LED Lighting

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#517506 6-Sep-2011 13:50

timmmay: The thing about lights is they tend to be used when it's dark, so solar power isn't really the best plan. Of course you can put a battery in, but then there needs to be a charging infrastructure.

For this idea, a battery and charger are part of the plan. I am only trying to supplement the mains power, not replace it.

rscole86

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#517509 6-Sep-2011 13:50

I've seen some 7w LED's in use to replace some Halogen bulbs. The light the produce, although rated at 50w is not amazing, and may even be lower than 50w. To get a higher wattage, the next LED bulb up requires a fan built in, which is not ideal.
For what I saw, and the cost vs hours, I would still use halogen over the LEDs.

Skolink

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#517512 6-Sep-2011 13:53

timbosan: Is any/all of this feasible?

It certainly is feasible, 800 lumen 12V LED downlights are available and 12V solar systems (inlcuding panel, bettery and charge controller) are also commonly available.

I assume you are not aiming to save money by having a solar system, because that is certainly not feasible. I would guess the solar system would be about $1000, plus the lights.

timmmay

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#517514 6-Sep-2011 13:56

timbosan:
timmmay: The thing about lights is they tend to be used when it's dark, so solar power isn't really the best plan. Of course you can put a battery in, but then there needs to be a charging infrastructure.

For this idea, a battery and charger are part of the plan. I am only trying to supplement the mains power, not replace it.

That seems like a lot of effort and expense for a very very small gain. If mains and solar are charging the battery then the mains will likely keep it fully charged anyway, unless you put a timer on. If you have it pull power from the battery if it has it, or the mains if not, then you may have a totally flat battery, which isn't good for them.

If it's part of a big design then sure, but it seems like overkill.

Skolink

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#517515 6-Sep-2011 13:57

rscole86: I've seen some 7w LED's in use to replace some Halogen bulbs. The light the produce, although rated at 50w is not amazing, and may even be lower than 50w. To get a higher wattage, the next LED bulb up requires a fan built in, which is not ideal.
For what I saw, and the cost vs hours, I would still use halogen over the LEDs.

Much better to replace the whole fitting. Bulb replacement LED lights are not very good.

Also describing lights in terms of Watts is nonsense. Like Europe, we on Geekzone should desribe a light in terms of light output in an SI unit. I could build a 1000W LED lamp that would stil have you stumbling about in the dark.

stuzzo

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#517571 6-Sep-2011 15:29

Skolink:
rscole86: I've seen some 7w LED's in use to replace some Halogen bulbs. The light the produce, although rated at 50w is not amazing, and may even be lower than 50w. To get a higher wattage, the next LED bulb up requires a fan built in, which is not ideal.
For what I saw, and the cost vs hours, I would still use halogen over the LEDs.

Much better to replace the whole fitting. Bulb replacement LED lights are not very good.

Also describing lights in terms of Watts is nonsense. Like Europe, we on Geekzone should desribe a light in terms of light output in an SI unit. I could build a 1000W LED lamp that would stil have you stumbling about in the dark.

Are they also so pedantic in Europe? We are using watts and specifying the type of light and lights of the same type tend to be similar in light output. As the discussion is concerned with power consumption wattage is an important factor.

In my experience, Leds tend to outperform their output in lumens when compared to CFLs but that could simply be a directionality aspect and the way lumens are calculated.

Skolink

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#517609 6-Sep-2011 16:21

Pedantic? What better measure of a lamp than how much light it produces? Lumens is a measure of total (visible) light output, not dependant on direction. Of course power consumption is important, which is why Wattage alone is not a good way to compare lamps.
LED lamps are not yet as efficient as fluorescent lamps (especially T5 tubular fluoros).

Have a look at the lighting section of the New Zealand Energy Audit Manual
EDIT: this no longer seems to be available on EECA website.

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Skolink

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#518030 7-Sep-2011 11:24

EECA Energy Audit Manual here http://www.eecabusiness.drupaldemo.catalyst.net.nz/node/6759

networkn

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#566378 9-Jan-2012 09:16

I wonder if there will be new developments in this years CES 2012!

Our CFL's don't last a year, I am pretty sure the overall cost to us is more with CFL! Not sure if that's cheap fittings or cheap bulbs but it's not great either way!

freitasm

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#566380 9-Jan-2012 09:18

networkn: I wonder if there will be new developments in this years CES 2012!

Our CFL's don't last a year, I am pretty sure the overall cost to us is more with CFL! Not sure if that's cheap fittings or cheap bulbs but it's not great either way!

That's strange... Our CFLs here last for years and years.

timmmay

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#566381 9-Jan-2012 09:19

A good brand of CFLs should last years, mine do. Consumer recommends Philips Tornado, GE Entice, Ecobulb, and GE Tiny Spiral. If those are blowing then i'd have an electrician check out your power. You don't want to put in expensive LED bulbs and have them blow up.

freitasm

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#566392 9-Jan-2012 09:36

There you go... We use Philips in all out light fittings here. More expensive than Woolworths Home Brand, but it's a brand I've known and trust.

networkn

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#566393 9-Jan-2012 09:40

We buy decent brands as well, I actually got some of my brighter ones from the light bulb guy in Wellington who does a great variety of very bright (23w) and colour tones (I prefer cold white).

We may have some junky ones (my wife is more budget focused) but on the whole I think we largely have decent brand stuff.

Skolink

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#566415 9-Jan-2012 10:54

freitasm: There you go... We use Philips in all out light fittings here. More expensive than Woolworths Home Brand, but it's a brand I've known and trust.

+1
I have found cheap ones to be more expensive because of how often they had to be replaced. I only buy Philips now.

richms

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#566611 9-Jan-2012 19:29

And that includes the cheap philips in the 5 box - they are non spiral ones.

I am always getting the largest available, and both the philips tornado 24w and the osram that is about the same size have lasted very very well.

The ones I have massive failures with are the cheapies, and the small wattage golfball ones in all brands (that go in the lamps around a mirror etc) which is a shame because it needs to be CFL so that its not dirty orange incandesnet and the LED golfball lamps are not bright enough.

Worst have to have been the ecobulb 60w replacements which out of the box had a massive warmup time and a horrid purple glow to start off with and then ended up being more orange than a normal warmwhite one. They were rated at 2700 (as opposed to the 3000k that a normal incandesent will run at typically) but basically were so lacking in blue when running that blue things looked more grey under them.

Till there are 20+ W LED lamps in a normal formfactor I think that CFL will stay around. The 4w MR16 replacements are a viable replacement for the 20w's in landscape lighting, but the higher wattage ones have a very wide beam angle. Saw a 10W philips that was virtually just a 180 degree lamp, no beam at all.

Richard rich.ms

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