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Energy-efficient tech dims Edison’s bright idea. (popsci.com/environment/article/2008-12/lights-out)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/CFL_Bulb.jpgCorey Binns – PopSci (PopSci.com) – Dec. 24, 2008

CFL -- Modern lighting with the ability to save future power plant construction until truly needed.

The sooner we get rid of our incandescents, the better. -- Ed.

On March 1, the Republic of Ireland becomes the first democratic country in the world to ban the traditional incandescent light bulb. Stores there will no longer carry the century-old technology, which converts only between 5 and 10 percent of electricity into light, losing the rest as radiant heat. (Compare this with the 40 percent efficiency of compact fluorescent bulbs.) In its place, hardware stores will stock shelves with compact fluorescents, halogens and LEDs.

The U.S. is making the switch too, albeit more slowly. By 2014, most light- bulbs will be 30 percent more efficient than those currently available. "Incandescents aren't going away," says Peter Banwell of the Environmental Protection Agency, "but they will have a minimum efficiency level they'll need to meet." …http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2008-12/lights-out

Realize this is a tangent.

Recently I tried a few LED bulbs.

My conclusion is the same as CFL's - they are sensitive to surges that incandescent bulbs tolerate. That or LED technology needs more work, but getting some for the price of CFL's and using 3 watts instead of 40 for an incandescent. :)

What happened with your LED's, Chuck? Some are rated for voltages over the range from 120-240V, while others seem to be rated only for 120V. Maybe those that accept higher voltages would be more tolerant of power surges? One thing that often kills LED's is heat. They often need adequate ventilation to ensure that the heat can be radiated effectively.

I also worry about CFL's and bad power. Up at the lake, the power system is quite prone to power surges and failures. CFL's haven't made it past two years in most cases up there. One last concern is how CFL's do in extreme weather. The ones I put outside often had a high failure rate, probably due in part to our -30F winters. LED's should perform bettern in that environment.

Mike,

They are 120v, but a couple of them burned out.

The ones working do not get warm at all.

I am "so" in favor or household/domestic LED bulbs that if they were not as expensive as they are I would have switched over from CFL completely. I've been using indoor 110V rated bulbs that I had purchased from a company in Ontario and so far they've been good. The lens obviously does not get warm at all, but the die platform does and this is a characteristic attribute of this technology.
I agree with Mike that heat remains the primary enemy of LED based assemblies but so far the ones I bought seem to be working with a lot of thermal head-room left and I am positive that the manufacturer is not running them beyond their die spec. The "cheaper" re-sellers will probably do so at the cost of longevity.

I use CFL's outside triggered by IR and they work OK but the first 10-20 seconds produce a very dim light in cold weather which is OK for me but would probably turn off quite a few other folks. My CFL failure rate is a little higher than what I would like and ambient temps do not seem to be a significant player. As a matter of fact, most of my CFL failures over the last 10 years have occurred indoors. And when they go, they go :(

Cheers;

MSantos

I took my first stab at LEDs over Christmas. The bike lights work great and are very visible; the solar flashlight is bright and you can see your way through the dark. The LED spotlight for the front door was weak and didn't really light it up. Looking back the first two are using "extreme" LEDs and the spotlight is not. I'm certain the "extreme" LED label is a marketing invention, but they do work better. So I'm thinking that the LEDs are evolving and hopefully they will come up with some scale that we can all use to determine the right LED for the application. Using Lumens, or equivalent to 150 watt spotlight, or something like that.

I've had a pair of Z-bar lamps (http://www.konceptech.com/zbar.html) for two years now. One return, which had nothing to do with the LEDs, a switch assembly failed - they quickly replaced the entire lamp. Less than 10 watts each. The quality of the light is a bit blue for my taste, and the spectrum is a bit narrow. They now have high power versions too, and in "daylight white" (blueish) and "warm white" (yellowish).

For six months now we've been living with LACK (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60124272) high power "warm white" fixtures, a total of 24 watts worth. More than enough to provide indirect ambient lighting for a living room. Spectrum is a bit narrow still, but the indirect bounce helps. The downside is the "bulb" is not replaceable, so we purchased a couple of spare fixtures. We'll see. Will probably add two floor lamps from above for reading/task lighting.

And a few weeks of living with LED Christmas tree lights. Low power LED bulbs "warm white", four strands at 4 watts each. Finally four LED candles (http://www.brookstone.com/store/product.asp?product_code=620542&wid=18&cid=1804&sid=180402&search_type=subcategory&prodtemp=t2), with rechargeable AAs, photocell on/off. Looks like they'll "burn" through the holiday season on a single charge.

-mr. bill

I also worry about CFL's and bad power. Up at the lake, the power system is quite prone to power surges and failures. CFL's haven't made it past two years in most cases up there. One last concern is how CFL's do in extreme weather. The ones I put outside often had a high failure rate, probably due in part to our -30F winters. LED's should perform bettern in that environment.

i am doing some semi-scientific testing on that, mike, though it wasn't my plan when i installed them. as lights in the barn have been burning out, i have been replacing them with the CFLs. one thing i notice in the cold is that they take longer to come to full brightness. we have had a couple of nights of -15 or colder, and so far they are working ok. however, they are inside out of the elements.

