So much for discouraging incandescent light bulbs

[novocaine]

is that if Edison had stolen the idea from someone

hahahahahahahaha.

amazing what a marketing man can invent isn't it. he was the Steve Jobs of his day.

you might enjoy this little comic Dave.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla

 

[woodfarmer]

just because a name is coined and used does not make it correct, a hoover is a vacuum cleaner, a vacuum cleaner is not a hoover.
the OP's image even gives you a clue, "decorative lamp", they could also be called globes, but that just sounds odd.

as said, I was being a pedant and it should be read with tongue firmly in cheek, I call it a bulb same as every other pipper does.

Do not feed me, I am acting like a troll.

I have always been very fond of decorative globes

 

[woodfarmer]

What I really like about modern high deficiency lights is the ability it gives me to travel faster than light. In my youth when I went to the bathroom as soon as I switched on the light, the toilet would be fully illuminated before I could let go the switch. Now I can use the toilet, wash my hands and still the light has not illuminated the toilet. Fortunately it is usually bright enough for me to see the switch for me to turn it off after I have washed and dried my hands

 

[wcndave]

is that if Edison had stolen the idea from someone

hahahahahahahaha.

amazing what a marketing man can invent isn't it. he was the Steve Jobs of his day.

you might enjoy this little comic Dave.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla

Absolutely!

 

[nanscombe]

** Cough Joseph Swan Cough ***.

Sir Joseph Wilson Swan, D.Sc.h.c., FRS (31 October 1828 – 27 May 1914) was a British physicist and chemist. He is most famous for inventing an incandescent light bulb
...
In America, Edison had been working on copies of the original light bulb patented by Swan, trying to make them more efficient. Though Swan had beaten him to this goal, Edison obtained patents in America for a fairly direct copy of the Swan light, and started an advertising campaign that claimed that he was the real inventor. Swan, who was less interested in making money from the invention, agreed that Edison could sell the lights in America while he retained the rights in the United Kingdom.
...

 

[Phil Pascoe]

He was also working with Nikola Tesla at the time.

Novocaine - Sorry - hadn't looked at your link when I posted that. Brilliant man!

 

[Terry - Somerset]

Just replaced the down lighters in the kitchen with LED bulbs with no obvious degradation in light quality. Previously 6 x 40w - approx 1kw (4 hrs) per day. Now LED 6 x 5w - approx 120w per day.

Over a year should save a little over 300kw - about £40. Cost of bulbs about £15 - cheap chinese imports which may or may not last the 5 years claimed!

Around the house there are a number of other lights which are on fairly continuously during the evening (hall, porch, lounge etc). Total saving probably £100 pa - not massive but (as this is a woodworking forum) will buy me a some new mortise chisels, a few bandsaw blades, and half a dozen bowl blanks (for instance). Whether it's to salve an environmental conscience or save money it seems like a good idea!

 

[Hugo_Wolfwhistle]

Some of the newer and higher end LED bulbs can give a really good colour rendering index and a colour temperarure which is indistinguishable from a halogen.
The best ones have a single really big and bright LED (usually yellow coloured when off), these LEDs actually emit UV light which is invisible, or nearly invisible, however the UV light then excites phosphors which are coated onto the lens. This causes the phosphors to emit light of other colours which combines with the UV/blue light from the LED to make the white light you see. This technology allows them to make the LED bulbs with pretty much any colour temperarure and spectrum required, unlike CFL and early/cheaper LEDs.

When I changed the 12 50w halogen spots in the kitchen to LEDs, I bought a few different types and installed a mix of different Halogen bulbs and different LED bulbs at the same time. I then got my girlfriend, her mate, and my mate to try to guess which were which, and also pick the ones they liked best. Turns out that the winner by far were the UV/phosphor LED bulbs with everyone astonished that they werent halogen. Colour temperature wise, they were indistinguishable from the better Halogens, and nicer than the cheap ones. Some of the cheaper LED bulbs werent as good though and were too harsh.
I sent all the other LED bulbs back to the shop and changed them all for the better UV/phosphor LEDs (about £12 each with free delivery and 1 year no quibble exchange policy). I got them from a place called www.energysavingled.com.

We have been very happy with them, and best of all, unlike the old Halogens, they don't go pop and need replacing every couple of months.

 

[wcndave]

which one specifically did you get in the end?

