LED Lighting

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#617676 30-Apr-2012 21:38

Why not stick with cheap, easy to get CFL bulbs that use only a little more power than LEDs and give LEDs another couple years to develop?

I have a couple of 1W warm white ebay LEDs for my bedside lamps. I got them specifically because I wanted them dim, with just enough light to read. They work well.

Niel

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#618076 1-May-2012 20:32

I was at Bunnings today and saw Viribright LED lamps in 5W, 8W and 11W. Both dimmable and non-dimmable. Pricing was about $17 for 8W and $24 for 11W. It is a large Hong Kong brand with presence in AU, US, UK, Singapore, etc. It has all the compliance and from their web site you can get the declarations as required by law (I have not checked it, just saw it there). Not the best looking (imo) but looks like what people here are asking for. Has anyone tried it? Half the price of Philips, Osram, etc.

Also, suggestion for a photo hosting web site please so I can post links here. First time ever that I needed that feature...

You can never have enough Volvos!

Niel

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#618078 1-May-2012 20:37

I've looked at overseas pricing for Viribright and found we are paying about the same as AU, but cheaper than US and UK. It turns out the US has grants for changing your lights to low power lamps, so the purchase price is higher!

You can never have enough Volvos!

Skolink

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#618106 1-May-2012 21:42

Niel: I was at Bunnings today and saw Viribright LED lamps in 5W, 8W and 11W. Both dimmable and non-dimmable. Pricing was about $17 for 8W and $24 for 11W. It is a large Hong Kong brand with presence in AU, US, UK, Singapore, etc. It has all the compliance and from their web site you can get the declarations as required by law (I have not checked it, just saw it there). Not the best looking (imo) but looks like what people here are asking for. Has anyone tried it? Half the price of Philips, Osram, etc.

Also, suggestion for a photo hosting web site please so I can post links here. First time ever that I needed that feature...

Is this them? They look great - if they are 900lm at 10W, but some '10W' are 230 lm? Did they have specs at Bunnings? I've been looking for an E14 60W replacement for ages.

Niel

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#618121 1-May-2012 22:09

Skolink, that is the web site. The 11W at Bunnings look the same as the 8W style and were marked with around 900lm. I'm sure the web site has an error. But Bunnings had only E27 and BC.

I took one out of the box to have a closer look. Inside the plastic cap is more heatsink and the LEDs are in a circle at an angel with an oval blob/lens over each LED. It looks optically designed. I'm going there again tomorrow, will probably grab one now that I've checked out the company web site.

You can never have enough Volvos!

mattwnz

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#618127 1-May-2012 22:21

Skolink:
Niel: I was at Bunnings today and saw Viribright LED lamps in 5W, 8W and 11W. Both dimmable and non-dimmable. Pricing was about $17 for 8W and $24 for 11W. It is a large Hong Kong brand with presence in AU, US, UK, Singapore, etc. It has all the compliance and from their web site you can get the declarations as required by law (I have not checked it, just saw it there). Not the best looking (imo) but looks like what people here are asking for. Has anyone tried it? Half the price of Philips, Osram, etc.

Also, suggestion for a photo hosting web site please so I can post links here. First time ever that I needed that feature...

Is this them? They look great - if they are 900lm at 10W, but some '10W' are 230 lm? Did they have specs at Bunnings? I've been looking for an E14 60W replacement for ages.

The warm white ones look a lot weaker. The problem with cool white is that it isn't a nice light to be in.

Niel

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#618172 2-May-2012 06:13

Viribright also makes normal white in addition to cold/warm, but not stocked by Bunnings. And the operative word is warm light "looks" weaker. Warm white is actually more useful than cold white, as your eyes are designed to operate under natural lighting. Thus the requirements for car headlights to be warm or alternatively neutral white, but not cold white.

Edit: Difference in flux is only about 10% between warm and cold lamps, which is insignificant on a dB scale (which your visual perception works on). The rest is perception.

You can never have enough Volvos!

Niel

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#618453 2-May-2012 17:05

Okay, got the details about Virilight sorted. The old model 11W non-dimmable light is only around 400lm where as the new model 8W dimmable is 500lm warm white or 600lm cold white. The old weaker 11W is $25, the new brighter 8W is $18. I've bought the 8W dimmable warm white and in my recessed light fitting I'd say the light output very close to a 100W incandescent (remember lots of light is wasted in a recessed incandescent fitting). The colour temperature is slightly colder than an incandescent, or rather just a tiny bit neutral white so actually looks better than an incandescent. I am really impressed and will be getting some more, especially if I can find a trade price and buy in volume.

Like virtually all LEDs it is not good for a pendant light as it will illuminate only in one direction.

It is a bit fat for my fitting, it just fits if you screw it in tight. This also means the 5% opening at the back of my light fitting is lots less ;-). The heat sink fins are sealing against the light fitting reflector so any air flow into or out of the ceiling is forced through the slots in the heat sink, and the fitting reflector is also extending the size of the heat sink. Win-win.

Switch-on is almost instant and faster than CFLs. Switch-off is faded over a few seconds like when you turn off a spot light and I actually like it.

Regarding the IP54 covers for my Home Down Lights recessed fittings, I've discovered the covers are rated for 18W lamps max so not suitable for incandescents.

So more photos to take tonight but I still do not have a solution for posting photos here (been too lazy to find out).

