LED Light bulbs

Hinotori

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We didn't get cheap bulbs and they have been in the most constantly used lights in our house for about 7 months now. I don't see any issues with ours. They still look as bright as incandescents.
 

jhad1066

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Lower quality led lights will have smaller (and insufficient) heat sinks which will impact length of life. While LED's themselves generate less heat than incandescent bulbs, the circuitry required for LED's does generate heat, and heat is the enemy for LED's (temps above 200 degs F will lead to premature failure)
 

xpc

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Jhad, not sure if I like your name or not but you are right about the construction of LED bulbs...

The inversion of 120 VAC to 1.5 volt DC has a bit of a loss (heat), the ballast or electronics needed for the conversion requires the dissipation of E squared divided by R. The use of even the best LED still requires a pull down resistor (built in or otherwise) even when series strung - a 60 watt to 9 watt ratio is still good as it achieves the same goal.

The bulk of my house runs on solar and LED, the rest on alcohol fumes...
 

jhad1066

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xpc
The name's just that (1st initial and part of last):)
 

~gd

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xpc said:
Jhad, not sure if I like your name or not but you are right about the construction of LED bulbs...

The inversion of 120 VAC to 1.5 volt DC has a bit of a loss (heat), the ballast or electronics needed for the conversion requires the dissipation of E squared divided by R. The use of even the best LED still requires a pull down resistor (built in or otherwise) even when series strung - a 60 watt to 9 watt ratio is still good as it achieves the same goal.

The bulk of my house runs on solar and LED, the rest on alcohol fumes...
If you are Solar why would ypu convert the DC from your cells to AC and than back to DC to run LEDs?
To much alcohol fumes... ~gd
 

Joel_BC

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jhad, xpc, and others...

I'd suggest we need to be talking brand names, specific models (possibly designated by letters and numerals), warranties, and prices. True, prices in your area might differ from those in my own. But for people like me who've replaced our flashlights with LED type, but so far resisted buying LED "Edison-style" bulbs to replace household lighting - due to cost of investment and uncertainty about how long the LEDs are likely to last - the specifics are very important.

Thanks for considering my suggestion.
 

~gd

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Joel_BC said:
jhad, xpc, and others...

I'd suggest we need to be talking brand names, specific models (possibly designated by letters and numerals), warranties, and prices. True, prices in your area might differ from those in my own. But for people like me who've replaced our flashlights with LED type, but so far resisted buying LED "Edison-style" bulbs to replace household lighting - due to cost of investment and uncertainty about how long the LEDs are likely to last - the specifics are very important.

Thanks for considering my suggestion.
Yep I have considered it and will dropout since I have no interest in Edison bulbs. My interest is in task lighting [like a workbench or for grow lights] basically the jobs that used 48" tubes. ~gd
 

jhad1066

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Joel_BC said:
jhad, xpc, and others...

I'd suggest we need to be talking brand names, specific models (possibly designated by letters and numerals), warranties, and prices. True, prices in your area might differ from those in my own. But for people like me who've replaced our flashlights with LED type, but so far resisted buying LED "Edison-style" bulbs to replace household lighting - due to cost of investment and uncertainty about how long the LEDs are likely to last - the specifics are very important.

Thanks for considering my suggestion.
Joel

As far as specifics ie brand, model ect, I dont know how to effectively evaluate what is out there other than to buy a few different types and pull them apart to examine the circuitry. Of course Im way too cheap for that, but on the energy star website they list the criteria for manufactures to get an energy star rating for LED bulbs the chart is as follows


LED Light Bulbs Key Product Criteria
Performance Characteristics: Current Criteria:
Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) Nominal CCT: 2700K, 3000K, 3500K, or 4000K
Color Maintenance The change of chromaticity over the minimum lumen maintenance test period (6000 hours) shall be within 0.007 on the CIE 1976 (u�,v�) diagram.
Color Quality (Color Rendering Index or CRI) CRI >= 80, R9>0
Dimming If a product is dimmable, packaging must state this. Minimum efficacy, light output, CCT, CRI, and power factor of dimmable lamps will be confirmed with the lamp operated at full power.
Warranty A warranty must be provided for lamps, covering material repair or replacement for a minimum of three (3) years from the date of purchase.
Allowable Lamp Bases Must be a lamp base listed by ANSI.
Power Factor For lamp power <= 5W and for low voltage lamps, no minimum power factor is required.
For lamp power >= 5W, power factor must be = 0.70.
Minimum Operating Temperature Integral lamp shall have a minimum operating temperature of -20�C or below.
LED Operating Frequency >= 120 Hz
Electromagnetic and Radio Frequency Interference Integral LED lamp must meet the appropriate FCC requirements for consumer use (FCC 47CFR Part 15).
Audible Noise Integral lamp shall have a Class A sound rating.
Transient Protection Power supply shall comply with IEEE C.62.41-1991, Class A operation. The line transient shall consist of seven strikes of a 100kHz ring wave, 2.5kV level, for both common mode and differential mode.
Operating Voltage Lamp shall operate at rated nominal voltage of 120, 240, or 277 VAC, or at 12 or 24 VAC or VDC.


Given this info I think the best bet would be to go with an energy star rated bulb and test the feasibility on an individual basis

jim
 

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