus · HN ↗
    This makes sense when you realize most ICE car makers get a substantial portion of their revenue from maintenance and replacement parts.
  2. dahart · 1791163279 · focus · HN ↗
    > This company had designed cars for about 120 years at that point but still seemed to commit easy mistakes…
    Oh take a look at the recall list of any car company in the world and you will find they all make simple mistakes, constantly. Probably a consequence of price pressure at all times. While cars are lasting longer than they used to on average, I feel like it’s been getting worse in some ways with cars lately turning into computers and good car/engine companies lately turning into bad tech companies without that much tech experience who outsource important parts and do lousy integration. And yeah, building assemblies or modules with non-replaceable parts is becoming more common.
    tlavoie · 1791172765 · focus · HN ↗
    Mistakes, or careless at best? I'm thinking of a couple of scenarios I've had in personal vehicles, where I'm positive the design decision was the unreviewed work of some co-op student's summer project.
    Case 1: Ford Taurus wagon, my wife calls in a panic because it's blowing all hot air, and the dash is awash in lights. I get her to shut it off, wait a bit, and limp the last few km home. Turns out the serpentine belt goes around a pulley, the center bolt of which is screwed into the engine block. When the bearing started to go, there was friction, and the belt spun the bolt out and it fell off. It could have been reverse threaded, like one pedal on every bike, ever. But no. If it had, the bearing would screech, we'd get it replaced, instead of just silently falling out with potentially catastrophic consequences.
    Case 2: Chevy Venture van, where the lights on the rear door all stopped working. Turned out the wiring harness for them ran through this accordion hose at the top, plugged into the bottom of a rain gutter across the top. So as soon as that hose broke its seal with the trough, the whole harness is shorted.
    Funny, I have never experienced this sort of stupidity in the Toyotas and Hondas that have followed these last couple American-branded vehicles.
  3. wat10000 · 1791164636 · focus · HN ↗
    Making the car cheaper to assemble shows up in the numbers today, making it easier to repair shows up in the numbers in subtle ways over the course of decades.
16. Marsymars · 1791148289 · focus · HN ↗
  > I go through so many LED bulbs! I don't know if my electricity is like particularly bad or if that's just normal? The first LED bulb I ever bought (Shout out EarthLED) in 2008 for like $30 is still going strong, but every bulb I buy these days lasts like two years tops.
  That is abnormal compared to my experience. I have a lot of bulbs in my house between recessed lights, fixtures and lamps, probably 150-200 in total, and in the 5 years I've been in this house I've had, I think, 3 bulbs in total fail.
17. illusive4080 · 1791155799 · focus · HN ↗
  Even if you can find one, good luck finding a fan that supports using a separate fan switch in the wall.
  I resorted to buying a “smart” fan, pulling credentials for it, blocking it from all internet access, and controlling it exclusively with Home Assistant and the remote control it came with. These things are so flimsy nowadays and I couldn’t find anything of decent quality.
18. dsego · 1791156802 · focus · HN ↗
  I just moved into an apartment with ceiling fans made by an austrian manufacturer Globo, one with a broken lampshade, the other with a broken LED module. This was my interaction with them over email about spare parts:
  > I have a few questions regarding your products and spare parts:
  > - Would it be possible to order a replacement lampshade for this Globo fan and deliver it to [place], [country]? The model is Globo 0350/0351, I have attached a picture to describe the part I need.
  > Unfortunately, no—that item is no longer in our product range.
  >- Is it possible to order other spare parts, like LED modules for this or other models?
  > Unfortunately, no
  > - Separately, is the Elina model available with a shorter rod? The ceiling height in the room is approximately 2.6m.
  > Available only in the specified length
19. JumpCrisscross · 1791157690 · focus · HN ↗
  > we did not buy a fan
  Ask a friend who is an interior designer. There are great fans on the market, but building a quality fan costs money and for whatever reason the walk-in stores don't want to have those, so instead they add baubles to justify a ridiculous mark-up. (Good tell: warranty. Mine came with 25 years.)
