LED Lights

skiking · Post by **skiking** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 9:06 pm

After information/advice

I'm about to put up a pitched roof over my patio doors that will eventually open out to decking (need to build the decking first

). I'm including a overhang as part of the build of the roof and I want some down lights built into the soffit. I was thinking of LED

I want something thats not going to eat up electricity (tight a*se rather than a tree hugger) but still be bright and effective. I aslo want them switchable from within the house ie normal wall mounted light switch.

Is LED the right way to go ? Are there any issues with them ? What are the alternatives ?

jason123 · Post by **jason123** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 9:31 pm

IP65 low voltage downlighters would be better IMO, check out bathroom lighting on SF

Stoday · Post by **Stoday** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 11:38 am

Look at how many lumens you get from your LED light.

What lumens arn't quoted? I wonder why!

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 12:21 pm

Considered the Garden Solar type lights? They are pretty cheap to buy and you could separate the light part from the solar panel bit - extend the wire, relocate the panel to where it can get sun and voila! Free to run lights brighter then LEDs (not that hard an achievement, to be honest)

I think I would be inclined to go stanard fittings and low-energy lamps - much cheaper to run then virtualy any alternatives

Jaeger_S2k · Post by **Jaeger_S2k** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 4:18 pm

Stoday wrote:Look at how many lumens you get from your LED light.

What lumens arn't quoted? I wonder why!

Yeah Stoday why?

Jaeger_S2k · Post by **Jaeger_S2k** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 4:25 pm

I wonder what these 'fools' at Philips are talking about then?

Philips Lumileds shatters 350 mA performance records
with 115 lm/Watt LED
San Jose, California — Philips Lumileds, the pioneer and the leader in high-power LED
technology, announced today new performance records for high-power white LEDs.
Philips Lumileds 1x1 mm2, chip based white LEDs, operating at just 350 mA, delivered 136
lumens for a light source efficiency of 115 lumens per Watt at a correlated-colortemperature
(CCT) of 4685K. At 2000 mA, Philips Lumileds white LEDs delivered 502
lumens at a corresponding 61 lumens per Watt. These LEDs are the first high-power LEDs
to break through the 100 lumen per Watt mark and demonstrate the real potential of solidstate
lighting technology.

Philips Lumileds High-Power, White LED
Current 350 mA
Lumens 136
Lumens per Watt 115
Watts 1.2

Current 2000 mA
Lumens 502
Lumens per Watt 61
Watts 8.3

Stoday · Post by **Stoday** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 2:30 am

Ski wants practical luminaires that he can instal in his soffit. I don't think he wants to start with a bunch of LEDs anymore than he'd want to start with lamps. He wants the fittings (although LED fittings come with LEDs because they last so long). He does not want to make his own enclosures and constant current electronics to supply the LEDs with 2A at 3 to 4.5V DC.

Now if you buy a luminaire with a 100W filiament lamp, you know how much light you'll get from it. It's 1700 lumens.

My point is that I've not seen any LED luminaires with their light output quoted. It's even rare for the lamps to be quoted other than "high power LED" or similar useless info. Buried in a lamp spec I have seen a high power lamp quoted as 170 lumen. You'd only need 10 of them, at £20 a throw, to get the same light as a 20p 100W filiament lamp.

skiking · Post by **skiking** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 8:28 am

I wish I hadn't asked now

I get the impression you all don't think LED's are bright enough. Its new technology and I thought they were getting better - perhaps not.

My requirement is subtly changing by the hour

. I need something that will light up the decking area (not yet built!) yet won't blind people - was originally a requirement to light up just the patio door area so know I am thinking of something that is slightly more directional.

Like I've previously said I know nothing decisive about the different types of lights and I don't have the time to really research it as my new pitched roof is taking shape which is why I've gone to you guys to be my guiding light

Jaeger_S2k · Post by **Jaeger_S2k** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 8:44 am

So luminaires are quoted then.

Maybe not in the mainstream at the moment?

