'Energy efficient' lighting

Phil Robson

Well-Known Member
I don't know about others on here, but I get quite prickly when it comes to such 'planet-saving' technology like energy-efficient lights.

In my garage, I replaced my trusty strip light in the pit for an LED one (I broke the strip light :(). The light is great & it supposedly lasts for 20 zillion years. However, in reality these things seem to last for a few years if you're lucky, so I don't know what the total carbon footprint is of their life cycle.

I'm just replacing my 3 year old light that's on the side of the pit:

IMG_2594.JPG

The 4 strip lights in the ceiling were 2nd hand when installed 20 years ago, get far more use than the pit light & I think I've replaced one tube in all that time :rolleyes:
 
Many of us go LED for the reduced power consumption, and some improvement in life - we have seen at least a 5 fold increase in the life of LEDS in the house. Common house hold bulb here is 60W, equivalent LED is 7-10W. In fact the Govt here in Vic will supply replacement House bulbs with LEDS for free, but only once. I have an LED trouble light - upside is its life is much greater than an incandescent (more robust), downside is its an Edison screw type, and it tends to unscrew. For under car work I have a 100W LED panel, which is like a search light.
 
When I bought an old factory to run the glue business from I replaced all of the strip lights with LED. Power usage dropped from 10.5KW to to 2.7KW.

Quite a saving, especially with the increase in power prices now :hmm:
 
This could get quite techy. The zillions years of run times are true but like all statistics is in reality a total lie.
The spec of a LED has a max current. Usually the manufactures of the lights will run the LEDs at close to their max current, resulting in failures. If you reduce the current by a half, the LED will last multiple times longer.
To reduce the current will require a little knowledge of electronics and a steady hand to change a resister on the PCB. There are plently of videos on YT showning how this is done.
 
Your picture brings back memories of 'borrowing' a pit at a place my in-laws were caretakers for. The house in Hampshire was owned by a guy who lived in Singapore and it had 4 garages with a floor pit in one. Every time I needed to borrow it I had to drain it of water first as the damp proof membrane was clearly shot and it used to have about 2ft of water in it and as it was boarded over, everything was running in condensation. I used to turn the lights on using a very long broom handle :)
 
This could get quite techy. The zillions years of run times are true but like all statistics is in reality a total lie.
The spec of a LED has a max current. Usually the manufactures of the lights will run the LEDs at close to their max current, resulting in failures. If you reduce the current by a half, the LED will last multiple times longer.
To reduce the current will require a little knowledge of electronics and a steady hand to change a resister on the PCB. There are plently of videos on YT showning how this is done.

Yep reality does not meet hype.
More to the problem is the AC mains supply conversion to the lower voltage that the led strings ( inside the bulb) use with the charge/ reservoir capacitor failing due to bad caps and poor cost cutting design especially those led manufactured in China or other low labour cost markets.
If you want led bulbs only buy from reputable manufacturers such as Philips, General electric etc, run a million miles from any thing that isn't.
I too fell into the cheap led trap and found that the cheap brands did not even last as long as a standard Tungsten filament.
The Cap and poor design is not limited to just the led product but the exact same issue is in the CFL bulbs too.
Sure the led may be rated for 20,000 to 200,000 hours but the electrolytic capacitors are at super best rated to 6000 ( normally 2000) hours but with the bad design, heat, power loadings and poor manufacture you are lucky to see more than a few hundred hours at best.

Graeme
 
Sure the led may be rated for 20,000 to 200,000 hours but the electrolytic capacitors are at super best rated to 6000 ( normally 2000) hours but with the bad design, heat, power loadings and poor manufacture you are lucky to see more than a few hundred hours at best.

Mine have been lighting the factory for over six years now, so around 12,000 hours without issue.
 
Mine have been lighting the factory for over six years now, so around 12,000 hours without issue.

I think LEDs are the just the best and I guess properly designed systems will last generations, it's just a shame that cut price manufacturers are out for a quick buck and just end up adding to landfill.
Another brand I have had success with is Panasonic led bulbs.
One thing I found a little odd with the roll out of the technology was the pricing in different countries.
In New Zealand, Philips and other decent brands were prohibitively priced at about $NZ7.00 per bulb ( hence my bad experience with cheap brands) whilst in China I equipped my entire apartment at about $NZ1.00 per bulb with Philips bulbs.
All the cheapie bulbs expired in less than 18 months whereas all the Philips/ Panasonic/General Electric bulbs are going strong 10 years later.
 
Interesting stuff - although it looks like my cheap(ish) new lights will be being replaced in a couple of years' time :rolleyes:

You generally get what you pay for, I suppose....
 
When I bought an old factory to run the glue business from I replaced all of the strip lights with LED. Power usage dropped from 10.5KW to to 2.7KW.

Quite a saving, especially with the increase in power prices now :hmm:

A wind farm on every hill in the last 20 years, guess what? Electricity prices just quadrupled here, regardless of lightbulbs.
 
A wind farm on every hill in the last 20 years, guess what? Electricity prices just quadrupled here, regardless of lightbulbs.

Hey, don't worry they just prototyped nuclear fusion.

Soon it will be Sol 1 and Sol 2 with Sol 2 being just 2 planets away from Sol 1.

Where is that Doctor Who fellow when you need him.
 
A couple of years before we downsized 18 months ago we changed bulbs in our old home (which we built and where we lived for 43 years) to LEDs, the incandescent mainly 150w spots had lasted for 41 years with little failure.
In the new place one of the recessed LEDs has already failed. Trouble is it is in a 4metre high ceiling and even if we had a ladder high enough at 76 I would not be allowed by SWMBO to climb it. So we will wait for a few more to fail and then pay a fortune to a sparky.
Interestingly our 6.4kw solar panels generate most of the power we use (including electric reverse cycle heating/cooling) but the excess earns just 6.7cents per kWh whereas in our old place because we were early adapters we were paid 66cents.
Makes one almost think of a plug-in hybrid or EV with the reverse flow to use as a battery power the place at night.
 
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