Switching to LEDs

blighter · 30 Oct 2006 at 01:35

just been reading the post about Light Bulb Tax and it has made my mind up for definite...
I want to swap my bulb.. but not to an energy saving one... to one made up from a handful of LEDs

now i've seen these around, and the results on google didnt mak much sense to me.
i'm just wondering if anybody has done this, and if they have, how to get the LED bulb things etc

thanks

matt

Joe42 · 30 Oct 2006 at 01:37

I've done it, problem is no-one wants to invest in proper led technology, probably too much r&d money spent on the tube type bulbs, so the only ones around are half hearted attempts by small backstreet companies from china.

I got a gu10 one for my desk lamp and its not very bright at all.

i'll go and find you some links in a mo...

Edit: Here you go.
UltraLEDs.co.uk

For a normal bulb you're looking at this sort of thing.

Amazing how much better they seem to have become since i last looked, but they still aren't mainstream and the big companies still don't seem interested.

The problem is light output is rubbish because they are all poorly designed. The leds themselves are great, minute power draw, robust and last about 10 years or more. If you are really dedicated you can make use of them for normal lighting, you just have to have twice or three times as many bulbs as you normally would.

blighter · 30 Oct 2006 at 02:08

cool thanks, was looking at this one but is it ok to replace the one for my room? its a box room about 4.5mx5m

thanks

http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=46&products_id=1085

Joe42 · 30 Oct 2006 at 02:35

As it says its equivalent to 20w light output, which is rubbish. You would need at least 3. You could get a light fitting to accommodate 3 easily enough if you wanted to.
These are not compatible with dimmers btw.

fornowagain · 30 Oct 2006 at 02:39

Just swapped out all the filament lamps in the house. 6 of these in the kitchen, GU10 with 38 LEDs to replace the 50w halogens. They do very well I must say, very white, plenty of light but less spread. Looks about 30w I'd say and only 2w a piece.

locutus12 · 30 Oct 2006 at 05:27

fornowagain said:
Just swapped out all the filament lamps in the house. 6 of these in the kitchen, GU10 with 38 LEDs to replace the 50w halogens. They do very well I must say, very white, plenty of light but less spread. Looks about 30w I'd say and only 2w a piece.

would it be possible for you to tell me where you got them from??? were really fed up of replacing ours in the kitchen as the fuse blows every time one pops.

Bear · 30 Oct 2006 at 07:27

locutus12 said:
would it be possible for you to tell me where you got them from??? were really fed up of replacing ours in the kitchen as the fuse blows every time one pops.

Use the Ultraled site posted above they sell for about £11 each. Just search for GU10

SB118 · 30 Oct 2006 at 08:38

You can get them from electrical wholesalers for about 6 quid each. I changed about 40 of them in a friends stripclub, he had 40 x 50w filament lamps :eek:

, little bit of electric being burnt, changed for 40 x 2w LED.

LED gives a very white light, but a much narrower beam.

Dr.EM · 30 Oct 2006 at 10:06

Interesting how they pop lots of 5mm/3mm standard LEDs in these. I could do that myself, but it's hardly the best way. It could be far more efficient to make a single piece of silicon into many LED chips and not seperate them into individual packages, so you'd have a sheet with hundreds of LEDs in the same space if you wanted. A special connecting lead could offer required heatsinking. Mabye it costs too much to do :confused:

.

Either way, they are better and have the advantage they should last virtually forever. I have Luxeon LEDs here. 3W in a single chip, but I think I heard they wern't as efficient as normal LEDs, so mabye thats why they don't use those. It certainly gets hot if it's on for a while.

Raumarik · 30 Oct 2006 at 10:24

fornowagain said:
Just swapped out all the filament lamps in the house. 6 of these in the kitchen, GU10 with 38 LEDs to replace the 50w halogens. They do very well I must say, very white, plenty of light but less spread. Looks about 30w I'd say and only 2w a piece.

I'd love to replace the 10 of those in the livingroom but unforunately it's on a dimmer switch and it's sort of handy to be able to dim it when the GF is over

Dr.EM · 30 Oct 2006 at 10:32

Yeah, annoying feature that. It's only the powering system that lets them run from 230vac that stops them being able to. LEDs are completely dimmable normally, via PWM for best efficiency (but much higher frequency that 50Hz is advisable, I can see strobing effects at 120Hz if you move fast, so use 3Khz on my PWM. over 20Khz would be best in case you can hear whistling at high loads otherwise).

