Comments on: EarthTalk: LED Light Bulbs More Efficient Than CFL’s? http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2008/10/26/earthtalk-led-light-bulbs-more-efficient-than-cfls/ Sustainability, Environment, Progressive Politics, Peak Oil, Being Green. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:52:10 -0500 hourly 1 By: andrew http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2008/10/26/earthtalk-led-light-bulbs-more-efficient-than-cfls/comment-page-1/#comment-17724 andrew Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:08:43 +0000 http://www.thegoodhuman.com/?p=2097#comment-17724 cree and luxeon do have some very powerful led's. I still find the little 5mm blinding point of light annoying. (though it does make an excelent flashlight) maybe those LED makers need to concentrate on making a bigger bulb that puts out light more evenly instead of tiny tiny lights that put out five million candella. Anyway LED isnt a bad choice if you want maximum efficiency,but sometimes the light itself is annoying. cree and luxeon do have some very powerful led’s. I still find the little 5mm blinding point of light annoying. (though it does make an excelent flashlight) maybe those LED makers need to concentrate on making a bigger bulb that puts out light more evenly instead of tiny tiny lights that put out five million candella.

Anyway LED isnt a bad choice if you want maximum efficiency,but sometimes the light itself is annoying.

]]> By: Anna http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2008/10/26/earthtalk-led-light-bulbs-more-efficient-than-cfls/comment-page-1/#comment-17723 Anna Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:36:06 +0000 http://www.thegoodhuman.com/?p=2097#comment-17723 I reviewed the LR6 now made by Cree a year ago after I saw it at NYC lightfaire. In addition, I have spoke to homeowners who use it. They love it and it is for general illumination. It does not work with every lighting fixture though and comes with a big price tag. Anna www.green-talk.com I reviewed the LR6 now made by Cree a year ago after I saw it at NYC lightfaire. In addition, I have spoke to homeowners who use it. They love it and it is for general illumination. It does not work with every lighting fixture though and comes with a big price tag.

Anna http://www.green-talk.com

]]> By: andrew http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2008/10/26/earthtalk-led-light-bulbs-more-efficient-than-cfls/comment-page-1/#comment-17719 andrew Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:24:45 +0000 http://www.thegoodhuman.com/?p=2097#comment-17719 I mess around with led's form time to time. They are really efficient (I ran about 30 red 5mm 55000mcd leds for 3 weeks off of 2 d cell batteries. The only time they burn out on me is when I put too much voltage through them. There are downsides though. I have a desk lamp I made that uses about 25 quarter million candle power leds. It is a bright as a 100 watt light bulb but only uses 8-10 (hard to calculate) watts. But the 100 watts is only in one direction and is PURE WHITE. Almost like a welding arc bright white - it does annoy the eyes (I have seen soft white, more natural color leds available, but have not had a chance to mess with them.) Also, the fact that wall current is AC means they actually blink on and off 60 times a second and this is almost noticeable like a strobe effect. I could add a capacitor, but that would mess up the RMS (when you rectify 120 VAC, you get higher than 120 VDC (say 135-155 when you add capacitors, you can get even more than that (170VDC)) calculations and I would probably burn out all of the LED's. In short, LED is not ready for everyone, yet. There needs to be one more major change (probably in the packaging of the LED) before they are usable enough for anything but flashlights and floodlights. Also LED's being cheaper would be nice. If you want to mess around a little, check around on eBay for LED's. You can order them cheap from china. Get a soldering iron, a voltage meter and some batteries (or you can mess with wall current if you are feeling particularly adventurous - just remember it can kill you or start fires) I mess around with led’s form time to time. They are really efficient (I ran about 30 red 5mm 55000mcd leds for 3 weeks off of 2 d cell batteries. The only time they burn out on me is when I put too much voltage through them.

There are downsides though. I have a desk lamp I made that uses about 25 quarter million candle power leds. It is a bright as a 100 watt light bulb but only uses 8-10 (hard to calculate) watts. But the 100 watts is only in one direction and is PURE WHITE. Almost like a welding arc bright white – it does annoy the eyes (I have seen soft white, more natural color leds available, but have not had a chance to mess with them.) Also, the fact that wall current is AC means they actually blink on and off 60 times a second and this is almost noticeable like a strobe effect. I could add a capacitor, but that would mess up the RMS (when you rectify 120 VAC, you get higher than 120 VDC (say 135-155 when you add capacitors, you can get even more than that (170VDC)) calculations and I would probably burn out all of the LED’s.

In short, LED is not ready for everyone, yet. There needs to be one more major change (probably in the packaging of the LED) before they are usable enough for anything but flashlights and floodlights. Also LED’s being cheaper would be nice.

If you want to mess around a little, check around on eBay for LED’s. You can order them cheap from china. Get a soldering iron, a voltage meter and some batteries (or you can mess with wall current if you are feeling particularly adventurous – just remember it can kill you or start fires)

]]>