The GOOD LED Light Bulb thread

[Chuckanut]

Are there any LED bulbs that give the same amount of light as a traditional 100W bulb?

[TrvlBug]

Are there any 3 way, preferably 50/100/150 LEDs out there? I'd like to replace the one beside my recliner as it throws off too much heat and I end up reading at the 100 or even 50 setting.

[ERD50]

Not to sidetrack this too much, but I'm hoping that they add some more features to these long-life LEDs.

For example, some people have mentioned the slow start-up times of some CFLs - but I like that sometimes. It would be nice if one could select features like that, it wouldn't cost much to add some smarts to these lights.

Back in the 90's, I got some 'smart' bulbs made by Philips. They had a chip in the base, and a few different models. One was a three-way dimmer - you hit the switch once for full bright, switched it on/off again quickly to drop down to the different levels. Another was set to time out after 30 minutes, and it would flash a few times over a few minutes to warn you, and a flick of the switch on/off would reset the timer. They had a few others I think.

Those bulbs lasted a long time too. They did a 'soft' start', using the dimmer circuit to start the bulb over about 1 second to lessen the thermal shock of a hard switch on.

Maybe they could build in some of these functions, and you could select them with a jumper or something? I'd like to have bathroom lights that start off dim, for those late night or winter early morning visits. You wouldn't have to be shocked with that sudden bright light. Time-outs on most others.

-ERD50

[Fermion]

Oh the next big thing is going to be very cheap smart bulbs...controlled via Bluetooth or something from your I-pad. No connections or setup, just put the led bulb in and presto, full control over timing, dimming, etc. It will be great too for energy conservation and home security.

I predict it will happen in less than 10 years mass market...they just need to get the chipset down to about $0.10 each.

[gozer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fermion Oh the next big thing is going to be very cheap smart bulbs...controlled via Bluetooth or something from your I-pad. No connections or setup, just put the led bulb in and presto, full control over timing, dimming, etc. It will be great too for energy conservation and home security. I predict it will happen in less than 10 years mass market...they just need to get the chipset down to about $0.10 each.

Once you can control bulbs by Bluetooth, we will have drive by Christmas light vigalantes. You'll be sitting at dinner and the local high school computer club will drive by your house, blasting "Grandma go run over by a reindeer", while making your inside lights flash to the music.

[explanade]

They do have a Wifi controlled LED lights by Philips, with iPhone app that you can program to change the color or timing.

[KB]

I was in Costco yesterday and they had the equivalent of 60 watt LED bulbs with an instant rebate from the local utility company. Each bulb cost 4.49. I bought one to try and the light was brighter than the CFL bulbs I was using. So, I'm going back today to buy a few more for the rooms where I want the most light.

[sengsational]

After being burned by CFL claims that fell far, far short of package claims on bulb life, I'm skeptical of dropping relatively big bucks on LED bulbs. I'm at least waiting for Consumer Reports to tell me which LED's really did survive their torture tests.

[Fermion]

As I mentioned, the electrolytic capacitor is the prime failure point in the LED light bulb. The power supply with these capacitors is right next to the LED and can reach high temperatures which lowers the life of the cap (and the power supply).

Cheap caps (and face it, the bulbs coming from China probably are not using NASA grade caps) might have a life of 2,000 to 10,000 hours. This means it doesn't mean squat that the LED can last 50,000 hours.

I guess it is a trade off. Pay $4 for a Chinese made bulb that will last a year or two or pay $10 for a better bulb that might last 5 or 6 years.

This article does a great job discussing the problem:

Capacitor selection helps achieve long lifetimes for LED lights | EDN

[Chuckanut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sengsational After being burned by CFL claims that fell far, far short of package claims on bulb life, I'm skeptical of dropping relatively big bucks on LED bulbs. I'm at least waiting for Consumer Reports to tell me which LED's really did survive their torture tests.

+1

My experience is that CFL bulbs fail for some reason well before it's estimated life. They probably still pay for themselves since they are significantly cheaper today than 5 years ago. I assume the same will be true for LED bulbs in the future. I am still looking for a 100W equivalent LED bulb.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fermion As I mentioned, the electrolytic capacitor is the prime failure point in the LED light bulb. The power supply with these capacitors is right next to the LED and can reach high temperatures which lowers the life of the cap (and the power supply). Cheap caps (and face it, the bulbs coming from China probably are not using NASA grade caps) might have a life of 2,000 to 10,000 hours. This means it doesn't mean squat that the LED can last 50,000 hours. ...