I've been upgrading my bands stage lighting to led technology. So far we have replaced all the par cans with leds and these things are bright! Rich colors w/smooth fades (color and dimming), small current draw, and NO HEAT are major pluses. I have to think leds will eventually be up to snuff to replace home lighting in the near future, they sure do awesome for stage lighting.

I've been upgrading my bands stage lighting to led technology. So far we have replaced all the par cans with leds and these things are bright! Rich colors w/smooth fades (color and dimming), small current draw, and NO HEAT are major pluses. I have to think leds will eventually be up to snuff to replace home lighting in the near future, they sure do awesome for stage lighting.

I'm very curious about this. I was talking to a friend of mine who works for a theatrical lighting company, and he said that LEDs don't put out good enough light (whatever that exactly means). I'd think that stage, theater, and stadium lights could get great energy returns by taking advantage of LED technology.

Do you have any resources about equipment?

We're just a local band and typically play on smaller stages so the lights are perfect for us. I think bigger venues will have problems with the leds not "throwing" the light far enough, but these things have come a long way quickly and will continue to improve. I'm sure someone will find a way to focus the light of these fixtures to cover greater distances.

I have converted most of the fixtures in my house to cfl's. One thing that I found was that the life was greatly extended on fixtures that had glass globes by drilling 3/16 holes in the cast metal fixtures. The holes are not visable and seem to let our the heat so the bulbls last a lot longer.

We're just a local band and typically play on smaller stages so the lights are perfect for us. I think bigger venues will have problems with the leds not "throwing" the light far enough, but these things have come a long way quickly and will continue to improve. I'm sure someone will find a way to focus the light of these fixtures to cover greater distances.

Radiohead toured using only LEDS and they play arenas and such.

Sounds like the CFL should be phased out over the next 5 years and only LED should be available. ;)

I have been very happy with my LED bulbs. But lets clear up a few misconceptions...

LEDs do put out heat, but only a fraction of what traditional bulbs do. However they are also very heat sensitive, not usually a problem, but can be if they bulbs are enclosed. While the LEDs don't put out much heat, the AC/DC converters can put out a reaonalble warmth. This is where most of the LED damaging heat comes from. One of the bulbs I own has "active cooling", meaning it has a little fan. That fan will almost certainly fail long before the LEDs would have. However its failure may spell the end of that expensive bulb, so its a major downside in my opinion.

Traditional LEDs put out light in a very narrow spectrum so you only get one color off them. Newer LEDs actually work like CFLs...they produce invisible UV radiation, but coating on the bulb take than UV and convert it to visible light. So LEDs can continue to produce a narrow spectrum internally, but radiate a large spectrum of visible light. Actually they usually emit several narrow spectrum of light which add up to look like a while light, although using the same tech thats been available in daylight/natural/grow lights (the last also allowing UV for plants), you can get a very natural light similar to what sunlight produces, or they can look like a traditional bulb....its all in the coatings. However is a combinatin of those cheap coatings combined with the old tech which emits narrow spectrums that make many people thing they are inferior. Frankly, I actually like the old bulbs which had 3 types of narrow specturm LEDs pakced in together (red, green, blue usually). They gave to me what I would consider a stage lighting effect. Considering how often stage lights are filtered, having LED bulbs where the light could be mixed seems like an ideal thing & a way to change colors without having to change filters, but its hard to imagine enough LEDs packed together to produce the 500 to 2500 watts that some stage lamps use. Ka-ching!

Now you've got me curious where you're finding the *funding* to
buy a bunch of LED fixtures on a small band's [usually nonexistent]
budget?? Which fixtures are you using?
.
_H*

Now you've got me curious where you're finding the *funding* to
buy a bunch of LED fixtures on a small band's [usually nonexistent]
budget?? Which fixtures are you using?
.
_H*

We picked up four Venue par56 led fixtures for a hundred a piece at local sale. Ebay has good deals if you're patient. We make descent money so a small investment was in order since the old lights got us by for fifteen years or so!

Doug, I was going to ask what was the primary reason for switching of the reasons you listed, but when I started thinking about it, LEDs (if you can afford) just make a ton of sense for stage work.

Heat - Both a safty concern and comfort. Traditional lights are hot enough to start fires if the wrong thing gets in contact with them & anybody who had spend more than a few minutes on stage knows that lights get you sweating quickly...never understood how some actors seem to keep their cool.
Small current draw - While you guys probably don't have to pay the bills for power at venues, the small draw decreases the odds you will blow a fuse. I was helping out a guy in that situation & the look of panic on his face when the circuit blew leaving the actors acting without light was priceless. Luckily I was next to the box & heard the circuit flip & was able to reset & signal him to lower master power switch so they wouldn't blow again. The actors were great & didn't miss a line even though no body could see them for maybe 15/30 seconds.

But even considering these reasons, many would have continued to take the cheap road. Applause all around!