Does LED lighting have practical uses yet?
I saw some in B&Q for about fifty quid - apparently for outdoor use. Trouble is - there was no indication of wattage or actual light output in lumens.
Any facts or recommendations?
I'm wondering if these things might be useful ... and, if so, where.
Yes if you want to look at it. No if you want to look at anything illuminated by it.
Soon!
Very soon. July even. But efficiency is not that great and I guess these little babies are gonna be expensive for starters!
Great for mood lighting but not quite there for other uses.
LEDs have 2 main advantages: very long life if run conservatively (not if not) and tiny size (3mm and 5mm LEDs are the standard sizes). They also have 2 disadvantages: its impossible to cram enough LEDs into a lightbulb package to get a comparable light output, or even close, and theyre expensive.
So their main appropriate apps are nightlighting, emergency exit/backup lighting, low level mood lighting, making glass glow funny colours, christmas tree lights, and lighting very small spaces, eg that little shelf tucked in the corner thats a bit dark. Other uses are not really appropriate. (Ignoring transport apps here)
The LED bulb substitutes all perform poorly. The best way to use LEDs is to use the LEDs rather than prepackaged bundles of LEDs, and run them off a small external supply. Since LEDs are so tiny they can fit in woodwork just 1/4" thick. If you only have 2mm space you'll need to use sm LEDs and solder them.
Last there is the question of white versus coloured. White LEDs have poor CRI, uneven colour temp, and deteriorate fairly quickly. Coloured LEDs give a single colour frequency (ie a pure colour), are long term stable and a fraction the price. Use 28p ultrabright LEDs rather than standard 9p LEDs.
If you need white, mixing colour LEDs is a lot cheaper than using whites, and provides stable CCT. To do this well requires working out how many of each colour are needed, and not forgetting to avoid coloured shadow edges.
A note about the hype over LEDs: they have never performed as well as fluorescent technonlogy, and there is no sign of them being about to any time soon. Its just hype.
NT
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