New light bulb technology - any good?

[Skogsgurra]

It seems that this bulb is available in the US now: Vu1 Lighting

I saw several reviews written by people in San Diego and a few other places. They say it is super - and doesn't cost too much.

I am sceptical. The field emission technology (without heated cathode) seemed to be a good idea many years ago. But is it still a good idea? LED lamps cost a third or less and their life is three times longer.

The Vu1 bulb has a heated cathode. Is that what makes it shine (no pun)?

Has anyone tried out the Vu1 bulb? Thoughts?

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

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Half full - Half empty? I don't mind. It's what in it that counts.

 

[btrueblood]

Mac,

I think our LED bulbs are the "dimmable" versions, and were likely from Costco. We are talking R30 form bulbs here? Where did you get yours?

 

[MacGyverS2000]

R30, Edison base, etc. Standard US lightbulb base. All from Ikea. I replaced the four that were in the main living room... went from 240W down to 52W, so I'm using less power with all four bulbs than I was with just one of the original 60W incandescents. As I mentioned earlier, that's huge since just about every switch in the house turns on at least 3 bulbs. Our master bathroom has 9 bulbs above the vanities, all on one switch... to light up the room before took 540W, now it's just 117W (and that's with 70W-equivalent LEDs). I could have gone with 60W-equivalent bulbs and not changed the brightness in the room for a more paltry 90W, but I figure I'm saving so much energy I'll splurge a little and brighten things up.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[btrueblood]

Will inform the Missus about IKEA for bulbs...would not have thought to look there.

 

[MacGyverS2000]

They have 70W, 60W, and 40W versions in the Edison base. If you go down to the small base (like often used in nightlights and ceiling fans), I think it tops out at like 30W, but I didn't look at those too closely.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[btrueblood]

Thanks Mac.

 

[ScottyUK]

My bathroom had about 390W of tungsten lighting, now down to under 60W of LED. No failures in four years, and the colour rendering is (subjectively) better too. 5.3W across three chips, and about 5 GBP / 8 dollars each.

Tungsten lamps in the UK are getting expensive. I am idly wondering what to do with lava lights which rely on the heat of the lamp for operation. My kids have one each as night lights - they think they're aliens - and a lamp failure would cause terrible upset.


skogs - a Clas Olsson opened in Newcastle a year or two ago but I have never been in. Is it somewhere I need to acquaint myself with?

 

[Skogsgurra]

Yes Scotty, I think you could have some fun there. Lots of tools and machines. It started as a clock-maker's supplier around hundred years ago to help the grandfather-clock makers in rural Sweden and it has evolved gradually into what it is today. It is a little like German Conrad, but with (usually) more qualified personnel. I recently bought a table-top band-saw of their own brand (CoTech) and it is quite OK for my needs. Like IKEA, they usually have batteries at low prices to lure you into the shop. You had better bring SWMBO with you. You will understand why when you get there.

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

--------------------------------------
Half full - Half empty? I don't mind. It's what in it that counts.

 

[btrueblood]

Scotty, can you name some brands? Or do you think most/all LED lamps will have good longevity?

 

[ScottyUK]

They were a British brand called 'CEL' which might well be an in-house brand name for one of our DIY outlets.

I certainly don't think all are created equal - some have inadequate heatsinks and run noticeably hot to the touch, and some just seem to have poor driver circuitry which doesn't last. At work we're using LED panels to replace office lighting and while there's little to distinguish them in terms of light output some are quite well-made while others are really poor. There's a big cost spread though, from about 40 GBP to about 160 GBP so you get what you pay for to some extent. FWIW the CEL ones I used in an outdoor application with photocell control have all failed the same way: the LED chips are all operational, but the driver has failed and the light pulses in an almost strobe-like manner. Almost certainly one component failing each time, but at such low replacement cost it's not worth the effort of repairing them.

One of the regulars - mcgyvr2000 perhpas - does a fair bit with LEDs and will offer a better engineering insight than I can.

 

[MacGyverS2000]

Ideally, you want a quality LED in the unit... Phillips, Cree, etc. Chinese no-name LEDs are a complete crapshoot in terms of QA... some last a reasonable period of time, some die within a few hours, many change CRI over a much shorter time frame than expected. But in the end, the "ballast" is almost always the weak link (the caps, in particular). Until companies can make a ballast that consistently lasts as long as the LEDs being driven, the lifetime will be limited to the ballast.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com