led's for home lighting.

[Spork]

led\'s for home lighting.

I was just looking at the 6 led replacement bulbs for going into a regular lamp.
http://www.theledlight.com/120-VAC-LEDbulbs.html

would one of these be a good buy? a lot of times I just need a small amount of light in the room and it seems led's are a lot easier on my eyes.

 

[flashfan]

Re: led\'s for home lighting.

Very interesting!

I like LED lights, but those bulbs are priced in the stratosphere! $190.00 for a 36-LED bulb that is equivalent to a 30-watt incandescent? And $698.00 for a 144-LED bulb equivalent to a 150-watt floodlight? The 6-LED unit is more "reasonable" in terms of price, but I wonder how much light you'll actually get.

Given their long life, perhaps energy and replacement bulb savings make it worthwhile...

I can speak only for myself, but if I had $698.00, I would buy a few compact fluorescent bulbs for the house, and use the rest of the $$ to "improve" my flashlight collection.

 

[Brock]

Re: led\'s for home lighting.

I have 2 of the 12vdc ones with 12 LED's. They are made quite nicely, they look like a standard lamp, but have the LED in there.

They are to bright for what I was wanting to do with them. I would say they are are about the same as a 15w 120vac lamp. I want something about 2w at 120v for a nightlight. I have tried the new 4w compact flourescent from Jade mountain and they are about 15w also. I am now using 2 of the limelights in the location, a bit dim but it works. A single Nichia 5600 running 30mA would be just about right for me.

In any case I will have to order one of the 3 LED 120vac lights and see how they perform.

 

[NightShift]

Re: led\'s for home lighting.

Ive been to this site many times...i think the stuff on this site is great and i'd like to try it all out..............when i become a millionaire, lol. This stuff is pricey!

Speaking of this site...i was here yesterday and was looking at this product

. Does any place else on the web make these size diamater LED arrays? I have an 1157 LED bulb but its not an array this big. I was wondering cuz im very interested in these, but the price tag is a little high. To be even more specific, im looking for 6 volt ones.

 

[PeLu]

Re: led\'s for home lighting.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by flashfan:
Very interesting!

I like LED lights, but those bulbs are priced in the stratosphere! $190.00 for a 36-LED bulb that is equivalent to a 30-watt incandescent? And $698.00 for a 144-LED bulb equivalent to a 150-watt floodlight? Given their long life, perhaps energy and replacement bulb savings make it worthwhile...
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

A good 23W energy saving lamp will give 1200-1500lm at a much higher efficiency than let's say 1000 white LEDs. And will cost some $12-15 (here). Some of them last 25-30,000 hours.
So there is absolutely no need for this LED lamps.

 

[Free]

Re: led\'s for home lighting.

I am putting in a LED night lighting system in a house I am building. We are using LED rope lighting under the kick plates in the kitchen and bath areas and LED bulbs in kick lights through the hallways and on the stairs.

Here is a link to the bulbs at Jade Mountain:Jade Mountain LED Bulbs

The price of $39 is rediculous but I have two of these bulbs and they are pretty cool.

Here is a link to the manufacturer:

Boca Flasher

The quantities we are ordering gets us bulbs at about half the price of Jade Mountain.

 

[Chris M.]

Re: led\'s for home lighting.

They are to bright for what I was wanting to do with them. I would say they are are about the same as a 15w 120vac lamp. I want something about 2w at 120v for a nightlight.

You`d like Jade Mountain`s 120v AC A-19 LED bulb- that should fit the bill nicely as a nightlight.

I finally got mine after what must have been 6 months or more of waiting for it- they were backordered for months then when I finally got the parcel I found it had been mistakenly sent to Australia and back

Anyway, moaning aside......well OK I`ll continue. That 120 volt bulb is extremely dim. The light is really nice- a pure daylight with no odd blue or purple tint when it`s shone onto a white surface in daytime. It`s quite wide too- with the slightest faint blue ring characteristic of those wide LEDs- but you`d not see it if you didn`t look for it. But it`s dim. Really dim. And it flickers badly on our 50Hz mains frequency- though should be better at 60Hz. It`s rated 1 watt and is about as bright as 1 watt of incandescent spotlight too- but that`s not surprising since the average white LED is currently no more efficient than all but the most feeble incandescents. It would make a great night light but as a reading/desk lamp (my intended use for it) it`s just too dim- and not really worth the price I paid either. My Eternalight easilly overpowers it at less than full power- and if I hadn`t broken my LEDtronics Flashled (notable for its dimness despite having 6 LEDs) I expect that one would overpower it too.

