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Comment by kweks | Hacker News Reader

Last year, I was contemplating bootstrapping a startup that sold full-spectrum LEDs with a controllable blue element for home and office use. Think Flux but for real lights.

I got so far as inspecting factories in Shenzhen, finding a partner supplier, and building some prototypes with my existing manufacturing contacts.

Ultimately, I ran out of time (launched another product instead) - but it always bugged me that I wasn't able to bring this product to market.

If anyone would be interested in picking up where I left off - I'd be interested in partnering.

Shoot an email to public @ proxmark dot com

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I've used Philips Hue lights for a sort-of-flux for my office, it works fairly well. The hardware part of it seems like a solved problem with the availability of RGB smart bulbs (or the cheaper ones which only go from cold/blue-ish light to warmer orange light, without full RGB).

The software side could be improved.

I use Hue at home as well. They are great for controlling blue light exposure, but the flicker (North America) and color quality leave a ton to be desired. I can occasionally see the flicker, especially in my peripheral vision.

Also, they've proven to be unreliable—I've had 4 (out of 13) suffer capacitor failure just outside of the warranty period. Their color binning is not good—new lights look totally different in color from the older ones.

I wrote about this and was interviewed on a podcast recently:

* Is Smart Lighting Healthy?: https://medium.com/simplebulb/is-smart-lighting-healthy-903c...

* Podcast: https://bedtimebulb.com/ror

Disclosure: I sell a light bulb meant to be used in the evening before bed. It removes most of the unhealthy blue/green light, has a super high CRI, and has less flicker than "flicker-free" lighting (which could have up to 30% flicker!). Bedtime Bulb: https://bedtimebulb.com/

I had contemplated the same, though haven't gone as far as visiting factories.

As another commented mentioned, Philips Hue is a possible alternative/competitor, but unsatisfactory in some respects; precise control over exactly which LEDs light up and the lack of red LEDs in its LED array.

The goal was a fully controllable lightbulb so that blue LEDs could be turned off/reduced in the evening, and red LEDs turned on, gradually. Like you said, Flux for real light.

Correct. The goal was to have your lights automagically adjust during the day / evening, provide a gentle wakeup for winter countries / months with more blue light, and have a soft light for 3AM when you stumble to the bathroom.

I do reasonable amounts of manufacturing of other products, so had existing contacts on the ground.

The prototype build was a fully functioning strip with wifi control (and a very basic / terrible app attached).

Sticking points were marketing and bricks and mortar distributions - which are always large problems to solve.

I don't know if this applies to Hue, but did your product flicker when controlling the individual R G B color channels. I notice that with cheap gaming mice with the awful RGB LED's and it's maddening.

I did something like this by opening my blinds during the day and then lighting my pad with tungsten lamps after sunset. Worked pretty well.

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