LED Lighting

[Valve Bounce]

OK! so this is the latest lighting to replace the tungsten downlights. They are supposed to use less electricity and last many, many times longer.

Does anyone have any reliable information on these claimed advantages? They are more expensive than ordinary downlights, but saw an advert last week where they are only around double the price of tungsten downlights - but you must purchase them online.

[Mark]

I have some in my kitchen but they put out next to no light :( . They are coupled with flourescent versions which are well bright.

By downlights do you mean these: http://thumbs4.ebaystatic.com/m/m9IxVAzZABG-kKA_FeA4rCQ/140.jpg

Or if you want to splash out, get these: http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/48209/philips-hue-led-bulb-customises-your-homes-lighting

[Dave B]

I've got quite a bit of LED lighting in the house, mainly as mood lighting because as Mark says it's not really bright enough for replacing room lights yet. It's dead handy for the bathroom - saves your retinas in the wee small hours!

[Valve Bounce]

I've got quite a bit of LED lighting in the house, mainly as mood lighting because as Mark says it's not really bright enough for replacing room lights yet. It's dead handy for the bathroom - saves your retinas in the wee small hours!

I do have great night light which is in the shape of a clear shield which I can buy from Coles or Woolworths. They worked perfectly well when I was staying at Byron Bay hinterlands where there was no lighting from streetlights etc.

Mark, I am talking about option 1 in your post; our new townhouse being built comes with halogen downlights - I have specified gimbal mountings for mine, and have located them 2 feet from the walls. The lights will be turned towards the walls where I will hang paintings so the rooms will be lit with lighting off my paintings or light colored walls.

I will wait untilI know more about LED lighting; maybe just replacing one halogen downlight with LED just to see the difference. I will report on this in about 4 months time.

[Daniel]

I do have great night light which is in the shape of a clear shield which I can buy from Coles or Woolworths. They worked perfectly well when I was staying at Byron Bay hinterlands where there was no lighting from streetlights etc.

Mark, I am talking about option 1 in your post; our new townhouse being built comes with halogen downlights - I have specified gimbal mountings for mine, and have located them 2 feet from the walls. The lights will be turned towards the walls where I will hang paintings so the rooms will be lit with lighting off my paintings or light colored walls.

I will wait untilI know more about LED lighting; maybe just replacing one halogen downlight with LED just to see the difference. I will report on this in about 4 months time.
We replaced a halogen downlight with a LED one and found the results to be less than ideal.

[Valve Bounce]

We replaced a halogen downlight with a LED one and found the results to be less than ideal.

Not Good! How much did the LED cost you?

[Daniel]

Not Good! How much did the LED cost you?
It was years ago, whatever it cost us was too much.

[ioan]

It was years ago, whatever it cost us was too much.

They've got better and cheaper nowadays.
As far as I can say LED's are great for where you need less diffuse light, as the lighting angles are rather small (mostly under 45 degrees).

[Valve Bounce]

They've got better and cheaper nowadays.
As far as I can say LED's are great for where you need less diffuse light, as the lighting angles are rather small (mostly under 45 degrees).

What I'll do is keep a eye on prices and maybe check an LED out when one of the halogen downloads is kaput.

[ioan]

What I'll do is keep a eye on prices and maybe check an LED out when one of the halogen downloads is kaput.

Good idea.
While prices are dropping steadily, the big names (OSRAM, Philips, Toshiba etc...) are still rather expensive, especially if you need several of them.
For the first LED lamp that I bought I went with IKEA, they are well priced and for now all of them worked OK. The tech specs, especially amount of light delivered, are not the same but close and the price is also under the 50% mark.
Bottom line, when you think you want to change try an Ikea LED and see how you like it, knowing that it is not the top performer, and if you don't like it you are free to bring it back withing the first 30 days after purchase.

[Valve Bounce]

Good idea.
While prices are dropping steadily, the big names (OSRAM, Philips, Toshiba etc...) are still rather expensive, especially if you need several of them.
For the first LED lamp that I bought I went with IKEA, they are well priced and for now all of them worked OK. The tech specs, especially amount of light delivered, are not the same but close and the price is also under the 50% mark.
Bottom line, when you think you want to change try an Ikea LED and see how you like it, knowing that it is not the top performer, and if you don't like it you are free to bring it back withing the first 30 days after purchase.