It is possible to install dimmable LED lighting, but is something of a DIY job. You'd need a low voltage lighting transformer, then modify the LED fixture for 12vdc and place your PWM dimmer between the two. Fairly possible though since it is low voltage and is by nature "safe".

Joe42 · 30 Oct 2006 at 11:41

locutus12 said:
would it be possible for you to tell me where you got them from??? were really fed up of replacing ours in the kitchen as the fuse blows every time one pops.

A large number of gu10 bulbs now come with built in fuses which prevents them doing this. I still can't believe they were allowed to sell them without fuses considering they often fail short circuit. I found this out after my first dimmer switch blew. Now i have fused ones the 2nd dimmer has lasted a while. It should say on the back of the packaging, even some of the cheap brands have fuses built in now. I think philips were the first brand to do it.

Dr.EM said:
Interesting how they pop lots of 5mm/3mm standard LEDs in these. I could do that myself, but it's hardly the best way. It could be far more efficient to make a single piece of silicon into many LED chips and not seperate them into individual packages, so you'd have a sheet with hundreds of LEDs in the same space if you wanted. A special connecting lead could offer required heatsinking. Mabye it costs too much to do .

This is what i mean, its a really bad design, the actual leds they use are cheap and rubbish.
Look at led torches for example, put a couple of those leds in a bulb and it would have a higher output than tube types with a lower wattage and longer life.

Van Hellseek · 30 Oct 2006 at 11:43

candles f.t.w.

Wyrdo · 30 Oct 2006 at 11:46

Ooh those look interesting, could use some of those in the kitchen to replace the halogens.

The rest of my house is kitted out with energy saving bulbs.

Raumarik · 30 Oct 2006 at 11:55

must admit the 10W or 20W LED versions wouldn't bother me in places like corridors or the bedroom where I'm not needing a lot of light. I do have a couple of energy saving lamps in my bedroom and bathroom at the moment but find them extremely dull compared to normal ones.

which can make shaving an adventure

Berserker · 30 Oct 2006 at 12:18

Kami said:
must admit the 10W or 20W LED versions wouldn't bother me in places like corridors or the bedroom where I'm not needing a lot of light. I do have a couple of energy saving lamps in my bedroom and bathroom at the moment but find them extremely dull compared to normal ones.

Daylight simulation energysavers (if you can find 'em).

Just fitted one this weekend (LEDs not an option - I need light and lots of it). Then went outside to give a fair comparison and noticed just how yellow standard energysavers (and your typical 60w incandescent bulbs) are.

(comparitively) not cheap though.

Jonny69 · 30 Oct 2006 at 12:53

Can't you use a 20-Watt energy saver instead of an 11-Watt? It's still only using 1/3 the power of your old 60-Watt lightbulb.

SourChipmunk · 30 Oct 2006 at 13:39

I swapped most of the lighting in my house with the fluorescent bulbs similar to the picture below. They are about 7-12 watts and replace 40 - 75 watt incandescent bulbs. I like them a lot, but found that they are still sensitive to vibration. The two lamps I have sitting on my floor speakers have burnt the bulbs out about every 3 months, but the bulbs in my ceiling lights have lasted for years.

Townlea · 30 Oct 2006 at 14:05

fornowagain said:
Just swapped out all the filament lamps in the house. 6 of these in the kitchen, GU10 with 38 LEDs to replace the 50w halogens. They do very well I must say, very white, plenty of light but less spread. Looks about 30w I'd say and only 2w a piece.

I have some 50w halogen bulbs at the moment... Do you think its worth buying the GU10 with 38 LEDs over the 50w halogens?

I am considering this. :cool:

SB118 · 30 Oct 2006 at 14:34

Townlea said:
I have some 50w halogen bulbs at the moment... Do you think its worth buying the GU10 with 38 LEDs over the 50w halogens?

I am considering this.

You'd need to fit 6/7 2w lamps to cover the same area as 1 50w lamp. They give a much smaller pool of light as they don't have a reflector.

Switching to LEDs

Man of Honour