LED Floods versus Halogens

[Piratepete]

Hi Guys
I'm completely sold on the financial and technical advantages of LED interior downlights over halogens but I need convincing about replacing outside halogen floods by the LED units.

First, is a 50 Watt LED floodlight technically equivalent to a 400 Watt halogen? A statement on a box at my local wholesaler says it is, yet a 50 watt LED gives out about 4000 lumens while a 400 Watt halogen gives out 8000 lumens. How is this light output being measured and compared?
I've never compared them but one of my customers says that his LED unit is more of a spotlight than a floodlight and not equivalent, so is the halogen's 8000 lumens more widely spread than the LED light? Reviews on the web suggest that this may be so and you need more LED floods than halogens if you want to light up the near area rather than the distance.

Financial. A 50 watt LED unit costs about £50 and cannot be easily repaired. What's the life? Warrantees are 3 to 5 years and you need an electrician to replace it. You can buy a 400W halogen (say 10 years life) for £5 and get many years life out of a 400 watt R7S bulb (over 8 years from my front facing PIR unit). I also haven't seen a case for energy saving costs versus initial/life costs in the case of PIR units.
The other issue is colour. Warm white seems to be much preferred to cool white but is more expensive.

This is what I currently believe:
The domestic PIR halogen is far superior to a 50 watt LED as a flood and financially. .
For non PIR units the LED unit is 10 times the initial price but consumes 1/8 the power. If it's on for 8 hours a night the cost savings are pretty obvious but for half an hour a night??

Whats your experience?
Are the LED units reliable? Any brands to recommend or avoid? How do you deal with the varying claims on light output and equivalence to halogen?

Cheers
Pete :snore:

 

[SJD]

I have fitted a few 50W LEDs, with and without PIR sensor. I agree they are not really equivalent to a 400W halogen, and I explain that beforehand - in some cases the 400W is too bright, and the 50W LED is sufficient.

I would add into the consideration maintainability. Yes you do sometimes get a few years out of a halogen R7S lamp, but not always, and if difficult to access e.g. at gutter level, some people prefer a fitting that won't need the lamp changing from time to time. Quite a few of my customers won't even attempt to change one at head height themselves.

 

[GEOFF S]

One very important point to note, LED outputs are all inclusive. The Halogen outputs will require various deratings, google LOR for example.

Cheers

 

[Marvo]

The cost difference between WW and CW is usually pretty negligible nowadays. As SJD says the cost of lamp replacement with halogens could be a factor especially if you need access equipment to do it, we generally expect 2 or 3 years service from a halogen lamp. Also halogen floodlights tend to deteriorate with the heat, paint comes off and the body corrodes or screws seize making lamp replacement difficult or impossible. Cabling sizes could be a factor if there's several or numerous floodlights on a circuit.

 

[shanky887614]

you can get higher than 50watt led spotlights if your lighting up a football pitch.

the light will probably be whiter so apear brighter than the same lumen halogen but obviously because it has such a large difference in lumens anyway it is not going to be as bright

 

[DuaneMHunt1976]

The power of led isn't the same from led to led. It really needs to be rated in lux than watts
I know there is.new.tech.that is.less power but more lux

Car lights are prime examples, good bulbs.that are less wattage but brighter and blinding on coming traffic
I've got nasty habit of going in to the light