Hey Buddy!! I have lost a lot of faith in IKEA in Australia. I used to buy a helluva lot of stuff from IKEA, but recently, they have been exposed as cheats in Australia. They charge around 60% to 80% more for goods in Australia than in other countries. Furniture made in Indonesia were around 80% more expensive here than the US or Europe.

I tend to buy a lot of my goods from Costco, because I can return the items anytime, yep! [b]ANYTIME[b] and get a full refund. 8 months ago, I returned my STRONG DTV recorder which I bought 2 years ago, because the HDD was playing up when advised to do so by a Costco salesman, and I got a full refund. I can go on about my laptop which I returned after 2 weeks and bought an ultrabook instead.

So I will price these LED lamps at either Bunnings Hardware or Costco. My wife still wants me to go to IKEA to check out cushion covers, so I will obey!.

[ioan]

Well that is truly bad form by IKEA.
And I was almost sure that everything is more expensive in Europe then everywhere else in the world, looks like I was wrong! ;)
Must say you've got some great return policies over there. here it is 30 days at max, in most cases only 15 days after purchase date.

[SGWilko]

They've got better and cheaper nowadays.
As far as I can say LED's are great for where you need less diffuse light, as the lighting angles are rather small (mostly under 45 degrees).

I see a lot of traffic lights have been upgraded with LED lighting. You can tell LED is in use as when the lights flash amber, they are instant on, instant off. Quite a few vehicle manufacturers have then also now for stop/indicator lamps. Very bright indeed.

[Mark]

Yes but they are a bit disconcerting, just how fast they switch on and off, especially with indicators.

[SGWilko]

Yes but they are a bit disconcerting, just how fast they switch on and off, especially with indicators.

I think they are more effective, because they stand out so much more than normal fillament type lighting. Mind you, your average BMW driver doesn't bother indicating so it defeats the object!!!

[Jag_Warrior]

Something that I find to be rather strange: I replaced a standard bulb in a flashlight ("torch", for you Brits :D ) with an LED bulb and I was amazed at how bright it became. It really made all the difference in the world. But when I mounted an LED light fixture under a cabinet, heck, I can barely tell when it's even on.

[Mark]

Because your torch light was just very dim in the first place. It had to be otherwise it would drain the battery too fast and create too much heat. Whereas LEDs are far more efficient, small and emit less heat; making them ideal for the likes of torches, bicycle lights etc.

Whereas where mains power is available they don't complete with CFTs yet.

[Jag_Warrior]

Probably true. Everything is relative, I guess. But it is amazing how incredibly bright even a small LED flashlight is compared to a much larger light with just a standard bulb.

[NinjaMaster]

I bought a new house that had 50w halogen lights all through the kitchen/living room are adding up to a total of 750w if all turned on together. I found some 8w LED lights in a MR16 direct replacement configuration and found the light difference to be negligible. Now if they're all fired up I draw a meagre 120w. Also, they're dimmable and have a two year warranty which is good as I always found halogens to blow regularly so the extra cost should be paid for in reduced replacement of lamps alone.

[Mark]

One thing is true in that eventually all lighting will be done by LED, they have a lot of advantages over standard bulbs.

[Valve Bounce]

Something that I find to be rather strange: I replaced a standard bulb in a flashlight ("torch", for you Brits :D ) with an LED bulb and I was amazed at how bright it became. It really made all the difference in the world. But when I mounted an LED light fixture under a cabinet, heck, I can barely tell when it's even on.

I bought two LED torches from Costco for around $20, and these do no require batteries and instead are solar powered. I've had these for just over a year, and I am very, very happy with them. They are bright, and I leave them on the window sill during the day to recharge.

[Mark]

105.2% of Valve's posts contain the word 'CostCo' FACT

[Starter]

The wife and I are re doing the kitchen. We're going to put recessed lighting in the ceiling. Anyone have any experience on how that might work with LEDs instead of regular bulbs?

[SGWilko]

105.2% of Valve's posts contain the word 'CostCo' FACT

27.3% of all statistics are made up.......

[SGWilko]

The wife and I are re doing the kitchen.

You signed a pre-nup? :laugh:

[airshifter]

LEDs are great for focused lighting, and that is why they work so well in flashlights and such. But the problem is that to disperse light they require a lot of reflectors in the housing, and from what I've seen they just aren't doing it all that well yet. It may take a while to get them up to speed IMO.