20. RajT88 · 1791160707 · focus · HN ↗
  Feels like anything with LED lights is designed to only last a few years. Things start getting hinky, eventually ends up as eWaste.
21. conductr · 1791162757 · focus · HN ↗
  Remote only controls also a common dealbreaker for me that’s become the norm. We went with no light and switch plate controls (no remote but more difficult install) for the fans in our new build.
22. frollogaston · 1791163118 · focus · HN ↗
  I lived in an apartment where two ceiling fan lights went out, and when I told the management, they replaced the entire fans.
23. FlowingRiver · 1791164735 · focus · HN ↗
  The only reason I have a fan with a light in it is because it came with the house. Otherwise, once they both die (one already has) they are coming out and never being replaced.
24. hn_throwaway_99 · 1791168221 · focus · HN ↗
  So glad to see this as the top comment and to see this highlighted in the article:
  > These fixtures are also revolutionary in that they are extremely cheap in the short run – many of these fans cost under $200 – but expensive in the long rung, as the LEDs usually cannot be replaced, causing the whole apparatus to be thrown away.
  A few years ago we had a relatively small pendant lamp (I think there were like 6 or so hanging lights total) over a stairwell that we really liked. It was installed by the previous owners just before we moved in, and about 7-8 years later 2 of the lamps died (not sure if it was the actual LED or just the electronics like another sibling comment mentioned). We were a bit aghast when we got an electrician and he said the only reasonable thing to do would be to replace the entire chandelier.
  It's just so ironic how LEDs were supposed to be the "environmental" choice yet they were just another tool for our disposable economy.
25. aaronbrethorst · 1791168452 · focus · HN ↗
  I had to replace the light fixture in our kitchen last week. It was a pseudo track lighting setup that I had installed shortly after we bought in 2021. Two of the six LEDs burned out and are of course unreplaceable.
  I replaced it with something similar in aesthetics but twice the price, including replaceable LEDs (GU10).
  As a side note: replacing a light fixture is mostly easier than I expected except that you need a couple zip ties on hand to keep the new fixture close to the installation site while you attach the wires. Also, wire nuts are miserable and you should use lever nuts instead (check Home Depot).
26. winrid · 1791170341 · focus · HN ↗
  My biggest issue is that a lot of them have cheap power supplies with terrible PWM, so they hurt my eyes. So my nightmare is basically finding a nice place to rent and realizing they put all these cheap fixtures in and then I can't spend more than like an hour in the house without feeling like someone is stabbing my retinas.
27. milleramp · 1791177978 · focus · HN ↗
  Most fan lights have the e12 candelabra base, these led bulbs end to fail quite often, even in open fixtures. Look for fans with the e26 base the bulbs will last a lot longer.
28. zdragnar · 1791184730 · focus · HN ↗
  The LED light in my refrigerator died. I tried looking up replacements, and discovered that there aren't any, because "the LED lights have a lifespan longer than the rest of the refrigerator."
  Lots of manufacturers are simplifying assembly design by making the lights non-replaceable much like phone manufacturers glued their batteries in. Fewer clips / screws / gaskets / sockets / wires etc.
  Of course, the refrigerator model isn't made anymore and probably isn't under warranty.
29. veunes · 1791186483 · focus · HN ↗
  I think the annoying part is that LEDs themselves can last a very long time, but the cheap driver electronics often don't
BeetleB · 1791041198 · focus · HN ↗
I wanted to buy a ceiling fan last year, and just gave up.
LEDs integrated into fans are the worst idea. If they're not bright enough, you're hosed. You generally can't change the color. Just stick to proven fixtures, and let me put my own choice of bulbs in it!
The other problem is just how houses/apartments are designed in the US. You should always have a separate wall switch for fan and lights! Why they couple the two - I can't fathom.
