LED lights, where are they?

[flashlightDR]

It seems to me that the time has past when a good aforadable LED, 120V standard base- LED should be on the market. There are some multiple LED lights out but they are hard to find and very expensive. For example:

From theLEDlight.com

Short 36 LED bulb; Medium base; approx. 3 1/4" tall x 2 1/2" diameter; comparable to a 30 watt incandescent bulb. Consumes 30mA at 120vac
AC-36 120vac or 240vac
$180.50 ea
2/$324.90
4/$484.80

Why can't someone make an good porch light that used let's say 3, 3-watt Luxeon starts?

I bought a 14-LED light on e-bay and it hardly puts out any light.

[PhotonWrangler]

I think that LEDs still have a ways to go before they can beat a compact fluorescent in terms of lumens per watt. And there's the issue of flicker when LEDs are driven directly from 50hz or 60hz AC.

They're getting better all the time though.

[idleprocess]

If some of the new high-power LEDs on the market are in the same class as luxeons, look for prices on all high-power LEDs to start coming down.

As for 110/240V LED drop-in replacement "bulbs," it's all about cost. A handful of the cheapest/brightest 5mm LEDs costs more than a conventional bulb - and you need to toss in some driver circuitry to make them work well and live somewhere close to the bandied-about 100,000-hour lifetime.

There is a small market for drop-in LED light bulbs - emergency EXIT signs, etc. It takes $40 worth of labor to replace a dead $1.50 light bulb in an emergency sign, and there are fines and lawsuit issues if they're not always working.

LEDs aren't as efficient as typical incadescent and flourescent lighting once you get out of the low-voltage world of flashlights. I've researched this topic extensively for work - 12 months ago, $100 worth of LEDs couldn't put out as much raw light as a $2 18" florescent tube. I really wanted to eliminate the florescent tubes in this application due to the custom sheet metal and heat-generating ballasts they used, but couldn't save money with LEDs, and the maintenance savings just didn't add up.

Unless 3/5/8/10mm/SMD LEDs see a sudden price drop simultaneous with a huge increase in efficiency, it looks like we'll have to wait for the market to reach equalibrium on high-power LEDs before you see commonplace LED-base general lighting.

[kakster]

I cant seem to find the banner now, but CPF member HotBeam was selling MR16 LED replacement bulbs with 3x 1watt Luxeons. You might want to get in touch with him.

[PhotonWrangler]

[ QUOTE ]
idleprocess said:
Unless 3/5/8/10mm/SMD LEDs see a sudden price drop simultaneous with a huge increase in efficiency, it looks like we'll have to wait for the market to reach equalibrium on high-power LEDs before you see commonplace LED-base general lighting.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree. I can still get more light for less heat, wattage and hassle from CF lamps, and at least some of the CFs use electronic ballasts which eliminate that annoying 60hz flicker. We use a lot of CFs as replacements for incandescents in recessed ceiling fixtures and we get a tremendous savings in labor, especially when it takes a scaffold to reach some of the fixtures!

[flashlightDR]

I was putting in CF in my porch lights but they were not lasting very long. It turns out that my porch light has a photo sensitive switch that flickers alot when it turns on; something that CF's can't tolerate well.

[PhotonWrangler]

[ QUOTE ]
flashlightDR said:
I was putting in CF in my porch lights but they were not lasting very long. It turns out that my porch light has a photo sensitive switch that flickers alot when it turns on; something that CF's can't tolerate well.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, some CF ballasts get very angry when presented with the kind of power that comes out of an electronic dimmer/switch device. They were designed for a nominally pure AC sine wave, and those dimmers usually don't come close to that. Some CFs can even fry their ballasts.

Philips makes a CF lamp that's specifically designed for dimmer circuits and clearly says "dimmable" on the packaging. Might want to try that before giving up.

[ErickThakrar]

Probably the MR16 replacements are the best way to go for now. You're already on 12 volts so it's just a question of replacing the bulbs if you have a halogen light setup already. Personally I'm interested in it from the perspective of lighting an entire house with LED's. It can be done, as the VosPad showed and I think the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. When I eventually get around to building a house, I am planning on getting all my power from solar- and wind-power. If I can run most of the house on low voltage, not only will it be safer, but I won't have to worry so much about providing 120 volts to every outlet in the house. That and the long life and lower running cost, should pay for it self in the long run. Has anybody done any real testing on this? Supposedly the VosPad obviously but I was thinking something more...Accessible.