LED vs. CFL

esperanza1

Ideally, I'd like to change all my light bulbs from CFL to LED in my house, so I'm looking for advice on advantages & drawbacks. Many thanks.

FMartinp

LED's are the way to go and there is plenty of info in previous threads for the reasons why.

Galia

You can get anything but 100W equivalent yet (well you can but its expensive) .

I just updated my 50W gu10 for 9w led's 6x in total exact perfect got it on ebay.

LED is the only way forward forget CFL .

Cost is still a factor though 10 euro approx each for my proper hi power leds and thats direct from china!!!!!:eek:.

make sure if you purchase they are are high tech proper led not the old tech led

esperanza1

sher55 wrote: »

You can get anything but 100W equivalent yet (well you can but its expensive) .

I just updated my 50W gu10 for 9w led's 6x in total exact perfect got it on ebay.

LED is the only way forward forget CFL .

Cost is still a factor though 10 euro approx each for my proper hi power leds and thats direct from china!!!!!:eek:.

make sure if you purchase they are are high tech proper led not the old tech led

Thanks for the tips. Where can I buy LED in Ireland? I can't order online as I don't have a credit card.

eth0

esperanza1 wrote: »

Thanks for the tips. Where can I buy LED in Ireland? I can't order online as I don't have a credit card.

Homebase sells quite a few. Similar kind of shops will usually have a couple as well

bonzodog2

Here is one from Bandon for less than 7 euro, free P+P. You might try the local electrical suppliers (where electricians go, not B&Q/Woodies)

You can get a 3V card or credit a Paypal account with online banking.

dardhal

esperanza1 wrote: »

Ideally, I'd like to change all my light bulbs from CFL to LED in my house, so I'm looking for advice on advantages & drawbacks. Many thanks.

Well, I think I'm going to be the one with a different opinion here :-) Theoretical lumen output and efficiencies from LED emitters are fantastic, and well above those efficiencies of CFL (best of breed LED have efficiencies greater than 100 lm/W, CFL don't go much over 65 lm/W). But, having said that, a LED being tested in the lab, under controlled conditions, at 25 ºC junction temperature and for shorts amounts of time is a very different thing that the same LED working under the less optimal conditions of a light bulb.

LED output drops quite a lot as temperature in the emitter increases, and temperature of the LED in a LED bulb is going to be 60ºC, maybe 80ºC, so a derrating of maybe 20% is to be expected (that is, 20% less light output at the same electrical usage). Then, some LED bulbs try to hide the bad looking emitters under a semitransparent bulb, so expect another important drop in efficiency due to that.

Also take into account that LED bulbs that output light amounts similar to the incandescent or CFL ones are nowhere near cheap. A 15 W CFL can be generating 1000 lm., for the same amount of light from a LED lamp you have to go for very expensive and cumbersome devices. If they are "chinese quality", expect them to output quite a lot less than advertised, is they are "first world" quality, expect them to cost an eye.

And finally, the theoretical 50,000 hour lifetime of LEDS are for those being measured at laboratory standard conditions, which are much much nicer than the real world conditions the LED is going to be exposed to. Anyways, it's much more likely to happen a catastrophic circuitry failure in the LED lamp, than in the LED itself. Remember the LED works at DC current (and very low voltages), and homes are serviced by medium voltage (220 V) alternating current. The circuitry in the bulb is more likely to fail early than the LED itself. I think the same can be said for CFL.

So, is replacing tried and true CFL bulbs for LED bulbs a sound economical decission? Most times, the answer is a big no. But they can have a place in certain use cases. For example, at home (in Spain) I have added a motion detector fired LED light to a dark corridor, and it is used quite frequently (to move from one room to another), a LED light is the right choice, because is the technology that suffers the least from constant on-off cycles. A CFL in that place would have burnt a few times by now (a couple of years).

The other place I use LED lights is in the bathroom. Those several dozen times you use the bathroom everyday for just a few seconds (everything but having a shower and sitting on the john) are very hard on the incandescent, CFL and fluorescent lights. A simple manually activated LED light (needn't be very bright, you know exactly where everything is :-) ) can save some money on electricity, and some more in blown bulbs.

Just my 2 cents (euro, punts, peseta, deustche mark or whatever currency we are using tomorrow).

eth0

I recently bought a 7W Philips MR16 led bulb and it has a fooking fan in it. Noise would drive you mad. Never took any notice of the 'active cooling' feature mentioned in the specs. I think that bulb must be just about the only one with a fan though