Have you bought an LED bulb yet?

[Viper GTS]

I'm on my second one in a bedside lamp. I specifically wanted something with very low output, so it works fairly well for that.

My first one failed rather spectacularly, it went out in an extremely bright flash (my first thought was "WTF, lightning?") and all the LED's glowed for several minutes after being powered off and removed from the fixture. I don't recall the brand but it lasted a year or so.

My second one is one of the Philips bulbs like pictured in this thread. I don't recall what the wattage is, but again it's a very low output bulb. It hasn't died yet but occasionally it does weird things like drop to 1/2 its normal output for a while. I don't have high hopes of it lasting anywhere near what it's supposedly rated to.

I didn't buy them for any money savings though my goals were:

1) Low output for a bedroom
2) Cool running
3) Fun new toy (what's not to like about LED bulbs?)

Viper GTS

 

[Modelworks]

Another approach is not to use white LED but use a mix of LED and then blend the colors using a lens on the output. That has the benefit of producing variable temperatures of light by increasing the brightness of the various colors. LED do produce heat, not as much as incandescent, but it can be significant if you move into higher power outputs. High output LED require a heat sink.

Toxicity is low in the LED itself, next to zero. I use them for underwater lighting because they are much easier to use than other forms. The waste from production of LED is very bad, arsenic, gallium,plasticizers, and about 20 other toxic by products.

I expect there to be a bunch of cheap LED replacement bulbs. LED do not require any major parts to produce light from the regular 110Vac outlet. 50 LED can be wired in series and connected directly to an outlet with no other parts needs. I suspect we will see a lot of cheap bulbs that are no more than LED and resistors.

They do need to change the laws in the USA regarding safety. In the EU LED are classified under power ratings just the same as lasers. In the USA LED are not classified for safety . Don't let that give you the idea that they are harmless. LED with narrow beam width can cause permanent eye damage.

 

[Eli]

I'm on my second one in a bedside lamp. I specifically wanted something with very low output, so it works fairly well for that.

My first one failed rather spectacularly, it went out in an extremely bright flash (my first thought was "WTF, lightning?") and all the LED's glowed for several minutes after being powered off and removed from the fixture. I don't recall the brand but it lasted a year or so.

My second one is one of the Philips bulbs like pictured in this thread. I don't recall what the wattage is, but again it's a very low output bulb. It hasn't died yet but occasionally it does weird things like drop to 1/2 its normal output for a while. I don't have high hopes of it lasting anywhere near what it's supposedly rated to.

I didn't buy them for any money savings though my goals were:

1) Low output for a bedroom
2) Cool running
3) Fun new toy (what's not to like about LED bulbs?)

Viper GTS

Viper! I was just wondering where you had gone the other day; posted in a pseudo Portland meetup thread. How ya been?

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

yup, good to see viper back and posting more.

btw, do LED's need to warm up like CCFLs?
i'm assuming no.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I've had LED flashlights and the like, but never normal socket type LED bulbs.

I have 7 recessed lights in the basement that eventually I plan to upgrade. I am running Halogens in three of them, as I want them to be capable of bright, then I have incandescent bulbs in 4 of them. They are on two seperate dimmer switches. The 75 watt are in the back of a home theater room, and pretty much get use when messing with cables, and working on the room, they will also get use when I eventually have my riser set up and cabinets in the back, etc.... But, overall, they are on maybe 4 or 5 hours per week.

The other 4 lights are 1 60w at the bottom of the stairs, and 3x 40w along the aisle of the room. These get a lot more use, and LED's would be a great option for them...

Dimmable CFLs are expensive, and don't quite fit into the Enclosures so well... so I'll probably get some LEDs in the 40W compatible range for the 3 along the aisle, and then something brighter for the bottom of the stairs... eventually ...

 

[Eli]

yup, good to see viper back and posting more.

btw, do LED's need to warm up like CCFLs?
i'm assuming no.

No warmup AFAIK.

 

[crownjules]

Technically, yes. My aquarium light fixture has a few LED lights used as "moon" lighting (when they main bulbs are off) and I also have an LED flashlight. But if you mean for a regular light fixture then no.

