1 Jun
2010
1 Jun
'10
2:17 p.m.
On 06/01/2010 01:33 PM, Dave McGuire wrote:
I dunno, the Home Depot (large consumer-grade
hardware store chain in
the US), as of my trip there yesterday, carries quite a wide variety of
LED-based incandescent replacements.
Sure, but they all either either replacements for low-wattage
incandescents, or they are very expensive replacements for
higher-wattage (60W and up) incandescents. The shelf for inexpensive
60W replacements is empty, and the reason is that it is currently very
difficult to engineer such a product, and expensive to manufacture it.
One of the problems is that while LEDs are more efficient at producing
visible light than incandescents, and thus produce less heat at a given
light output, the heat produced by the LED isn't radiated, while much of
the heat produced by the incandescent is. This results in the LED
getting hotter than the incandescent bulb. While that heat doesn't
damage the incandescent, it is the primary failure mode of the LED.