Incandescent Bulbs Free to Good Home

Thu May 24 23:43:40 CDT 2012

The alleged efficiency of LED household lighting ignores
the huge amount of energy required to fabricate LEDs and
their associated integrated circuit controllers, including the
wafer substrates which are "raw material" for the device fab.

There are several big problems with LEDs as general purpose lighting.
(1) while the efficiency is good, the actual absolute output is low, and
(2) it is a highly directional point source. That means it is very hard to
get wide field lighting we want and need for most human activities.
(3) a sufficiently large percentage of lights are on triac
dimmers and "incandescent equivalent" behavior is require
To win those sockets. This dramatically complicates the driver IC and
can aggravate the thermal management issues.
(4) color rendering is still challenging. Producing "warm white" at the color temps
Required can be done well, or it can be done cheaply.  The new Phillips bulb
which won the DoE contest uses an external phosphor system integrated
with the diffuser used to create even light with good color rendering
from raw high-output die LEDs. It is not cheap but it is impressive.
(5) the lifetime claims for LED residential lighting are simply fantasy. Nobody has demonstrated 
anything close to the often-quoted numbers with LEDs in real housings in
real fixtures running at real temperatures, even ignoring the case of being backed-up to attic 
spaces in the Southwest well north of 125F on a hot day. 

I like the prospect of LED lighting for some purposes. I use it in my boat now where the
raw efficiency is a large enough win to swamp everything else and the simple PWM
dimmers on the 24vdc supply work fine with the simple constant current drivers in the
replacements for the bi-pin G4 xenon incandescent bulbs. as for residential lighting,
any new build should seriously consider designing with the new integrate luminaires
which avoid almost all of the retrofit problems. But existing houses? it's a tough sell because
the retrofit approach doesn't yet work very well ignoring cost, but when you add the
economics, it's really just going to piss people off. It's another version of the 55mph
speed limit - only less well-considered because at least all the cars would do 55mph
even if everyone rebelled at doing it. At the moment, there is not a residential
LED lighting technology which is ready for mass deployment by the general public.
Attempting to force the issue will end badly just like it always does.

Btw - nobody on this list qualifies as "general public" when it comes to adopting technology.
(grin)

     - mo

Sent from my iPad so please excuse the jammy fingers.

On May 24, 2012, at 11:47 PM, "Karl W4KRL" <W4KRL at dcm-va.com> wrote:

> Joe,
>  
> According to the Congressional Research Service total oil imports in 2011 were 11.4 million barrels per day of which 8.9 Mb/d were crude oil. Exports were 2.9 Mb/d, none of which were crude oil because nearly all exportation of crude oil is prohibited by law. We are far from exporting more than we import.
>  
> http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42465.pdf
>  
> Oven bulbs are likely to be incandescent for some time. I expect to see LEDs show up in refrigerators in the near future.
>  
> Point taken on the US production. But there are probably more SU made CFLs than hard disk drives.
>  
> If this goes Plan C the “pop” is the payoff!
>  
> 73 Karl W4KRL
>  
> From: Joseph Bento [mailto:joseph at kirtland.com] 
> Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2012 10:52 PM
> To: W4KRL at arrl.net
> Cc: Tacos AMRAD
> Subject: Re: Incandescent Bulbs Free to Good Home
>  
> At least Plan C won't harm the environment with mercury release like dropping a CFL.  You also get a satisfying 'pop'.
>  
> At least incandescent bulbs were / are still manufactured in the USA.  Good luck finding a CFL made in the USA.
>  
> Try using a CFL in your range, refrigerator, or microwave.  Better yet, try using a CFL as a dummy load in a glowbug transmitter.
>  
> Lastly, we currently are exporting more oil than importing - first time since 1949.
>  
> 73,
> Joe, N6DGY
>  
>  
> On May 24, 2012, at 8:39 PM, Karl W4KRL wrote:
> 
> 
> My transition to CFLs and LEDs is complete. If you don’t care about the environment or don’t think you have any responsibility for the nation’s dependence on foreign oil you are welcome to have my box of bulbs including 12 endangered 100 Watters; perfect for the dedicated hoarder!
>  
> Plan A is to bring them to Tacos this Saturday. Alternatively, you can pick them up at my home west of Centreville. Send me a direct e-mail if interested.
>  
> Plan B – FreeCycle
>  
> Plan C – I take them to a high place and drop them one by one onto concrete. (I will clean up)
>  
> 73 Karl W4KRL
> W4krl at arrl.net
>  
> Inventory:
>  
> 100 W 120 V – 12 new in sleeves
>  
> 100 W 130 V – used sleeveless
>  
> 75 W 120 V – 3 probably used
>  
> 60 W 120 V – 5 in sleeves probably new
>  
> 25 W 120 V – 5 clear round candelabra base used
>  
> 25 W 120 V – 1 white round candelabra base used
>  
>  
> <image001.png>
>  
>  
>  
> _______________________________________________
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>  
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