[Tech1] LED rant.

[dave.mdv]

As each Ro80 tungsten spotlight fails in my 5 light kitchen setup I am 
replacing them with a £4 1571 lumen GLS LED bulbs from Morrisons, with 
no discernable change in brightness. The same with all the living rooms 
100w. tungstens. I have had Lidl plug in LED night lights for years, one 
down stairs and one upstairs for the usual nightly toilet break! My 
local hardware shop sells 150 W. tungstens! Cheers, Dave

On 25/02/2021 16:08, Nick Ware via Tech1 wrote:
> We are all LED now in our house, but the last owner put seven 4ft 40Watt warm white florries over and around the double garage workshop/utility area. They are fine at the moment. Kitchen, loos, bathrooms, all GU10, and when full up, more than bright enough. No dimmer switches here because the GU10’s are all step-dimmed (switch on for full brightess, then flick on/off up to four times for 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 brightness. One thing that takes getting used to, though not a big deal, is that the 2800 Kelvin CT stays the same on all brightness settings. Buying in quantity, I think the step-dimmed GU10’s were about £1.49 each plus VAT from CPC.
> The rest of the house are mostly clear 4Watt E14 with E14 to bayonet adaptors where needed. (Multiples in chandeliersj. These need LED dimmers rated 4 to 40Wats max. Old fashioned tungsten dimmers won’t do. I have to admit, I have reservations about these bulbs though, because the antique-look LED ‘filaments’ radiate most light out to the sides donut fashion, not so much end-on. Maybe there are better ones in that respect, I don’t know.  Cardioids would be better if they existed!
> Also, we have a number of ‘striplite’ picture/bookshelf and under-shelf lights, and they all have direct replacement 240Volt LED’s too.
> Ditto all seven exterior lights - all LED too. Down from 300W each to now 20W each. Just leave ‘em on!
> All in all, thoroughly worth doing.
> Cheers,
> Nick.
>
> Nick Ware - Sent from my iPad mini 5
>
>> On 25 Feb 2021, at 15:22, Dave Plowman via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>> Not so much LEDs being the problem, but the claims of the makers.
>>
>> Kitchen lighting was just fine. Happy with it for many years. Florries
>> lighting the worktops under the cupboards and downlighters fitted with 75w
>> Par 25 halogen lighting the other worktops. Lighting level on all the
>> worktops pretty even. One central pendant light over the table with an
>> attractive 100mm globe lamp - again tungsten. Four circuits each with a
>> dimmer.
>>
>> The tungsten globe lamp NLA. The tungsten PAR 25 getting hard to find - so
>> likely obsolescent too. So time to 'upgrade' to LED. And the halogen
>> dimmers not suitable for LED.
>>
>> So a major re-work needed for LEDs. Switch panel has to be fabricated -
>> three dimmers for the LEDs, and the existing one for the florries. Had to
>> search far to find a 100mm globe LED - and also a pendant bulb holder for
>> ES fittings. That works OK.
>>
>> But not the downlighters. 100w (equivalent) RO80 LEDs give nothing like
>> the same light to the worktops. Scatter it everywhere else, though. And
>> the bulbs themselves bright and distracting when sat at the table, even
>> when dimmed. As they stick out beyond the fittings. There are PAR25 LEDs
>> available but spec says much lower lumen output than those I have. And can
>> cost near 30 quid each.
>>
>> The answer may be to change the fittings to the more common GU10 types.
>> Which will involve a lot of making good due to them being smaller.
>>
>> Why is nothing ever simple?
>>
>> -- 
>>     Dave Plowman     dave at davesound.co.uk     London SW 12
>>
>>
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