I've not used any 120vac LED'S yet, as I mostly live on 12.xx vDC and inverter is a naughty word.
I've gone through a lot of corncob style SMD t10/194 LED's. None have actually burned out but were replaced for more light or just less bluish light.
There have been great strides in brightness, but the color and incandescent reflectors are the issue for me. I've ordered a 4 pack and had 4 different bulb colors, and I like the pure white. Not cool white, not warm white, just white white.
Of interest to me most as of late is the single Cree emitters housed in an aluminum heatsink, behind a convex lens. I've gotten 1156/ba-15s base bulbs/ t-10 base, and various 3.7v 14500 Li-ion or 1.5v alkaline AA flashlights
My favorite ones were a mistaken order, a t20 wedge base, With LED's excelling in directional light, I wanted a light which was super bright, and I could easily point where needed. I put these t20 Crees into a 99 cent store gooseneck lamp and wired it to 12vDC
These are bright, white and do not get very hot and are by far my favorite light source, and they have seen 6 hours use each night for the last 7 weeks. All my other lighting is much less pleasing both color and output wise and now rarely used.
The 1156 cree's I bought do get real hot, and do not seem any brighter though they did pull more current. I believe I damaged these as once they warm up they start flashing on and off
My most recent 12v aquisition were t10 wedge base R5 Cree, a pair delivered for 14$. These are just as bright and had a warmer light tone than all the other cree bulbs I've tried. These ran/run extremely hot, too hot to touch, and the smaller diameter aluminum heatsink (compared to 1156 or t-20), did not seem very substantial, and after about 6 hours use, I heard one start crackling, saw it flickering and it failed. The two bulbs were slightly different colors.
I dissected the failed one. When I went to straighten out the pins to disassemble the light, one pulled off the circuit board with very little pressure. I do not know if is was part of the issue or a result of it getting so freaking hot, but I suspect it was just a cold solder joint that had little to do with the failure.
Its twin has another 6 hours on it and is still going, though I have little faith in it. I hope it does last.
Here is the other side of the one which failed, note the cracked on the chip:
I have had a few CREE flashlights too. The one in the background above is a Hausbell Cree. It can use a single AA battery, or a 3.7v Li-ion 14500 battery. Very impressive amount of light on the 14500, and about 60% as bright with an AA. This one was acquired through an American seller.
I also purchased one of nearly exactly the same design, shipped from China for 1/3 the price($3.88). This china shipped version would not focus to as bright/small a square as the USA supplied one. It also got much hotter, much quicker for emitting the same amount of light.
I am interested to see how this technology evolves. I am not sure how the CREE drivers operate but some certainly get a lot hotter than others, whether this is due to how they are driven, or the physical mating of emitter to heatsink, I cannot say.
Mex, I've been tempted to try these Cree 1156's that have two emitters behind the lens:
Jtech 2x 1156 BA15S 10W Cree R5 LED Pure White Car Light BulbBut, I've got to stop spending money on LED's to assuage my curiosity. The t-20 Cree homemade goosenecks meet all my current needs and render most of my other lights unused.