Too bad cos otherwise, it`s kind of neat especially as the light bulb collector that I am....

 

[Free]

Re: led\'s for home lighting.

Chris, I chose the Amber LED bulbs because they have a higher output than the white and the amber color will be perfect as a night lighting system. They don't flicker here and look pretty cool.

They are a great conversation piece as well. I show a clear bulb that you can see all of the guts and everyone thinks it is cool. I am using the amber frosted for the nightlight.

 

[Brock]

Re: led\'s for home lighting.

Chris those are the same A19 lamps I got, but mine are the 12v version. Mine might be brighter since my 12v system is usually above 13vdc. I would assume they would take that in to account when they made the lamp. In any case I did order the 3led 12vdc one from theledlight.com. Hopefully it will be dimmer and smaller then the A19 sized one from Jademountain.

 

[Chris M.]

Re: led\'s for home lighting.

I just had a thought as to why my LED bulb is so dissapointingly dim.

It appears, from studying its innards, that the primary "voltage dropping element" is a series connected capacitor. And the impedence of the capacitor (think like resistance), if I remember rightly, is inversely related to the frequency of the power supply- for a fixed capacitance it is higher at lower frequencies than it is for higher frequencies.
Well since these bulbs are designed for the North American market- on 110-120 volts 60Hz, I expect that on our 50Hz supply frequency, the capacitor is dropping too much voltage and so it actually is dimmer than it should be. One of these screwed into a US-based light socket should be brighter, at least a bit. My enormous 120 volt transformer (that I get my 115 volt supply from) lowers the voltage but its frequency remains the same 50Hz.


What I need is a 120 volt 60Hz supply to test it on. Anyone know of a cheap(ish) 24 DC-120 AC 60Hz step up inverter? I have no shortage of very large 24 volt transformers here to build a powerful(ish) 24DC supply with- that could then be fed to the inverter- and hence give 120 volts 60Hz.

 

[Brock]

Re: led\'s for home lighting.

Chris you should be able to order an "automotive" type inverter pretty cheap online. They take 12vdc input, some with a cig lighter plug, then put out 120vac 60hz. Most of them are modified sine wave or even square wave so that might also mess up your results though. Hey do your cars use 12vdc battery?

I bet it is about the same brightness as the 12v ones I have. Again it is to bright for my use, about 15w to 20w. But it does have thetypical Nichia focus to it is pretty bright in the "hotspot".

 

[Chris M.]

Re: led\'s for home lighting.

Thanks, I`ll have a look round for some inverters when I get the chance- I know 240 volt True Sine Wave types exist so perhaps 120 volt ones do too?

Yes here in the UK our cars generally have 12 volt batteries....but I don`t have a car- I don`t even drive. Yet. The reason I`d prefer 24 volts is that I have loads of very large 24v transformers that I currently use as doorstops- and I`d prefer something I can just plug in and leave cooking as an actual usable light, not just a demonstration unit. I do have 12 volt lead acid batteries but most are salvaged from old fire alarm panels and are in poor condition. I have a small (150 watt) 12-240 volt inverter and it consumes huge quantities of power that would suck one of my injured little 7Ah Yuasas dry in minutes.

But I expect 24 volt input 120 volt 60Hz output inverters exist too- for trucks or RVs maybe? Here in the UK, larger vehicles generally run from 24 volt supplies and 24-240 volt inverters are quite easy to find. The frequency of the output is the important factor though.

I wonder if on 50Hz, my 120 volt bulb could safely run on 240? Since its resistance is higher, it may not damage it as it could drop enough voltage? If I had a 0-240 AC variable transformer ("variac") I might try it......

BTW the LEDs in the 120 volt bulb are Nichia 50 degree wide angle models, and probably the upper "Y" or lower "W" colour rank- not blue or purple at all. Am I right in thinking the 12v one uses the 20 degree ones?