LED light bulbs

Scoobs72

victor2 wrote: »

Like CFL bulbs, the price is bound to fall as they come into more widespread use. More than a year ago, I wanted some "candle" CFL bulbs but wasn't prepared the £2ish price being asked for them and decided I would wait until they dropped below £1. Got some for 20p in the end. Worth the wait!

The best in class GU10 LED stuff is still £30 a pop, just as it was a couple of years ago. Price isn't dropping yet at the top end, you're just getting more powerful product for your money. I'm not convinced it will drop in the near-medium term either...designing and implementing the heatsinks/heat dissipation for the GU10 LEDs is expensive stuff.

LEDlighting

Scoobs72 wrote: »

The best in class GU10 LED stuff is still £30 a pop, just as it was a couple of years ago. Price isn't dropping yet at the top end, you're just getting more powerful product for your money. I'm not convinced it will drop in the near-medium term either...designing and implementing the heatsinks/heat dissipation for the GU10 LEDs is expensive stuff.

You're quite right, but the chipsets is also a massive consideration in price. If you take Cree as an example, they are the most well known and still the best manufacturer there is. They have a large market share and are controlling the amount of products they release. They are keeping supply well below demand in order to keep prices high.

There are other good chipset makes out there, but until they produce something to rival Cree or better it at a cheaper price, the top end LED products prices are not going to fall.

victor2

Scoobs72 wrote: »

The best in class GU10 LED stuff is still £30 a pop, just as it was a couple of years ago. Price isn't dropping yet at the top end, you're just getting more powerful product for your money. I'm not convinced it will drop in the near-medium term either...designing and implementing the heatsinks/heat dissipation for the GU10 LEDs is expensive stuff.

It's like all electronics, look how sophisticated cars are. Sure the top of the range gadgets will always carry a premium, but the technology drips through to the standard models without excessively inflating the price. Same with computers. You get so much more power for your money, but you can still pick up a budget one for a fraction of what you would have paid 10 years ago.
20p may not get you the latest in light bulbs, but it does the job and saves you money. In the meantime, I can wait for the LED technolgy to become more affordable. Until I can see it saving me money (and not over its full life cycle) I won't be buying!

LEDlighting

sillygoose wrote: »

25,000, 35,000, a million - either way the volt drop capacitors will have melted long before any of these times are up.

Could you please go into more detail about your theories on voltage drop capacitors? I'm very interested to hear your comments?

Thanks

LEDlighting

victor2 wrote: »

Until I can see it saving me money (and not over its full life cycle) I won't be buying!

1 year pay back on an LED Bulb
2 years pay back on the most expensive LED Spot

Both have a life span of 20 years or more. After pay back you will be receiving 75-90% (depending on what product you have bought) reductions in you lighting bill, not to mention the huge energy and C02 savings.

victor2

LEDlighting wrote: »

1 year pay back on an LED Bulb
2 years pay back on the most expensive LED Spot

Compared to what?
I have purchased standard CFL bulbs (8W) for 10p. If I leave one on 24/7, it will cost me about £7.08 in electricity per year. That's £7.18 a year if I have to replace the bulb (with electricity at 10p/kWh, which is a bit more than I currently pay). I don't leave my lights on all day every day either!

LEDlighting

victor2 wrote: »

Compared to what?
I have purchased standard CFL bulbs (8W) for 10p. If I leave one on 24/7, it will cost me about £7.08 in electricity per year. That's £7.18 a year if I have to replace the bulb (with electricity at 10p/kWh, which is a bit more than I currently pay). I don't leave my lights on all day every day either!

Ah yes, the figures i quoted are for incandescent or Halogen to LED's.

CFL lamps are going to become quite a bit more expensive as they have rightly lost the government subsidies they enjoyed for far too long. What their prices will rise to is not yet known.

It seems you got a very good deal on you CFL.

jamesperrett

LEDlighting wrote: »

Could you please go into more detail about your theories on voltage drop capacitors? I'm very interested to hear your comments?

I guess he's talking about mass produced Chinese electrolytic capacitors, some of which seem to only have a lifespan of 3-5 years, whether used or not. Even good electrolytic capacitors will only have a lifetime of 1000 hours when working at high temperatures (typically 85 degrees C) unless the designer has splashed out on expensive high temperature types.

James.

sillygoose

oh no! and I was just about to send him £150 for a load of LED lamps that are definitely not from a Chinese factory or ebay, he tests each one personally so that they are so bright they could burn your retina right out your head, like death ray lasers they are, and he will be waiting to refund my money in 20 years time if one fails. Give him a chance won't you?

Scoobs72

sillygoose wrote: »

oh no! and I was just about to send him £150 for a load of LED lamps that are definitely not from a Chinese factory or ebay, he tests each one personally so that they are so bright they could burn your retina right out your head, like death ray lasers they are, and he will be waiting to refund my money in 20 years time if one fails. Give him a chance won't you?

haha. But to be fair these are the best bulbs you can buy. You just need to do the sums for yourself and see whether you want to spend that much money. The payback period is very long unless you've got your existing halogens on 12+ hours per day. Of course 18 months from now there'll be even better bulbs available, but probably for the same sort of price.