LED Lighting

[ddawg16]

The topic of LED lighting keeps coming up....and even though I don't think it is 'there' just yet....it's getting close....

LED's With a Punch has some good general info on LED's.

Don't forget that some of the light output (lums) claims can be misleading......you have to take into consideration that LED's are highly directional...

I'm still using CFL's....but keeping an eye on the LED lighting technology.

 

[NAYLOR]

Most the LED lighting out there is junk. Total glare bombs. Not to mention, everyone is pushing lighting with "cool white" color temps. Any LED fixture in cool white will make you look pretty washed out. Warm color temps are where it's at.

Give it a couple years and prices will be down considerably.

The best products I have seen are indirect LED sources. They don't blind you (as much) and they are easy to work under.

 

[gatchel]

If you are using recessed 6" cans. Cree LR6...hands down. They actually look better than some of the incandescent lamps I have put them side by side with.

Get out your check book though.

I have them in our kitchen and they are awesome. I plan on putting them over my work bench once the garage is built. Anywhere where the will be on for extended time is the best location for a quick payback. In our kitchen I calculated about 5 to 7 years.

 

[N8]

Most the LED lighting out there is junk. Total glare bombs. Not to mention, everyone is pushing lighting with "cool white" color temps. Any LED fixture in cool white will make you look pretty washed out. Warm color temps are where it's at.

Give it a couple years and prices will be down considerably.

The best products I have seen are indirect LED sources. They don't blind you (as much) and they are easy to work under.

Interesting. We have been using L.E.D. light sources almost exclusively for the last 9 years in our industry with extremely minimal failure rate. This is in Hospitality, Gaming, Commercial and Residential applications all requiring 24/7 burn time in pretty harsh environments.

We use brands such as Phillips, (Luxeon, color kinetics) Traxon and others. The comment about being glare bombs tells me that you are not using lights with the correct spread or diffusion. There are so many additives now adays with L.E.D.'s including type, spread, wattage, color, diffusion, and controllability it's not even funny anymore.

Sure the up front cost of and L.E.D. fixture is more than your typical CFL but your energy savings through time will far exceed the up front investment. Imagine changing your bulb every five to seven years and only using about half the energy.

 

[gatchel]

Interesting. We have been using L.E.D. light sources almost exclusively for the last 9 years in our industry with extremely minimal failure rate. This is in Hospitality, Gaming, Commercial and Residential applications all requiring 24/7 burn time in pretty harsh environments.

We use brands such as Phillips, (Luxeon, color kinetics) Traxon and others. The comment about being glare bombs tells me that you are not using lights with the correct spread or diffusion. There are so many additives now adays with L.E.D.'s including type, spread, wattage, color, diffusion, and controllability it's not even funny anymore.

Sure the up front cost of and L.E.D. fixture is more than your typical CFL but your energy savings through time will far exceed the up front investment. Imagine changing your bulb every five to seven years and only using about half the energy.

I think he was stating more about the crappy color temp and off color light that some of the lesser quality LED products put out. Nothing like looking at white LED's and totally being able to see that they were blue LED's with the phosphor to make them white. Luxeon and Color Kinetics are high end LED products to say the least. Go to any big box store and buy an LED bulb with 4000 little LED's in it and see if you are happy with the results compared to an incandescent. I have tried several over the last several years and they all pretty much sucked, some just more than others. I'll say it again, the Cree LR6 doesn't ****. No I do not work for Cree

 

[NAYLOR]

Interesting. We have been using L.E.D. light sources almost exclusively for the last 9 years in our industry with extremely minimal failure rate. This is in Hospitality, Gaming, Commercial and Residential applications all requiring 24/7 burn time in pretty harsh environments.

We use brands such as Phillips, (Luxeon, color kinetics) Traxon and others. The comment about being glare bombs tells me that you are not using lights with the correct spread or diffusion. There are so many additives now adays with L.E.D.'s including type, spread, wattage, color, diffusion, and controllability it's not even funny anymore.

Sure the up front cost of and L.E.D. fixture is more than your typical CFL but your energy savings through time will far exceed the up front investment. Imagine changing your bulb every five to seven years and only using about half the energy.

Luxeon makes individual LEDs not the boards or fixtures. CK makes some cool stuff but not for general shop use. Their stuff is mostly color changing (Philips bought them because of the patent they have on how to change colors). I agree there is some pretty cool stuff out there from spot/flood type lighting, but I won't be putting any in my shop any time soon.

You will start seeing garage and area light fixtures with individual lenses for each LED. They basically act like little flashlights to get the distribution you desire. Most people won't want to use a diffuse system with LEDs since they take away over 20% of the light output, thus making the product less efficient.

To be honest, you won't save much money by switching to LEDs from CFL or HID. The lumens/watt is only slightly higher than current HID offerings. The upfront cost is also very daunting. To your point, the major advantage I see (for commercial or industrial especially) is the reduction in maintenance costs. You can go 100,000 hours with LEDs before you need to replace the boards.

 

[NAYLOR]

I think he was stating more about the crappy color temp and off color light that some of the lesser quality LED products put out. Nothing like looking at white LED's and totally being able to see that they were blue LED's with the phosphor to make them white. Luxeon and Color Kinetics are high end LED products to say the least. Go to any big box store and buy an LED bulb with 4000 little LED's in it and see if you are happy with the results compared to an incandescent. I have tried several over the last several years and they all pretty much sucked, some just more than others. I'll say it again, the Cree LR6 doesn't ****. No I do not work for Cree

FYI, all the white LED's you see start out as blue. I don't work for any LED manufacturer, per se...

 

[N8]

I don't work for any LED manufacturer, per se...

hmmm.????

 

[krooser]

Five years from now the CFL's will (hopefully) be a distant memory... kinda like pet rocks.

 

[Wow]

Five years from now the CFL's will (hopefully) be a distant memory... kinda like pet rocks.

Doubt it. The thing is, as LEDs keep improving, so do fluorescent and HID lights.

 

[thdewey]

I just read an article about LED Christmas lights.
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20091221/D9CNOAIG0.html
I, like the old guys that can't seem to let the nostalgia go, have only just begun to add LED to our Christmas decorations. I guess that I started to feel that my kids should have their own traditions. That's more important than my own reminiscing of the 70's Christmases we had.

I think that for decoration, accent and 'always on' lighting; you can't go wrong with LEDs. But I agree that for general illumination, fluorescent is the way to go.

I've been slowly replacing all the bulbs in the house with CFLs. I've ran into a few problems. The older enclosed fixtures are not designed for fluorescent bulbs. The heat build-up causes premature failure. I have noticed NEW fixtures at Lowes that specifically state on the box 'for use with CFL bulbs.' Maybe LED bulbs would eliminate this problem in older fixtures.
The other application that I'd like to try is outdoor flood lights. I really need a 100 or 120 Watt equivalent for enough coverage. I went the CFL Floods so that I don't have to climb up on the extension ladder to replace the 2nd story floods as often. With LED floods, I might not ever have to go up there again.

I leave an LED light on all the time in the garage for security. Also, I never have to worry about running into something if I just need to grab something I left on the bench. (I always seem to forget my cell phone).