1. 15155 · 1791042139 · focus · HN ↗
  > Just stick to proven fixtures, and let me put my own choice of bulbs in it!
  LED retrofit bulbs (Edison screws) are just shit no matter what - your choice will basically almost always be inferior to something that can be integrated into a fan by virtue of the technology.
  Down-facing light from ceiling fans is also just bad, even on a $2000 Big Ass Fans Haiku. Central-point overhead lighting is displeasing.
  1. BeetleB · 1791043970 · focus · HN ↗
    You're not wrong - but what do I do when the light is not bright enough (hint - almost all of them are not bright enough for my needs)?
    And how many of them can I control with SmartThings, etc?
    With my own bulbs, I can have it how I want it. I pick the fan based on the fan's capabilities, and not worry about the light.
    > Central-point overhead lighting is displeasing.
    No arguments there, but most houses/apartments in the US are built in this brain dead way. When I lived abroad, it was much better. The lights were always on the walls - often opposing walls. This way, light is coming more at an angle downwards, and you can position chairs/beds/couches such that the light is behind you, and if you're reading a book, the pages are being lit up by it.
    Kirby64 · 1791148431 · focus · HN ↗
    > You're not wrong - but what do I do when the light is not bright enough (hint - almost all of them are not bright enough for my needs)?
    Replace the entire LED base with a brighter one if you need more lumens. If you do the same with a standard e26 or candelabra bulb setup, you’ll have the exact same issue with bulb longevity. Brighter bulbs stuffed into the tiny enclosures will absolutely cook.
    BeetleB · 1791172317 · focus · HN ↗
    If I get this fan:
    <a href="https://mcmansionhell.com/post/829127919552151552/what-is-going-on-with-ceiling-fans" rel="nofollow">https://mcmansionhell.com/post/829127919552151552/what-is-go...
    you're telling me I can find a replacement for the LED base?
    When I looked, the fans were all listed as having irreplaceable bulbs. That is one of the complaints in the article.
    > If you do the same with a standard e26 or candelabra bulb setup, you’ll have the exact same issue with bulb longevity. Brighter bulbs stuffed into the tiny enclosures will absolutely cook.
    LED bulbs shouldn't cook. I'm not talking incandescent, but LED bulbs. I use them all the time. They last a decent amount of time.
    Kirby64 · 1791173711 · focus · HN ↗
    > you're telling me I can find a replacement for the LED base?
    Depending on which one you mean in the article… the super gaudy ones with extremely custom light fixtures would be hard. The basic led based that have crazy fan blades? Yeah, no problem.
    Here’s an example (there’s a million like this in a variety of sizes, lumens, and color temps, just the first example I found on Amazon): <a href="https://a.co/d/0aP9nKdJ" rel="nofollow">https://a.co/d/0aP9nKdJ
    > LED bulbs shouldn't cook. I'm not talking incandescent, but LED bulbs. I use them all the time. They last a decent amount of time.
    But they do. They’re obviously not as much heat as incandescent lights, but if you’ve ever felt an LED bulb after it’s run for awhile, they’re typically too hot to touch. And fan enclosures are very harsh environments: no airflow and fully enclosed typically.
  2. Loughla · 1791159783 · focus · HN ↗
    I have led retrofit screw bulbs in all my fixtures. They're the right color temperature and brightness. We replaced them years ago and have only had one go bad. Why are they shit?
  3. hammock · 1791171186 · focus · HN ↗
    I buy incandescent Edison bulbs. They are hard to find. But worth it
2. illusive4080 · 1791155968 · focus · HN ↗
  The problem is almost all the LED fans can’t be controlled with a second switch. It’s infuriating.
  1. BeetleB · 1791172426 · focus · HN ↗
    > The problem is almost all the LED fans can’t be controlled with a second switch.
