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Author Topic: lightbulbs  (Read 4991 times)

Offline tschmidlin

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Re: lightbulbs
« Reply #15 on: February 11, 2011, 11:00:35 am »
I'm more likely to go with led than fluorescent, I'm looking forward to the prices dropping.
Tom Schmidlin

Offline euge

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Re: lightbulbs
« Reply #16 on: February 11, 2011, 11:38:11 am »
I'm more likely to go with led than fluorescent, I'm looking forward to the prices dropping.

I use led's for certain applications and they work extremely well. In the street stoplights led's fail on occasion. It may be an outdoor exposure or a switching issue, but at least if one or two led's fail the light still works overall.

http://www.1000bulbs.com/category/led-lighting Still pricey!
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Offline tschmidlin

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Re: lightbulbs
« Reply #17 on: February 11, 2011, 12:03:34 pm »
http://www.1000bulbs.com/category/led-lighting Still pricey!
Yeah, they need to come down in price by half.  And half again.  And again.  Maybe a couple more times too :)
Tom Schmidlin

Offline Hokerer

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Re: lightbulbs
« Reply #18 on: February 11, 2011, 12:36:35 pm »
http://www.1000bulbs.com/category/led-lighting Still pricey!
Yeah, they need to come down in price by half.  And half again.  And again.  Maybe a couple more times too :)

And up in equivalent.  I could really use a couple of equivalent replacements for some 75W incandescents (equivalent physical important too).
Joe

Offline breslinp

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Re: lightbulbs
« Reply #19 on: February 11, 2011, 04:39:05 pm »


In the street stoplights led's fail on occasion.

They also fail to melt snow leading to very dangerous situations.

Offline boo

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Re: lightbulbs
« Reply #20 on: February 13, 2011, 10:02:23 am »
Hey guys, I used to work in lighting R&D, here's some info re the article and comments.

- There is a new higher efficiency incandescent bulb in development.  It will have a similar spectral output to current incandescent bulbs, but twice the efficiency (still less efficient than CFL's).  The new high efficiency incandescents will replace the old technology that will eventually be phased out.  

- Most people that hate CFL don't recognize that there are different color temperatures available.  Warm White is the closest to an incandescent while cool white is more blue and is often described as "cold and sterile".  

- CFL's have electronics inside the package that don't handle moisture well. Unless they are designed for outdoor use keep them inside.  Also, they have to warm up to get full light output.  The technology has gotten better and they now heat up faster, but there's still a warm up period.  The colder the room the longer the warm up, another reason they don't work as well outside.  I have some in the garage and you can tell the difference in the winter.

- As for LED's mainly being available as accent lighting, it's because it's replacement for low wattage lighting, not primary lighting.  The technical challenge with LED's is getting the heat away from the LED.  So, if you get too many in a small package the generated heat can be detrimental.  It's not as much heat as a an incandescent bulb, but LED's can't handle the heat.

- I guess it's the UV in light that causes skunking in beer.  So sunlight, fluorescent bulbs and even some LED bulbs have significant UV output.  Best to avoid light.  Solid plastic and most fabrics can filter out the UV, but to be sure it's just best to keep beer in the dark to protect it.

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Offline paul

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Re: lightbulbs
« Reply #21 on: February 13, 2011, 11:13:16 am »
A lot of posters have suggested the skunking is caused primarily by UV light.  I was interested in this question recently, and it appears that it's visible light that causes the problem.  Here's my question and some responses: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=2726.0

Since visible light seems to cause the problem, and we all want to be able to see the beers in the reach in coolers, it's going to be tough to completely eliminate the problem.

But LEDs seem to be a good option for liquor store coolers for a variety of reasons:

They work well, actually better, at cold temperatures.

They put out less heat, so there's less load on the refrigeration.

They are highly directional, so designers can direct just enough light to where it's needed.  This minimizes bright spots in some parts of the coolers, and dim spots in the other.  Keeping the average light level down should minimize skunking.

Motion sensor controls can turn off the LEDs when no one is around.  Why subject the bottles to light when there's no one there to look at them?  The local grocery store has been retrofitting their reach in coolers with this system and it seems to be working fairly well.  I think LEDs do a little better with frequent switching than fluorescents.

Here's a couple articles about the technology:
http://adventurelightingblog.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/led-freezer-lights-hot-topic-cool-look/
http://www.ledsmagazine.com/news/7/4/12.

Offline oscarvan

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Re: lightbulbs
« Reply #22 on: February 13, 2011, 08:29:47 pm »


In the street stoplights led's fail on occasion.

They also fail to melt snow leading to very dangerous situations.

The law of unintended consequences.
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