The 921 LED bulb
I just replaced 10 bulbs from our light fixtures , 921 style, with LED bulbs. They look and work great so far but I was surprised that they also get very warm to the touch. Is that normal? I also repl...
Forum Discussion
The problem according to my hard-earned frustration factor is that almost everything I have touched that is "supposed to be" 12-volt connectable, is over-driven. Even lamps with built-in controllers commonly use 30-40% more current than what the smd (surface mount device) is specced for. Overdriving devices renders little if any added lumens but it sure heats up the LED.
There are specs sheets with temperature lifespan curves for many (expensive) USA Made LEDs. Lifespan is defintely degraded when the device reaches 140-150F.
This is EXACTLY why I decided to build my own lamps. But there's a glitch to that - the lamps become too large to fit standard lamp enclosures. Proper heat-sinking for an AUTHENTIC 10-watt LED lamp consists of a 90mm round spoked disc with 36 rays of aluminum. I just purchased 40 DC-DC converters with a less than one volt dropout factor. This allows me to individually adjust each lamp's device to exact milliamp limit. The buckers cost me $0.93 each.
I ordered 50 transparent lexan lenses that are supposed to fit colored LED truck/trailer clearance lamps. This is an awful lot of trouble to go through for lighting. But the Bridgelux brand LED chips will be alive 20-years from now. Not so sure about those drivers.
That Harbor Fright IR pistol grip thermal laser scanner really turned out to be useful. It eliminates guesswork. So do an assortment of watt meters and VA meters.
There are specs sheets with temperature lifespan curves for many (expensive) USA Made LEDs. Lifespan is defintely degraded when the device reaches 140-150F.
This is EXACTLY why I decided to build my own lamps. But there's a glitch to that - the lamps become too large to fit standard lamp enclosures. Proper heat-sinking for an AUTHENTIC 10-watt LED lamp consists of a 90mm round spoked disc with 36 rays of aluminum. I just purchased 40 DC-DC converters with a less than one volt dropout factor. This allows me to individually adjust each lamp's device to exact milliamp limit. The buckers cost me $0.93 each.
I ordered 50 transparent lexan lenses that are supposed to fit colored LED truck/trailer clearance lamps. This is an awful lot of trouble to go through for lighting. But the Bridgelux brand LED chips will be alive 20-years from now. Not so sure about those drivers.
That Harbor Fright IR pistol grip thermal laser scanner really turned out to be useful. It eliminates guesswork. So do an assortment of watt meters and VA meters.