    The problem is coupling the light source with the fan. Ceiling fans should not supply light. Period. As I said in another comment, in other countries, you have separate fixtures for these. No one buys a fan with light fixtures. It's stupid.
comrade1234 · 1791041513 · focus · HN ↗
Funny thing... if we decided to add a ceiling fan to our apartment (we never would - we loathe them) we would have to commission an engineering study to make sure it doesn't affect our neighbors. The sound, the resonance... if we just put one in and the neighbors could hear it we'd have to remove it.
1. adamddev1 · 1791041920 · focus · HN ↗
  Where do you live?
  1. comrade1234 · 1791061510 · focus · HN ↗
    Zürich
butner · 1791041656 · focus · HN ↗
Modern fan company .. I’ve take a few of them apart. They’re built from a different era — really thought out and quality build. It’s just a rare product that when you get your hands on it, you appreciate the craft and engineering that went into manufacturing it.
braiamp · 1791042395 · focus · HN ↗
This was something that, and this probably comes as no surprise for the ones in the know, Technology Connections youtube channel has noted, the preference for form over function <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KWdCqpXB7A" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KWdCqpXB7A
bob1029 · 1791042450 · focus · HN ↗
The bigger issue I see in new construction is that all the recessed fixtures are replaced with flat LED modules that are not serviceable.
I refuse to own a home built after ~2015 due to this and other factors. Electricity on my kitchen island, toilets that can flush human sized shits, and proper lighting fixtures are non-negotiable for me.
1. pnw · 1791042903 · focus · HN ↗
  They are serviceable in the sense that you simply replace them when they fail. Given that they cost so little now and have a service life of decades, it's more cost effective than a traditional fixture. Older fixtures with LEDs jammed into them were always an interim solution.
2. scun · 1791042977 · focus · HN ↗
  Your shits are human sized?
3. quickthrowman · 1791056131 · focus · HN ↗
  What do you mean? I’d much rather pay $30 for a separate LED driver and LED module that will last x0,000 hours and comes with a five year warranty instead of crappy LED lamps.
4. leviathant · 1791171250 · focus · HN ↗
  I have to wonder what people are eating that leads to the toilet problems I hear complaints about. Do you not have enough fiber in your diet? I'm a 47 guy and I can't remember the last time I clogged a toilet.
  We built our place in 2017 in Philadelphia, and our kitchen island has electricity. We did get non-servicable LED ceiling lights. It took 10 years before one of them started to blink. Rather than wait around for all of them to fail, I replaced the entire house with newer, slimmer LED lights, for less than the cost of a fancy floor lamp. The new ones let you select brightness and color, and were a breeze to install, and run much cooler, temperature wise.
  I don't miss having to change light bulbs, and upgrading the lighting one a decade is a trade-off I was willing to make.
gib444 · 1791042710 · focus · HN ↗
[delayed]
amelius · 1791042782 · focus · HN ↗
Dyson, where are you when we need you?
1. duskwuff · 1791147082 · focus · HN ↗
  [delayed]
2. OJFord · 1791152669 · focus · HN ↗
  The UK, where nobody has ceiling fans.
3. mrheosuper · 1791172802 · focus · HN ↗
  Imagine having to take a second mortgage on your house for the ceiling fan
j4kp07 · 1791042849 · focus · HN ↗
[dead]
brudgers · 1791043201 · focus · HN ↗
Technology Connections nerd-snipes ceiling fans in a recent video,
<a href="https://youtu.be/_KWdCqpXB7A" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/_KWdCqpXB7A
And of course complains.
But they are technologically informed complaints.
1. usefulcat · 1791144562 · focus · HN ↗
  I immediately thought of this video.
  1. drooopy · 1791152798 · focus · HN ↗
    Came here looking for that link!
2. illusive4080 · 1791155917 · focus · HN ↗
  His 1-hour videos could normally be condensed into 20 minutes of content, maximum. I think he has mostly good takes (some bad ones), but I’ve ceased watching because he doesn’t know how to make a point in a reasonable amount of words.
  1. whatisthiseven · 1791157660 · focus · HN ↗
    Every script he gets in his hands is somehow a third of the length it ought to be.
