'retrofit' kits--adaptable for cove lights, etc?

[hank]

I've bought individual lamps (amber 'turtle safe' LEDs) from Axiom and they've worked fine, no problems.

Axiom is now rolling out a variety of retrofit kits for 2x2 and 2x4 fluorescent lamp fixtures:
http://store.axiomled.com/category_s/22.htm

Or you can get the modules in strings like this
http://store.axiomled.com/AXLE7_SW35_MB_White_LED_p/axle7-sw35-mb.htm

I'm wondering about using these on aluminum bar with heat transfer glue and screws to put around the upper edge of a room as indirect cove lighting.

Wondered if anyone has worked with these or something comparable.

They're Nichias, and underdriven.

 

[kethd]

Color me questioning.
They make a lot of extreme boasts about "highest lumen per watt" without telling us what the lpw of their lighting system is. They mention "Nichia of Japan LEDs utilized are greater than 100 Lumen Per Watt (LPW)" in passing, which is somewhat besides the point for a lighting SYSTEM -- we need to know what real overall system performance is...

Where they do offer Lumens and Watts, they divide out to a little or quite a bit less than 100 LPW -- too bad they seem to be dancing around the point, and don't want to just tell us straight out.

This is a particular concern when they mention "any 12VDC power supply" -- we'd like to know the lpw including the PS!

Anyway, if you try them, take some good pics, and let us know how it turns out...

 

[Lynx_Arc]

They could just swap out the ballast and put in T5 fluorescents and get the same efficiency for a lot cheaper.

 

[hank]

Yeah, ordinary tube fluorescents are more efficient, no argument with that.

LEDs tempt me for home cove lighting to minimize the space used to hold and hide lights.

(For commercial use I assume the value is the longer time between replacing lamps).

Hmmm, do you think "total power ... 24 Watts ... 2200 Lumen Output" isn't good info? (that's from one of their tech spec tabs).

I'd have thought "total ... 24 watts" included the power supply. Ya think not?

That's considerably lower than the "lumens per watt" number I find widely quoted: "Nichia ... LEDs that have an operating efficacy of 120 lumens per watt"

I know I'm not cynical enough yet.
I'm just homebuilder looking for LEDs to try to make a roomful of cove lighting.

There are a zillion ideas out there, here's a few dozens for example
http://www.google.com/search?q=dealextreme+aluminum+strip

But there's less info with most of them than with this Axiom kit. If you know a better supplier that gives more info, please post that -- I guess each supplier someone asks about is getting a separate thread here, so far.

Maybe once the area settles down a review of available sources would be a good topic.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I think one issue you haven't thought about is the proprietary module and circuit board design of LEDs. In 5 years I would guess LEDs would be available in the 175+ lumens/watt range and you would be stuck with 100 lumens/watt thinking about upgrading but end up on the replacement end again. If an LED for some reason does go out you cannot go to a store and pick one up, if there are more than 1 LED in a circuit (series) and one goes out you could take a serious light hit and if they are not serviceable you will have to pay for an expensive module all over again. The longevity of LEDs in commercial use is not well documented. In theory they should last 25,000 hours etc but poor heatsinking and bad power and marginal power supplies could have you 3-5 years or less down the road forced with the decision to replace everything again because the parts are no longer available, new more robust and efficient designs have replaced them.

 

[hank]

I've thought about those issues -- those apply to any LEDs, not this particular source.
For a larger space I could just buy Edison-base bulbs, or fluorescent tubes.

But for cove lighting -- in this particular room -- I want a long, narrow light source. LED strips will fit, and various kinds are available. I picked one to ask about here. Other topics mention other sources. (I've never seen a strip of LEDs wired in series, yes, that would be a big problem.)

For any and all of them yes, your cautions are good for anyone thinking of making home fixed lighting out of LED sources -- any LED sources, from any supplier.
Yep, they'll improve.
Yep, they're nonstandard.
Yep, if you can't tell serial from parallel wiring you'll be in big trouble.
Yep, you want an appropriate driver and power supply.

Aside -- if anyone needs to identify parallel wiring, here's what to look for:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Parallel-and-Series-Circuit/step2/Parallel-Circuit/
http://store.axiomled.com/PhotoDetails.asp?ShowDesc=N&PhotoNumber=4&ProductCode=AXLE7-SW65

Well, it appears nobody else has repurposed these retrofit kits; I may try one and mount the lamps in a piece of aluminum channel, or just buy a few dozen individual LEDs (they come wired together, they cut off as many as you order from a roll, I gather, I've bought three and four-LED strips in the past for 12v camping use).


The end result I want is a light that would mount sort of like this DealExtreme strip -- except I would put the emitters bolted and glued flat onto the aluminum heatsink, not sliding loose in channel slots like this one: http://www.dealextreme.com/photogallery.dx/sku.47300~seQ.2

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I would love to see strip lighting and power supplies with UL rated design such that you can buy a strip and a power supply and mount them anywhere.