LED globes / Electricity Cost

I made a ghetto projector one time using a 50W led and a high res screen one time.
These days I could ghetto rig a 200W one for the same effort, and less cost, sigh.

http://www.computersolutions.cn/blog/2010/06/home-made-projector-project-using-led-lighting/

(Have me a "real" projector now though)

For me, pricing for LED is cheaper than buying standard bulbs in .za, as everything is farking overpriced.
Import costs have doubled though since 2 years ago as the rand has dived :(


LED's are the way to go, although again, lifespan is bogus - its similar to normal lights though, so its not too bad.
Again, (as I wrote above in previous replies), I replaced my entire house with LED 2 years ago, and have had a handful fail.
The LED's are still ok, its the inverter 220 -> 12v or 5v that fails typically, so have reused the LED's for other stuff.

I've been playing a bit with addressable LED lighting these days, eg you can control the light from a mobile phone app, or computer. Its gimmicky, but I can tie into a "smart home" and have things happen automagically - eg turn lights on when i'm out or via sensor when i walk about the house.
Blogged about it a little here - http://www.computersolutions.cn/blog/2013/05/let-there-be-light/

Its the future, but its a bit too expensive still. I paid about RMB 500 for 3 bulbs last year (thats R1000 for 3 bulbs! now), so its not something I'm going to be buying lots more of.
The company that makes them actually approached me as I wrote the review and offered me some samples, so will be taking them up on that. Might import some to .za in future, once I have my cool as fark setup at home in Obz going on :)
 
HavocXphere said:
Rubbish. The light output is far higher per unit of power used. If it weren't then we wouldn't be having this debate. The question is whether the improved light output per unit of power justifies the increase initial cost.

I've got a mixture of the two installed here & I've come to three conclusions:
1) LED placement matters in a serious way. You need to think long & hard as to where you're putting them. Def not something you can wing. e.g. In retrospect I'd like more LEDs in the kitchen above the counter I use for chopping veggies and stuff. Similarly I'd like more LEDs in the rooms I spend more time in.
2) CFLs are a piece of sht. Mostly because they burn out much sooner than promised. 100% of my frequently used CFL have burned out (Osram/Philips mix - by most accounts decent brands). No joke...100%+. Bathroom 1/1, Study 3/2 (on 2nd set), bedroom 2/2. Piece of sht. Haven't lost a LED yet.
3) I'd like a high powered movable LED set. e.g. lying in bed an powerful LED downlighters is just no good. Kills the eyes while reading. Need to DIY a high powered LED standing lamp...
Click to expand...

CFLs suffer the fate that they cannot be dimmed and life expectancy is a product of number of power ups rather than actual hours much like fluorescent tubes. So bathrooms with CFLs generally have the worst expectancy. This is why I generally turn on and off FL and CFLs at most once/night as the bulbs appear to last longer(less wear as less frequent power ups).

LEDs don't suffer from this I think & are dim-able + non-toxic. Like I said before, power usage being the same vs unit cost I'm not convinced it's currently worth it at all.
 
krycor said:
LEDs don't suffer from this I think & are dim-able + non-toxic. Like I said before, power usage being the same vs unit cost I'm not convinced it's currently worth it at all.
Click to expand...
Most of the LEDs I see on shop shelves state they aren't dimmable and their support electronics may well suffer from the same wear problem from being turned on and off regularly.

We've Finally Figured Out What Makes LED Bulbs So Inefficient

HavocXphere said:
Rubbish. The light output is far higher per unit of power used. If it weren't then we wouldn't be having this debate.
Click to expand...
I had believed they were highly efficient until I was researching them. They currently have questionable value versus CFLs. They need to be cheaper or brighter to match the overall cost of a CFL. I'm still looking for ones that meet those criteria.
 
noxibox said:
I had believed they were highly efficient until I was researching them.
Click to expand...
krycor said:
Like I said before, power usage being the same vs unit cost I'm not convinced it's currently worth it at all.
Click to expand...
Rubbish.

CFL > 50 - 70 lm/W [Source]
LED > Cree announced commercial availability of 200 lm/W...in 2012. [Source]

You can buy them here:
http://za.mouser.com/new/cree/cree-MKR/

Thats +- quadruple the light output per unit of power. Admittedly those are loose LEDs, but the point stands. The ones in down-lighter casings aren't far behind anyway. e.g.
http://za.mouser.com/new/cree/creeLMH2/

Overall cost incl initial outlay will make them more expensive than CFLs - there I definitely agree - but to say that they aren't more efficient is simply not true.
 
[video=youtube;GUvk9rS8qvQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUvk9rS8qvQ[/video]
 
Very nice - what kind of cost would you estimate per unit? How bright are they?
 
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