My $7 woolies 3W led lights are still performing brilliantly. I put one in our dining/hall area and it runs all night. The other 2 are in my workshop over the bench and run off the small solar array. They are about 900mm above the bench space about 500mm apart and light it up really well. Best $21 I ever spent. Leds don't have to cost a fortune.
To LED now or wait ?
(36 posts) (19 voices)-
Lance
Key MasterNope, and as I keep mentioning, there are plenty of low cost sources. I have an ultra cheapie in a fitting that runs all night, every night (solar powered) and the 1 watt LED has now degraded to about 25% of the original light after about 3 years, so that's something to expect with many Chinese lamps, but the problem is probably less now than 3 years ago as quality improves. I will soon put a cree in that lamp and increase its output about 10 fold. What's amazing is that the driver is still chugging along, probably because the filter cap doesn't have to do any filtering!
Posted Wednesday 9 Mar 2011 @ 3:14:54 am from IP # -
Lance
Key MasterOn a $/Lumen basis, Cree LEDs are the best, I buy all sorts of LEDs and prices are similar for the same power rating across the major brands, but Crees put out more light, so why wouldn't you use them? Don't confuse Cree LEDs and light fittings, I'm talking the LED devices themselves, not the finished fittings.
As an example, a I sell Cree XM-L LEDs for $13 each, that's 1000 Lumens @ 10 Watts in for $13 plus the cost of a driver and heatsink, doesn't get much better than that...
The wattage has nothing to do with it, you can't buy on a $ per watt basis as the light output per watt varies with brand and model, you have to buy on a $ per lumen basis, $/W makes no sense from a comparison (or any other) point of view...
Posted Thursday 10 Mar 2011 @ 12:22:43 am from IP # -
haldane
MemberWe have recently been testing the Megaman reflector series at Ecological Design. Not the cheapest LEDs on the market but the design seems to make a lot of sense. Are there any other people have used them?
I am also interested in how to provide the complete package as far as a domestic retrofit. Using a covered ES27 downlight fitting could make sense along with either a an iso-lite or Tenmat cover.
Appreciate people's thoughts - not the sales pitches
Posted Thursday 13 Oct 2011 @ 2:37:54 am from IP #
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