Cheap DOB LED and Watts

As per my observation, cheap DOB LED are significantly dimmer than normal LEDs. They waste most of the energy as heat. Run a 9 watt DOB for a few seconds without a heat sink and you will observe how hot it gets. Run it fixed to a bulb heat sink and after a little while, you will not want to touch the bulb until it cools down. Also observe that the brightness is less with poor CRI and the quality of the SMD LEDs on it are poor. I have purchased and used 3 watt LED bulbs and would say that the brightness of a 3 watt led bulb is around to equal or better than a 9 watt cheap DOB.

Lets say you got yourself a bunch of these cheap DOB and want to sell them. I would advise, topping it with voltage and current protection circuitory (MOV, Resistance, PF Dropper, Capacitor) and label a 9 watt DOB as a 3 watt DOB. That way, customer expectations and power saving and longivity and all good things would be balanced out.

If you want to get a decent 7 to 9 watt worth of light output, then you might want to go for the 15 watt or above version of it. Again, use protective circuitory to increase its lifespan. I would recommend labelling a 15 watt cheap DOB as a 7 watt bulb.

So with that being said, you should get the idea of its quality and tweaks that can increase its lifespan.