2mo ago

I need a flicker free LED lightbulb running in the 3000 K range.

I tried to go to the Phillips website then I went into the eye comfort section and clicked on shop all eye, comfort bulbs, and it saysI’m sorry there’s nothing available which I know is BS. The website is broken.

And I don’t even care if it’s Phillips or a different brand I need something that runs in the 3000 K range. I’d love 3500 but I don’t think I can get that. With flicker free ( and I have just spent the last 4 1/2 hours looking Online and I can’t come up with anything so does anybody have any ideas of what I can buy and please offer a link to a product.

I am now currently using the last of my incandescent bulbs. If one of them burns out I am out of luck my room will be dark.

Normal lightbulb. A19 type

Or am I just searching for something that literally doesn’t exist?

46 comments

All LEDs are flicker free on dc power and they all flicker on ac power so what you’re looking for is an led bulb with a good quality internal dc power supply. Unfortunately many, even those advertised as flicker free, don’t meet this requirement, because they’re built cheaply.
This also depends to a degree on your eye sensitivity. My vision is poor but I can clearly see the difference between 30 and 60 fps whereas some of my friends and family don’t seem to notice such a thing. I don’t know if that’s similar but I’ve had experiences where I’m like “these lightbulbs are flickering” and other people are like “no they arent” and I then question if I’m potentially mentally ill or my eyes are possibly worsening even further (although thankfully sometimes other people notice too).
To oversimplify it it has to do with the rectification of the power supply and constant vs switching current dc power supplies
You can verify this by taking a high quality slow motion video of the bulb at least 240fps. I have some clips but they won’t upload.
Basically a hue white ambiance doesn’t flicker. This meets your requirements as it is adjustable between 2200k to 6500k. However, these are expensive and frankly I wish I never bought them because philips changed the terms of service after sale. I bought into their “ecosystem” years ago and I only run smarthome stuff on my local network but they are pressuring users to move to “philips security” which will require your lighting to be connected to their servers 24/7. This is apparently going to be necessary in a future update. A workaround is the bulbs do work with z wave but that requires additional hardware/software, plus why support a company that pulls such bullshit
A second video I have shows that as hue bulbs age they do begin to flicker though it is hard to see/perceive for some time. This is not a criticism of hue and more just something to be aware of with led lighting, the power supplies will begin to weaken and fail over time. Thankfully this takes quite some time, the bulb I have is approaching 8-9 years of life. But considering the price that’s not necessarily a great price per year (although keep in mind they’re regularly on sale). The flicker is mild
A third video shows a cheaper no name bulb that was marketed as flicker free. My partner says they are not bothered by it so it’s in their office but I can’t stand it. The video shows a much more dramatic flicker.
There is this website which verifies this for you, bulbs listed are either truly flicker free (category a) or imperceptible flicker (category b):
https://flickeralliance.org/collections/flicker-free-light-bulbs
This post is brought to you by autism
- Beautiful comment, I love it.
  Also: "pressuring users to move to “philips security” which will require your lighting to be connected to their servers 24/7."
  Is the most unhinged boring techno dystopia shit I've read. It's a goddamn light bulb, kindly fuck right off with that shit.
  
  The service is free, for now. That will change when they have a bunch of ”pot committed" users signed. Then it will be "to continue providing our amazing services, and the cost of underlying systems (CEO & board member pay raises) it is now #only# 3$ a week.
  
  The domestic appliances division has been sold to a chinese-controlled investment firm in 2021. Guess when this push started...
- Thank you. This has been bothering me for years. I’ll stock up on good ones for the house remodel!

These Philips LEDs are what you’re looking for. They’re also temp selectable so you can dial it to 3500K (what my entire house is). They’re super dimmable and flicker free. These are the only bulbs that worked for problematic coach light fixtures for me. No more flicker even in cold weather (they say indoor but work outdoors in a covered fixture just fine). Comes in 40W or 60W equivalents. CRI of 90. Not 95 but noticeably much better than cheap brands.
Description: White Dial Flicker-Free Frosted Dimmable A19 Light Bulb - EyeComfort Technology - 800 Lumen - 5 Shades of White - 7W=60W - E26 Base - Title 20 Certified - Indoor - 4-Pack
https://a.co/d/75NnKPx
- They look good. Do you have a model number or the upc code off the box? If I can buy it locally I’d like to. But it doesn’t show that info on the Amazon site.
  
