LED-- lighting of the Future

txchnologist.com ^

[mamelukesabre]

Ive never seen an LED that didn’t have a bluish tinge

[svcw]

Blends of LEDs will take care of that. Also there is work on similar to exact color of familiar lighting.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

If you heat with electricity (as I do) indoor LED lights will save you exactly the same as indoor CFL bulbs, during the heating season -- nothing. Since the heating and lighting seasons largely overlap, your potential annual savings are quite small.

That said, I like LEDs far better than CFL bulbs, and even prefer them to incandescents for some purposes. LED's are ideal for flashlights. They have a long life, so they're handy for difficult-to-reach fixtures. They run cool, so they're safer than incandescents on a Christmas tree. They can be dimmed; although they aren't yet the equal of incandescent bulbs, for creating a relaxing ambiance (because the colour remains cool, even when they're dimmed -- whereas an incandescent bulb resembles a candle, when dimmed enough).

As the article states, the prices are plummeting. When LEDs cost little more than incandescent bulbs, they will win most of the market share. Proof again that we'd usually be better off without government interference in the market. When the price and quality is right, it won't be necessary for government to use its coercive powers to force us not to use incandescent bulbs.

[svcw]

Lots of people are producing LED lighting. The EU has/will go total LED in the next five years. Many companies will rise up to compete for that market.

[svcw]

Who’s lights are you buying?

[Williams]

I guess when you buy lower voltage LED Christmas lights the cost is less, certainly when they go 50% off after the Holiday they don’t seem that expensive. But yes I see a 60 watt LED equivalent bulb at Lowes and IIRC it was about $15 on sale.

Again, fluourescent has dropped a lot, maybe less than a dollar a bulb.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

You said 12 volt?

[svcw]

In the spring there will be equivalent 40 watt bulbs for under $10, and in less than five years equivalent 100 watt bulbs for less than $5.

[ottbmare]

I can’t afford to gamble with them, at these prices. I bought a few for places in my house where I needed bright lighting (Home Depot, $13). They only lasted a few months, far less time than a similar incandescent bulb would last. Sorry, when they get the bugs worked out, let me know.

P.S.: I like using dimmers on bulbs to create a golden ambiance in rooms where I’m not going to be doing detail work or would just like a little bit of light I can adjust. The dimmable LED lights are $20 at Walmart. No sale. I’m waiting ‘til the technology matures a bit. Until then I’m sticking with incandescents.

[Arrowhead1952]

I got a rechargeable LED flashlight for Christmas last year and we use it on a regular basis. I finally had to recharge it last month.

[mamelukesabre]

I recently discovered light bulbs over 100watts are exempt from the new regulations. I prefer 200 watt bulbs anyway. It’s going to be a loooong time before I stop using incandescents.

[Carry_Okie]

Yup, 12V. Most lighting circuits in a house are separate from outlets. It shouldn't be too hard to run them off a low-voltage power supply but I don't know if it's legal to run them through the same box (as long as the construction is the same as high voltage circuits I don't see why not). It would sure free up some slots in my main panel.

I like these guys as a source.

[Ditter]

I just stocked up on incandescent bulbs at Home Depot recently. I am set for a while until things start to shake out.

[PapaBear3625]

Ive never seen an LED that didn’t have a bluish tinge

For indoor lighting you would have a grid of LEDs. Include some red, yellow and green LEDs in the grid and you can adjust the color spectrum any way you want.

[Wurlitzer]

Do yourself a favor and don't discount LEDs so quickly. As I type this, just to my left is a string of Christmas (not holiday) lights that have exactly the same color temperature of another set of regular incandescent bulbs.

LEDs can be made in any color temperature you like. They use much less power than the CFLs and are easily dimmed.

If we were not being screwed by our government we would have never had the push for CFLs and LED production would have been ramped up years ago to make a bulb for bulb replacement for almost any popular incandescent bulb made.

I purchased this 100 bulb string for $9.00 at an Ace Hardware store and on the box it states you can string up to 43 more strings of these in series. Try that with the old incandescent strings.

I also have a 60W equiv. bulb in a table lamp drawing 7 watts. The bulb is the same shape and size of the old, hot, short lived bulbs and I got that one at Lowes.

There is another problem with CFLs and fluorescent bulbs in general if you have one of those X10 remote light switch systems in your house. Many will not function in my house if any of my basement fluorescent are turned on. The electrical noise they generate screws up the X10 signals.

[tnlibertarian]

If you heat with electricity (as I do) indoor LED lights will save you exactly the same as indoor CFL bulbs, during the heating season -- nothing.

Only if your heat pump heats with the same efficiency as incandescent bulbs. I would assume that is not the case, otherwise we would just use lights as heaters. Granted, the heat generated by the incandescent bulbs would not go to waste during the cold months and would partially offset the extra power used by your electric heat source, the efficiency of the heating the house with the heat pump instead of the bulbs would still result in savings. How much, I don't know.

[par4]

Commercial LED's are now available in a wide range of color temperatures, residential will follow soon. In my office I have a new LED 2X4 lay-in that is at 3500 kelvin (4100 is cool white, 5000 is blueish) which is identical in appearance to a standard 35K fluorescent in an adjoining office. I believe that the actual LEDs are manufactured by Samsung.

Also, China has stopped mining of rare earth phospors which has caused the price of fluorescent lamps to skyrocket. Lamps we were purchasing for less than 2 dollars three months ago are now over 4.

Disclaimer: I have been in the commercial / industrial lighting business since 1990.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

Your point about heat pumps is a good one — depending on the COE of the pump at the time. Victoria is one of the few areas in Canada, where air-to-air heat pumps work at all. Obviously, they work better in most of the U.S.A. (at least the lower 48). I have a small one, and it's great in the shoulder seasons — however, the COE can drop to below unity in the coldest months. At that point, it's up to the resistive heaters (including the good old fashioned radiant heaters, also known as incandescent light bulbs).

[Jonty30]

Compact flourescents have come a long way in recent years.

I went to buy a replacement bulb for my bedroom. The one I had in there gave off a dull yellow colour. It made my bedroom look like an old Soviet apartment. :)

But the CF I bought gives off a nice white light. Much improved.

[tnlibertarian]

At that point, it's up to the resistive heaters

Yep, at that point, you're right, you're pretty much heating with light bulbs. I should have asked if you were referring to heat pumps or resistive heaters. You know what happens when one assumes. When my emergency heat kicks in (I'm also equipped with only electric heat), I could get a breeze off of the electric meter.