I was checking out Digikey myself and they seem to have an impressive selection of Vero’s. You’ve probably already checked out all the data sheets and Product Selection Guide. With a vF of 38.6 @2100 mA, it looks like you also found the perfect name brand psu at a great price to power it.
Will your mounting location be under an eve to protect from direct rain? If so, I wonder how safe it would be to have a 12v fan blowing through the sink and have a cheapie water resistant 12v psu to power it? You could always clean the fan a few times a year (if necessary) to remove any cob webs, but I bet the fan would take care of itself in that regard. You might have to blow out the sink from time to time with compressed air, regardless of which route you take in active or passive cooling.
TP, from what I could find, the light you linked appears to be “old” technology from or before circa 2008 (before lighting science acquired them). I could be wrong but I bet they are rather inefficient with mega high run time hours. The seller seems to also be selling off old NOS replacement emitters & modules from the same era, but its hard to tell if they are for the fixtures. The data sheets I could find looked horrible. Any ideas if these are worth the hassle or would we be better off looking towards newer LED’s for better efficiency and reliability?
You could find more modern fixtures, but the efficiency would not be much better. These do 62 lumens/watt OTF (including driver and optics losses) which is right around what most fixtures like this do. You might see 75 lumens/watt out of one of the latest fixtures.
I have bought several 5000 lumen/80 watt fixtures and 10,000 lumen/150 watt street lights from them and they seem to work quite well. They did not appear to be used, or were slightly used (i.e. no dust/dirt/scratches) Most of what they sell seem to be store returns, demo units, and old stock items.
Most of my house is lit with bulbs (over 300 of them) I bought from them. They all tested at or above the manufacturers specs. I bought them at prices that were very close to what halogens would have cost: My adventures in LED home lighting
I did have to have around half of the PAR20 bulbs (around 80 bulbs) replaced because of a recall… so those are all new bulbs now.
Thanks TP, I was sure you had probably done some thorough research before purchasing. Im going to pass on the remaining Forefront fixture. So if anyone wants it, good luck with your bid. I did go ahead and grab a pair of Meanwell PSU’s that Sacra had mentioned. It looks like each one should be capable of powering a pair of Vero29’s to max spec if I decide to go that route. Im impressed with your efforts in converting your home lighting to LED… executed like a true LED-aholic. It looks like you’ll have them paid for in power savings in no time. I’ll keep my eyes on this ebay seller for future potential purchases. Thanks again for all the great tips!
Between bulbs and electricity, I figure that I am saving around $100/month. I was replacing at least one halogen bulb a week… and I HATE changing light bulbs. When one in the kitchen blew, usually a couple others would blow… and also take out the $35 dimmer switch. I think that I have had around 4 LED bulbs die over the last couple of years… all replaced under warranty.
I did splurge on some high-end 95CRI bulbs for my kitchen and office, plus those Sylvania 10 watt PAR16’s. Those extravagances probably doubled my payback interval… should be in the green sometimes this year.
I do need to sell off some of my extra bulbs from the recall replacements… and all the incandescents that I removed. This year they have stopped the sale of even 40 watt incandescent bulbs.
BTW, power savings from reduced air conditioning load is very small and can be ignored… a typical AC unit can remove 40 watts of heat using 1 watt of electricity. So replacing a 50 watt halogen with a 10 watt LED bulb only saves you another watt of power.
Were you able to provide proof of purchase to your power company for tax credits? If not, you may want to see if its applicable to you. You sure went all out and they might have special incentives for you. Did you happen to try any of the newer Cree bulbs yet? Ive heard mixed reviews concerning their failure rates. Depending on the fixture, Im sure failure rates must go through the roof for any LED bulb that has limited or no ventilation.
I’ve bought a few of the Cree bulbs for testing… not all that impressed… particularly with the A19 style bulbs… tiny heatsink gets way too hot for my tastes. Also, that rubber membrane around the bulb is sticky and collects lint, etc like a lint roller. I set one down on the carpet and was disgusted by the crud it picked up. I suspect that the bulbs will likewise, over time, suck up all the fluff floating around in the air.
Virtually all the lights in my house are in recessed fixtures and use directional bulbs.
What the hell were they thinking? Sending lint rollers to the shelves disguised as light bulbs! I wonder if the newer version still has that sticky coating? I had the local utility company come through and give me a free energy efficiency assessment a few years ago and they loaded me up with a few free cases of sylvania 23w cfl’s. At some point in the future, it may pay to convert to LED. But for my particular applications, it will likely be many years before the cost/efficiency differential provoke me to even consider it.
Huh. Not only do waterproof/dustproof DC muffin fans exist, they’re pretty readily-available and not too expensive. New 12V and 24V fans rated for IP55 can be had for under $20 from Mouser and DigiKey. That should be good enough for semi-protected under-eave mounting (looks like YStech offers some 12V fans rated to IP67 with totally-enclosed motors but I’m afraid to check what they cost).
That makes it a lot easier to cool a pair of Vero29s running flat-out in an outdoor fixture.
Just need to design a weatherproof enclosure for the LEDs themselves and I’m in business!
I must admit, I was tempted. Not because I have an actual use for it, but because it would just be fun to have a single fixture which puts out as much light as 35 Cree bulbs (~800lm each) and runs on lower power than “low” on my space heater.
I have 8 of those bulbs in my bathroom (~6400lm), and with the dimmer switch all the way up, turning the light on is a shocking experience (even during the day).
It’s probably better for me not to have toys like this though. I’d be tempted to use it as an alarm clock or something… which would either wake me up to the sudden realization that I died and now “see the light”, or might actually kill me due to sheer blinding shock.
Or I’d point it at the neighbors and see how long it takes them to realize they didn’t just see a nuke go off in my bedroom.
Can someone please tell me how to adjust a MEANWELL CLG-150-36A 150W once connected to the the LED’s?
It has 2 pots. One for current and another for voltage. I would like to power 3 x vF matched 7 series Bridgelux RS emitters in parallel (which should easily be able to take full current from the driver).
I wonder if the newer version still has that sticky coating? I had the local utility company come through and give me a free energy efficiency assessment a few years ago and they loaded me up with a few free cases of sylvania 23w cfl’s. At some point in the future, it may pay to convert to LED. But for my particular applications, it will likely be many years before the cost/efficiency differential provoke me to even consider it.