  2. brudgers · 1791160615 · focus · HN ↗
    [delayed]
    illusive4080 · 1791168720 · focus · HN ↗
    I also like longer videos, but the information density he delivers versus Veritasium or Smarter Every Day on a similar length video is much lower.
    brudgers · 1791177862 · focus · HN ↗
    [delayed]
    samplatt · 1791177369 · focus · HN ↗
    >I prefer longer videos myself.
    So does YouTube. It rewards longer videos both monetarily and algorithmically.
    This is why there's been so many videos over the last few years that are just barely over 20min or just barely over 60min.
    The result is video essays that could be 5min that are padded out to 20min.
  3. tshaddox · 1791163370 · focus · HN ↗
    This is most YouTubers who get very popular due to having original and opinionated content on niche topics. They tend to identify (perhaps correctly, perhaps not) their idiosyncratic personalities and opinions as the primary cause of their initial popularity and repeatedly double down on it as they grow in popularity. This is also the explicit advice that the vast majority of big YouTubers give to aspiring or up-and-coming YouTubers.
    And I’m not advising that they should do anything different! Who am I?! I’m just pointing out that the culture of YouTubers is fundamentally about deliberately subjecting yourself to the most extreme audience capture.
    jeremyjh · 1791163668 · focus · HN ↗
    Or they just want to get more ad revenue and longer videos accomplish that directly.
    stingraycharles · 1791174211 · focus · HN ↗
    Yeah, I believe the idea is: YouTube’s primary metric is watch time, and longer videos = more watch time, therefore longer videos get promoted.
    FlowingRiver · 1791165429 · focus · HN ↗
    Very true. But also, I have seen loads of youtubers that create a variety of things and then suddenly the algorithm rewards them with a video or two getting loads more views and they get fixated on that subject/stlye. It is kind of like rewarding someone at a slot machine, or a cargo cult.
    Ben Jordan used to do almost entirely synthesizer stuff, now it is all privacy and security focused because that is what he got rewarded for. NatswhatIreckon, did all manner of comedy stuff like making fun are car shows, he ended up fixated on cooking because one video exploded in views back 2020. Heck, MrBeast used to be a minecraft channel.
    In getting rewarded, they tend to lean into that. I don't blame them but also it does mean they become risk adverse at times.
    brudgers · 1791177667 · focus · HN ↗
    [deleted]
    Bratmon · 1791167055 · focus · HN ↗
    I think you're underestimating how much of this is driven by the fact that YouTubers get paid by the watch-minute.
    stingraycharles · 1791174234 · focus · HN ↗
    They do? I thought it was ad revenue share?
    hobofan · 1791184091 · focus · HN ↗
    Yes, and longer videos allow for Youtube to insert more ad breaks. For viewers that are Youtube Premium subscribers, the revshare portion that goes to the creator also grows linearly with watchtime.
    Additionally, "the algorithm" rewards channels that have a lot of watchtime & retention (because againg, this leads to more ad placement opportunities for Youtube). So if you are able to produce long-form videos that keep the viewers engaged and watching, your videos are more likely to be recommended, which reinforces the popularity of long videos.
  4. agile-gift0262 · 1791173905 · focus · HN ↗
    I'd say most subscribers to the channel want to watch his snarky ramblings as they are entertaining. I'd say the information provided is secondary to the format and personality.
    I for instance don't subscribe because I want to know about old toasters, christmas lights and the internal combustion engine. If that was the case, I'd subscribe to channels specific to that topic. I subscribe to Technology Connections because I like his videos, and if I learn a thing or two along the way, that's a nice extra
3. aaron695 · 1791181330 · focus · HN ↗
  [dead]
card_zero · 1791043235 · focus · HN ↗
> a normal fan that for some reason has a border around it
So, a ducted fan! That would be a sensible and practical design if your ceiling needed extra thrust for takeoff.