 

[MrMatt]

lumens seem low on them. probably good for the bathroom where the light is used for a couple minutes at a time 10 times a day. CFLs burn out quick doing that.

The problem I have with CFL's is they're too fucking dim. They still don't have a CFL for a standard light fixture that has a lumen output equivalent to a 150 watt bulb.

 

[Viper GTS]

The problem I have with CFL's is they're too fucking dim. They still don't have a CFL for a standard light fixture that has a lumen output equivalent to a 150 watt bulb.

They absolutely do, I own a couple that put out a lot of light. They are great for getting a ton of light in limited spaces without overloading a socket.

http://www.buylighting.com/Compact-Fluorescent-Light-Bulbs-85-to-200-Watt-s/452.htm

If you're willing to install a CFL that draws as much power as an incandescent you can get some serious light output.

Viper GTS

 

[Eli]

They absolutely do, I own a couple that put out a lot of light. They are great for getting a ton of light in limited spaces without overloading a socket.

http://www.buylighting.com/Compact-Fluorescent-Light-Bulbs-85-to-200-Watt-s/452.htm

If you're willing to install a CFL that draws as much power as an incandescent you can get some serious light output.

Viper GTS

I think he meant in an enclosed or otherwise restricted enclosure, but yeah, there are some massive CFLs that put out a lot of light.

I have a 40W CFL that is equivilent to a 150W bulb, but it wouldn't fit into an enclosed fixture.

 

[Viper GTS]

That is true they tend to be fairly large. But you can get an astounding amount of light out of a fixture rated to 100W if the bulb will physically fit.

Viper GTS

 

[KeithTalent]

No and I see no reason to do so. My regular bulbs last forever and they cast the amount of light I need.

KT

 

[GuitarDaddy]

That is true they tend to be fairly large. But you can get an astounding amount of light out of a fixture rated to 100W if the bulb will physically fit.

Viper GTS

The 85w ones are the largest that will fit a standard socket. The 100w,125w,150w,200w,250w and 300w all require the larger E39 mogul socket

 

[Jeff7]

yup, good to see viper back and posting more.

btw, do LED's need to warm up like CCFLs?
i'm assuming no.

An LED is capable of reaching full brightness faster than an incandescent bulb.

And those Neolite CFLs I mentioned have a very short warm-up time, maybe 10 seconds or less. I don't really notice it. They have instant start electronic ballasts, and use T2 tubes.


One big problem plaguing LED lighting is that manufacturers often try to make fixtures to be backward compatible with standards in place, such as the common E26 screw-in socket, or fluorescent fixtures. Problem is, these things were never made with heatsinking in mind. In an incandescent, the filament runs at a few thousand degrees, and it's got no problem with it. Fluorescent tubes don't really generate a lot of excess heat in the first place.

High-brightness LEDs can generate quite a bit of waste heat, yet they prefer to be kept as close to room temperature as reasonably possible. This means that they need a way of sinking that heat to somewhere else.
Standard fixtures and sockets don't really have anything in place to address that requirement.
Options:
1) Simply use low power LEDs, resulting in less heat generation, but also lower output. This can give the public impression that all LED light sources are automatically going to be dim.
2) Make a proprietary fixture. You can get high brightness and good thermal management, but you might also end up being stuck with one manufacturer for replacement parts.
3) Say "screw you" to the consumer and use a poor design that lets the LEDs cook, causing them to dim or die out in a few hundred hours.
4) Figure out some new standard for lighting that will allow for heat dissipation.
5) Some other whole new scheme for light generation that doesn't rely on semiconductors.

 

[DrPizza]

Has anyone ever tried returning the CFLs with a "7 year guarantee"? I've finally set aside the receipt on the last pile of them that I purchased. I replace the ones in the bathroom about twice a year. I definitely don't save money there.

 

[Modelworks]

5) Some other whole new scheme for light generation that doesn't rely on semiconductors.

