LED v CFL bulbs

[Huge]

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You would appear to be me. :o)

[Harry Bloomfield]

Brian Gaff wrote on 22/10/2017 :

Well, actually they come on at full bright instantly. That alone saves current, because I feel more inclined to turn them off, knowing there will be no delay when I switch them back on.

[Harry Bloomfield]

NY wrote on 21/10/2017 :

I swapped some 100w 100mm ES floods for 9w LED's in the kitchen, backed up with a hidden 6' fluorescent for additional light as needed. Those

9w wide angle flood lamps barely get warm when on and have been in use for 12 months now. I would get concerned about the life of any LED getting near to too hot to touch.

[Harry Bloomfield]

on 22/10/2017, Jeff Layman supposed :

You can specify 'corn-cob' LED, which has light output around the entire lamp, except the base.

[Andy Burns]

That's the only type where I've had the actual LEDs die rather than the power supply, you could hear them 'pinging' as they cooled down after use, so guess they were driven stupidly hard with poor cooling.

[Iggy]

replying to tabbypurr, Iggy wrote: Says you. But, an "Indicator LED" is all the early bulbs were a collection of and the claims were there. "Magically", they steadily decreased to exactly where the manufacturers needed them for constant profits. An LED is an LED and they don't go bad in such a short period, but the A-holes of the world make sure the electronics do.

[Caecilius]

I've heard that the claimed lumen output from LED bulbs is often overstated.

Apparently there is an acceptable tolerance in stated lumens to account for the variation inherent in tungsten bulb manufacture. But LED bulbs can be manufactured to a more precise light output, so manufacturers can claim a higher lumen value while ensuring that the bulbs will fall within the acceptable range.

I've also heard that some claims used to be based on the output from the LED chip rather than the entire bulb. I'm not sure if this still goes on, or whether it's been banned.

[Iggy]

replying to The Natural Philosopher, Iggy wrote: Not me, so far. I only know 1 person whose even had any collection of LED's long enough to tell and they already replaced them all in just 5-years (now 8-years ago). The few of my CFL's that went in at the same time and are used for the same hours per day as theirs are still going strong and aren't even all the same brand. The LED's never paid for themselves, but CFL's did after just 1-year.

[Fredxxx]

That must have a fancy driver, presume a higher power one?

As you say a cheap design has little in it, the only source of noise ought to be the diodes turning off. The old technique to reduce this was to use small caps across each diode.

LEDs are inherently unidirectional, unlike incandescent and fluorescent that emit in a omnidirectional pattern. Anything light spreading technique is going to reduce LED performance.

[Fredxxx]

Not 'every way', there are instances where temperature is an issue.

[Harry Bloomfield]

on 22/10/2017, Caecilius supposed :

Those I have bought, seem well up to spec.. I have got away with using several 3.5w LED's in places where not a lot of light is normally needed - such as hall, landing, wall lights, bathroom, toilet and bedside lights. Useless for reading, but then I have other lights for that - fine for seeing what you generally need to see.

[Harry Bloomfield]

I only have one such lamp, that in one of those Georgian style outside lights, providing some light in my drive. That was installed 12 months ago, in a new fitting and is powered by an ancient Sangamo mechanical solar clock. It comes on at dusk, goes off at around midnight. None of the LED's in the lamp have failed so far.

[Harry Bloomfield]

The Natural Philosopher wrote on 22/10/2017 :

Me too, I have had not one single failure ever and that includes some car lamps (x6) plus the LED's it came from the factory with, caravan quartz reflector lamps replaced with LED (x12), various ones around the house (x20) and numerous basic indicator/warning lamps too.

[Harry Bloomfield]

on 22/10/2017, Martin Brown supposed :

I took a different route. Over a period of just a few weeks last year, I replaced all of the regularly in use filament and CFL's with LED's. Doing that made a very noticeable difference to my energy consumption. The lamps I took out, were put in store as spares for the less used lighting.

[charles]

or just made down to a price?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

For just general purpose lighting they do seem now to be a lot better. But not sure they're up to being used for everything halogen does well. And still expensive if you want one which really does give an equivalent light output to the common halogen sizes.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

This is really the point. It's a long time since most would have been happy with a single 60w tungsten lighting a room. 100w far more likely. So would be nice to have a true like for like replacement.

[Scott]

Just as well if they can't cope with the returns process.

Is it the case that almost all LED bulbs now are warm white? This may be the preferred choice for many applications but not IMO for kitchens, bathrooms or where there are coloured shades or uplights.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

These seem to be less efficient than single LED units.

[alan_m]

No, a lot of suppliers have the same design in warm or cool/daylight.

More specialised adjustable tri-colour bulbs are commonly available as are remote controlled bulbs.

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