CLCBulbs 813-514-1266 Light bulb buying guide (continued...) LEDs Average cost: $10 - $25 Average wattage: 4 - 22 watts Average life expectancy: 20,000 hours Light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, are the new rock stars of the bulb world. When an LED is switched on, electrons and electron holes come together (dont worry, Im not completely sure I fully understand what a hole is in this context, either). The result of this process is a release of energy in the form of photons, or light. A typical LED uses a fraction of the wattage required to power a bright incandescent bulb, and this makes LEDs dramatically more cost-effective over the long run. A 12-watt LED that puts out 800 lumens of light (lumens are units of brightness for a light source, more on that in just a bit) will add about a buck and a half per year to your power bill if youre using it for 3 hours a day at an energy rate of 11 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh). Under those same parameters, a 60-watt incandescent bulb that puts out 880 lumens will cost about seven and a half bucks per year. LEDs are also rated to last for tens of thousands of hours, which can translate to decades of use. Compare that with the year or so you typically get out of an incandescent, and you can begin to see why so many people find these bulbs appealing. At a price of about $15, that 12-watt LED would pay for itself in 2.5 years, then keep on saving you money for years to come. Decades? Really? Yes, really -- at least, according to Energy Star and the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), the independent organization that created the testing procedures manufacturers use to rate LED lights. Most LED bulbs have only been commercially available for a few years now, not nearly long enough to see direct proof of their longevity claims. Fortunately, theres enough transparency with LED testing that were able to dig a little deeper into what these claims are actually saying. First, its important to understand that LED lights dont burn out, the way that incandescents do. Instead, they undergo lumen depreciation, gradually growing dimmer and dimmer over time. The test that the IES uses to determine a bulbs longevity is known as the LM80, and it calculates how long it will take for an LED to fade noticeably. Engineers run the bulb for nine months in order to get an accurate read of the lights rate of decay, and using those figures, they can calculate the point at which the light will have faded to 70 percent of its original brightness. This point, known as L70, is the current standard in LED longevity. If an LED says itll last 25,000 hours, its really saying that it will take the bulb 25,000 hours to fade down to 70 percent brightness. This isnt to say that LEDs dont fail. They definitely do. As with any device relying on tiny, delicate electrical components, things can always go wrong. Fortunately, more and more LED bulbs come with multiyear warranties for cases of mechanical failure. One manufacturer, Cree, even goes as far as to offer a 10-year warranty for its highly rated TW Series 40- and 60-watt replacement bulbs, both of which cost less than $20. Consumers with a healthy dose of skepticism regarding LED longevity claims should look for bulbs like these, by manufacturers willing to put their money where their mouth is. Commercial Lighting Tampa 8135141266
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 20:32:19 +0000
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