LED lights

Ulysses wrote:

"Steve Spence" wrote in message
At http://www.mpja.com/listitems.asp?dept=116&main=122&type=1 they have the 15,000 mcd's for $1.25 each.
Ok, that's good but does anyone have a source for miscellaneous surplus components? All Electronics and some others used to sell bags of switches, capacitors etc but now they seem to think they can make more money by cateloging each one. There was another place that had "Barrels of Resistors" etc but I can't find them any more either.

25 years ago I used to deal with a company called polypak. Grabbags for $99. They must be long gone.
-- Steve Spence Dir., Green Trust, http://www.green-trust.org Contributing Editor, http://www.off-grid.net http://www.rebelwolf.com/essn.html

Take a look at these 3 places:
http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/home.asp
http://www.cascadesurplus.com/catalog/index.php
http://www.electronicsurplus.com
-Kent-
"Ulysses" wrote in message

"Steve Spence" wrote in message Ulysses wrote: Personally,I wouldn't much care if they went slightly dim,or dead completely after 2 years,they only cost a few cents each!
Do you have a source for superbright white LEDs for a few cents each?
At http://www.mpja.com/listitems.asp?dept=116&main=122&type=1 they have the 15,000 mcd's for $1.25 each.
Ok, that's good but does anyone have a source for miscellaneous surplus components? All Electronics and some others used to sell bags of switches, capacitors etc but now they seem to think they can make more money by cateloging each one. There was another place that had "Barrels of Resistors" etc but I can't find them any more either.

-- Steve Spence Dir., Green Trust, http://www.green-trust.org Contributing Editor, http://www.off-grid.net http://www.rebelwolf.com/essn.html

"Ulysses" wrote in message

Anything is better than being proven wrong.

You must be 10 times smarter than everyone here put together. I'll bet you wear your college graduation gown

Funny, I was picturing a junior high school kid posting out of his bedroom.
Vaughn

"Kent Hoult" wrote in message

Take a look at these 3 places:
http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/home.asp
http://www.cascadesurplus.com/catalog/index.php
http://www.electronicsurplus.com
-Kent-

Excellent. Thanks.

"Ulysses" wrote in message
"Steve Spence" wrote in message Ulysses wrote: Personally,I wouldn't much care if they went slightly dim,or dead completely after 2 years,they only cost a few cents each!
Do you have a source for superbright white LEDs for a few cents each?
At http://www.mpja.com/listitems.asp?dept=116&main=122&type=1 they have the 15,000 mcd's for $1.25 each.
Ok, that's good but does anyone have a source for miscellaneous surplus components? All Electronics and some others used to sell bags of switches, capacitors etc but now they seem to think they can make more money by cateloging each one. There was another place that had "Barrels of Resistors" etc but I can't find them any more either.

-- Steve Spence Dir., Green Trust, http://www.green-trust.org Contributing Editor, http://www.off-grid.net http://www.rebelwolf.com/essn.html

-> They cost alot right now. -> And they aren't as energy efficient as compact flourescents. -> You could still use some sort of halogen lighting for dimmers and the prices -> will drop for LEDs and I sure they will increase their efficiencies over -> time. I'm not sure that halogen lamps will remain legal when the law against incandescent lighting comes into effect. I guess I'll just have to hope that the price of LED lamps drops a lot over the next few years. dow

-> Others have explained why LEDs are not yet a good option. Dimmable com -> fluorescents are hard to find, particularly if you want a special shape or -> style, but they exist and they represent your best option right now if you m -> have dimmers. -> Actually, I find that I can get along pretty well without dimmers. -> Traditionally, one reason for dimmers is to save energy. Compact fluorescen -> are so efficient, there is less reason to bother dimming them. If you want -> lighting, install a separate fixture with a small bulb. -> One big frustration I run into is that it currently seems to be impossi -> to buy a remote controlled ceiling fan without a dimmer. You would think th -> they would include a dip switch setting to defeat the dimming feature so tha -> you can use normal CF lamps. -> Vaughn Actually, I do have a dimmable fluorescent lamp. I bought it at a discount store several years ago. It isn't a compact bulb, but a "torchiere" lamp, which stands on the floor and has the lamp a bit above head height, shining upward onto the ceiling. It gives a nice, indirect light. It is dimmable with a knob on the stand, and the dimming does work, but it isn't as good as a regular dimmer with an incandescent lamp. For one thing, it won't dim all the way down to zero. Its minimum brightness is, I'd guess, about half the maximum. My girlfriend bought an identical lamp at the same time, but after a while the fluorescent tube in hers burned out. We have looked hard to find a replacement, but without success. It's a special kind of tube, with six electrical contacts. I have no idea how the dimmer works, but it must have six output lines. A few months ago, I saw an item on TV about some people who have invented a dimmer for fluorescent lamps. I wasn't too impressed, since I had one already. But, as far as I could see, theirs works with regular fluorescent tubes. Like the one I have, it dims down to only about half the maximum brightness. I have seen compact fluorescent bulbs that work in "tri-light" fittings so they can be switched to three brightnesses. There are two tubes, of unequal powers, and either or both can be switched on, giving three output levels. I guess this is better than nothing, but not as nice as a real dimmer. I do like to be able to dim lamps. Low illumination is good for watching TV, for example - and other things. Also, of course, it saves energy. I have never seen a compact fluorescent bulb that will work with a regular dimmer switch. That is what is needed, at a reasonable price. I agree with your comment about fans. I guess that, as CF lamps become more common, fans will be produced that can use them without destroying them. dow

