# Cold temps and led lights



## MidnightsunV (May 28, 2010)

I have 32 lights in the house soffits I an thinking about replacing with led par 30 bulbs. Living in Canada the winters can get quite cold. Are there any problems with led light in extreme cold such as start up or longevity or brightness. It,s going to cost a pretty penny to replace all these and I really do not want to find out the hard way. The lighting is more for looks than anything else and I tried a 60 led par 30 bulb like this http://www.ledliquidatorsinc.com/PAR_30_60_LED_light_bulb.php
which looks great. I do not need brighter and the price seems ok. Any better ideas or suggestion would be more than welcome. Thanks in advance.


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## blasterman (May 29, 2010)

The light you posted a link to, for lack of any other description, is utter junk. It will not last 50k hours, and it's not worth the money. It's a typical chinese 'beehive', and these are universally known to be unreliable and have poor light quality. I've tested about half a dozen of these and none work well.

If this a legitimate post (first time posters with hyperlinked products are treated skeptically here) then you should serriously look at the latest round of standard base LED retrofits hitting Home Improvement stores. Prices on these are starting to come down to the $20-30 range, and with ferocious competition longevity claims can be taken more seriously.

LED performance improves under colder temps.


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## MidnightsunV (May 29, 2010)

I have experimented with the more powerful 5 led version of these lights and they are to narrow beamed and too bright for the application. When you say junk do you mean the burn out fast or simply do not meet the 50,000 hrs as indicated. To be honest with you, if they lasted 30,000, I'd be happy. I have no experience with the company I linked to but they do claim a 5 year warranty for failures so I assume they would be replaced if a few go bad. As for light quality and as mentioned above, it is perfect for the application as tested last night. Whatever may be out there, I am looking for something in a warm white. Just can't have that sanitized cold bright white light shining on the house. Reminds me of several houses here who went with CFL lights and they really look bad color wise, at least to my taste.

On the other hand I have those 5 led par 30 cool white in the pool (3X) and they are beautiful under water.

Help me out here as I am open for suggestions. Not too bright, maybe equivalent to 30 watt halogen, warm white and since I need over 30 the price is important.


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## HarryN (May 30, 2010)

The only LEDs that are well regarded for cold temperature use are Cree and Lumileds AFAIK, and I think Lumileds is more experienced in this part of the market. The ultimate limiting factor is the temperature that the slicone gel can handle.

If price is a large consideration, consider waiting another year and see where the market is at that point.


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## Fallingwater (May 30, 2010)

DX has a few high-flux lights available that look decent enough. Otherwise, it's not hard to build them yourself: DX also has tiny power supplies that are very suitable (not to mention cheap), and bare LEDs. Add a small metal heatsink and you're set.


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## blasterman (May 30, 2010)

> When you say junk do you mean the burn out fast or simply do not meet the 50,000 hrs as indicated. To be honest with you, if they lasted 30,000, I'd be happy


 
That's the problem. Some will last 5,000 hours, some 10,000 hours, and others 30k hours. The chinese drive bee-hive style lights harder than they should and the result is color shifting and reduced life.

I know what you mean about narrow angles, but still, you should be able to find higher quality Cree or similiar based lights for not much more money.

At the least, I highly suggest trying out a half dozen of the bee-hive lights you are interested in for about a month and seeing how they perform and if the color is consistent.

Again, low temp = better for LED bulbs.


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