I'm also looking at soffit lighting and LED is a strong contender.

I'm looking to light the area to walk down and generally won't need reading quality lighting so 'high power' LED will probably suffice.

I have a head light that uses 5 LEDs, the output is good enough to 'light' across the garden without blinding the Hedgehogs and I think that level of output from 6 down lights in the soffit will be more than enough. The real benefit I may just route them through a Light Sensor switch and have them come on at dusk and off at dawn and still use less power than a 100w light switched on when required.

With living so close to the sea the feeling is to use IP66 (shower) enclosures as anything else will just be destroyed by the salt in the winds we get. But in reality if your putting them outside, even under the soffit shower enclosures make sense.

Saw an impressive panel of LED's but can't find a price called iPanel (by Chamaeleon), would be fantastic for a garage! I'm sure it will carry an Architectural Design price though?

skiking · Post by **skiking** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 6:40 pm

Sorry to bring this up again

But....I need info quick

Is it possible to run LED's off the mains or does it have to be via a transformer. I've also seen the decking type that are plugged into the main which I don't want as I want to use a proper light switch - so does this rule out LED's. ?

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 6:52 pm

Ski,

You can get GU10 LED lamps - so these are 240V mains powered - so answer is yes (not sure what style of lights you want)

One Example - lots other with different LED counts listed also

Power: 1.25 W
Radiation angle: 10 °
Lifetime: 35000 h
LEDs: 20
Reflector-∅: 50 mm
Colour: White
Dimensions: (Ø) 50 mm
Light intensity: 110 cd

Found this at conrad electronics after searching for "gu10 led bulbs"

GU10s are used in a lot of Zone 1 fittings so fittings must be available for your needs as well?

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 9:48 pm

These look like a good price and with the wattage saving, will pay for themselves

Cap carbon website

1.5w LED GU10 Star Product!
Category: GU10s
Manufactured by Sava Lamp

RRP: £8.99
Price: £3.99 (incl. VAT) Special Offer Price!

Quantity Price
1 - 20 £3.99
21 - 100 £3.89
101 + £3.69

1.5w energy saving LED GU10 bulbs in Daylight (6500K)

These GU10's contain 17 ultra bright LED's (light emitting diodes). These lamps give off a daylight white light and are best used for background, ambient or effect lighting.

They only consume a fraction of the power of standard lamps so the light they emit is very different - they are not suitable for main room lighting but are perfect for installation in areas where you would like to leave lamps on for long periods but perhaps do not need bright lighting.

1.5w as opposed to 50w halogen bulbs

Very long life (up to 50 000 hours)

Stoday · Post by **Stoday** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 10:33 pm

Hoovie's last two posts demonstrate the point I was trying to make. Neither quote the amount of light It's no use knowing how many watts, you need to know how many lumens.

You know how much light you get from a 100W filiament lamp. That's 1700 lumens. 50W halogen - 1000 lumens 1.5W LED unknown but warning "are best used for background, ambient or effect lighting. "

LED lamps are developing and getting brighter. In a few years, they may well rival filiament and fluorescent lamps. On the other hand I'll bet those "special offer" low priced lamps are an obsolete range that's being sold off because they are so dim compared with current types.

skiking · Post by **skiking** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 10:38 pm

Cheers Hoovie for the comments

Thru' the lack of replies I take it LED is not the way forward for soffit lighting ?

Clearly, I'm clueless about this subject (and other things as well) so I would welcome peoples suggestions as to what the 'norm' is for soffit lighting

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 10:55 pm

personally, I reckon it seems a great solution to be honest - super low power consumption, standard fitments...
You are looking for mood lighting more then anything else. I think Jeager mentioned about his LED torch and the light from that - I have something like that also and the light from about 7 LEDS is not bad, so a little bank of 17-LED lamps will give a nice light spread and cost what?, say, 1p or 2p to run for an evening?

I think I am going to buy a few of these LED lamps to try out (got quite a few GU10 fittings).

I'll let you know how they compare