12-Volt CFLs - Page 3

 


It would be soooo easy to say that I don't understand yanks problems
with LED lights. But that would be untrue.

The biggest single problem is you lot refuse to let go of outdated
practices. You want to replace one 60 - 100W light globe in the middle
of the room with one LED lamp and expect it to do the same job.

Ain't gonna happen. Firstly, most LED lamps on the market are aimed at
the sucker trade. They are bought by an importer for $
to $
dollars
each and than sold for $
0 and up. Purely sucker bait.

I have around 100 LED lamps in and outside my house. They range form
MR16 packages with 48 LEDs(warm white), to stripe lights with 30 LEDs
to modules with 4 luxons each.

Forget the past and embrace the future. Placement is everything. The
right lamp in the right place and LED lamps become so efficient that
you wonder why you didn't see the solution before.

Yes. I do still have a lamp in the middle of some rooms. One is in the
kitchen. It is only there for general lighting and it is LED. The
secret of its operation is that it consists of 6 of the four luxon
modules mounted on a flat base with a domed, frosted glass shade often
referred to as an oyster lamp. Frosted glass. You can't imagine what a
difference frosted glass makes. It has to be glass, plastic does not
work at all as well. Cost; $
2.50 each for the modules and $
0 for the
lamp fixture - Total cost $
5. Total current draw .72A. this light
fixture as set up lights two room and a large part of the garden
outside the kitchen.

Mind you this lamp module is being replace with a new module that uses
less current.

And a friendly warning; Take advice from wayne and you will be Miss-
LED.

 



I don't know about that.  I had kerosine lamps and candles till a few
years ago, so even the dimmest crappiest bulb is pretty impressive.


I'm not advocating using LED at all.  I have one 12 volt LED bulb I use
for reading from a dedicated simple 12 volt bat + solar -- so I can read
late at night and not dick around with my inverter/hydro system.  Since I
turn the power off to my entire house every night so I can have a full
charge waiting for me in the morning it's nice to have one good light I
can turn off while in bed and not have to gear up to go out in the
weather :)

For 12 volt lighting like Vaughn suggests, CFL's are the way to go.  Was
just pointing out that C. Crane is *trying* to bring in direct
replacement LED bulbs.. but even if they do perform as well as regular
bulbs there is no way folk are going to spend 70 dollars per bulb..
unless they are rich hippies maybe.


oh aye.. city folk with real electricity get all hung up on using
existing fixtures.  Lovely thing about a log cabin is there are zero
fixtures so I can do whatever i want

 


Yeah, isn't it just. I designed my house with a gas lamp and candle
light 25 years ago.

I noticed, OTOH though, I am advocating the use of LED lights. Used
properly they are very efficient and economical.

I have two CFLs. One get used for about 5 minutes a week and the other
around 5 minutes a month.

I get my fixtures from second hand shops and work a bit of LED magic
on them to get what I want. I also make my own for special needs. I'm
not city folk, I live in the bush in OZ

 




yeah.  My problem is trying to wire a log cabin.  There aren't any voids in
the walls like a normal stick frame house, so tucking wire in between logs
and trying to hide wires that have to cross logs.  

Also yer modern fixtures look really out of place along 18th century
decore.

 


Tell me about it. My walls are 300mm of rock and concrete. No retro
fitting with out a lot of mess. I did run conduit in the walls as we
built them. At least you can use a router on logs.

Yeah, A stone house presents the same sort of decor problems. I have a
lot of antique lamps and fittings. It takes some serious shopping to
find fittings that that can be used to good effect. My tastes tend to
art deco so I have been lucky because of the renovation craze. It's
amazing what people will discard as trash that could have made them
hundreds on ebay.