Can you tell me something about LED lights?

18 years ago

I'm interested in locating some consumer information about LED flashlights and LED space lighting (for house rooms, etc).

Does anyone know of any 'consumer report'-type info about efficiency, durability, advantages/disadvantages, and price?

I'm interested in practicality, and not interested in these as a novelty or a "be-the-first-on-your-block" sort of thing.

My searches have just led to too many hits... confusing. Thanks for any leads.

Joel

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Comments (4)

ericwi
18 years ago
Light emitting diodes (LED) are a type of semiconductor, similar to transistors and diodes. They operate on direct current, typically around 2 volts. LED's are more efficient than incandescent light bulbs, and have similar energy efficiency when compared to fluorescent lamps. Since LED's operate on direct current, they are well adapted for use in battery powered portable flashlights. To my knowledge, LED's are not cost effective when compared to compact fluorescents for interior lighting. I'm not sure that white LED's will ever be cheaper or more energy efficient than fluorescent lamps. I am not aware of any underlying physical reason that would make white LED's use less energy per unit of light output.
If you have a source of dc current, then it might make sense to light your interior with white LED's, and avoid converting your power to alternating current, a necessary step for fluorescent lighting in this instance. If you are using alternating current off the grid, then there is no advantage to using white LED's for interior lighting at this time in history.
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ericwi
18 years ago
Part 2: The efficiency of a light source can be stated in lumens per watt. Incandescent light bulbs can achieve 17 lumens per watt, and compact fluorescent lamps with electronic ballast achieve 80 lumens per watt. White LED lamps currently available achieve 38 lumens per watt. However, a Japanese company, privately held, called Nichia, is manufacturing white LED lamps with an efficiency of 100 lumens per watt. These units are being used in battery powered equipment at this time, and are not being sold as a home interior light source, because they are too expensive.
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joel_bc
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks, Eric. These are succinct and fact-filled posts. Helpful.

Seems like LEDs are a rising star, that they will loom larger in terms of everyone's lighting needs, in the near future.

For anybody else who is interested in this topic, I'll mention numerous people chimed in, and posted some links to Web sites, over on the Garden Web "Renewable Home Energy" forum.

Joel
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brendan_of_bonsai
18 years ago
An advantage to LED's is that they last about 20 times as long as compact flourescents do, they are however considerably more expensive.
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Can you tell me something about LED lights?

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ericwi

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Can you tell me something about LED lights?

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ericwi

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