A trip to your local lighting store will and you will find about 50% incandecent lights and about 50% of the newer compact flourecent lamps that use roughly 1/2 the power. But have you seen the LED lamps coming into the market. The current models are not yet bright enough to use for household lighting, but in the next 6 months you may begin to find them. If you are into conservation. Spend the money to replace all your lights in your house, even if the cost seems high. Over the next 6-12 months, you will not only recoup the cost of your lighting investment, but you will begin saving money all the while conserving electricity.
LED Light technology
That will be interesting to see what they come up with for household LED lighting.
Do you have any cool links on them?
I have already changed several high burn out rate fixtures to those spiral fluorescent bulbs. I started using them about 4 years ago and have not had a single one of them burn out. If you have a light that burns out more than once a year, put a spiral fluorescent in it.
The first household light I would like to have as an LED would be a bathroom night lite with a light sensor on/off controller.
Do you have any cool links on them?
I have already changed several high burn out rate fixtures to those spiral fluorescent bulbs. I started using them about 4 years ago and have not had a single one of them burn out. If you have a light that burns out more than once a year, put a spiral fluorescent in it.
The first household light I would like to have as an LED would be a bathroom night lite with a light sensor on/off controller.
Aren't white LED's rather rare (and possibly expensive)?
I wonder how much cheaper these lights could be if one was willing to use a colored light.
I wonder how much cheaper these lights could be if one was willing to use a colored light.
Heh... I've been doing a lot of research into various lightsources as part of a recent project...
LEDs are useful, but as of yet the high brightness ones are prohibitively expensive, and the light is a lot harsher than that from standard luminescent bulbs - not quite so suitable for domestic use. Also, they cannot be dimmed. They are on, or they are off.
They have a LOT of good applications - I've got a couple of LED torches. Batteries last ages. But as of yet, they're not ready for domestic ambient lighting.
LEDs are useful, but as of yet the high brightness ones are prohibitively expensive, and the light is a lot harsher than that from standard luminescent bulbs - not quite so suitable for domestic use. Also, they cannot be dimmed. They are on, or they are off.
They have a LOT of good applications - I've got a couple of LED torches. Batteries last ages. But as of yet, they're not ready for domestic ambient lighting.
Light-Emitting Diodes...so far, the cutest use is the "water light" thing that makes your water look blue when it comes out of your tap.
I'd love to have LED lights, but they'll have to think of a way to make it emit them in a softer way. The light is too harsh. I'm all about energy conservation, recycling, etc, but only when practical.
I'd love to have LED lights, but they'll have to think of a way to make it emit them in a softer way. The light is too harsh. I'm all about energy conservation, recycling, etc, but only when practical.
As for dimming or diffusing the light (to make it less bright or less harsh), that would be a simple matter of filtering the light with glass or plastic covers (in the case of diffusing) or having several small bulbs in one fixture, some of which turn on and off independently from others (in the case of dimming).
There are alot of things being said in this thread that are just plain wrong.
Rubbish.
LED lamps can be significantly brighter than either incandescent or flourescent bulbs, and for a much smaller wattage too. In my city, almost all traffic lights have had their incandescent bulbs replaced with solid-state (LED) bulbs which are far brighter. A layperson's side-by-side comparison just by looking down a road that has LED and incandescent lights puts an end to that claim.
In fact, some LEDs are capable of going so bright that they can burn your retina if you stare directly at them.* You're familiar with laser diodes? Those things they use in laser pointers and CD/DVD drives? Those are just another form of LED, really.
Rubbish.
Here is a high school science experiment outline to investigate dimming of LEDs.
Dimming LEDs is as easy as dimming incandescents, except that the response is not linear. Hardly a problem. And that's not even the only way to dim an LED - you can also use solid-state circuitry to create a pulsed voltage, and as long as the frequency is above the perceputal flicker rate, you won't notice the flicker, only the dimming.
Opinion.
LEDs for home lighting are available. They're not cheap because they need on board solid-state circuitry - you can't just plug an LED bulb into a 120/60 line outlet; LEDs need a conditioned DC voltage signal. But once paid for they should last 100 to 1000 times longer than an incandescent bulb, while using only 1/20th the power... and still be brighter.
