LEDs

[fan-of-fans]

I to this date, haven't retrofitted any lights in my house for LEDs. The only ones I have is a nightlight and the new fridge has LED lights inside. I do like the LED flashlights, I think they are the best thing for that, because the batteries last much longer and brighter than any incandescent flashlight or Krypton bulbs could be.

But to me, I wish this LED craze would slow down a bit. I do not like the new LED streetlights replacing high pressure sodium and mercury vapor. They do not provide a good color definition, in my opinion and as a fan of the older styles, the lights look so boring and cheap.

And I have heard rumors that manufacturers want to ban the sale or production of any such lightbulb, be it halogen, sodium, mercury vapor, fluorescent, etc and ONLY allow LEDs to be sold. Which to me sounds fishy.

I also question these new LED fixtures both for that and for the home, as the LEDs are built into the fixtures and though they're supposed to last forever, they surely do not and if they stop working, the whole fixture has to be replaced, which doesn't seem very green to me.

I've even seen such LED fixtures on display, flashing and not working at Home Depot.

 

[kb0nes]

So mercury vapor and sodium discharge lighting provide good color definition?? I suppose everyone's eyes are different but man I find the LED street light so far and away superior in appearance. Color Rendering Index (CRI) of LED's is quite a bit higher as the phosphors are broader spectrum, only metal halide which isn't all that common in outdoor area lighting is close to LED's in color rendering. Thankfully nobody uses incandescent lighting for area lighting anymore.

The next big change in solid state lighting will be to replace the entire fixture with one that embraces LED technology. This silly notion that we need to adapt LED lighting into a 100+ year old package does nothing but hold back the efficiency and durability of solid state lighting. The retrofit bulbs have at times had durability issues because it is difficult to get the heat out of the package and not cook the electronics inside. I have about 6 LED retrofits in my home that are over 10 years since I installed them.

Moving to full LED fixtures I don't see any reason that 15-20 year life spans won't be the norm. The energy saved over the life span of that fixture will make it quite green, even if the fixture need be scrapped at that time. Sure some fixtures may fail early, especially cheap ones, but that is true with everything. And as technology progresses it will get better.

On a cool side note, I was at Ikea tonight and saw they have a bin where they recycle incandescent bulbs, I had never seen anyone take them. I feel a bit guilty I threw a few dozen bulbs in the trash a few months back.

 

[estesguy]

I've always hated the orange color that HPS lights put out. They changed them out for LEDs in my factory area, and now it looks more modern even though nothing else was changed. BUT LED color rendition can be any color. You have the warm white, daylight and cool white colors available to purchase. Which brings me to my gripe. I think the current color on LED car headlights is horrible, and strictly a marketing ploy. These lights do not need to have the bluish hue. The color could have been made to closely match the current halogen bulb color, but I believe the car companies wanted the newer cars to stand out from the crowd, so that YOU would know your car was older by NOT having the new lighting technology, hoping that would stimulate you to buy a new car. Been a sales tool for years, to make your car look older, and hopefully you will trade sooner.