[Elecraft] LED bulbs

[David Gilbert]

Yes, I've also been surprised at how hot the bases get, but you have to 
understand that everything is in that base ... the power supply and the 
heat sink for the LED chip(s).   The total energy expended is all that's 
important, though, and on average the energy expended on a 60 watt 
equivalent LED bulb is about 1/5 to 1/6 that of a comparable 
incandescent bulb.  Watts are watts, and you pay for watt-hours no 
matter where it gets expended.

At my QTH, electricity costs about $0.11 per kilowatt-hour.  A 60 watt 
bulb (i.e., incandescent) running 4 hours per day 300 days per year 
would eat up roughly $8 worth of electricity.  Lowe's is currently 
selling store brand 60 watt equivalent (800 lumens) LED bulbs for $2.48 
and it is not difficult to find similar deals elsewhere.  At ten watts 
for the LED bulb, that works out to be less than five months payback on 
a bulb that will probably last 10 to 15 years or more.  You could pay up 
to about $6.65 per bulb and still have a payback less than one year.  
For some reason indoor LED flood lights (PAR30) are more expensive, but 
even there the payback is less than two years.

Dave   AB7E



On 5/12/2015 5:33 AM, Mike Reublin NF4L wrote:
> I put 3 LED can lights in the shack, and there are 11 LED bulbs in the kitchen next door. No noise that I can attribute to them. I like the whiter, brighter light.
>
> I do have a question about the claimed $ savings. The base of these things get fairly hot. How much is that heat costing?
>
> 73, Mike NF4L
>
>