LED bulb replacing incandensent

Hi all!

My first post :slight_smile:

I’m looking for a LED bulbs to replace my standard incandensant ones. Currently I’m running 42W halogen 220V on E27 socket. They provide nice warm light, perfect for my rooms, and not so perfect for my wallet.

What’s wrong with them?
-They are not extremly cheap (2€/piece)
-They die fast
-They are power hogs. there’s 8 of them in my appartment, that makes it 336W alltogether. Since It’s small appartment, they are allmost all lit when I’m home.
-They “flicker” sometimes. Don’t know if It’s because of bad quality (the bulbs are “cheapest around”), bad wiring (old appartment) or because of the unstable electirc network.

I would like to replace them with LED bulbs. (I actually bought some localy but they were all rubbish.)

Are there some bulbs that would do:
-The same amount of light
-Would be in 20$ range
-Would have nice daylight or warmer color temp.

And another question: Would LED bulbs solve my problems with flickering?

If my goal could be achieved by some tinkering with bulbs, I could do it and have all the equipment at my hands.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/619878070/nanolight-the-worlds-most-energy-efficient-lightbu?ref=live

I’ve got two of those, absolutely mind blowing output :slight_smile:

-Jamie M.

Yep, they are something!

Unfortunately they are a little bit too expensive :frowning:

Welcome Mattej !

I don't know where you are, but here in the Netherlands, and I guess in Germany and many other countries also, I can buy Osram and Philips 2700K (nice and warm) 80CRI led bulbs that perform as well as the incandescent bulbs, in output and light quality (my house is full of hem now :-) ). In my local supermarket Philips led 45W replacements (4.5W) are 18 euro's.

In case you are US-based (do they have 220V in the US anywhere?), I don't have experience with the Cree bulbs, there are threads about them here that are positive, but some of them have issues.

I have one of those Philips 4,5W led lightbulbs, i bought it a few weeks ago at Lidl (Belgium) for less than 10 euro, and it seems to be very good (can’t tell how long it will last).

Check out the Philips Core Pro bulbs.

I have many and am really satisfied.

Thanks all
I’m in EU. I think I’ll try Philips Core Pro. If I could get them around 10-15€. Or I’ll build something myself :bigsmile:

Any opinion on flickering of the incansendent bulbs? Will LED (with It’s regulators and other SMD junk) solve the problem? I mean, If there are high drops of voltage? Can the dropouts damage the LED’s electronic?

Update:

I found some pretty promising bulbs:
http://en.shop.emos.cz/kategorie/bulbs,-light-sources/led-premium/

and the 12W is in stock at my local vendor :smiley:

There are Samsung bulbs in your link that I would trust, but if the actual leds in the bulb are unknown, there is a risk of very unpleasant light (too yellow, not enough red) although the colour temperature is correct. I had a led bulb like that.

If like me and on a strict budget, here’s some alternative choices.

I have one of these, nice color, good heatsink but like most LED household ligyhts limited flood ability.
Led Lamp linkage

I do not have any of these.

For “under-cabinet” lighting, consider LED light strips, 3m for under 4# [I have US kbd, not European]
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Non-Waterproof-3528-SMD-Flexible-LED-Strip-Lights-300-leds-Cool-White-5M-60LED-M-/261329479223?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Night_Lights_Fairy_Lights&hash=item3cd8736637

Search for ” White 5M SMD 300 LED Light Strip”.
“buy now” and “include P+P”.

You can cut these to any desired 3-led length.

http://en.shop.emos.cz/zbozi/1525263300-led-premium-20w-e27-a80-clas-dw

Doesn’t list a voltage or Hz that I can see. Is it safe to assume it’ll work on our 110v/60hz?

-Jamie M.

i also always purchase some LED product from store.
i could tell you some good store.
samsung and bridgelux chip
and service is very good
never tell other people.the bulb is very good.

If you live in the U.S. a hardware chain called Menards sells Feit LED bulbs that can be used in enclosed fixtures. Another hardware chain called Home Depot sells Cree brand LED bulbs. Check online both brands are high quality.

Home Depot, do they sell prefabricated houses as suggested by their name?
And Cree seems to be a native indian tribe :open_mouth:

I've heard of Menards, but never seen one.

Ikea has some budget friendly warm white led lamps too.
I have bought some and they are all nice.

If the flickering is because of voltage fluctuations a led bulb can solve this problem.

Domestic leds are growing up fast but cfl still give the best $/lumens ratio
to replace a 45w halogen you need 10w led that do the same light of a 15w cfl but led is 20 euro cfl 2 euro(and also a 25w cfl is 2 euro while 20w led will be 35 euro)
so better switch leds just on very used light points… still if theirs lumen and CRI output is enough for you
and wait some year for the others

care on unbranded chinese lights connect to high tension, like usb power supply can be dangerous, especially coz are handled by the metal dissi

LOL

LED bulbs excel for spotlight applications; I used to have a GU-10 fixture that used four 4x Halogen bulbs to focus light on counters in the kitchen for spot illumination. That used a lot of electricity so I replaced the bulbs with the cheap 4W 4-emitter bulbs with the TIR cluster and those worked great! Lasted longer than the Halogen bulbs, and ran MUCH cooler, and used about 1/10th of the power.

General Household illumination is a different story though. My observations have been that anything less than 10W is fairly worthless for anything other than small closet or desklamp use. I purchased three led bulbs a while back from FT in 3W, 5W, and 7W ratings. The 3W is too dim for anything and isn't being used for anything at this time. The 5W works well for a nightstand lamp. The 7W is okay, but still not a replacement for a typical high-wattage incan/CFL.

Last night, I built up a light bulb using a full 2.8A driven Warm-White XM-L in a generic LED bulb enclosure and running off a single 18650 for testing. I compared the brightness of this light with a single 13W CFL and this configuration was approaching the brightness of the CFL, but wasn't quite as bright, even at the full 10W. CFLs still have the edge in efficiency. I've also had very good luck with CFLs lasting a very long time without failing. The biggest disadvantage is the slow warmup of the CFLs but I can live with that for 10% of the cost...

halogen is bad lamp