It would be nice if they could standardize and make the LED section a plug in to the power supply. Probably not feasible at these costs and the construction of these might be too integrated for that, but if someone wants to push for environmental reasons, it could make sense.

-ERD50

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut I am still looking for a 100W equivalent LED bulb.

I assume one of these may meet your needs Let me google that for you

The best so far? http://www.usa.philips.com/c/led-lig...424435/prd/en/

[walkinwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 It would be nice if they could standardize and make the LED section a plug in to the power supply. Probably not feasible at these costs and the construction of these might be too integrated for that, but if someone wants to push for environmental reasons, it could make sense. -ERD50

I've been thinking for some time, that our 110V house wiring is obsolete. We should have 12V DC supply everywhere alongside the 110V. In our living room, bedroom & office/dens - there really is no need for 110V any more.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by walkinwood I've been thinking for some time, that our 110V house wiring is obsolete. We should have 12V DC supply everywhere alongside the 110V. In our living room, bedroom & office/dens - there really is no need for 110V any more.

That thought occurred to me too. It could make sense to have one power supply for all the LEDs. But...

LEDs are current driven. You can't just supply 12V, for efficiency there needs to be a switching circuit with a reactive device to supply the correct current to the devices. In low power circuits, a series resistor is fine, but that's wasteful with bright LEDs. So you can't just supply a current from a main source, it would need to vary with the loads, and you would get 'current hogging' (one device would grab more than its 'share' of the available current) w/o some added feedback mechanisms.

So I think you end up with a circuit in every LED either way. A low voltage circuit might be cheaper or more reliable though. So other than RVs, which are already wired for 12V, I don't think this will catch on. But hey, times are a-changin', we just might see some changes in these old Edison-era standards.

-ERD50

[samclem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by walkinwood I've been thinking for some time, that our 110V house wiring is obsolete. We should have 12V DC supply everywhere alongside the 110V. In our living room, bedroom & office/dens - there really is no need for 110V any more.

There are still things that draw a considerable amount of power (TVs, appliances in the kitchen, portable heaters, electric blankets, etc). To run these off 12VDC would require much thicker copper wires. For example (according to this site) a 12 gauge wire (the typical size of conductor we have in our home wiring) can carry 23 amps (max) at 110VAC, for a total of 2530 watts. The same wire at 12 VDC can carry 60 amps, for a total of just 720 watts. Stated another way, the wires in our homes wouldn't be big enough to run a hair dryer (typically 1000 watts) if we were using 12VDC.
In a related note, wires become less efficient (waste more electrical power, which becomes heat) at lower voltages. So, unless we went to much bigger wires we'd be wasting a lot of energy.
Finally, IIRC, AC is a lot safer to work with than DC. I think muscles tend to tighten up and not let go with DC (bad if you are holding a wire), whereas there's more of an opportunity to move after getting bit by AC. I know there's a lot of difference in switches and electrical contacts: a switch that is fine for 120 VAC may not hold up when used for much lower DC voltages.
Since (for efficiency) the electricity needs to be shipped to the house at higher voltage, the question becomes whether to "step it down" to 12VDC somewhere at the panel and then run separate 12VD wires to all the rooms, or to do the conversion at the individual device. For reasons ERD mentioned (and for more flexibility on where we can use things in our homes) , it makes more sense to do it at the device.

[target2019]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack I assume one of these may meet your needs Let me google that for you The best so far? Philips LED 046677424435 - A Shape

$54.97 at the homedepot?

OMG!!!

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by samclem .......... In a related note, wires become less efficient (waste more electrical power, which becomes heat) at lower voltages.........

This is true. I actually heard about a British guy that had every outlet in his house wired at 220 volts.

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelover This is true. I actually heard about a British guy that had every outlet in his house wired at 220 volts.

Isn't that the British standard? Or is this a Brit living elsewhere?

MRG

[samclem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelover This is true. I actually heard about a British guy that had every outlet in his house wired at 220 volts.

Crazy! I heard about that guy--the receptacles he had to use were giant! A 6-outlet power strip is about 70 CM long (which I think is about 5 feet). What really herz is that he could only get the power to run at 50 cycles per second instead of the proper 60 cycles.

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelover This is true. I actually heard about a British guy that had every outlet in his house wired at 220 volts.

Sarcasm I assume.

Most of the world, including the UK, is 220-240V. I lived in Europe for 4 years, nothing odd about it...the plugs are only slightly larger, and a little different configuration of course.

Mains electricity by country - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia