LED bulbs

[Ralph Wallio, W0RPK]

When experimenting with dimmable LED bulbs vs. LED-compatible dimmer 
switches it quickly became obvious that only a few combinations worked 
well from full to minimal brightness.  This eventually lead me to 
http://www.lutron.com/en-US/Education-Training/Pages/LCE/DimmingCFLsandLEDs.aspx 
and then 
http://www.lutron.com/technicaldocumentlibrary/3682066_CFL_LED_Bulb_list.pdf.

These sources quickly stopped all the experimenting by pairing specific 
dimmers with specific LED bulbs which yielded excellent LED dimming.  So 
far they have not been the least expensive bulbs available but, having 
solved that problem, I can use my interests and time to spend exorbitant 
amounts of money elsewhere.

We now have 15 $3.99 STAPLES LED bulbs in frequent (non-dimming) service 
with no failures so far.  Nine more are still in their boxes.  (Thanks 
Karl!)

TNX es 73 de Ralph Wallio W0RPK
http://showcase.netins.net/web/wallio/




On 1/26/2015 10:08 PM, Eric Carlson wrote:
>   Thanks. And a question below.
>
>   I had a $10 off Staples coupon so I got 3 LED bulbs for $2. Now that 
> I've tried them, I might go back for more, if they have any left. Most 
> of my house has CFL's or similar, with incandescent in the master 
> bedroom and master bath for the best dimming capabilities. I counted 
> about 90 bulbs altogether.
>
>   I tried these dimmable LED bulbs with dimmers, and they are pretty 
> good, except for the slightly high turn on light level with triac 
> dimmers (I assume solid state dimmers still use triacs).
>
>   For the past 30+ years I've been using a variac as a dimmer in the 
> master bedroom, to eliminate the audible lightbulb buzzing/ringing 
> sometimes caused by triac dimmers, and to provide excellent light 
> control, especially at very low light levels.
>
>   Here's the question: I tried these LED bulbs on the variac, and they 
> dim very well, even at pretty low light levels. Are these dimmable LED 
> bulbs safe to use on a variac? And are there any reasons I shouldn't 
> use them on the variac?
>
> - Eric, AJ4LN
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.amrad.org/pipermail/tacos/attachments/20150127/e2881f31/attachment.html>