  UPC: 046677576318

You didn't say why you wanted flicker free bulbs - if it's because you make videos, welcome to the exciting world of cinematic lighting. All lights for videography are flicker free, but expect to pay accordingly.
- Came here to recommend video lights. There's some cheap options available these days which will offer you full RGB or Kelvin scale control, flicker free, etc. Check Godox Neewer, Sirui, Smallrig, Amaran for "budget" but still reliable brands, or try your luck on Amazon/AliExpress with no name brands which would probably still do the trick depending what your usage is. You could go for a small tube or panel for example (options are endless).
  
  I’m totally ignorant to the world of modern video lighting. Could the bulbs from any of these companies be used as “regular bulbs”? Meaning, could I put them in a ceiling light fixture and run them for 8 continuous hours/day? Or, are they intended to only be used for shorter duty cycles, like during a video shoot?
  I love the idea of precisely adjustable, completely flicker free, high CRI lighting in my kitchen (which often doubles as a home office for me). A bonus would be beautiful flicker free videos of my cats, even in slo-mo! But, not if I’d have to replace the expensive bulbs every month because I’m not using them for their designed purpose.
  I haven’t been completely satisfied with any of the more common IoT bulbs.
- I get eye strain from led light bulbs so I'm trying to fix that. Sorry should've put that in the post

They exist. My entire house is 3000K.
You can buy whatever Chinese brand is on Amazon this year (in my experience they change brands about the same time the bulbs start burning out), or try your local big box stores. I do believe Philips has some though, and they’ll last longer.
Edit: Just Google it.
https://www.lighting.philips.com/prof/led-lamps-and-tubes/led-bulbs/standard-led-bulbs/929002037812_EU/product
This 4-pack actually has multiple white options in each bulb, including your desired 3500K: https://www.amazon.com/Philips-LED-Flicker-Free-2700-5000K-576314/dp/B0B8TNK47C
- My entire house is 3000K
  Your heating expenses must be absurd.
  
  The neighbors just point their solar panels at that house.
  
  He might live in Phoenix.
  
  No he means $3m
- in my experience they change brands about the same time the bulbs start burning out
  lifetime guarantee!!
  your lifetime? nope.
  the fixture's lifetime? nope.
  the building's lifetime? nope.
  the lifetime of their marketplace seller account.

Lots of good advice but one question - have you tried LED bulbs before and had flickering problems?
Just worth checking a standard LED from your local super market before you go down the route of expensive brands or online purchases.
The reason I say this is that there are a lot of shoddy cheap and counterfeit electronics sold on Amazon for example. A supermarket bought bulb meanwhile actually has some quality control and standards plus you have somewhere you can go back to should you need to return them.
All my LEDs are from my local supermarket, own brand (Tesco, I'm in the UK, but Philips are also available for me) and I've had no issues. I'd also buy from local retailers where you can get good returns policies (Argos here, or your big box retailers in the US)
Amazon meanwhile has a policy of mixing stock that it purchases with stock from small sellers that they place in their warehouses and sending any to a customer. So a "sold by amazon" item may actually be a counterfeit item supplied by a 3rd party. Basically do not buy anything of value or branded from Amazon. So don't buy Phillips or other brands from Amazon.
And definitely do not buy the cheap Chinese unknown brands on amaxpn or elsewhere. The supermarkets will of course be buying Chinese made bulbs for their own labels but they will be buying them in bulk from specific factories and under contracts with some quality expectations, unlike the shitty free for all small seller type sourcing that your get from Amazon. Small sellers are going to be buying cheap ass unbranded bulbs and the factories are going to sell their cheapest bulbs plus ones that's do not meet bulk orders quality control thresholds via this route (cheaper to dump the bulbs by selling cheaply instead of having taking the financial hit and binning them). A large supermarket has leverage over the factories to maintain quality (or lose the contract) while small sellers have none.
Personally the only time I had a flickering LED bulb was a dimmer-switch lamp; it was designed for LEDs but didn't work with the bulb I bought but turned out I'd accidentally bought a non dimmable bulb. Otherwise I've not had a single bulb flicker in my house including all ceiling lights and numerous lamps. All my bulbs are supermarket own brand.
- Most of the ones that I see installed in stores have that problem. My workplace put in led and I come home with eye strain. The ones I bought at menards have had the same problem.
  My big problem is that I don't visually see flicker but rather if I move my hand in front of my face I see a shutter effect. Which I'm assuming is because the refresh rate of the bulb is to slow.
  
