P
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:
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: