LED Lighting

[Aggie]

I picked up a solar powered LED lamp for my garden.It is blindingly bright and stays on deep into the night .

I have three and they are pretty weak.  But I have a very sufficient LED solar-charging lantern for camping.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I carry 2 flashlights routinely.  A "penlight" that takes 2 AA size, and a headlamp that takes 2 AAA size batteries.

Both are 3 watt LED lamps, and very, very bright.

Why 2?

Because, if you have crawled deep under a house, or into the back of an attic, the last thing you want to have happen is no light for your return trip....

Besides, the penlight is handier for a quick look.  For working, I need both hands, hence the headlamp.

Sold on LED's for several years now.

[anthrobabe]

have any of you seen or do you have a LED dynamo light-- I have a dynamo light in my purse but was wondering about the LED version, if one exists and the light output.

Dynamo lights are fun and very handy--esp as I have a niece and 4 nephews-it is always charged as they see cranking it as great fun.

[Griffin NoName]

I bought a tiny tiny LED torch about 2 cm long which goes ona  key fob. It is stunningly bright, so much that it is dangerous to look AT it.  Cost peanuts too.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

have any of you seen or do you have a LED dynamo light-- I have a dynamo light in my purse but was wondering about the LED version, if one exists and the light output.

Dynamo lights are fun and very handy--esp as I have a niece and 4 nephews-it is always charged as they see cranking it as great fun.

I've had several, now.

The work great, if you keep them charged by winding regularly.  If you just charge'em and toss'em in a closet, about 6 months later they only work if you wind'em-- the internal rechargeable batteries fail.

I wish someone would make one that used a capacitor instead of a battery to charge.   Sure, the capacitor won't keep the charge for more than an hour or so, but if the generator has high enough current (make it a bit harder to turn...so what? It'd charge quicker, with just a few turns) it'll charge the cap for a 5 minute light-show.  More than enough to snap the circuit breaker back, or replace a fuse.   Or, to make a turn about the place, to see what that noise was.   But, noooooo, they have to use an irreplaceable rechargeable battery.   *bleah*

Another option:  instead of a rechargeable battery, why not a clock spring?  Let the spring unwind, spin the generator to keep the light going..... would last for 100's of years.....

[pieces o nine]

The non-lethal red penlight variety has provided hours of rampaging fun for Dom the Danger Cat, as well. He particularly relishes chasing the beam up and down the stairs, and mewls accusingly at the kitchen drawer when I put it away.

[ivor]

I wish someone would make one that used a capacitor instead of a battery to charge. 

Try one of these:

http://www.maxwell.com/ultracapacitors/products/medium-cell/bcap0140.asp

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I wish someone would make one that used a capacitor instead of a battery to charge. 

Try one of these:

http://www.maxwell.com/ultracapacitors/products/medium-cell/bcap0140.asp

I may do that-- if they are not horribly expensive.

[Bruder Cuzzen]

I picked up a solar powered LED lamp for my garden.It is blindingly bright and stays on deep into the night .

I have three and they are pretty weak.  But I have a very sufficient LED solar-charging lantern for camping.

I should have been a bit more thorough in my response , the LED light I was referring to at the time has a collector that has 3x the surface area of previous lamps .
It is still going strong and I am thinking of arranging a few more of it's caliber to shine light upon the other collectors to make all the lamps charge  one another when they are operating so they stay lit all night .

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Today I finally found some LED light bulbs at a reasonable price, a pack of 3 for ~US$15 at a subsidiary of the evil empire (sams), these are 1.5W supposedly equivalent to 40W incandescent. I had been thinking on placing them in the bathroom (where the failure rate is higher due to much frequent on/off cycles) and these ones just fit the bill.

I would think that in reality the amount of light is closer to 30W incandescent but for the bathroom using all of them it works perfectly.

(the pictures suggest a dark room but is more a matter of contrast for the camera)

I'll let you know if and when one them fails.

[beagle]

40% too expensive  .   They'll look charmingly retro though...

See here and here.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Prototypes are already being produced and the light bulbs may reach the market in a mere two years.

So, $3 on 2?

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Just and update on my obsession with LED lighting, right now only three lights remain CFL at home, and those are in the last corners, a closet, the balcony and the wash & drier room. Better yet, I already have the LED replacements but the plug is small so I have to buy adapters or install smaller sockets.

The first gen bulbs I got are now in the fridge where they are perfectly adequate with the bonus of generating no heat at all. 2nd gen are in the bathrooms, these are 2.5 watts and more than twice as bright from the 1st gen, prices for those are on the same range. For the places that need more light I found some 7 watt 450 lumen ones that are the equivalent of a 60/70W incandescent, for the dinning room I had to get something with more punch as the decorative lamp eats lots of light so a 13W 800 lumen one serves the purpose (those are on the expensive side but it's replacing a 40W CFL) and finally, this weekend I got tube replacements for the kitchen where either the lamps, the ballasts or both were done. These are expensive (a bit less than $30 each on Amazon) 8-9W replacing 20W 2' tubes. These don't need the ballast so I removed them and reconnected two poles on each as any regular bulb. The only issue I had was that despite being labeled as compatible with the standard size were in reality about 1 cm shorter, so I had to adjust the connectors to fit the new length (I sliced a plastic wine cork at 4-5mm and placed it on the back of the plastic connectors).

As I have been using LED for a while now I have had two failures so far, quite likely of the electronics than the actual LEDs, but the rest are humming along just fine. It will likely take years to recoup the money on the bulbs but at least I can feel happy about the low consumption. If only an equivalent alternative existed to replace my AC...

[Sibling DavidH]

I must get some.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Cool thread, and I totally forgot about it... my previous post was 2008...



I've since added a nice automatic LED reading light in the bathroom, over the toilet.

I purchased a stand-alone swing arm lamp, which is affixed to the wall behind the commode.   Next I purchased a motion sensor module, mounted that in a utility box with a plug and a cord (modified from a heavy-duty extension cord the same gauge as normal house wiring).

Mounted that in a strategic location, switched the motion sensor module to "automatic" and viola!

Anytime I stumble into the bathroom, the LED light automatically lights up the commode... perfect for reading.   After a few minutes of inactivity, it goes off.   I put that up about a year ago or so... no sign if failure so far.

I have two super-bright CFLs over the sink, but a couple of omni-directional LED's would work there a well, I'd wager.   I'll have to see about that.

In my refrigerator, I replaced the constantly-blowing incandescent bulb with a low-wattage CFL.  Alas, the cold temperatures prevented that from going "instant on" as it should, so I re-wired the switch to always on.  The heat it contributes is minuscule-- far lower than just opening the door would do.    But, letting it remain always-on, lets the bulb remain just warm enough for full-brightness.  As an added bonus?  I detected a flaw in the door-seal (by seeing light shining through)...

Replacing it with an LED would work, if I could find one that faced the right way-- most I see are too directional (having reflector bases).  The switch would be a snap to repair too (I was deliberate about that step).   Hmmm.... I may opt for a low-voltage LED, made strictly for automobiles.  http://www.superbrightleds.com/  They have one that could work:  tower LED bulb.  The specs indicate 10-30 volts DC, so a re-purposed digital phone charger (no heat-creating transformer) ought to work out peachy, here.  A new socket from the auto parts store, an adapter screwed into the original bulb-socket...  The whole glued with hot-glue to the ceiling of the refrig, so I could remove it, when the thing dies (dead refrigerator, not the LED... )