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LED lighting experiences.

BenBurch

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BenBurch
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I now have four LED lamps in operation in my home.

I found some warm white lamps for $10.99 and some cool white lamps for $14.98 on Amazon recently. This was a large price reduction from a few months ago, so I bought two pairs.

A lot brighter than the equivalent wattage CFLs and they come on instantly.

I got some cool white 7w lamps and some warm white 6w lamps. Then latter were also dimmable which means that they generate more heat (I didn't realize that) for the extra electronics and part of the design integrates a heat sink.

The 7w are around 550 lumens and the 6w is around 380 lumens. The warm light ones seem to be markedly less efficient - likely they achieve the color shift by filtration rather than by changing the emission of the phosphor.

BTW, that is how most "white" lamps work as far as I can determine; They are a UV LED and a phosphor rather than a LED which emits a "white" collection of spectral lines. This is why the chips themselves look yellow when they are mounted such that you can see the surface.

ETA; These are all Edison base 120v lamps.
 
LED lights look very big, I'm not sure they'd fit in some of my fixtures.
 
I live on a boat and thought that LED's would be teriffic. Reality rears it's ugly head again. 12V LED's are still quite expensive ($20.00 range) and not very good. Reading lights don't work near as well as traditional's. Don't know if it's my imagination but LED light doesn't seem to carry very far either. I do find the "blue" to be annoying as well. Flourescent's seem to be much better light and draw minimal amps.
 
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BenBurch said:
I now have four LED lamps in operation in my home.

I found some warm white lamps for $10.99 and some cool white lamps for $14.98 on Amazon recently. This was a large price reduction from a few months ago, so I bought two pairs.

A lot brighter than the equivalent wattage CFLs and they come on instantly.

I got some cool white 7w lamps and some warm white 6w lamps. Then latter were also dimmable which means that they generate more heat (I didn't realize that) for the extra electronics and part of the design integrates a heat sink.

The 7w are around 550 lumens and the 6w is around 380 lumens. The warm light ones seem to be markedly less efficient - likely they achieve the color shift by filtration rather than by changing the emission of the phosphor.

BTW, that is how most "white" lamps work as far as I can determine; They are a UV LED and a phosphor rather than a LED which emits a "white" collection of spectral lines. This is why the chips themselves look yellow when they are mounted such that you can see the surface.

ETA; These are all Edison base 120v lamps.
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I have planned on replacing my CFLs with LEDs as they burn out, so I'm still looking at probably another decade before I get seriously into that transition. I did swap out all of my interior and exterior christmas lights with LEDs this year, and not only do the colors seem more crisp, but according to my meter monitors, I'm using only a small fraction of what I normally use with the incandescent christmas lights. I always thought that the power company should give out free christmas lights to anyone who presented a copy of their electric bill, I guess with LEDs this wouldn't be a profit generating move!
 
Once, on a whim, I bought a LED bulb at the local Albert Hein supermarket. It was a 5 Watt replacement for 40 Watt incandescent. I had heard the stories about how "LED wasn't ready yet" because its supposed less light quality, so I thought at first the 17 euros was expensive. Until I tried it out: its light was gorgeous, and much brighter than a CFL 40 Watt replacement. I promptly replaced all my old CFL bulbs with LED bulbs, most of them "60 Watt replacements" for 25 euro each. Dirt cheap, in my opinion, for something that lasts 25 years.

Instant on at full brightness was a good reason for me to switch. Also the light quality seems far better than my old CFLs which never impressed me with their muddy diffused light.

I also have bought some ridiculously cheap LED bulbs, just to see how a 1 euro LED bulb compares to a 25 euro one. Those are not great, but perfectly acceptable as a nightlight.

My Dad had some trouble with the spotlights that came with his photography light tent. The halogen bulbs burnt out at the speed of light. So when I came across some 12V white LED UG10 bulbs, I bought them for him. He now makes fantastic photos without having to replace the bulbs or worry about the heat the spots produce. Cost per bulb: 2,89 euro. They sold out pretty quickly.
 
