LED's Are they coming?

[toaster]

It seems all my flashlights and bike lights now are some form of LED. Christmas lights are now LED and it seems people are buying them to replace indoor home lighting or at least if it's a new house.

Is LED going to be the ticket for homes, businesses, auto, and just about everything that illuminates?

I've got a lot of incandescents and flourescents still!

[Polyglot]

I remember when I saw some of the first prototype LED bicycle lights over 15 years ago. I was convinced back then that was how the market was going to go. It has taken much longer than I thought to reach where we are now. I can tell you that the fellows who patented much of the lenses and parabolae used to focus the LED's for use in bike lights did very well. Back in the early-mid 90's the one was driving around in a Porsche Turbo, the other in a BMW 850.

[AngryScientist]

i for one am liking the trend. as prices come down LEDs rock!

i was amazed at the difference in price from last christmas to this year with the price of LED string lights, wayy down. they are great too because the run so cool, greatly reducing the risk of fire for their application.

it will be interesting though, once these start getting installed, if they are made properly, they should outlast their owners! imagine moving into a house, and NEVER needing to replace a lightbulb!

[flydhest]

No, they are just breathing hard.

[dave thompson]

No, they are just breathing hard.
Groan!

[zennmotion]

i for one am liking the trend. as prices come down LEDs rock!

i was amazed at the difference in price from last christmas to this year with the price of LED string lights, wayy down. they are great too because the run so cool, greatly reducing the risk of fire for their application.

it will be interesting though, once these start getting installed, if they are made properly, they should outlast their owners! imagine moving into a house, and NEVER needing to replace a lightbulb!

What fascinates me is the potential for the other 2/3 of the world in developing countries that don't live with electricity in their homes. We've already seen "leapfrog" technology in the form of cell phones that avoid the huge infrastructure investments of transmission lines. I'm looking for the development of local solar grids that low-power lighting makes possible in non-electrified areas as well as reducing the proportionally huge cost of lighting in poor countries. An exciting time to be alive-

[MadRocketSci]

buy some shares of CREE and follow the progress of LED's in their conference calls and annual reports.

[RPS]

Is LED going to be the ticket for homes, businesses, auto, and just about everything that illuminates?

This thread might be interesting to follow. I’d like to replace the 12-volt interior dome light bulbs in my Ford van with LED as soon as I can find the correct replacement bulb models and confirm much lower electrical power usage.

[djg]

Groan!

Some people will write anything just to get cited. Do NOT encourage him.

[Nil Else]

I've heard the full conversion to LED process is on the way. Within a year or two (I forget) you won't be able to buy incandescent light bulbs anymore, only fluorescent, and I'd assume, LED bulbs.

[Marcusaurelius]

I recently saw LED lights used to light the inside of a fridge. I believe the LED lights are supposed to produce less heat and I would suspect less electricity than a standard incandescent bulb.

[Bud]

This thread might be interesting to follow. I’d like to replace the 12-volt interior dome light bulbs in my Ford van with LED as soon as I can find the correct replacement bulb models and confirm much lower electrical power usage.

Have a look at this source (http://goo.gl/Bw9dQ) for replacement dome lights in LED arrays. I was going to go with these for our camper before we sold it. A friend has used them and is satisfied.

[rice rocket]

LED isn't cost effective right now.

The government subsidies are only for CFLs currently, which is about 65 lumens per watt. CREE's top of the line LED is about 113 lumens per watt, but the cost per bulb crazy high in comparison (you can pickup CFLs for < $1/each after all the local power company rebates and such).

[RPS]

LED isn't cost effective right now.

The government subsidies are only for CFLs currently, which is about 65 lumens per watt. CREE's top of the line LED is about 113 lumens per watt, but the cost per bulb crazy high in comparison (you can pickup CFLs for < $1/each after all the local power company rebates and such).
Although you are right that bulbs are very expensive, cost effectiveness can vary depending on whether one is on grid power or running off batteries. For bike lights, flashlights, RV lights running on house battery, etc… the cost savings due to smaller batteries for the same performance can be significant compared to higher cost bulbs. And for existing battery systems switching to LEDs should extend running time significantly before batteries drain. For me it's worth the expense if I can get at least 3 or 4 times longer run time.

[bshell]

Last week I replaced four 300w halogen fixtures on a building with 13w LEDs.

The halogen bulbs were burning out after @ two months at $7 a pop plus the time to bring a ladder out and replace them (16' high). The lights stay on 10-11 hours a day and cost about $95/month.

The new LED fixtures are not as bright as the halogens but they are more than adequate for the job(perimeter safety lighting). They claim to be over 1000 lumens each and also claim their bulbs will burn for 50K+ hours.

If all goes well these will have paid for themselves in one year based on power consumption alone. I can't put a figure on the hassle the other lights have been...

Fingers are crossed.

(They don't look anything like the LEDs I was familiar with and at the rate the technology has been increasing I suspect these may be a joke in a couple of years.)

[FL_MarkD]

My understanding is that for large retail stores the conversion would be costly, but payback would be relatively quick. The savings mentioned above; maintenance (replacing bulbs) and energy costs help. However, there is significant cost savings from the reduced heat they generate saves on HVAC costs.

The costs will come down significantly as sales volume increases.

Mark

[RPS]

Have a look at this source (http://goo.gl/Bw9dQ) for replacement dome lights in LED arrays. I was going to go with these for our camper before we sold it. A friend has used them and is satisfied.
Thanks Bud. I looked up the model of the bulbs I should have now and their replacement, but should remove them first before ordering new ones (two different models listed :confused: ). I just got back from camping last week (Texas Hell Week) where they would have come in handy.