The only valid complaint i have heard so far is that some people don't find the various flavours of white are enough like incandescent or flourescent bulbs. In other words, if you've designed and decorated under incandescent light, things may look wrong under LED light. (There is a similar argument against switching from incandescent to flourescent, of course.) The obvious solution to that problem is to get LED bulbs then design and decorate under them, but whatever. i'm sure it won't be long until someone starts manufacturing colour-matched LEDs that simulate standard lighting. And of course, standard linear dimmer switches won't have the right effect on the highly non-linear LED lights. Piffle, that's just a matter of changing a $2 dimmer switch (or buying an LED bulb with on-board solid-state circuitry to scale the current properly).
Just because they're not widely available yet doesn't mean they're not ready. They're perfectly ready. i daresay as we speak, lighting manufacturers are falling over themselves feverishly researching the most economical ways to bring them to market. It's a new technology, commercially speaking, so it's a risk. But eventually, and probably sooner than later, someone's going to step out and take the risk - then everyone else will dash to jump on the bandwagon. Keep your eyes peeled. LEDs for home lighting will probably be on your store shelves very, very soon.
| 6eracing wrote: |
| But have you seen the LED lamps coming into the market. The current models are not yet bright enough to use for household lighting, but in the next 6 months you may begin to find them. |
Rubbish.
LED lamps can be significantly brighter than either incandescent or flourescent bulbs, and for a much smaller wattage too. In my city, almost all traffic lights have had their incandescent bulbs replaced with solid-state (LED) bulbs which are far brighter. A layperson's side-by-side comparison just by looking down a road that has LED and incandescent lights puts an end to that claim.
In fact, some LEDs are capable of going so bright that they can burn your retina if you stare directly at them.* You're familiar with laser diodes? Those things they use in laser pointers and CD/DVD drives? Those are just another form of LED, really.
| Subsonic Sound wrote: |
| Also, they cannot be dimmed. They are on, or they are off. |
Rubbish.
Here is a high school science experiment outline to investigate dimming of LEDs.
Dimming LEDs is as easy as dimming incandescents, except that the response is not linear. Hardly a problem. And that's not even the only way to dim an LED - you can also use solid-state circuitry to create a pulsed voltage, and as long as the frequency is above the perceputal flicker rate, you won't notice the flicker, only the dimming.
| Subsonic Sound wrote: |
| But as of yet, they're not ready for domestic ambient lighting. |
Opinion.
LEDs for home lighting are available. They're not cheap because they need on board solid-state circuitry - you can't just plug an LED bulb into a 120/60 line outlet; LEDs need a conditioned DC voltage signal. But once paid for they should last 100 to 1000 times longer than an incandescent bulb, while using only 1/20th the power... and still be brighter.
The only valid complaint i have heard so far is that some people don't find the various flavours of white are enough like incandescent or flourescent bulbs. In other words, if you've designed and decorated under incandescent light, things may look wrong under LED light. (There is a similar argument against switching from incandescent to flourescent, of course.) The obvious solution to that problem is to get LED bulbs then design and decorate under them, but whatever. i'm sure it won't be long until someone starts manufacturing colour-matched LEDs that simulate standard lighting. And of course, standard linear dimmer switches won't have the right effect on the highly non-linear LED lights. Piffle, that's just a matter of changing a $2 dimmer switch (or buying an LED bulb with on-board solid-state circuitry to scale the current properly).
Just because they're not widely available yet doesn't mean they're not ready. They're perfectly ready. i daresay as we speak, lighting manufacturers are falling over themselves feverishly researching the most economical ways to bring them to market. It's a new technology, commercially speaking, so it's a risk. But eventually, and probably sooner than later, someone's going to step out and take the risk - then everyone else will dash to jump on the bandwagon. Keep your eyes peeled. LEDs for home lighting will probably be on your store shelves very, very soon.
LED's will be comming light technology.They are cheap and efficient.I have tried many experiments with LED's and i enjoy them doing.LED's are available in most of the colors.I am presently replacing my bikes tail lamp with LED's.
It is definitely exciting to see the technology developing, however do you think they will be able to take the incandescent out of the market?
Take a look at what Philips is doing with LEDs.
Streetlights, lightbulbs, decoration. It's pretty amazing. 8)
In a few years we will all have LEDs as the major lightsource, besides the sun.
Streetlights, lightbulbs, decoration. It's pretty amazing. 8)
In a few years we will all have LEDs as the major lightsource, besides the sun.
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