I think electroluminescence will be the ultimate form of lighting. Panels that provide a uniform light across the entire surface. Ceelite is shipping panels 4' x 8' this year.
http://www.ceelite.com/technology/technology-components.asp

In the future I could see homes that have large areas or entire ceilings that are the light source. Lighting a room with an even intensity of light rather than a point of light would be great.

Another solution is fiber optic lighting. It is used quite a bit for lighting now. Instead of having multiple bulbs throughout the home, there is only a few located in one location. Fiber optics carries the light to the destination where a lens is used to spread out the light into the room. Instead of electrical outlets the outlets are fiber jacks for special lamps that contain lenses.
http://www.wiedamark.com/fiberopticlighting.aspx

 

[Numenorean]

Yeah but what's the color temperature of the light? It's hard enough finding CFL's with good color temperature.

 

[Modelworks]

Yeah but what's the color temperature of the light? It's hard enough finding CFL's with good color temperature.

LED lighting can be designed to be any color you want from 2000K to 9300K.

 

[Numenorean]

LED lighting can be designed to be any color you want from 2000K to 9300K.

So what?

The issue is what the stores carry and what the manufacturers make. Doesn't matter if it's fucking possible or not, what matters is if they actually make it.

There used to be good "daylight" bulbs, but now so many of the "daylight" stuff is around 3000-4000K which is shit and too yellow colored to be called daylight. I looked at tons of stores and finally found a place I can purchase CFL's that are rated at 6500K. This is why I'm skeptical of being able to find LED ones in a similar rating.

 

[0roo0roo]

Actually less than half the energy consumption of CFL, and no mercury to boot. They claim 50,000 hours, which comes out to ~24 years @ 6 hours/day.

40 watts isn't much though, enough for a desk/table lamp.

http://eartheasy.com/live_led_bulbs_comparison.html

If you want to (or need to) go off-grid, LED makes sense.

i dunno about that, last i checked the lumens equivalent of the ge ones they were not using anywhere close to half of a cfl,they were practically the same.
http://www.amazon.com/GE-Watts-PAR30...dp/B002IPX0RU/
10 watt led =320 lumen light source

http://www.1000bulbs.com/category/10-watt-cfl-compact-fluorescents
10 watt cfl = 520 lumen

So the ones you can easily buy actually seem to use more power...and cost way more......

 

[edro]

btw, do LED's need to warm up like CCFLs?
i'm assuming no.

No. Actually, their highest output is immediately after they are powered on.
Their output decreases as they warm up, depending on how well they are cooled.
As long as the designers did a good job with heat sinking, and you are running them in a decent ambient temperature (<90&#176;F), you won't notice the drop in output.

LED lighting can be designed to be any color you want from 2000K to 9300K.

Yeah, but the problem right now is output versus traditional sources (incandescent / fluorescent / HID).
LEDs are getting more and more output, but the LEDs with the highest output are up in the 6000K range.
6000K is too blue compared to incandescent which is down around 2000-4000K.

The power LED manufacturers (Philips, Cree, etc) are constantly coming out with new more powerful LEDs, with lower color temperatures though.

 

[DivideBYZero]

I've replaced the 50watt downlighters in my En Suite bathroom with LED. Energy is saved and they are a little dimmer, which is a bonus when you go in there for a piss at 2am, as the 50 watt bastards used to erase my retina.

 

[sourceninja]

My problem is still that nothing but old school incandescent bulbs look 'right' to me. We have tried many different brands and I always go back to old school bulbs.

Also, I get horrible headaches at work if I use the computer with the overhead florescent lights on. People tell me it's from the 'flicker'. Never happens if I keep my desk lamp on and overhead lights off.

 

[ShawnD1]

WTF? Even extremely el cheapo LED flashlights don't do this. What do you do to your flashlights to cause the to stop working?

Actually that does sound about right. I've had problems with Mag Lite LEDs burning out. In contrast, I've never seen a regular incandescent flash light bulb burn out.

 

[JM Popaleetus]

I bought one to use in a bedside lamp for reading. Not too bright, clean light, and works great.