Selfsufficientish.com

Just received my new LED lightbulb in the post and am very pleased. Figured not many people have these yet, so check out the future of home lighting on my blog: http://www.thebreadcrumbtrail.org/archives/907

Here's a summary:
I’m happy with my new LED bulb, and only replaced my CFL since it actually blew a couple of weeks ago.
Costs around £10 / bulb, but should save around £50 / year for a typical household if all bulbs replaced, with a payback of 1-2 years and saves around 270Kg CO2. Bulbs last approx 10-20years. Over next few years the cost will come down to pence rather than £’s

Nice one JT. What colour light do they throw out, ones from a couple of years back were quite a harsh blue and cold looking.

I'm confused about LEDs now.

I thought they were supposed to be high-efficiency converters of electricity to light (minuscule waste heat). yet most of the devices available were low-power, puny and rubbish. Toys or torches.

Then I came across one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/20W-High-Powe ... 27c10cdfd4

this is a true high-power device... yet it DEMANDS a heat sink. I tried running it without one, and it burnt my hand... then cells started burning out until I switched it off..

heat => inefficiency...

I am left wondering - is the LED phenomenon a whole bunch of horses**t or what?

I've just invested in some G9's and GU10's for the kitchen and some wall lighting.

A few years ago I was looking into LED torches - many of the high powered beams start cold at the right rating and as they warm up their efficiency drops. To combat this, you need a big heatsink to remove excess heat which torches can't carry. LEDs are much more efficient than CFLs and hallogen/incandescent and use up much less electricity but are still inefficient because of the heat they produce. You're not going to get total energy conversion. If you do, let me (and only me) know, I'll come visit and I promise I'll share the patent rights with you. Honest.

dave45 wrote:this is a true high-power device... yet it DEMANDS a heat sink. I tried running it without one, and it burnt my hand... then cells started burning out until I switched it off..

heat => inefficiency...

I am left wondering - is the LED phenomenon a whole bunch of horses**t or what?

No, you're just not accounting for the extremely high power density. LED are very small devices, so they can't dissipate waste heat as efficiently as CFLs - so they still need heatsinks, even though they are much more efficient.

Plus, a 20W LED is basically a floodlight - it's equivalent to about 200W of halogen, or about 1000W of incandescent. You trying to illuminate a football pitch or something?

SMDLightEvolution wrote:The LED phenomenon is a far far cry from horse sh**!

I just bought 10 GU10 LED Light Bulbs at http://www.lightevolution.co.uk. They were about £6 each (making them the cheapest on the internet). Also were really high quality, aluminium casing with glass covers. I only have positive things to say!

I would recommend http://www.lightevolution.co.uk to anyone!

Yes. With a user name like that, you would, wouldn't you?

EDIT: The original post, to save confusion, has been sent into the Limbo which is reserved for spammers.

MKG wrote:

SMDLightEvolution wrote:The LED phenomenon is a far far cry from horse sh**!

I just bought 10 GU10 LED Light Bulbs at http://www.google.co.uk. They were about £6 each (making them the cheapest on the internet). Also were really high quality, aluminium casing with glass covers. I only have positive things to say!

I would recommend http://www.google.co.uk to anyone!

Yes. With a user name like that, you would, wouldn't you?

EDIT: The original post, to save confusion, has been sent into the Limbo which is reserved for spammers.

But preserved in your quote for all to see?

tim_n wrote:

MKG wrote:

SMDLightEvolution wrote:The LED phenomenon is a far far cry from horse sh**!

I just bought 10 GU10 LED Light Bulbs at http://www.google.co.uk. They were about £6 each (making them the cheapest on the internet). Also were really high quality, aluminium casing with glass covers. I only have positive things to say!

I would recommend http://www.google.co.uk to anyone!

Yes. With a user name like that, you would, wouldn't you?

EDIT: The original post, to save confusion, has been sent into the Limbo which is reserved for spammers.

But preserved in your quote for all to see?

Not quite. I suspect those links have been subtly edited

Just put some Lead light bulbs in, ceiling fell down, can anyone tell me what I did wrong

from the news:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17788178

Lidls occasionally sell LED bulbs and I have replaced the halogen spots in the kitchen with these. Ok they are not as bright but I have got used to them now.

oldfella wrote:Just put some Lead light bulbs in, ceiling fell down, can anyone tell me what I did wrong