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Light-O-Rama Forums > The Midway Zone (Not necessarily LOR ... Login for full access) > General Decorating Questions > LED lights - quality and selection |
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| LED lights - quality and selection | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Wednesday February 22nd, 2012 09:00 pm |
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1st Post |
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htebault Member
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Lights used to be simple - socket type, bulb size and wattage - gives you a set number of output lumens. Enter the LED world and there is quite a field of choice - seemingly without common rules. For example, a LED string of C7 lights might be 1/2 wave or full wave rectified, some can be dimmed, others cannot be and some may have one or more led's inside giving you added brightness. How does one choose ? I would guess that asking this group for their wisdom would be a good step - and help me avoid mistakes. I believe that finding a good supplier is always a good starting point, so companies like CDI, aachristmas, christmasetc and others are places to order from. I am focusing on use of C7 lamps - and the retro bulbs are recommended as being brighter than the C7 strings. It was also suggested not to mix C7 strings with C7 retro lamps - I would guess the brightness difference would detract. So, what are good supplies of good C7 retro bulbs and what criteria (must work with LOR, etc) should they support ?
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| Posted: Thursday February 23rd, 2012 01:01 am |
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2nd Post |
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Max-Paul Member
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CDI and dim able.
____________________ George Simmons wrote: Sounds to me like maybe you better keep your dongles under control... Hey Carnic, your have been weighed and found ignored. Save your breath. 
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| Posted: Thursday February 23rd, 2012 12:31 pm |
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3rd Post |
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LORisAwesome Member
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I agree with Max. Make sure they are dimmable. I know CDI Carries the dimmable C7 and C9 retros. Jerry
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| Posted: Thursday February 23rd, 2012 01:56 pm |
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4th Post |
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llewis Member
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Yeah, make sure they're dimmable even if you have to call the company and confirm.
____________________ I love christmaslightsetc.com |
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| Posted: Thursday February 23rd, 2012 04:49 pm |
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5th Post |
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htebault Member
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After review and additional website research - LED C7 retro bulbs seem to be fall into a few categories. Prices shown are based on 25 bulb case orders. Most sites do not sell individual bulbs. The examples are all for GREEN C7's. I conclude that the correct/typical retro C7 LED bulb has 3 led's inside, and draws about 1 watt per bulb and has in excess of a 50,000 life span. CDI did have the best overall description, and a very competitive price. Price does not seem to be any indicator of dimming ability. 1- 3 led's, >50,000 hour life, 0.96 watts per bulb. dimmable CDI,1.30 christmaslightsetc,1.60 imaginarycolours.com 2.20 2- 3 led's >50,000 hour life, 0.37-0.65 watts per bulb. unknown dimmablity. Sivallighting.com 1.60, christmascentral.com 1.92 3.Unknown dimmability - 0.96 watts, unknown life aachristmas.com 1.50 4. Nondimmable - noveltylights.com 1.34
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| Posted: Thursday February 23rd, 2012 06:36 pm |
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6th Post |
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-klb- Member
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CDI sells the Minleon bulbs. I have a bunch of those in the city show. Probably about 2,000 that have been in use 3 years. Our failure rate is really low, and actually, probably more dead out of the box (about 5 per 1,000) than after 3 years, so you get to warranty those DOA ones out..
____________________ http://www.LightsOnHarbor.org |
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| Posted: Thursday February 23rd, 2012 08:21 pm |
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7th Post |
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Max-Paul Member
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I have around 240 of the CDI C9 dimmable retro bulbs. I had one green (red, green, blue, & white in the strings) die the first year. Took it apart and found that it was still working. The problem is the one wire is not soldered to the screw part. And it appears that the sealant coated the majority of the wire and for what ever reason the one spot lost contact with the screw sleeve. Cleaned everything up and it works again. Other than that one failure all mine have been good sense.
____________________ George Simmons wrote: Sounds to me like maybe you better keep your dongles under control... Hey Carnic, your have been weighed and found ignored. Save your breath.
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| Posted: Wednesday February 29th, 2012 02:39 am |
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8th Post |
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htebault Member
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I received the replacement C7's today and tested them for brightness. I put out a 25 bulb string of replacments along with a C7 LED string. The replacement C7's were great - but my wife's vote was they were too bright( too bright - that's not possible...) so we will likely use the standard LED strings. It does appear the approximate brightness can be guessed by the current use. The C7 LED 25 light strings are quoted to use 2.4 Watts, or .096 per bulb while the replacement C7 bulbs each use .96watts. My observation is the replacment C7 was noticeably "bright", while the C7 LED string was visible, but not "bright". Not a perfect description. ![:]](/images/emoticons/big_grin.gif)
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| Posted: Wednesday February 29th, 2012 03:47 am |
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9th Post |
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-klb- Member
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Darn cat.. Just erased what I was editing!! Current use or wattage per bulb will be pretty good indicator, at least when comparing the same color, between different types of strings.. But the retrofits take a pretty steep efficiency hit for being dimmable and 110V per bulb. Still way ahead of incandescent, in that they are brighter, and lower current both.. My concern would be that if you have other styles of LED strings, the C7 strings will look dim in comparison. After all, the M5 LED string is usually the same power output as the C7 LED string. So the much larger diffuser of the C7 makes it look much dimmer as compared to the M5.
____________________ http://www.LightsOnHarbor.org |
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| Posted: Thursday March 1st, 2012 03:30 am |
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10th Post |
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htebault Member
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Thanks for the note about comparative brightness. I plan to use M5 icicles hung below the C7 strings - I will have to compare brightness of the M5 string compared to the C7 to make sure the C7 doesn't get washed out. I will post notes when I get that testing done.
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