40w led's inside a ceiling fixture?

I have one of those dome shape ceiling lights in my hallway. It has two 60w incan bulbs now. I picked up a pair of 40W LED bulbs at HD for a killer price. Just couldn't pass it up. My question, is it ok to run led's in a enclosed fixture?
Thanks,
Steve

Cree says "Our lamps are designed for open air and semi-enclosed housings, but not recommended for fully enclosed housings." but personally, I'd give it a try. I think it's one of those find-out-for-yourself deals. You would hate to trash $15 worth of bulbs, but worth a try IMO.

Are they the Cree or Cree TW A19 Bulbs?

cree 40w warm white, 450 lm and looks like a traditional bulb. And they were on sale, 6.67 each. nothing in the bulb info says they can't be in the housing, or need to be exposed. Dimmable with standard dimmers? stated on the box? Glass is coated too, feels a bit like silicone.

cruzzer said:

Glass is coated too, feels a bit like silicone.

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That is because it is.



Tapatalk...

If it survived two 60w incan bulbs, it'll be fine with two 40W led bulbs.

Redhat703 said:

If it survived two 60w incan bulbs, it'll be fine with two 40W led bulbs.

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I agree as far as the fixture is concerned, but I think Cree is more concerned about the life of the LEDs. Getting too hot and possibly failing way before the estimated life they suggest.

I was more worried about the bulb failing,, and if they were $15 each I wouldn't even think about it. But at $6.67 each, I may be doing it. I may stop in at a lighting store to ck out a few different fixtures that are more open too. If I'm dropping this down it wouldn't be hard to swap it out to something that breaths a little. I'm not a big fan of the boobie lights. But it was cheap and needed to change it quick when we bought as the lights were, well bad, just bad,, lots of brass looking junk.

I have a couple of Cree 60w lamps that are running in enclosed outdoor porch light fixtures and they have survived a hot summer.

markr6 said:

Cree says "Our lamps are designed for open air and semi-enclosed housings, but not recommended for fully enclosed housings." but personally, I'd give it a try. I think it's one of those find-out-for-yourself deals. You would hate to trash $15 worth of bulbs, but worth a try IMO.

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where did you see that......no mention of it on their packaging?

Qship1996 said:

where did you see that......no mention of it on their packaging?

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It's on their website. And I thought someone else here posted a pic of it on the packaging but I cannot find it.

The packaging on the 40w equiv Cree TW states "Do not use in multi-bulb enclosed fixtures together with other bulb technologies (e.g., incandescent, halogen, CFL, etc.)". The packaging on the original non-TW bulbs did not have this statement. Since the Cree bulbs were updated in the last month or so, do the revised non-TW bulbs now have the same statement as the TW bulbs do? Next time I am at HD, I will have to check - unless someone else can look and post in the meantime.

The heat sink was made a little larger during the revision. So perhaps that is significant to the enclosed fixture question.

Non TW cree's is what I have and I have looked over the packaging again and did not find this warning. I do have to say I put the 60w bulbs in my living room table lamps and they put out decent light. More down than up.

markr6 said:

I agree as far as the fixture is concerned, but I think Cree is more concerned about the life of the LEDs. Getting too hot and possibly failing way before the estimated life they suggest.

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LEDs can run happily at 85°C. The capacitors in the driver like to run at 60°C. They would be the first to fail, not the LEDs.

There is a rule of thumb when buying outdoor LED fixtures - 10 sq in per watt.
A' 40 W' Cree LED bulb produces about 2 watts light, 4 watts heat.
So you need a fixture of at least 80 sq in surface area, preferably more as the LEDs are not directly connected to the fixture.
Do some measurement and calculate the surface area of the fixture.

markr6 said:

It's on their website. And I thought someone else here posted a pic of it on the packaging but I cannot find it.

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Not on the bulbs packaging......I do not see it anywhere on their website either,can you post where it is located on their site?

Qship1996 said:

Not on the bulbs packaging......I do not see it anywhere on their website either,can you post where it is located on their site?

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Here's the link. Not sure it will go to that spot on the page so you'll need to scroll about 1/2 way down:
http://www.cree.com/Lighting/Tools-and-Support/FAQ-Indoor

Now that I look at this, I'm not sure what they're referring to. LED modules, bulbs, some type of standalone fixture?

wws944 said:

The packaging on the 40w equiv Cree TW states "Do not use in multi-bulb enclosed fixtures together with other bulb technologies (e.g., incandescent, halogen, CFL, etc.)". The packaging on the original non-TW bulbs did not have this statement. Since the Cree bulbs were updated in the last month or so, do the revised non-TW bulbs now have the same statement as the TW bulbs do? Next time I am at HD, I will have to check - unless someone else can look and post in the meantime.

The heat sink was made a little larger during the revision. So perhaps that is significant to the enclosed fixture question.

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I stopped by HD today and looked. The current Cree 60w equivs, in TW, non-TW, and daylight form have the same statement on the package. The store was completely out of the non-TW 40w equiv. But given that the non-TW 40w equiv draws the least amount of power of all of them, I would guess its package has been revised the same way.

As an aside, it seems like HD is carrying fewer 3000K choices than they have had in the past. I am really liking 3000K much better than 2700K.

I contacted cree directly off their fb page and asked specifically if the 40w equiv. non tw bulbs can or cannot be used in a enclosed dome style hall fixture. I got a response.

" Cree LED Bulbs can be used in any fixture that would normally take an incandescent bulb, including most enclosed fixtures. However, you should not mix LED bulbs in the same fixture with other bulb technologies like incandescents that generate excessive heat, or use LED bulbs in fixtures exposed to extreme ambient temperatures. Hope this helps!"

Direct from Cree bulbs.. so I'm going to say yes and install them. I'll post up if I have any negative effects lifespan/heat etc. This fixture gets a lot of use so it will get a good test run.

Oh,, and I'm using a 5k daylight cree 60w in my workshop as the main light source. There is only one right now but I'm going to put 4 in total in a 12x12 room white metal ceiling is planned for this room and the fixture should have either white or alum reflectors above the bulbs. Not 100% on what the fixture will look like as I'm using spare pipe fittings and galv. pipe to build the fixture and parts of other fixtures for something a bit different. I'll post the finished result and how it lights the room. either halogen or LED spots at the workbench will also be used. Right now its a bare room down to studs and insulation.

Does the concern regarding using the Cree bulbs in an enclosed fixture relate to a possible shortened lifespan of the bulbs or a possible fire hazard? Or both? I can handle a shortened bulb lifespan but don't like to take risks that potentially shorten my own lifespan! Any thoughts appreciated.