LED Lighting Lamp?

OK, here goes...  A few points

LED lamps have switch mode power supplies embedded in them, these can be a source of RFI on the mains.  These are the source of the heat, and the usual premature failure point if they aren't ventilated well enough.

LED lamps and dimmers: Most domestic light dimmers are so called 'leading edge' designs.  These are unsuitable for use with LED lamps and will usually cause premature failure as well as causing false readings on most 'power meters'.  Dimmers deigned for use with LEDs are available.

Colour:  Good quality white LEDs usually have a better colour rendition than incandescent lamps as the blue output is better balanced to the human eye.  True they only output three narrow spectral bands (red, green and blue), but then the balance of these is how the eye works anyway.  There is some metemerism with this arrangement and some dyes, but if you don't understand that it won't bother you!

I don't think J.N. was being entirely serious Dr Mark.

Well I am so pleased with my first LED lamp that is now in a nice table light [because it was actually too bright in the centre fitting] that I wondered back to Wykes after tea, and bought a 40 Watt equivalent for the centre light in my living room, and a screw type - also 40 Watts equivalent for the bathroom. These are rated as 6 Watt LEDs, from Philips.

But they are on promotion at the moment, and these two cost me just £3.15

New stock arrives tomorrow and at that price I shall exchange the remaining five incandescents not in my bedroom. 

In there I have to consider a different problem as the current lamps are those thin halogen types with a connection at either end not quite three inches long.

So I'll have to change the lamp holders as well.

The current ones are dreadful in any case, and though the current lamps are very powerful, the light is too poor to read by given the crazy [fashionable?] holders fitted.

ATB from George

But for anyone interested in the experiment Wykes have the brand new Philips LED series of lamps at about £1.50 so pop over and get one.

You are most likely surprised how bright and clear is the light. Most like sunlight on a good day. Even better than incandescents. 

But you can counter that too much effect by getting a lower power lamp.

At that price it would pay off in a year. This is exactly what was needed. An inexpensive LED lamp series made by a reputable company like Philips. The Mercury based CFLs must be carefully disposed of, but apart from that there is no strife.

I was amazed to find that in Norway they have still not dropped incandescents, but then the electricity is almost all Hydro, so perhaps Norwegians might reasonably leave their Naim powered on always ...

God blessed France with three beautiful coasts, great vineyards [etc], but he gave Norway green electricity before anyone cared.

ATB from George

God blessed Iceland with free 'green' heating as well as (almost free) 'green' electricity (geothermal power), but then the Devil thought God had gone too far and so he gave them sulphurous fumes to contend with!

The home lighting market seems to have become complicated and puzzling with new technology and choice.
It would be nice to have a clear easy to understand explanation with glossary of terms of all options to include costs of installation, longevity, environmental impact of product, and type of light specification - especially Kelvins.

I don’t claim to be an expert on home lighting, but the most impressive lighting improvement in my home was the fitting of two very ordinary 4’ fluorescent battens with prismatic diffusers that went on my kitchen ceiling, and using two Sylvania Activa 4’ 36W 6500K [Full Spectrum] tubes, 2300 Lumen, 20,000 hour lifespan, and they do not contain mercury.
The battens with diffusers can be purchased for less than £20 each, and the tubes around £6.50

Using full spectrum lighting in a working area of the home [such as a kitchen] has the benefit of cheering up the mood considerably by simulating natural daylight.

But maybe not so nice to use elsewhere in the home where the enthuses is upon relaxation.

Debs

FWIW, the people who made LED bulbs possible just got the physics Nobel:

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobe...ates/2014/press.html

Huge, I was going to mention the RFI potential issue with LED.. but a close friend of the family who is a qualified electrician has been suprised by the amount of RFI that some LED light systems put out from radiation from the wiring. He has had some clients where broadcast radio has been seriously impacted on MW/LW to render it unlistenable... Apparently though the RFI varies and is usually better managed on good quality more expensive LED product not suprisingly.

Needless to say I keep well clear of them in this household unless battery powered. I also echo the issue with narrow bandwidth lighting... And not being ideal for our eyes.

Simon

Dear Simon,

I am not entirely sure that sticking to battery powered LEDs is going to solve all your RFI issues.

Certain cycles lights with LEDs can interfere with a wireless cycle speedometer. These wireless speedometers work on a tiny radio signal from the sender at the wheel sensor. There have been issues with LED based cycle lights making the system inoperable. 

However, I have found Medium Wave broadcasts of BBC Radio Five - listened to via my Tivoli Model One - have not been affected by the mains LED lamps I have fitted. Philips must have sorted out the issue on the LED lamps that I have bought.

Unfortunately Wykes has sold out of the promotional stocks and this has caught Philips off-guard. New stocks are not expected for at least another week. I shall stick with the Philips units now I that I know they are good.

So the incandescents in the kitchen will survive that bit longer!

ATB from George

Just for funny I woul mention that the incandescent bulbs are not, from a thermodynamic point of view, so badly: is it true you get less light and more heat during energy conversion but in a close system, during cold winter, such heat stay in the room. Sounds at least strange but in this case the efficiency is rather high, supposing you need anyway to warm up the room.

This is also true for our Naim gears permanently on. 

George, you may well be right.. I have no speedo on my bike... but I think it's the less than ideal switched mode powersupplies associated with some LED products that cause the issues that I have experienced... and as you say with reputable manufacturers you are less likely to have issues.. And I have never had problems with Philps products.

Simon,

Ironically I find LEDs give better colour rendition than either CFLs or incandescent lamps (including QTH), but then again I have a degree of Mears-Irlen syndrome so I'm probably not typical.

H

George, Simon,

Most hi-power battery powered LED systems use DC-DC converters (another type of switch mode power supply), so I'm not at all surprised.

H

Fortunately, I am completely uninterested in the speed as reported to me by a cycle computer. I haven't ridden with one in years. (My LED lights are frikkin' awesome, though)

Dear Winki,

I did have a speedometer for a while, and I was surprised and delighted to find that I was capable of good speeds. That was a wired version, as I am a skin-flint!

But someone stole the detachable head unit, and I never bothered to get another!

ATB from George

Yup, tubes are good.

I prefer the warm, cosey, mood uplifting Halogens.

You can actually swat flies very easily too as you can actually see them.

Actually they are low mercury (2.8mg) not no mercury, and, like all fluorescent lamps, it has considerable line spectrum output.

See its spectral distribution here

http://www.havells-sylvania.com/en/products/0002219

Huge, you certainly appear correct about the wider spectrum spread with LED over CFL

http://www.soundandvision.com/...ht-spectrum-and-more

You have got me rethinking my prejudices... Just paranoid about introducing noisy electronics onto my mains and wrecking my HiFi and radio...... Given the lengths I have gone to with cleaning it up.. Including getting OFCOM out to remove certain PLA devices that were polluting in my village...

I hear the mewing of cats and the fluttering of pigeons!

But not the howling of Wolves!

ATB from George

Where? or should that be were?

Dear Huge,

I have heard Wolves, but never Were-wolves ...

ATB from George

But jolly interesting it was when I got to see their detection and location equipment - and to be fair one of the PLAs was affecting broadband signals ithrough RFI n overhead telephone wires outside that property.

I have seen a suitable mains LED down spot that could directly replace one of my CFL spots.. So next time a bulb goes I will give it a go.. And if no side effects i'll replace all the kitchen spot CFLs.

If they were wolves what are they now?