LED Lighting

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#617058 29-Apr-2012 19:16

Morgenmuffel: Has anyone tried the cheapie LED bulbs that they are selling at Bunnings,

ViriBright
360lm
5w (40w equiv)
Cool White

I have 2 in my hallway and they are OK, definitely cool white though

Same as an eBay one which was half the price. Had a tick and a number on the box so you are all good if it asplodes tho.

Richard rich.ms

Niel

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#617059 29-Apr-2012 19:19

The one I got off eBay I took apart as far as I could without damaging - only got to the LEDs, but glad I did. The board was "stuck" to the heat sink with heat sink compound so poor thermal conductivity. There were 3 threaded holes for M2 screws, so I got some from work and properly attached it. Should last much longer than a few weeks.

Lots of the cheap stuff is quality products with batch faults, or rejected orders. On Deal Extreme there is a very nice media player - without heat sink on the processor. Runs only about 5 minutes of video decoding before it crashes, works fine when you add a heat sink.

You can never have enough Volvos!

Niel

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#617061 29-Apr-2012 19:21

New Zealand requires C-Tick marking with a company registration number. I think normal bulbs are exempt because there are no RF causing circuits inside, but LEDs with power supplies most likely needs to have C-Tick approval (or self-declaration with supporting test reports).

You can never have enough Volvos!

Skolink

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#617127 29-Apr-2012 21:17

Speaking of safety, here's some pics of the power supply PCB from the LED downlights I just bought from Ebay.
Look at the tiny creepage distance from mains to DC - less then 2mm, but the 60335.1 safety standard requires 3.6mm. I think the 60950 standard requires 6 or 8mm. I'll bet the transformer isn't 'safety isolating' either.

I'll be bonding an earth wire to the metal part of the fitting methinks.

timmmay

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#617138 29-Apr-2012 21:33

Niel: A nice accessory for the standard Home recessed light fittings is they do have a lens available (clear or frosted) that clips on from below to stop any draft/dust between the ceiling and interior. And the fittings themselves are really cheap.

Any downlight without insulation over top that requires something to stop dust/the breeze is costing you FAR more in wasted heat than it's saving you in power.

richms

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#617142 29-Apr-2012 21:48

Skolink: Speaking of safety, here's some pics of the power supply PCB from the LED downlights I just bought from Ebay.
Look at the tiny creepage distance from mains to DC - less then 2mm, but the 60335.1 safety standard requires 3.6mm. I think the 60950 standard requires 6 or 8mm. I'll bet the transformer isn't 'safety isolating' either.

I'll be bonding an earth wire to the metal part of the fitting methinks.

They are all like that. Same PSU boards as used inside the crap GU10 replacements. No way those can achieve clearances etc with the available space. They have the advantage that they dont have to as tehy are regarded in the same category as the "ballast" on a CFL, despite connecting to exposed metal and being advertised as safe to touch because they dont get hot.

Absurd. IMO its time to eliminate the nonsense that is retrofit efficiant lamps and push for fixture replacement.

Richard rich.ms

Niel

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#617198 30-Apr-2012 06:05

There is a president in incandescent bulbs that if the glass breaks you can also touch mains.

Let me know if you want a breakdown test done, we have the equipment (kind of goes with designing of electric fence energizers...).

You can never have enough Volvos!

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Jimmy22

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#617260 30-Apr-2012 09:49

mattwnz:
Jimmy22: Got two 50w and a 100w? Flood light from these guys yesterday..? pretty sure that would be bright enough for everyone...? http://www.ledsunlimited.co.nz?

How do they compare with the ones you can get one dealextreme.com, which do a huge number of LED bulbs? There seem to be so many LED lightbulb websites popping up now, possibly they have good margins.

Just looking at the amount of light thy produce. A some of their LED halogen replacements produce 120Lumins of light, while a conventional 50W halogen produces around 1000 lumins. So they don't appear to be up there yet.

LED Count: 50 x 1Watt (multi chip)

Luminous Flux : 4450 Lm
Colour Temp: Cool White 6000 - 6500K
LED Voltage: 85 - 265v AC
LED - Watts: 50
LED Efficiency: >90 Lm/W
Total Consumption - Watts: 55
IP Rating: 65
Power Factor: >0.95
Power Efficiency: >85%
CRI: Ra>70 (warm white)
CRI: Ra>80 (cool white)
Working Temp: -40 to 55 C
Working Life-Span: 50,000 Hours
Beam Angle: Avg 115 degrees / 90 degrees (optional)
Harmonic Distortion (THD): <10%
Material for Housing: Aluminium
Net weight: 5.1kgs

Skolink

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#617380 30-Apr-2012 12:14

Jimmy22:
mattwnz:
Jimmy22: Got two 50w and a 100w? Flood light from these guys yesterday..? pretty sure that would be bright enough for everyone...? http://www.ledsunlimited.co.nz?

