9,576 Phillips LEDs in the new New Years Eve NYC Times Square ball

[john2551]

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=8&aid=76947 you can also watch the video segment if you like.

 

[john2551]

Administrators, i just realized that this thread might belong in the "beyond flashlights" category. Please move it if you deem necessary.

 

[jake25]

9,576 R2 Cree XR-E's

1,000's of blind people?

 

[LukeA]

9,576 R2 Cree XR-E's

1,000's of blind people?

Phillips LEDs. It's actually some iteration of the K2 family.

 

[john2551]

9,576 R2 Cree XR-E's

1,000's of blind people?

Much more than 1,000's because more than 1 million people show up in Times Square on New Years Eve.

 

[rizky_p]

9,576 Luxeons???? how would one heat-sink all the LEDs???

 

[65535]

I believe they made the swap last year, I imagine they have some serious forced air cooling on it.

 

[EricB]

I got to see it right up close and even touch it when it was on display at Macy's a few weeks ago!

 

[OceanView]

I saw the video of the new ball and it's certainly an improvement over the incandescent versions. You have the ability to use colors, and through computer controls, can do all sorts of neat visual effects.

Actually, check out this case study document from Phillips. Interesting read. Each triangular facet on the ball is a mirrored compartment containing a red, green, and blue-colored K2 (I'm assuming one of the new K2 emitters and not the older one?) plus a white. The very end of the document mentions Rebels along with the K2's, so I'm thinking that a Rebel emitter is responsible for the white. Then each cell is covered with a double-cut (i.e. faceted on the inside and outside surfaces) Waterford crystal lens. Makes for a very sparkly visual effect. Very nice.

I think it's cool that this Times Square ball is the first one to actually go on display for people to see up close and see it shimmer and change colors.

 

[Silverliner25s]

Also the new Philips Halogena Energy Saver lamps are used to spell out "2008" if I recall correctly. I have tried out the new lamps and they are pretty decent.

 

[EricB]

If LED bulbs have gotten bright enough to light the Brooklyn Bridge soon, you would think they would have converted this year sign to LED too!

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Neat article. Thanks for the link, OceanView!

 

[Silverliner25s]

The "2008" was lit by those new halogen lamps because Philips wants to heavily promote them to the buying public. 100w of light for only 70w is a pretty big reduction for a traditional tungsten light source, they even run cooler too. All from my initial experience trying them out, they're good stuff.