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Old 20-02-2010, 16:12   #1
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LED Bulb Mini Review...

Hi all! I wanted to post this mini review of some LED bulbs I recently found at...HOME DEPOT!!! They are the new Philips MR16 replacement bulbs, and they seem to be AWESOME! We have 10 reading spot fixtures onboard, each with a 20 watt halogen bulb. These halogen bulbs draw 1.45 amps ea. @ 13.8 VDC and throw off quite a bit of heat. I just picked up 2 new Philips LEDs; one spot bulb (10 deg), and one flood (25 deg), each 4 watt or .29 amps @ 13.8 VDC...all while staying cool. OK, here's the bad news: the LED spot is $19.95 at Home Depot and carries a 5 year warranty. The flood is $29.95 and carries a 6 year warranty! Both spot and flood are offered in warm or cool color temps. I chose warm. Check out the pics below. First the shelf at home Depot. Second, a pic of the flood in packaging. Third find the flood, spot and a regular halogen from left to right. Last find the light patterns they throw from 36" out. 20 watt halogen on the left, spot in middle, and flood on right. I'm going with the warm flood bulbs. If I can find an overhead fixture the uses the MR16 bulb, I would use them throughout the boat. I may even marry them...
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Old 20-02-2010, 18:17   #2
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So and so many Watts, but how many lumens?

I use the newer type fluorescents (Philips) and yet to find a LED that beats the fluo on output and temperature.

So, how many lumens per Watt?

LEDs here 8USD per 1.6W (cool white), or 15USD per 3W (cool white).

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Old 20-02-2010, 18:30   #3
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Lumens: 130. Lumens per watt: 32 We both found that the light output was wonderful for reading...I was really surprised by the output.
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Old 21-02-2010, 08:52   #4
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Now you are talking! THX

I think the modern fluo from Philips are at not less than 60 and the 12 Volt Steca claims 46-50 lumens per Watt. Warm white light, very pleasant.

Again, 40-60% more power efficient.

So, it looks like we have at least two great alternatives for incandescent and the old fluo!

Now we have 220 Volt fluos via a small inverter, but I would love to try the 12 Volt from Steca - just not very sure how they stand up against the Voltage fluctuations in 10-15 Volt ???

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Old 21-02-2010, 19:36   #5
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Hi Christian,

Went by Home Depot to check out the bulbs and the package says they are rated at 12V AC. So what kind of power are you feeding them and what kind of fixture or where did you get the fixture? Will they run on 12V DC?

Skip
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Old 21-02-2010, 20:01   #6
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Hi Skip! None of my packages, and none of Philips online descriptions say AC or DC...they all just list 12 volts. The pictures were taken while the lamps were running off a 13.8 volt DC power supply...
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Old 21-02-2010, 20:36   #7
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Hi Christian,

Well you are correct. The package only said 12V on the outside and I didn't cut it open. I did find a spec sheet online at https://www.bulbwizards.com/v/vspfil...es/ew%20mr.pdf that said the bulbs are compatible with 12V AC transformers. Also spoke to the lighting guy at the local HD who I have met a few times and learned he is a retired EE and actually knows quite a bit about the lights and circuits. He said the standard fixtures for these lights are AC which made sense to me. Otherwise it would require a transformer and rectifier circuit to power them.

BUT, if you have them working on DC then that's all that counts. Think I'll pick one up to play with.

Thanks
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Old 21-02-2010, 20:42   #8
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The PDF isnt quite the same bulbs, but the low voltage AC stuff makes sense. I have seen several similar bulbs from different manufacturers listed as AC/DC...but who knows, maybe they wont last as long running on DC. Maybe I should email the manufacturer...
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Old 21-02-2010, 20:54   #9
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Well since an LED is a diode if you feed it AC I assume it will pass only one half of the cycle just like a regular diode. So it would be passing a pulsating DC current unless there is a rectifier somewhere, either in the bulb or the power system. If it is designed for 12V AC but works on 12V DC it might actually last longer on stable DC power.

You know, emailing Phillips might not be a bad idea. Keep us posted.

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Old 21-02-2010, 21:01   #10
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Recently, I cut up a Christmas light string of LED's. They were rated at 0.02 amps @ 120 VAC.
I rewired about half of them to run off a laptop computer power supply which put out 18 volts DC because I wanted them to back light something outdoors. They're drawing the same 0.02 amps through each of 4 parallel strings and doing just fine.
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Old 21-02-2010, 23:27   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by barnakiel View Post
Now you are talking! THX

I think the modern fluo from Philips are at not less than 60 and the 12 Volt Steca claims 46-50 lumens per Watt. Warm white light, very pleasant.

Again, 40-60% more power efficient.

So, it looks like we have at least two great alternatives for incandescent and the old fluo!

Now we have 220 Volt fluos via a small inverter, but I would love to try the 12 Volt from Steca - just not very sure how they stand up against the Voltage fluctuations in 10-15 Volt ???

b.
You need to compare apples to apples with efficiency ratings. The lumen per watt rating for the LED is the amount of light coming out of the fitting. For the compact fluro it is the amount of light the globe produces. If you mount this globe in a light fitting and measure the amount of light produced it will be less. For the 220v model you also have to allow for the efficiency losses in converting the voltage
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Old 22-02-2010, 06:36   #12
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You need to compare apples to apples with efficiency ratings. The lumen per watt rating for the LED is the amount of light coming out of the fitting...
Any legitimate manufacturer of quality LED lighting assemblies should be able to provide a Photometric Test Report.

* A photometric report is a set of printed data describing the light distribution, efficiency, and zonal lumen output of a luminaire (fixture & lamp).

Photometric Measurements of Solid-State Lighting Products
IES #LM-79-08 Unable to set browser cookie

See also ➥ http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildin...y2_grather.pdf
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Old 22-02-2010, 06:51   #13
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That's correct, the 220/110V version requires an inverter (but the 220/110V version is better than twice the LED's efficiency too).

But the 12V from Steca is a 12 DC, no loss, and still way more lumen/Watt efficient (I do not mean better, because there are all other factors as mentioned by Noelex).

(Yes, yes, I know it all belongs to a separate thread and I might be distracting - apologies to all!)

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Old 22-02-2010, 07:26   #14
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Thanks for the heads up on these fixtures. I'm in need of a couple to replace some reading lamps in my rear cabins. The only concern I might have running them on straight DC is that when running on AC the LED's are actually unpowered more than 50% of the time where as on continious DC they are conducting 100% of the time. When they are conducting they generate heat and on DC they will be generating more heat, which the fixures may not be designed to dissipate. The price however makes them worth a try.
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Old 22-02-2010, 07:54   #15
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I thought one of the issues with using LEDs intended for home use on a boat was the fact that LEDs are very sensitive to voltage highs/drops and that unless you have some circuitry that insures they are fed a constant voltage, the varying voltage from your battery bank can cause them to fail? Obviously this is not an issue for home use as your power source is pretty stable. Anyone have thoughts on this?
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