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Comment by analognoise | Hacker News Reader

The first generation will work like that.

Then they will introduce various defects into the manufacturing process to decrease the lifespan (and they'll say it's cost) and the batteries will last 10 years max. Maybe 15 if you're lucky.

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The market for cost effective grid batteries is gigantic. There is no need to self sabotage.

Why so cynical

I mean, look at what was done to lighting. There are some original Edison bulbs that still work, yet you'd be lucky to get a year out of a modern incandescent. Same thing happened to LED bulbs.

> There are some original Edison bulbs that still work, yet you'd be lucky to get a year out of a modern incandescent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb7Bs98KmnY

> Same thing happened to LED bulbs.

Because LED Bulbs cook your LEDs and are stupid design. Get a permanent LED fixture with decent passive cooling and they will last for decades. Adapting LEDs into the same Plug as Incandescent lighting just does not work.

I've actually found that LED bulbs have only gotten more and more reliable over time. I used to have to replace them regularly but I haven't had one fail in several years now. And permanent LED fixtures are the stupid design. Who wants to do electrical work every time your light fails because of a power surge/lightning strike/capacitor going bad/whatever?

I don't know where you are from but here in Germany Surges/Lightning Strikes that damage equipment are so rare that I can't remember it ever happening to me in my lifetime. And Replacing a fixture if it eventual fails after decades is just not that hard. I did it in my Appartment and I only shocked myself twice, so it's very doable.

I stand corrected.

The tradeoff with conventional light bulbs is efficiency vs. lifetime. This is not the usual planned obsolescence it is made out to be, you are actually getting more efficient bulbs that way.

Want the experience of a lightbulb from 100 years ago right now? Buy a 220v lamp and use it in a 110v circuit. It will be much dimmer, a lot more orange/yellow, and last for decades.

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