Finally – LEDs hit home

LED lights are finally reaching a level that is set to make them the choice of lighting when it comes to what to put inside – and outside – your home.

You might not see them on the shelves of Kmart just yet, but most lighting retailers now carry several lines of LEDs and they come in everything from strip lighting to downlight globes and, thankfully, replacements for what we would consider “normal” globes that fit into bayonet and screw-in fittings.

When we bought ceiling fans 18 months ago we put CFL globes in them instead of energy-sucking halogens. The compact fluorescents may have used only 11w each but they were awful – a really horrible light that was slow to warm up.

It was a relief to visit the lighting store a few weeks back to discover there is now an LED replacement. But given it costs about $30 a pop, I wasn’t too keen to shell out for a couple of them only to find out they were no better than what we had.

But the lighting store kindly agreed to get two in and promised I could return them, fully refunded, if the light didn’t suit. Mighty nice of them.

The lighting quality was unbelievably better, and each globe uses just 5 watts. So with two per fitting, 10 watts could light an entire room quite nicely. Not only was it instant-on (the only CFL globes that would fit in the fan lights previously were sadly not) but also a much warmer, cleaner colour.

The prices are still quite high, but as demand grows that is expected to change.

Michael Downie, general manager of Philips Lighting Australia says with any new technology, as consumer demand increases, “we anticipate a reduction in pricing over time”.

“However, with a lifespan of over 20 years (around 20,000 hours based on 2.5 hours a day) and energy savings of up to 80 per cent compared to a conventional bulb, it makes an LED bulb an incredibly efficient and cost-effective purchase already.”

For readers interested in how to choose and use LEDs, we’ve asked two industry insiders to give us their opinions.

LEDs in the home

Darryn Parkinson – design and construction director of Your Abode, a green builder uses only LEDs on his projects.

“For a while we used compact fluorescents and we were very disappointed with the light quality and so we started to investigate LEDs in a lot more detail,” says Parkinson.

Your Abode is using LED downlights, strip lighting, and standard batten fittings with LED globes.

“I think over the last six to 12 months, we’ve probably had upwards of 20 to 30 different fittings that we’ve trialled,” says Parkinson.

“Our office is a constant showroom of lights as we look at what’s available in the market. As something new comes along, we’ll go and get one and just test it out against what we think is the current yardstick.”

Parkinson has found that selecting a good quality LED requires a bit of research.

“For LEDs there’s a huge variation between the manufacturers of the [globes],” he says.

“OSRAM make a good LED globe. There’s another main LED supplier in Sydney – LED Lighting – and they have really good products.

“With LED the key to a good fitting is the electronics, and the chip inside the actual LED will determine whether you get a good light and a good quality.

“The better quality LEDs are really good but the cheaper ones aren’t achieving it. We’ve sort of narrowed down these tHicks Real Estatee or four [globes] that we’re happy to use from tHicks Real Estatee or four suppliers and the prices are pretty reasonable.”

How to choose

“You’ve got to go and look at them,” says Parkinson. “You’d be unwise to just buy an LED and go ‘oh well, they said that it’s a 50w replacement’ without seeing it.

“In our experience, 70-75 per cent of them don’t have the light output that they claim … you’d be down on your lighting if you simply just swapped over one for the other.

“You’ve got to look at the colour too, because there is quite a spread of colour difference between the [globes].”

Parkinson says the classic test is put a piece of white paper underneath the light. “You’ll see that out of a range of warm whites it will go from a light yellowy tone through to a white, but they still fall within the technical description of what a warm white is within the kelvin rating of a warm white. There’s a huge variation within that, so you need to see and be comfortable about it.

“At the moment, it’s a case of the more you spend the better your chances, it’s definitely in that category of if you buy cheap, buyer beware with the LEDs.”

LEDs in the garden

Dean Herald, principal designer at Rolling Stone Landscapes is also an LED convert, using only LEDs in his garden makeovers.

“They’ve well and truly been around for more than enough time now to prove themselves,” Herald says.

“You’ll find that the majority of the landscaping industry would be using them on probably 85 per cent – 90 per cent of occasions now.”

Here’s why Herald rates LEDs so highly.

Energy efficiency. “It’s quite unbeatable compared to traditional halogens,” Herald says.

Maintenance. “You don’t have to change a globe because it’s a light source not a globe, and that’s traditionally been a problem on all of our projects where you go back to a job that was beautiful and half of the globes haven’t been changed,” says Herald.

“Some of the (previous halogen) lights are difficult to change the globes. They’re not like a standard globe.”

Fewer insects. “We find that the LEDs don’t attract any insects. If you’re talking about exterior use, that’s a huge positive while we are all sitting outside.”

Heat component. “Outdoor lighting in the past used to be very hot. Kids used to burn their fingers and toes, especially around pools and things like that as well.

“You’ll find the LED lights basically have no or little heat coming from them so they’re quite safe to use. Especially if you’re around pools with bare feet and small little kids with gentle skin.”

Warm white is being used in gardens, but when it comes to swimming pools, cool white LEDs are all the rage.

“I’ve noticed all the pool lights changing to LED, just in the straight white and it really enhances the colour of the pool, the natural colour – it doesn’t blend any yellow tones,” says Herald.

His final thought? “Overall, LED makers are increasing the technology, the durability, and the design of the product. It’s all heading in the right direction and that’s why the industry has picked it up and used it.”

Story by Carolyn Boyd, source: www.domain.com.au