How do they compare with the ones you can get one dealextreme.com, which do a huge number of LED bulbs? There seem to be so many LED lightbulb websites popping up now, possibly they have good margins.

Just looking at the amount of light thy produce. A some of their LED halogen replacements produce 120Lumins of light, while a conventional 50W halogen produces around 1000 lumins. So they don't appear to be up there yet.

LED Count: 50 x 1Watt (multi chip)
Luminous Flux : 4450 Lm
Colour Temp: Cool White 6000 - 6500K
LED Voltage: 85 - 265v AC
LED - Watts: 50
LED Efficiency: >90 Lm/W
Total Consumption - Watts: 55
IP Rating: 65
Power Factor: >0.95
Power Efficiency: >85%
CRI: Ra>70 (warm white)
CRI: Ra>80 (cool white)
Working Temp: -40 to 55 C
Working Life-Span: 50,000 Hours
Beam Angle: Avg 115 degrees / 90 degrees (optional)
Harmonic Distortion (THD): <10%
Material for Housing: Aluminium
Net weight: 5.1kgs

4450 Lm / 55 = 81 Lm/W not ">90". I wonder if their numbers can be trusted.
EDIT: ah I see it is "LED Efficiency" rather than lamp/luminaire efficiency. So excludes power supply and optical enclosure losses.
Seems like a pretty good lamp.

StarBlazer

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#617425 30-Apr-2012 13:33

I was at the Wellington Home Exhibition at the weekend and watched a seminar on energy efficient lighting. The talk was from Switch Lighting and was very facinating.

He spoke about the colour rendition and brightness and comparisons of colour temperature. Didn't get any real indication pricing, but he demonstrated some of the lighting units from 1W up and showed a number of slides on how these lights were actually used. I really liked the application of the 1W units outside.

This company apparently provided the lighting for the Meridian house that was on the Wellington waterfront last year.

If I heard correctly, they actually manufacture their own lights. They had plenty of fully enclosed light units to replace existing down-lights etc.

Procrastination eventually pays off.

Skolink

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#617454 30-Apr-2012 14:37

StarBlazer: I was at the Wellington Home Exhibition at the weekend and watched a seminar on energy efficient lighting. The talk was from Switch Lighting and was very facinating.

Their '50W Halogen replacement' looks pretty good - 960 Lumen output (13W input). I wonder how much they are. The power supply is leading-edge dimmer compatible too.

CYaBro

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#617468 30-Apr-2012 15:00

Skolink:
StarBlazer: I was at the Wellington Home Exhibition at the weekend and watched a seminar on energy efficient lighting. The talk was from Switch Lighting and was very facinating.

Their '50W Halogen replacement' looks pretty good - 960 Lumen output (13W input). I wonder how much they are. The power supply is leading-edge dimmer compatible too.

I would like to know a price on those too. :)

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

mattwnz

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#617509 30-Apr-2012 16:38

StarBlazer: I was at the Wellington Home Exhibition at the weekend and watched a seminar on energy efficient lighting.? The talk was from Switch Lighting and was very facinating.

He spoke about the colour rendition and brightness and comparisons of colour temperature.? Didn't get any real indication pricing, but he demonstrated some of the lighting units from 1W up and showed a number of slides on how these lights were actually used.??I really liked the application of the 1W units outside.

This company apparently provided the lighting for the Meridian house that was on the Wellington waterfront last year.

If I heard correctly, they actually manufacture their own lights.? They had plenty of fully enclosed light units?to replace existing down-lights etc.?

I saw some being shown off at the First Light House, and the person I was with who saw the demo said they were expensive. I think they may have been well over the $100 mark, including all the fittings, but don't quote me on that. Not saying that they weren't worth that, and I guess early adopters have to pay more. One thing you will find with retailers selling LED lights is that they advertise the cost savings, to justify the initial purchase cost . I am looking for some, but I may just buy conventional bulbs until leds become more maintstream and the cost comes down. In terms of energy costs vs purchase price, I may not be losing too much money doing that, as electricity is relatively cheap now compared to what it will likely become in the future.

Skolink

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#617623 30-Apr-2012 20:18

mattwnz: In terms of energy costs vs purchase price, I may not be losing too much money doing that, as electricity is relatively cheap now compared to what it will likely become in the future.

It's extremely easy to calculate - why guess?

Niel

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#617665 30-Apr-2012 21:30

Verbatim has some nice standard fitting bulbs, but last year when I looked they were still close to $100 each and not that bright (seem to be the trend).

Why not start off with cheap Chinese bulbs that are not ideal but you save powert for a couple of years until you find the bulb you want? Start with he most used spaces.

You can never have enough Volvos!

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