LED bulbs and heat.

[aar0s]

I had thought that LED screw in bulbs gave off very little to no heat, until I touched the base on my 800 lumen GE that has what feels like some kind of metal or porcelain base. It was like grabbing a 75 watt bulb!
Is this normal and do all brands of LED's generate that amount of heat or do some make less?

 

[Ruger_556]

I can't speak to household bulbs but my LED flashlights get a lot hotter than the old school mag lights.

 

[Sneeze357]

Yes, all LEDs generate heat. Most of it is probably coming from the driver that converts 120v AC into about 3v DC for the LED.

 

[ForceFed70]

Perfectly normal. LEDs aren't much more efficient than CFL and will put off roughly the same amount of heat. Still a lot less than an incandescent lamp tho.

 

[geew1z]

I have 3 hitlights 6 watt led bulbs for the house that I bought from amazon and they put off almost no heat.

 

[Highbeam]

It's not the LED that is making heat, it is the device that converts ac to dc in the base. There is a lot going on inside that base and it makes heat.

There's a reason these new LED bulbs have huge heat sinks on the bases.

 

[rlitman]

It's not the LED that is making heat, it is the device that converts ac to dc in the base. There is a lot going on inside that base and it makes heat.

There's a reason these new LED bulbs have huge heat sinks on the bases.

No. It is also the LED. Yes, a switching power supply produces heat, but if you were to separate the power supply from the LED, and feed the DC straight to the LED, it would still produce much of that heat.

 

[Sneeze357]

No. It is also the LED. Yes, a switching power supply produces heat, but if you were to separate the power supply from the LED, and feed the DC straight to the LED, it would still produce much of that heat.

Agreed...the LED itself can put out a lot of heat. High power LEDs MUST be attached to a heat sink or they will overheat and burn out - even if you light them for just one second.

As mentioned above current LED lights are about as efficient as CFLs...so they should make about the same heat.