  It's not a "refresh rate" really. LED's are Light Emitting Diodes, and a diode is an electrical component that only allows electricity to flow in one direction. So an LED only works when electricity is flowing in one direction. Houses run on AC current (Alternating Current) with a frequency of 60Hz in the US. So if you plugged in normal AC into the LEDs, it would be off half the time, flickering 60 times a second. The LED light bulbs should have built in components that convert the AC signal into a constant DC signal. If you get normal bulbs that are well made, there should be absolutely no flicker.
  Are you using a lot of computer screens at work? Because using computer screens can cause eye strain, and also cause you to blink less resulting in your eyes drying out. Both of those can cause headaches. If you do use a lot of computer screens, you should consider getting eye heat compress (my ophthalmologist recommended me this one). You should also be able to get normal store bought LED bulbs that do no flicker. Perhaps try the slightly more expensive name brand options if the store brand isn't working for you.

It’d be a big spend, but you can get some Hue dimmable A19s with a bridge for your home and set them to whatever color temp you need. It’s not accurate to specific temps (I can’t ask it for 4000k) but with a little tinkering in the spectrums and sliders you could get it close.

I had issues with flickering and then I rolled the dice on these, and I can say that the 3 packs I've gotten do not flicker - https://www.maxximastyle.com/

Lots of good answers already in this thread, so just pitching a couple of "not what you asked for but maybe interesting" thoughts: Have you tried CFL lightbulbs? Those don't flicker and should be available in a wide range of temperatures. Regarding the headaches, imho it's more likely to do with blue light/color temperature than flickering, unless it's severe enough you can notice it even if just barely. In that case, maybe look into glasses with blue light filters, helped me a lot with screens and indoor lighting

I wound up cannibalizing a bridge rectifier from some old electronics and making an a/c to d/c adapter so I could do close up photography. I labeled it "lights only! 120v d/c" but I'm also the only person with access to it.
- You are playing with fire. Except more dangerous. You have zero reason to be using such high DC voltage for photography.
  
  How do you think that's any different than using a 120VAC fixture?
  
  It's 120v DC into an led light designed for 120v a/c there's no difference other than no flickering.

Ikeas tradfri lightbulbs are cheap, realiable and don’t flicker.

https://optimizeyourbiology.com/light-bulb-database
I almost always recommend the Phillips Ultra Definition bulbs, but they only do 2700k and 5000k. If you want something in between you might get stuck paying quite a bit more for a specialty one.

I have had luck on the internet searching "Rough Service" light bulbs. It's the only way I know how to still get incandescents. I bought a ton when I found the listing on Amazon. I wish LEDs would have more quality standards.

The Sengled ZigBee RGB or white bulbs work well for me and have tunable white LEDs. They seem to have a good DC/AC conversion. But they do require ZigBee.

https://www.waveformlighting.com/flicker-free-led-lighting
$20/bulb though. You could just stay on incandescents, but your power bill will reflect it.
- Where would I buy an incandescent from for a normal table lamp?
  
  They're online, but specialty lighting stores will sometimes sell them as well. Here in SoCal, we have a chain called Lamps Plus that sells them.

The lamps I got had a "flicker-free" mark on their packaging, so you might want to find some with that. (I think this is the one I got, but I kinda doubt you'll find this greek brand where you live.
Another solution probanly is to go to a hardware store and try each 3000k lamp into the testing plug they have (they tend do have such). Open your phone, turn on the camera, get it close to the lamp and see if you can see any difference in flickering (the store lamps will probably flicker already, so just see if the tested lamp adds any extra flicker).
Another possible solution might be to trst the lamp and try to hear any buzzing sound, but that will probably be very hard in a crowded store.
Apart from all these, lamps have tint. It either goes to green (positibe duv) or to magenta (negative duv) and have a light quality (cri). Get a high CRI lamp, if you want something close to a conventional bulb. Also you need to find something with a neutral tint, which is rather hard. The lamps I got above have a slightly green tint and I didnt like it much, it took me some time to get used to..

Not sure if this meets your needs, but I own one and it’s bright as fuck. I would have tried to check specs for you, but I’m distracted watching a show while fucking around on my phone.
https://www.olightstore.com/warrior-3s

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