[ioan]

The wife and I are re doing the kitchen. We're going to put recessed lighting in the ceiling. Anyone have any experience on how that might work with LEDs instead of regular bulbs?

Depends how high the ceiling is.
Given the smallish light emission angle of LED lights (less then 40 degrees) you need either a high density of lights or above 3 meters ceiling height to have a good coverage of the floor.

For my part I am waiting for affordable OLED lighting. For now the prices are prohibitive for anything more than a small office table lamp.

[Starter]

Depends how high the ceiling is.
Given the smallish light emission angle of LED lights (less then 40 degrees) you need either a high density of lights or above 3 meters ceiling height to have a good coverage of the floor.

For my part I am waiting for affordable OLED lighting. For now the prices are prohibitive for anything more than a small office table lamp.
OK, thanks.

[Valve Bounce]

Depends how high the ceiling is.
Given the smallish light emission angle of LED lights (less then 40 degrees) you need either a high density of lights or above 3 meters ceiling height to have a good coverage of the floor.

For my part I am waiting for affordable OLED lighting. For now the prices are prohibitive for anything more than a small office table lamp.

I have not focussed on floor coverage of downlights because no matter where I sat,they would shine in my eyes like Gestapo lights. So in my previous two apartments, I located the gimble mounted lights about 2 feet (600mm) from the side walls, and reflected the lighting either off the light colored walls or off my paintings. This worked very well, including in my study where I swiveled the downlights off my seascapes, and it created a great effect.

However, replacement LED lights downlights are still rather expensive at around $22 for 4, so I have decided to wait until the price becomes more reasonable , and then when one of my new dowlights conk out, I'll see if I can get an LED downlight to try as a replacement and see what the effect is.

[autoxgymkhana]

LED consumes lesser power thus produce brighter outcome.... that's why u are able to see some torches had been replaced with LED instead of the bulb.... LED produces lesser heat than other materials do....

[MikeDeHigh]

Still prefer the old warm white light :)

[Valve Bounce]

Still prefer the old warm white light :)

The old type light bulbs with a thin wire type filament does not appear to be available in stores anymore.

[Mark]

Incandescent. And no they are being banned.

[Valve Bounce]

I can get those whirly bulbs really cheap from Bunnings Hardware, and they seem to work OK. However, I understand that they do have pollution issues. I had one in my bedside lamp, they don't use that much electricity, and I get good lighting. Now someone will post very soon that I am not doing the right thing according to Green issues. :(

[Mark]

You should do whatever works best for you.

[Starter]

I can get those whirly bulbs really cheap from Bunnings Hardware, and they seem to work OK. However, I understand that they do have pollution issues. I had one in my bedside lamp, they don't use that much electricity, and I get good lighting. Now someone will post very soon that I am not doing the right thing according to Green issues. :(
You're doing fine. There can be an issue with pollution if you break one, there is a small amount of mercury in each bulb. Dispose of these responsibly when there wear out.

[airshifter]

Incandescent. And no they are being banned.

Still all over the shelves here in the US, as well as halogen bulbs. Could end up a black market item!

[Mark]

Just checked and most here are gone. Not all just the most common types where alternatives are available.

[Starter]

Just checked and most here are gone. Not all just the most common types where alternatives are available.
They are being phased out over here. First the 100w bulbs, then 75w and finally 60w. I believe many of the specialty sizes and designer bulbs will still be available.

[schmenke]

...It may take a while to get them up to speed IMO.

I thought the speed of light was constant?








Sorry :uhoh:

[Mark]

I thought the speed of light was constant?


Only to the observer.

[Valve Bounce]

I just found these online here in Melbourne:LED Downlight Globe 4 Pack - 4W MR16 - Buy your LED Downlight Globe 4 Pack - 4W MR16 from Kogan Australia (http://www.kogan.com/au/buy/4w-mr16-led-downlight-4-pack/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=product-search)

I'll probably replace my kitchen downlights with a set of these. The price seems reasonable, and my kitchen light fittings are gimble mounted.

or these: 10 x 12w 12v MR16 LED DOWNLIGHT LIGHT BULB LAMP GLOBE WARM WHITE | eBay (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280904813500&clk_rvr_id=421257324403&item=280904813500&lgeo=1&vectorid=229515#ht_3114wt_1037)