Flourescent Tubes to LED Benefits
Almost all of our 12vdc lighting is Flourescent Tube lighting currently. We do boon dock a couple of weeks each year. We have a 440AH battery bank. Other than control over the level of illumi...
Forum Discussion
mlts22 wrote:
No mini Superfund site if a LED bulb breaks, as opposed to a thin glass fluorescent tube with mercury in it?
The difference going between CFLs or tubes and LEDs isn't as great as from incandescent bulbs to LEDs, but it does help, and LEDs tend to last longer. This is nice, as I've had some fluorescent bulb fixtures take some finesse to replace the bulb without breaking it.
The amount of Mercury in a fluorescent tube is so overblown it is silly, It would take hundreds or even thousands of fluorescent bulbs to find enough Mercury to fit on a head of a pin.
LEDs however are even LESS "environmentally friendly" since they are semiconductors which have been doped with extremely hazardous chemicals and lots of toxic heavy metals to boot. It in the end is no "cleaner" than any other lighting system when made AND at disposal time..
As far as LEDs being "better" as in efficiency compared to fluorescents THEY ARE NOT.
LEDS are improving but for the most part you can get MORE light in lumens from fluorescents. Pretty much the benchmark is 100 lumens per watt efficiency for Fluorescents including the ballast.
A lot of LED manufacturers CLAIM to get that level but in my own testing and research I have found that MOST IF NOT ALL LED manufacturers OVER RATE the efficiency of their products.
Not to mention in order to get higher brightness they trade off LIFE by driving the LEDS at 100% current level substantially reducing the life of the LEDS.
LEDs by their nature create a very bright spot in the middle of the beam, THAT is where the manufacturers make their measurements and THAT is the number they publish...