Cheap and stupid goods with threatening auras, indeed. Possibly a step up from the 90s when it was cheap and stupid goods with a Memphis Group primary school aesthetic. Hard to choose.
1. Rendello · 1791043798 · focus · HN ↗
  > Memphis Group primary school aesthetic
  I had to look that up and found some pretty cool articles. I like that the vapourwave trend from the 2010s created a lot of focus on the different aesthetics of software and everyday things on the internet.
  The latter two links are from a dedicated "aesthetics wiki". I tend to like the detailed user-created content on fandom.com wikis, but I loathe the site itself. At least a lot of the fan wikis have moved to wiki.gg, which has a much less intrusive design (speaking of aesthetics).
  <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_Group" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_Group
  <a href="https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Memphis_Design" rel="nofollow">https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Memphis_Design
  <a href="https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Memphis_Jr" rel="nofollow">https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Memphis_Jr.
  1. bitwize · 1791144042 · focus · HN ↗
    The movie Beetlejuice (1988) contains within it a sort of aesthetic manifesto from Tim Burton, in which he rails against the passing of traditional architecture under the wave of Memphis modernity.
    Before they die, the Maitlands lovingly restore their Connecticut Victorian home and even keep a model of the whole town up in their attic, as if capturing for themselves a bit of the town's bucolic New England charm. When they die, the Dietzes move in, and Delia declares psychotically, "I'll go crazy if you don't let me remodel this house!" With help from the obnoxious Otho she strips away the traditional Victorian trappings and turns the house into a modernist, Memphis-inspired nightmare, forcing the Maitlands to watch in horror as their hard work is destroyed (that is until they summon the title character). In keeping with the movie's structure as a "reverse ghost story" in which the ghosts are nice and the living humans are the horror.
    Personally I find Memphis fascinating (though I wouldn't want to live there). I especially appreciate its influence on the design language of Sonic the Hedgehog games, as a complement to the greater variety of slopes, gradients, and curved ramps the early games afforded, to showcase the greater capabilities of the Sega Genesis. (That's really entirely why Sonic exists; some guys at Sega played Mario 3 and figured that they could "do Mario, but better".)
WaitWaitWha · 1791043937 · focus · HN ↗
most forget, but fan blades need cleaning. any plastic blades, specially the clear one will look like cat vomit.
Imagine clear blades with each blade displaying cat hairballs spread out on the edges, spinning them above your head. It will harass you, give ammo to your in-laws to harass you, create marital strife (when are you going to clean that?) and then death as you fall off the ladder and break your neck on the coffee table, despite surviving four frontline deployments...
asciimov · 1791044078 · focus · HN ↗
Growing up in Texas, I have always had a fan up and running. When living in apartments and houses that didn’t come with them I’ve put them up (likely breaking a stupid lease rule). At this point I’ve installed dozens of fans and have enough strong opinions on ceiling fans that I could write a lengthy blog post on the subject.
Don’t buy any of these junk fans. Get a normal looking fan, with a quiet DC motor, that takes standard light bulbs with a medium base (e26 in the USA).
Skip modern AC motors, nobody today can seem to build one that doesn’t whomp when it runs. Older AC motors weren’t so cheaply made and don’t usually suffer this problem.
If you have an older fan 25+ years old, you can often rebuild them and end up with a better fan than anything you can buy today.
If you’re building a new house (or doing a rewire) put two light switches in every bedroom, one for the fan the other for the light kit.
If you’re getting a fan with a remote, get one that will let you change the spin direction from the remote.
Get the correct size fan for the room.
Friends don’t let friends buy Hunter Fans, they are all hot garbage. Though they do follow through with their warranties.
1. fladrif · 1791152763 · focus · HN ↗
  Which fan would you recommend?
  1. toomim · 1791155962 · focus · HN ↗
    Yes, I need a recommendation, too! I'm currently living with loud A/C-noise fans and need to swap them out for something better, and I don't know where to look.