Here in the states, they have just now introduced LED lamps that will work in fixtures where the base of the lamp is at the bottom. If you had the base-up in a fixture, you've been set for several years, but nearly all of the available LED's radiate UP (away from the base), which kind of stinks when your fixture 14' up is base-down and shining them into a nice, dark, cedar-wood panelling in the vaulted roof.

But we have lots of them where they are appropriate. I await better ones that have some LED's pointed down, and maybe we'll be completely converted. We swapped to CFL's quite a while ago, since we like a lot more light than the people who installed the fixtures in this house, so we replaced 60 watt incandescents with 28 watt CFL's. FIAT LUX, but only after they get a good start.

LED's just go ON.
 
BenBurch said:
Earthborn, are they very common there yet? You say you got it at Albert Heijn - So that is the Netherlands?
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The Netherlands, yes. LED bulbs are getting quite commonly available in shops (Philips is especially aggressively marketing them) but I don't think a large percentage of people are buying them yet. Many of my colleagues tell me they still use those dreaded incandescents. :boggled:
 
A few years ago, I lived in an apartment with incandescents. There were 5 incandescent vanity bulbs in the bathroom alone. I replaced all of my incandescents with CFLs, saw an immediate $15/mo drop in my electric bill. That's a lot of electricity on lights alone.

Still, never really liked CFLs, the light output just isn't there, they start bright but light output deteriorates pretty quick to about half its output after a few weeks, becomes more red over time. Not exactly loving them.

I'm definitely going to start replacing the CLFs with LEDs just for brighter, more consistent light output. These kinds of lights are pretty hard to find in Nebraska, and definitely not very easy to find lights for several of the large spotlights in the house, so it looks like I'm going to order a few from Amazon instead.
 
I just did 15 ceiling cans with 60 watt equivalent LED bulbs. Very nice.

My first LEDs were outside floodlights, did those in 2005. They are still running fine. Those I never bother to turn off. They are an early primitive unit with about 50 LEDs white on a pc board in a grid pattern.

Incidentally, the second group I did was in a room we use as a gym. That was 2008, and those were bleeding edge early adopter units, of the new integrated high power CREE LED style. Treadmill, weights, stuff like that. Did NOT want the extra heat from four or five incandescents in that room, so put 4 LED units in. That worked out fine.

A couple years, everything here will be LED except where I want incandescence.
 
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Soapy Sam said:
Only mains power LEDs I own are on the Christmas Tree.
I do have a couple of LED flashlights, which are OK, but not great.
For home lighting I still favour halogens or tungsten , because I simply like them.
I detest CFLs .

http://www.ledgiant.co.uk/led-spotlights/gu10-led-bulbs?gclid=CPO_8eXfna0CFUJItAodBzEqnA

I have a number of GU10 halogen spots at the new house. I may try a couple of LED replacements.
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Advice: When you do, carefully take the bulb out and save the package. That way if it isn't to your liking you can return it. Sometimes have to do that for one reason or another.

Also if you use dimmers, you may find they do not work with the LED, or that you may need to keep one of the old ones in service along with the LEDs, so that the minimal load is within the parameters of the dimmer.
 
I'm growing vegetables indoors using LED lights. I'm in the midst of my first attempt -- tomatoes, peppers and basil. I was setback by a bug infestation.
 
varwoche said:
I'm growing vegetables indoors using LED lights. I'm in the midst of my first attempt -- tomatoes, peppers and basil. I was setback by a bug infestation.
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In fact, researching LED lighting, I found that it is quickly replacing HPS lighting in marijuana growing operations. This makes perfect sense as heat and power bills are how law enforcement finds these operations. Sounds like the arms race just got notched up.
 
varwoche said:
I'm growing vegetables indoors using LED lights. I'm in the midst of my first attempt -- tomatoes, peppers and basil. I was setback by a bug infestation.
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Sterilize the dirt. Or throw it away and go with brand new bags of potting soil.
 
roger said:
High pressure sodium.
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Well, HPS is already very energy efficient compared to incandescent, and in this type environment, the heat byproducts often can't be used so they have to be vented. That means more air cycles per hour, and that means jacking up the co2 level several multiples.

LED does have advantages, but it's extremely expensive compared to HPS. HPS can be found on craigslist or ebay for 10-20$ each.
 
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