LED bulbs..Post your expectations and experiences about LED bulbs here.

[Subcenter2009]

Dear friends,
I took my first baby steps into the world of LED bulbs with the purchase of 5 five watt LED bulbs from Syska for the chandelier in my home theater room. The total usage is claimed to be 25 watts..which is way lower than the 300 watts it was using previously.
Last week, I fixed a Halonix 12 watt LED bulb in our kitchen on my mother's birthday. Though slightly dimmer than tube lights, they serve the purpose for now.
One irritant with these bulbs is that the harsh light comes from a point in space rather than spread out as in the case of tubelights. I guess we will get used to this brightness with time.
The 12 watt LED seems to be very slightly dimmer than a tube light.
I paid less than Rs. 300/= for each Syska 5 watt LED bulb and about Rs. 475/= for the Halonix 12 watt LED in the Kitchen.
The makers quote incredible life expectancies for these bulbs.. more than 20 years and I wonder how they arrived at this conclusion.
They are too expensive to replace en masse and one will be able to replace one at a time as and when they fail. Because the high prices do not yet justify bulk replacement.
The price is not appealing enough right now even with the claimed low power consumption and the projected life
Most of them are not dimmable.
Please post your valuable information here...
Yours,
Subcenter2009

 

[Subcenter2009]

Dear friends,
While shopping for LED bulbs, I came across some novelties:
1. One Moserbaer bulb had a dimmer built in..that is, each time it was switched on and off, it became dimmer or brighter step by step.
But I have not come across any LED bulbs usable with standard dimmers. There may be some regular dimmable bulbs out there in the market which I don't know about..When I switched on the old dimmer of my chandlier by mistake, the bulbs started flashing violently.. So folks please disconnect any old dimmer and give direct connnection to the switch.
2. Another Moserbaer bulb changed colour between white and yellow each time it was switched on and off.
Hope this info was useful..
I have not come across many threads devoted to LED bulbs in this forum .. so I am starting one.
Post your gyaan here.. Let's have an active thread, folks..:yahoo:
Yours,
Subcenter2009

 

[Subcenter2009]

Friends,
Just wanted to tell you that the LED bulbs remain cool at room temperature even after hours of use. So, they will be ideal in air conditioned rooms which struggle to maintain the cool temperature in the harsh summer months.
Friends, please share your info.. Looking forward to hearing from you about these bulbs and fittings.

 

[Subcenter2009]

Dear friends,
I have found that there are hundreds of professional fittings available using the LED technology.
Now, instead of worrying about power usage, shop owners light up their shops very very brightly taking advantage of the phenomenal low power usage of the LED bulbs.
You get fancy fittings and bulbs for every purpose. From streetlights to factory fittings to homes to decorative fittings.
Looks like LED is now the present rather than the future.
As more and more people embrace this technology, surely, the prices will come down.
Yours,
Subcenter2009

 

[Subcenter2009]

Dear friends,
Talking about just bulbs, We can buy plastic, glass or a combination of the 2. More over, people will be spoilt for choice as there are lots of fittings for every purpose in the market.
It is very useful for people constructing their new buildings as, seemingly, it is an investment for the lifetime of the building.
I am really impressed with this technology.
Plus, coming to Home theater, LED projectors are taking the home entertainment industry by storm with the ridiculously competitively priced projectors.
And, you have the powerful LED headlights of the latest automobiles and 2 wheelers.
Seemingly, there has only been a beginning to this story.. it will be a new chapter in our everyday lives.
Viva the LED bulb!:clapping:
Cheers,
Subcenter 2009

 

[shredder]

Interesting topic this...... The only drawback as far as I can see is that LED bulbs cannot give you as much brightness as a tube light unless you go for at least a 14 watt (preferably branded) LED model which costs much more than a traditional tube light. A traditional 40 watt tube light gives you about 1382 lumens while Philips claims its 14 watt bulb delivers 1400 lumens of brightness. The Philips 14 watt LED, for instance, has an MRP of 770 INR. While a 40 watt tube light costs less than 50 bucks (the last time I bought one). So while an LED should theoretically last much longer than a tube light, you can buy 15 tube lights for the price of an LED 14 watt bulb!!!
Now, Philips claims a life of 15 years for its 14 watt model. Assuming you go through one tube light a year (I have never had a tube light fail in under a year) it ultimately works out the same as far as longevity goes. But, I agree that in the long run the LED will have a lower running cost since you will save on electricity bills, not to mention that there will not be the issue of choke and starter failure which plagues tubelights. And the thought of using a bulb that you don't need to worry about for a long time is very enticing. But you do get the feeling that the cost of LED bulbs could go down further (or maybe NOT, taking inflation into account).


There are also LED tube lights which fit into a normal tube holder. You just have to bypass the choke and starter which any self-respecting electrician can do. But the cost of these tubes is still prohibitively expensive. The Philips 20w Essential Led Tube costs Rs. 2050/-. Now just imagine if junior throws a rubber ball at the tube

 

[doors666]

I am glad that the cfl tech is out, it was quite expensive and none of the branded bulbs (philips, wipro, bajaj etc) that i bought lasted more than 1-2 years....

 

[alpha1]

LEDs are point source.
This means the illuminance reduces according to inverse square law.

Tubes are line source, which means the illuminance reduces according to inverse law.

Huge difference between the two, if the aim is to achieve bright and uniform levels of illumination at floor/table/wall/ceiling.

 

[Amitkg]

Market is flooded with Chinese LED bulbs with Indian branding. FM Shredder mentioned that a 14 watt LED is equal to 40 watt tube but in case of Chinese LED, you need 18-20 watt of LED. Just 2 months ago, I bought 18 watt LED for 95bucks and It's been running well. I bought--------
3 watt @ 30 bucks (white and also other colours)
7 watt @ 50 bucks
11 watt @ 70 bucks
14 watt @ 85 bucks.

Another advantage of using LED is that it can be cleansed easily, just remove the top cover, use mild soap water. Where it is very difficult to clean CFL bulbs, more so if you use it in space like kitchen.

Just for price comparison ----
In my washroom, I have been using 2 LED bulbs for more than a year.
1st one is 7watt Chinese, bought for 70bucks.
2nd one is half watt Halonix bought for 80bucks.
Both are functional.
**All LEDs bought from store(s) at Ezra street and adjoining market place.