Dembot · 1791052609 · focus · HN ↗
I thought this article was going to be about how obnoxious ceiling fans with lights are because they create a strobe effect throughout the room.
1. hackernud3s · 1791151976 · focus · HN ↗
  If the lights are behind the blades they do. they should be in front of the blades.
bsoqk · 1791054497 · focus · HN ↗
I see no indication that the photo is AI. <a href="https://st.hzcdn.com/simgs/pictures/living-rooms/century-woods-1-structure-home-img%7E95415cdf09b31441_14-5985-1-8cfd245.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://st.hzcdn.com/simgs/pictures/living-rooms/century-woo...
quickthrowman · 1791055812 · focus · HN ↗
I always see people complaining about failing LED lamps. It’s almost always because people are using lamps rated for open fixtures in enclosed fixtures. If it’s not a table lamp or standing lamp, it’s likely an enclosed fixture. A recessed can with an open bottom is considered an enclosed fixture, and so is an open-bottom chandelier globe.
I suggest only buying enclosed rated fixture lamps because they put out less heat and will last longer in an open or enclosed fixture.
1. SoftTalker · 1791143717 · focus · HN ↗
  Many retailers only sell open fixture lamps. And you need to read the fine print to know that.
philistine · 1791059698 · focus · HN ↗
It's je ne sais quoi.
1. OJFord · 1791152481 · focus · HN ↗
  Bone apple tea!
userbinator · 1791149213 · focus · HN ↗
as the LEDs usually cannot be replaced,
They certainly can, with the right tools. A bag of bulk LEDs imported from China is surprisingly cheap.
1. majormajor · 1791149527 · focus · HN ↗
  Don't underestimate the ability to make it very difficult to non-destructively reach the actual LEDs in many of these devices in the name of being small or "stylish."
2. vel0city · 1791155507 · focus · HN ↗
  It's rarely the actual diode which failed. It's normally a part of the driver circuit. So you need to non-destructively disassemble the device (quite challenging in a lot of designs), then have at least basic EE skills and tools to diagnose what is actually going wrong, and then once again some basic soldering skills.
  > A bag of bulk LEDs imported from China is surprisingly cheap.
  Like a lot of repairs it's not the parts that cost it's the time of even somewhat skilled local labor to repair.
mrinterweb · 1791152878 · focus · HN ↗
I assume the GAMERFAN is applied to ceiling with thermal paste
dom96 · 1791154518 · focus · HN ↗
I've been thinking about installing a ceiling fan in my UK victorian home. Those in the US may not be aware, but ceiling fans are really not common in the UK. So it's been rather difficult to find one.
But really what annoys me the most is that they seem stuck in the 90s. Even the really expensive ones come with crappy white remote controls. Why aren't they just coming with a Matter/Thread chip so I can control them from my Apple Home?
1. Loughla · 1791161130 · focus · HN ↗
  I would rather eat my own hat than have to bother with what would certainly be a proprietary app to control my ceiling fan.
  Maybe I'm just an old man yelling at the birds, but why would I want one more point of failure in something that should be simple?
Wistar · 1791154744 · focus · HN ↗
My fave: <a href="https://bigassfans.com/" rel="nofollow">https://bigassfans.com/
chasil · 1791154768 · focus · HN ↗
The article misspells "je ne sais quoi."
Yes, those are some crazy fans.
pfdietz · 1791155434 · focus · HN ↗
The author is obviously not a big fan.
1. tshaddox · 1791163426 · focus · HN ↗
  I used to be a big metal fan.
s3p · 1791159922 · focus · HN ↗
[delayed]
kylehotchkiss · 1791162779 · focus · HN ↗
When your AC is set to 68 degrees the airflow coming from your vents makes up for it
tehnoslow · 1791164754 · focus · HN ↗
I didn't know the ceiling fan market was in such bad shape
dlevine · 1791167078 · focus · HN ↗
A few years back, I replaced all the bedroom light fixtures in my condo with fan/light combos. It has been getting hotter in SF, and I thought fans might help during the limited number of hot summer days. I didn’t have room for both a fan and a ceiling fixture, so I went with combo units.
