# So why not go LED?



## Tiresius (Oct 8, 2010)

Change all light source to LED. They're so much more efficient and brighter. The only problem I can think of is that LED requires a circuit board to regulate, a heatsink to keep it optimized and a diffuser to maximize lighting.

So why is the world still using incandescent and fluorescent lights? Is it because it's so much cheaper to produce and maintain? Is it because they don't need a circuit board and constantly fixing that board if it fries? But the filaments seem to burn out faster and it produces a lot of heat.


----------



## tandem (Oct 8, 2010)

I wanted to put in under-cabinet LED lighting in my kitchen that I renovated last year, but couldn't find any product that looked suitable at a price I was willing to pay.

Ultra-thin instant-on no-hum fluorescent fixtures is what I went with. They give more even light across the countertop runs and are hidden behind a very thin valence. 

IMO puck lights including halogen don't give off very pleasing task lighting (plus halogen heats up significantly) - I prefer the more even light coming from the FL fixtures.

22 - 34$ a fixture depending on length, I don't think I spent more than 120$ for the entire kitchen's worth including wiring interconnects that include a switch mounted under cabinet as well so I can limit which segments are on if desired. Rarely do I put on the overhead pot lights. 

Now if I could have bought something driven by LEDs that gave off a similar quality of light for the same or not too much more, I certainly would have looked at it but after touring a couple local wholesalers, didn't see anything that turned my crank.


----------



## PapaLumen (Oct 8, 2010)

It will happen, slowly but surely. Just think of all those 400-1000w street lights burning away, traffic lights etc. As these led's get brighter and more efficient we will see them used more and more.

I think within 5 years a lot more household lighting will be led.


----------



## AnAppleSnail (Oct 8, 2010)

LED is still about even with fluorescent and HPS - but much more expensive currently. Sure you can get a Cree to 130 lm/watt, but only with huuuuuuge metal heatsinks.


----------



## Ra (Oct 8, 2010)

AnAppleSnail said:


> Sure you can get a Cree to 130 lm/watt, but only with huuuuuuge metal heatsinks.



Sorry, but I think you're not quite correct: When you need to use huuuuuge metal heatsinks, it's obvious that you want to push the led's hard.. 
Well, most of us know that when you push led's to their (electrical) limits, efficiency will drop dramatically !!


Regards,

Ra.


----------



## Kinnza (Oct 10, 2010)

As LED lamps goes dropping price and increasing reliability, probably all the people will use them. I believe that on 5 years or so, probably is going to be difficult to find anything else on normal stores.

But for the moment, on the market for fixed lighting there is only very pricey good LED products (little) and a lot of very little reliable lamps.

Probably with the efficiency levels reached along this year, next year LED lamps using top brand LEDs will have way more easy to have good reliabily due the strongly reduced heat load. I would bet that along the next year we are going to have more reliable options for fixed lighting. Maybe still paying too much for the expected savings on electrical bills, but at least viable options. There is nothing more dissapointing that investing a lot on a new lamp and that it fails within the first year of use (or exhibit a huge,noticiable, drop in light output) as happen with many lamps currently.

When you see your neighboor having some LED lamp working fine for a year, buy them. If you want to be the first, risk of getting an unreliable lamp is way higher.


----------



## yellow (Oct 10, 2010)

does the original poster know what he's typing of?
Does HE use led for living (solely)?
So why make the big green man here?

... at work, we just changed some flourescent tubes to led models.
Even as I (being the only one with a bit of knowledge) manged to get "warm white"(er)  versions, they suck. 
Light like in a zombie movie.
For a general illumination in some doorway ok, but at LIVING SPACE?
crap!

*PS: ONE tube cost us € 119,-- *
(just the tube, without new mounting hardware and such)


It would be much better - and more doable without increasing cost or negatives to user - to do something else instead of producing and using additional extreme dangerous special waste (the LED tubes/lights)...
switch unnecessary lights (or better: high power consumers like TV, heaters, ...) off,
or, for us flashlight freaks, use rechargeables instead of single use batteries


----------



## AnAppleSnail (Oct 10, 2010)

yellow said:


> they suck.
> Light like in a zombie movie.



The ones I make for my own uses are pretty good. Bright, good color rendering, should last until I'm sick of the several-year-old LEDs. But the ones you can buy generally do suck.


----------



## outdoor1 (Nov 1, 2010)

The main reason the LED's are not more mainstream yet is the cost to benefit ratio. They still cost more for the added savings that you receive from them. The price is coming down gradually and the more the price comes down the more companies are using led's in there products. Also color has been a big issue as well but there have been a lot of advances in that as well.


----------



## carrot (Nov 1, 2010)

Another big reason: most light bulb fixtures are not designed for the kind of heat transfer that LEDs need. If you run an LED hot without any kind of heatsinking, it will burn out. So retrofitting LED bulbs into old sockets is an expensive proposition especially considering the lower expected life span of the LED in a poorly heat sinked environment.


----------

