SMD light bulbs – are these any good? They look like a bargain on ebay but are they like most low energy bulbs – they don’t actually produce much light?

SMD means Surface Mount Diode – the LEDs are just stuck onto a ribbon or other substrate.

Beyond such a basic classification there is a huge array of different LEDs that could be surface mounted. Normally they have a number that refers to their dimensions e.g. 5050 is 5.0×5.0mm

Beyond the still very simple dimensions you will have varying chip efficiencies and and output.

Without knowing the above differences between the light bulbs you’ll struggle to make a worthwile comparisson.

bought a heap of philips LED bulbs from LEDHUT

new 4w LED GU10 produce more than enough light for my house and are instant brightness unlike the flurecence low energy bulbs i tried – they took forever to heat up

need to get some e14 LED golfballs now but ill be damned if im paying 12 quid a bulb.

also have osram LEDs from bnq for 6 quid a pop – less of an angle than the philips one so a more concentratated light – fitted them in the bathroom

significantly cooler(says the infrared thermometor AND my fingers ) than the halogens they replaced – so less fire risk.

just noticed LEDHUT doing 20% off today so may order up some golfballs. and no i dont work for them.

– what i want to try out are the 10watt LED floodlights – they claim to be bright enough to replace a 300watt halogen …. are LEDS suceptable to damage from repeated on and off – next doors cat kept killing my halogen bulbs when on a sensor so now i have to switch it manually 🙁

10watt LED flood light gives off 900 lumens claimed.

300watt halogen claims to give off 5000 lumens .

cant see how thats comparible- i want to be able to light my garden for security – not create more dark corners 🙁

I’ve just fitted 3 of the eBay 10watt led floods around my garage.
They replaced 2 old 150watt pir halogens.
They’re pretty bright but not 300watt brightness.
I have a mega-man 60w flood at the back of the house and that’s nice and bright.

are LEDS suceptable to damage from repeated on and off – next doors cat kept killing my halogen bulbs when on a sensor so now i have to switch it manually

Nope. They will be better than halogen in this respect, AFAIK it has 0 impact on their service life. But as Russ says, if they are anywhere near 300W halogen brightness I’d be surprised.. though they are probably bright enough.

If the brightness comparisons are anything like comparing CFL with incandescent, then I’d start by totally ignoring the comparison and the Watt equivalent. Needed a 100W equivalent CFL in the bog just to be able to see to take a leak.

Have mostly 3x35W Halogens everywhere, but they’re all GU5.3 rather than GU10. Seems to be a reasonable supply of LED in that form factor now, but it’s gonna cost £30 per light (ie 3x£10) to replace them.

Maybe I need to move some of the working bulbs about, and just replace 1 cluster’s worth of dead halogen with LED, just as a trial. Warm white? Cool blue? Osram? Philips? any recommended suggestions?

CFL in the bathroom – couldnt think of a worse application.

CFLS have a warm up time – no matter how quick they tell you they are they are not comparible to a incandecent.

the toilet by its nature needs instant light.

ive got 5 x 4watts in my toilet now where there were 5 x 50watts.

the light is more beamy than spread but its far from dim at any point.

bathroom i suggest cool blue/white , kitchens and other rooms i suggest warm white.

“http://www.ledhut.co.uk/spot-lights/mr16-led-bulbs.html”

MR16/gu5.3 for 8quid for phillips – put in beeny20 at the checkout for 20% off today. try em out , you might be surprised. (personally though id junk the transformer and fit 240v GU 10s but thats just me) i hate transformers

Just all the light fittings that were there.

Bog light fitting only takes the old standard incandescent size bulbs, hence compacter than normal CFL. That one is about to die, and has easily 3 sec switch on time, despite a fast start preheater. Takes about the time of a dump and a read of a magazine to come to full brightness.
Could put LED there.

Assume there’s no real issues using MR16/GU5,3 LEDs with old Halogen transformers? CBA to take everything out and replace with GU10 fittings.

erm not sure why that double posted

http://www.ledhut.co.uk/led-bulbs/b22-led-bulbs/b22-led-standard-shape-bulb-360-lumens-60-watt-equiv-best-internet-price.html

i have some of those through my house they come in at the same size as traditional bulbs but worth checking out BnQ last time i was in there they were doing similar OSRAM branded bulbs for 6 quid each – i put them in the exterior bulkhead lights at the doors and they are grand for the job

the only room i purposly left CFLs in are the bedroom – they are great for tired eyes in the morning the way the lights come on gradual.

cant answer on the transformer thing – i did the rip out and fit Gu10 240s when i fitted LEDS , just have a irrational fear of the things esp the temperatures they reach.

SMDs are generally “brighter” per stated W consumption than posher LED configurations as they do not cover the diode with any lens or plastic material to change its beam pattern or colour temperature.

This means you usually end up with a bright daylight white, rather than a more comfortable “tungsten” kind of warm white.

You also get a very dissipated light. But it is v bright.
Painful to glance at too.

I use them in the boiler room, quite high up and on posable fittings to fill the room with light when Im working in there as there are no windows.

I wouldnt want them in a living room though.

lets face it though – anyone who sticks spot lights in a living room needs their head looking at anyway. sounds like my idea of a migraine inducing hell

floor standing uplighters and a reading lamp FTW

Thought the SMD strips were more for under shelf lighting, behind the telly, etc. to provide localised or ambient lighting rather than full room.

Have ideas for that too (and lose one more damn CFL), but it was going to get ugly with wall warts and DC cabling.

You can get smd spot bulbs too . I have smd gu10s in the bathroom as i said. Also have cree based single bright leds in the utility room also in gu10 holders

I like the smd ribbon for under cabinets etc but as you say wall wart transformers are nae good

Having replaced some MR16s in our bathroom the old transformers didn’t work; their minimum load was too high. It was an exciting crazy flickering disco until I replaced them too, it made it a rather more expensive venture than I thought it would be!