I actually ended up with one fan that looks exactly like the enclosed one (I had limited clearance and needed something small). It works fine as both a light and a fan. If the bulb goes out, I can just replace the whole thing (it wasn’t that expensive).
For the other one, I bought something higher end bc I had enough clearance to go with larger blades (44” Minka Aire Light Wave). The light is a plug-in module, so if it goes out, I can find a replacement (assuming they still make the module).
Overall, these combined units aren’t perfect, but they let you add a fan without needing to add more wiring. The one thing to be careful of is to make sure your electrical boxes are fan rated.
mcswell · 1791167756 · focus · HN ↗
When I read the headline, I thought the article was about fans (and the attached lights) that mysteriously turn themselves on without the owner doing anything.
This happened to us, and the people we bought the house from had actually bought (but not installed) a new controller. Turned out the problem wasn't the controller at all. Rather, all the houses on the street had been built at the same time by the same company, and most (maybe all) had ceiling fans that came with a remote. Inside the remote and inside the fan was a DIP-switch consisting of four switches, each switch labeled with a 0 and a 1 depending on which way you pushed it. And all probably came from the factory with a 0000 setting.
You guessed it: while ordinarily the controller had a limited range, sometimes (windows open? controller pointed in a certain direction? I don't know) one neighbor's controller would activate someone else's fan. The solution was of course simple: set the DIP switch in our fan and controller to some other setting, like 0101. Since I did that, the poltergeist has been unable to operate our ceiling fans.
1. bombcar · 1791168616 · focus · HN ↗
  Now I've ideas of wardriving a minivan with a fan controller connected to a 100 watt foot warmer putting out all possible codes ...
  1. milleramp · 1791177689 · focus · HN ↗
    I used a flipper zero to debug my fan, that's a good place to start your project.
  2. veunes · 1791186122 · focus · HN ↗
    At that point you're not wardriving, you're doing a neighborhood-wide ceiling fan penetration test
2. firefoxd · 1791171980 · focus · HN ↗
  Had something similar with my TV remote. It was helpful with a neighbor who loved to keep his volume annoyingly high.
  <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46848415">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46848415
3. a_bonobo · 1791177130 · focus · HN ↗
  Famous past HN discussion: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39896371">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39896371
  >The Wi-Fi only works when it's raining (predr.ag) 1147 points by bonyt on April 1, 2024 | hide | past | favorite | 325 comments
4. veunes · 1791185850 · focus · HN ↗
  16 possible fan identities for an entire neighborhood. What could go wrong?
esafak · 1791170948 · focus · HN ↗
I was in this market recently. What happened is that China flooded the market with all sorts of designs that don't fit the conventional fan 'template' that Westerners grew up with.
These fans with integrated LEDs rarely publish their CRI or have a good one if they do so I dismissed them.
phendrenad2 · 1791176240 · focus · HN ↗
[delayed]
Peteragain · 1791179234 · focus · HN ↗
The article is about the aesthetics and supply chains, not WiFi or designed obsolescence. I agree: the products are un explainably ugly.
noja · 1791179605 · focus · HN ↗
How about <a href="https://www.create-store.com/uk/2401-buy-ceiling-fans" rel="nofollow">https://www.create-store.com/uk/2401-buy-ceiling-fans
rishikeshs · 1791183561 · focus · HN ↗
I wrote something similar about how I miss my old fan speed regulator: <a href="https://rishikeshs.com/fan-regulator/" rel="nofollow">https://rishikeshs.com/fan-regulator/
Hate these new BLDC fans!
veunes · 1791185573 · focus · HN ↗
There's something very 2020s about taking two durable, repairable household objects (a ceiling fan and a light fixture) combining them into one visually complicated object, and then making the LED non-replaceable

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