[ale] OT Just bought my 1st & 2nd "lighting-class" LED bulbs

Tue Jul 23 16:52:54 EDT 2013

On Tue, 2013-07-23 at 19:30 +0000, Watson, Keith wrote: 
> Ron,
> 
> Make sure to check the fine print. Many of the LED replacements are to
> be oriented vertically and are not supposed to be used in an
> enclosure.

I have not had any problem with mine (and I have a number) vertical or
horizontal.  Other than heatflow around the heatsink, I can't imagine
any structural reason for the orientation being a problem.  I've even
got some candle based ones on some ceiling fans that are running great.

> This works fine in a typical table lamp but they are not suitable for
> use in my carport light fixture as it's enclosed and the bulbs are
> horizontal.

Heat and ventilation is the key here.  But...  If the enclosure is bad
for LEDs, they are DEADLY for CFLs.  Remember, for a given light output,
the CFL is consuming about twice the power as an LED and all that
additional power gets converted into heat and the electronics in the
high frequency RF switching supply of a CFL is as sensitive or even more
sensitive than an LED.  I've had lots of CFLs burn out in recessed can
lighting due to ventilation.  It's never the bulb and they never get
close to their rated lifetime - the electronics just fries out and "it's
dead Fred".  I have yet to see a situation where a CFL can survive where
an LED won't do better.

* Advantage LED - longer life, instant on, lower power, less heat,
almost all are dimmable (even the cheap ones) with standard dimmers,
they don't change "color temperature" when dimmed (like incandescent
that get "warmer" in color temp) and can be dimmed over a wider range of
intensity than even dimmable CFLs (that are limited to about 50% of
their dynamic range at best and are very unstable at low output).  Not
anywhere near as sensitive to temperature, humidity, or vibration as
CFLs either.  Power cycling (powering on and off) has little to no
effect on lifetime (which seriously shorten CFL lifetime).

* Advantage CFL - cheaper but not for long and not over the entire life
of the bulb.

* Advantage Incandescent - cheaper over short run and ... ????  ...
Uh...  Uh...  Oh...  Duh...

LEDs are out performing and more reliable than CFLs everywhere I've put
them.

There is a problem with aging ("slump" or "droop"), where they loose
intensity with age (the lifetime is based on how long before the lumen
output drops to certain level) but they're solving even that with newer
technology.  Droop "per se" actually relates to a lowering of power
output per watt as current increases but is also a factor in age related
output slump.  Considering that their expected lifetime can be up to 5
times that of a comparable CFL, even with the LED slump, they're still
superior over CFL's in almost every way.

http://www.ledlightingexplained.com/led-lighting-myths/

"Lumen maintenance describes how long a lighting fixture retains a
certain percentage of its initial light output. White light sources used
for general illumination are commonly considered to be at the end of
their useful life when their light output falls below 70% of initial
output. For white and colored accent and non-task lighting, the lumen
maintenance threshold is often considered to be 50%."

That's 40,000 to 50,000 hours to slump to 70%.  CFLs are long dead and
in the landfills.

Just waiting for Philips to start marketing those new LED replacements
for the classical 4' and 2' fluorescent bulbs at a reasonable price.  I
have 12 of the 4' 80W (2 x 4' "shop light tubes each) fluorescent units
in my basement (no - not generally all on at once) that I would love to
replace.  They're coming out with replacements for them too.  When they
become cost effective for residential work, I am so there.  $60-$70 per
tube remains a leetle bit pricing for this little boy's caboose at the
moment...

http://www.lightingcomponents.us/ProductDetails.aspx?productid=191

Some good comparison info here:

http://www.designrecycleinc.com/led%20comp%20chart.html

> keith

Regards,
Mike

> -- 
> 
> Keith R. Watson                        Georgia Institute of Technology
> IT Support Professional Lead           College of Computing
> keith.watson at cc.gatech.edu             801 Atlantic Drive NW
> (404) 385-7401                         Atlanta, GA 30332-0280
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Ron
> > Frazier (ALE)
> > Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2013 15:20
> > To: ALE
> > Subject: [ale] OT Just bought my 1st & 2nd "lighting-class" LED bulbs
> > 
> > Hi all,
> > 
> > Just thought I'd throw this out there since you guys like geeky stuff.  I
> > just bought my 1st & 2nd "lighting-class" LED bulbs.  I have a couple of
> > fixtures that are hard to get to and work with to replace bulbs on my
> > porch.  For some time, those bulbs have been out and we've been using a
> > free standing lamp out there.  Today, I decided to take the leap and try
> > LED.  I've only had the product open for a little while and have been
> > testing it in a table lamp, but my initial reaction is that I'm VERY
> > impressed.  At $ 13 / bulb, I won't be replacing all my CFL's yet, but
> > maybe one at a time when they burn out.  The porch lights have to wait
> > until I deal with some uninvited wasps that are there.
> > 
> > This is the Cree warm white 2700 K color temperature 60 W bulb replacement
> > from Home Depot.  The appearance and shape is like a standard incandescent
> > bulb and this particular one puts out a pretty omnidirectional light.
> > Right on the top of the bulb is a small area of dimness at the top of the
> > "LED Filament Tower", but otherwise, I wouldn't know it's not a standard
> > bulb by looking at its light.
> > 
> > This bulb has some really cool features:
> > 
> > * It uses just 9.5 W of power to provide the equivalent of 60 W of
> > incandescent light.
> > 
> > * It's warranted for 10 years at 6 hrs / day (with proof of purchase).
> > This works out to 25,000 hrs.  This is 20X the life of an incandescent and
> > 2X the life of a GOOD CFL.
> > 
> > * You can touch the bulb, even hold it, while running; and your hand will
> > get warm but not burned.  However, DON'T touch the heat sink directly.
> > This is about hot enough to burn you.  Another Home Depot shopper gave me
> > that tip.
> > 
> > * It has a rubber safety coating on the class bulb with a kind of tacky
> > feeling, like a rubber jar opener or something.  Should be less likely to
> > break and less dangerous if it does.  The instructions don't recommend
> > running it with a broken glass casing.
> > 
> > 
> > * There is no mercury or lead in it.
> > 
> > * And, it is DIMMABLE with a STANDARD dimmer.  This is very cool.  I had
> > uninstalled 3 dimmers in my house when I went to using CFL's.  Maybe,
> > eventually, I'll be able to put them back.  This also means you could put
> > it on a photocell, or motion detector.
> > 
> > 
> > So, even though I've only had the product a few hours, at this point, I
> > highly recommend it.  Hopefully, the prices will keep coming down.
> > 
> > Sincerely,
> > 
> > Ron
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > --
> > 
> > Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9
> > Mail.
> > Please excuse my potential brevity if I'm typing on the touch screen.
> > 
> > (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
> > call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
> > mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very
> > quickly.)
> > 
> > Ron Frazier
> > 770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
> > linuxdude AT techstarship.com
> > Litecoin: LZzAJu9rZEWzALxDhAHnWLRvybVAVgwTh3
> > Bitcoin: 15s3aLVsxm8EuQvT8gUDw3RWqvuY9hPGUU
> > 
> > 
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-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 985-6132 |  mhw at WittsEnd.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/          | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
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