Bottom line, for recessed fittings I highly recommend the Viribright 8W dimmable lights $18 from Bunnings. I predict (and friends at work as well) that CFL will die soon and in a year's time the cost of LED lights will be very well placed.

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networkn

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#618479 2-May-2012 17:52

Niel: Okay, got the details about Virilight sorted. The old model 11W non-dimmable light is only

Bottom line, for recessed fittings I highly recommend the Viribright 8W dimmable lights $18 from Bunnings. I predict (and friends at work as well) that CFL will die soon and in a year's time the cost of LED lights will be very well placed.

I don't get it, if you are saying they aren't good for general lighting because they have a small area of illumination, how can they replace the current technology? Also given 75w+ are by far the most common size bulbs in NZ and there are very few true 100W+ replacements, this ALSO needs to be overcome before they will become mainstream.

mattwnz

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#618481 2-May-2012 17:55

Niel: Okay, got the details about Virilight sorted.

Did bunnings have any LED models that are suitiable for replacing halogen recessed downlighters, where the fittings have a smaller diametere?

timmmay

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#618500 2-May-2012 18:43

This thread is quite funny. You guys are going on about the small savings going from CFL to LED, ignoring the much much greater cost of lost heat through having incredibly inefficient downlights.

If you really want to save money get rid of the downlights, or replace them with sealed units you can insulate over.

Niel

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#618503 2-May-2012 18:44

I see on page 4 of this thread someone else has the older 11W Viribright bulb. Note the newer 8W is brighter than the older 11W.

Networkn, I'm saying they are great for recessed fittings where half the light from an incandescent is wasted as it cannot get out of the fitting so when using an LED lamp it does not have to be so bright to be equivalent to a 100W incandescent (in a recessed fitting).

Mattwnz, there are some I think it was GU10 LED lamps from Viribright at Bunnings. But I was only interested in the ES27 and did not look closely at the others.

I've worked out at $18 a lamp the payback compared to a 100W incandescent is 6 months at 5h per night. It is now worth it for me to switch, so during one summer it will pay for itself and then during winter I need to use the electric heater more.

Previously having to pay $70+ for an LED lamp meant the payback was a few years which was not worth it.

You can never have enough Volvos!

mattwnz

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#618514 2-May-2012 19:05

timmmay: This thread is quite funny. You guys are going on about the small savings going from CFL to LED, ignoring the much much greater cost of lost heat through having incredibly inefficient downlights.

If you really want to save money get rid of the downlights, or replace them with sealed units you can insulate over.

My downlights are insulated over, as they had special heat cans that allow this. But I acknowledge that many people have had cheap or older recessed lights installed that can't have insulation near or over them. Pendant lights are really the best in my opinion, when it comes to getting the most light, and no heat loss though the ceiling.

The main advantage for me with LEDs, is lifespan, as I will be installing them in very high ceilings, where it is difficult to keep replacing the bulbs. Halogens don't last long, CFLs, havea better life, but LEDs should be the best.

Niel

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#618522 2-May-2012 19:13

timmmay: This thread is quite funny. You guys are going on about the small savings going from CFL to LED, ignoring the much much greater cost of lost heat through having incredibly inefficient downlights.

If you really want to save money get rid of the downlights, or replace them with sealed units you can insulate over.

It is what is already in my house installed by the builders, and the fittings cost less than $4 each. If I wanted something else it would have been their cost + 20%. At the time LEDs were still $100 for 5W.

Do not go CFL, unless you do not care about your furniture and documents turning yellow from the UV. In all my posts I've compared incandescent and LED.

When an LED lamp radiates most light about 120 degrees instead of wasting it in the fitting then a recessed fitting is efficient (and IC fittings are available). It is all about matching the fitting and the lamp.

My comment above about running the heater more when you have LEDs is not because of no insulation over the fittings, it is about LED lamps not heating the house as incandescent bulbs do.

You can never have enough Volvos!

richms

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#618526 2-May-2012 19:23

None of my stuff in my workspace has gone yellow from the giant 65 and 105w cfl's that I have in there, or in the garage with all the 54w propper fluros, or the shed with the old 58w T8 lamps. While you might not want to put your picasso under a CFL, ive not even seen my posters yellow any more than they would do from normal sun thru the window exposure.

Anyway, I just got 6 of the viribright 8w at bunnings. While I was there a guy was returning his as he was running them on a sensor and they stayed lit dim when the sensor was off. My eBay cheapies that are dimmable without a real powersupply do that on the leakage current that you get on a 3 way switch etc so I hope that the viribrights are not that bad, because ones without a powersupply will flicker at 100Hz which is somewhat unacceptable in almost any situation.

The "heatsink" is plastic that is painted silver. There is more stuff inside them so I suspect the plastic is to make them actually safe, unlike most of the others out there that let you touch the metal enclosure of the power supply. Also as the painted plastic goes all the way to the screwcap there is no way that it could be metal as it would be live when put in.

Not busting one open till I have tried them out as the whole reason for paying exorbitant NZ prices is so you can return things that dont perform, and I dont have high expectations for them.

edit: and the builders wouldnt charge you cost + 20%, they would charge you trade +20%, and as we all know the trade prices are so loaded that they end up getting up to 90ish% off trade on cables and 50+% off fittings. Nice little earner for them, and you cant go changing the fittings if you want to keep your new house guarentee etc. I hate the building industry but that is starting to go off topic for this thread ;)

Richard rich.ms

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