 

[Hugo_Wolfwhistle]

I got the 6.5W GU10 that they sold, however just had a look at their site and they don't seem to have that model anymore, but they do have the dimmable equivalent (listed as 7W) which are a bit more expensive.
http://www.energysavingled.com/product/ ... -led-spot/

I found a review on their site of the ones I got ( http://www.energysavingled.com/gu10-led-spotlight/ ), so maybe they can still supply them if you ask, they were manufactured by a company called civillight I think and are made of some sort of cast alloy. They feel well made.
I think this is the manufacturers page for them, although it says they are 7W so maybe these are the replacements;
http://www.civilight.com/Product_Detail ... 52&pid=163

Note that the cheaper £9.98 5W GU10 LED that energy saving LED sell is completely different, it's colour rendering index is only 80 (not too bad by the way, but not up to Halogen standards), whereas the 7W dimmable, and the 6.5W one I got have a CRI of 95 (although this is incorrectly stated as 80 on the energysavingled site).

Be aware that generally, the warmer the colour temperature, the more watts you generally need to give the same number of lumens as a cooler colour temperature equivalent.

I am sure technology has moved on again since I put them in a year ago, so its quite possible you can get even better and/or cheaper ones now.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

We rented a house for four months, it had twelve x 50w downlighters in the kitchen - six of which blew while we were there. It doesn't take long for the replacement costs to rack up at that rate. Where my computer is is lit by one x 5w 5000k and one 3 1/2w 2,900k. That seems to be a reasonable working light - the 5000k on its own would be a little harsh.

 

[cutting42]

I did an LED conversion project on my house a couple of years ago replacing 145 incandescent lamps with LED, 85 of which were 50W halogen downlighters. Total potential power draw if they were all on would be 6.5KW which was a bit scary. Replacing them all dropped the total power usage to 785W.

I did a proper analysis of the time they were all on and power used, factoring in the increased cost of the LED lamps vs extended lifetime and came out with a return on investment of 2 years. If the LED's last as long as they promise then at 10 years I will have saved nearly £5000 on electricity bills.

This was all 2 years ago and the bills actually reduced more than expected so I am actually about £200 ahead compared to what the old bills were and having spent around £1000 on LED lamps.

The whole family has not had a problem with the light quality and I get less irritated with the kids leaving the lights on.

 

[mind_the_goat]

low energy bulbs are hideous and don't fit into our old Victorian house at all.

But you can now find so many different types I don't see that as a valid excuse any more.
Have you looked at LED filament lamps ?
http://www.osram.co.uk/osram_uk/pro...-with-filament-style-led-technology/index.jsp

 

[mind_the_goat]

Afraid I always use the old incandescent bulbs in my home still as I think the low energy ones are rubbish! They just don't give out enough light especially for reading. :evil:

It's no use looking at the wattage of a modern lamp as this tells you the power consumption but not the light output, unlike the old incandescent lamps efficiencies vary a great deal with LEDs (and getting better all the time). There can also be a massive difference in quality of the lamps and the level of truthfulness on the packaging. I've had some LED lamps last a few weeks (direct from China) and others last for years.
I will recommend a company called TP24, have several dozen LED lamps from them for 3 years now, not a single failure so far, and very good light output. Not cheap though but it's worth paying more.

 

[monkeybiter]

low energy bulbs are hideous and don't fit into our old Victorian house at all.

But you can now find so many different types I don't see that as a valid excuse any more.

Maybe, two years after the original post, he doesn't use that 'excuse' any more. :twisted:

 

[BearTricks]

Funnily enough they are selling bulbs like this in aldi this week. Must be something in the air.

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

 

[mind_the_goat]

low energy bulbs are hideous and don't fit into our old Victorian house at all.

But you can now find so many different types I don't see that as a valid excuse any more.

Maybe, two years after the original post, he doesn't use that 'excuse' any more. :twisted:

I have no idea how I managed to dig this one out, normally just scan the recent 'unread posts' list, pretty sure I didn't scroll through several thousand pages to find this one.

 

[Benchwayze]

low energy bulbs are hideous and don't fit into our old Victorian house at all.

Is that because you need gas lighting to be authentic? :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[RogerS]

.....
These things are just an eco placebo. Make people feel like they are doing their bit without having to make any real compromises. Saving energy on lighting is a drop in the ocean compared with the rest of our wasteful lifestyles. ......

You should pop on over to the EU thread with that one as it was they who banned incandescents :wink: !!

I completely agree re smart meters. They are just sitting there waiting to be hacked. All this talk of the 'wired' home makes me shudder since I will bet that 99.999999% of homes won't have stuck any home kit, PVRs in their own DMZ and thus protecting their computers from the inevitable hacks that are going to come down the line sooner or later.

 

[woodfarmer]

I dislike intensely these modern high deficiency lights. Although since their inception I can now move much quicker, in fact faster than light. When I was young i would pull the light switch in the bathroom and before I could move the room would be illuminated. Now I can pull the switch, perform the necessary and be washing my hands before the gloom begins to diminish. Going back to my youth I wonder if I would be better off using a candle.

It will be interesting to see them being used for "flash" photography. No doubt the camera man will hold the lens cover and start counting.