"David Williams" wrote in message

-> Others have explained why LEDs are not yet a good option. Dimmable com -> fluorescents are hard to find, particularly if you want a special shape or -> style, but they exist and they represent your best option right now if you m -> have dimmers.
-> Actually, I find that I can get along pretty well without dimmers. -> Traditionally, one reason for dimmers is to save energy. Compact fluorescen -> are so efficient, there is less reason to bother dimming them. If you want -> lighting, install a separate fixture with a small bulb.
-> One big frustration I run into is that it currently seems to be impossi -> to buy a remote controlled ceiling fan without a dimmer. You would think th -> they would include a dip switch setting to defeat the dimming feature so tha -> you can use normal CF lamps.
-> Vaughn
Actually, I do have a dimmable fluorescent lamp. I bought it at a discount store several years ago. It isn't a compact bulb, but a "torchiere" lamp, which stands on the floor and has the lamp a bit above head height, shining upward onto the ceiling. It gives a nice, indirect light. It is dimmable with a knob on the stand, and the dimming does work, but it isn't as good as a regular dimmer with an incandescent lamp. For one thing, it won't dim all the way down to zero. Its minimum brightness is, I'd guess, about half the maximum.
My girlfriend bought an identical lamp at the same time, but after a while the fluorescent tube in hers burned out. We have looked hard to find a replacement, but without success. It's a special kind of tube, with six electrical contacts. I have no idea how the dimmer works, but it must have six output lines.

I have one of those Halogen Torchiere lamps. Tossed teh Halogen and wired up two light buld sockets. With a 15W CF its just as bright as the halogen, and softer too. I was thinking of a 2PDT switch and two different sizes of CF's.
The problem with CF and Dimmers is that most CF are not Power factor corrected. They just draw a spike of current off the peak of the AC wave. No SCR can handle that. If you find a CF with 0.99 PFC then you probably can dim it like most of todays Fluroesant fixutres.
Cheers
Cheers

-> I have one of those Halogen Torchiere lamps. Tossed teh Halogen and wired up -> two light buld sockets. With a 15W CF its just as bright as the halogen, and -> softer too. I was thinking of a 2PDT switch and two different sizes of CF's. -> The problem with CF and Dimmers is that most CF are not Power factor -> corrected. They just draw a spike of current off the peak of the AC wave. -> No SCR can handle that. -> If you find a CF with 0.99 PFC then you probably can dim it like most of -> todays Fluroesant fixutres. -> Cheers The torchiere I mentioned is *not* a halogen one. (I do have a halogen one too, but the one I wrote about has a fluorescent tube.) If you try to dim a CF with a regular dimmer, the CF fails. The triac remains fine. The circuitry in the base of the bulb can't handle a non-sine waveform. The basic problem with dimming fluorescent lamps (note the spelling, please!) is that a sufficient amount of power has to be dissipated to keep the mercury vaporized. If the power goes down too much, the mercury condenses and the arc fails to strike on the next half-cycle. I suppose it would be possible to keep the electrodes hot by running the heaters full-time, but if the objective is to save energy, this isn't a good way to achieve it! dow

On Jun 6, 8:32 pm, david.willi...@bayman.org (David Williams) wrote: ....

The torchiere I mentioned is *not* a halogen one. (I do have a halogen one too, but the one I wrote about has a fluorescent tube.)

Yeah, I bought 3 of those at Home Depot - Mine were GE with a special bulb. We broke two of the Torchieres, but the bulbs still work in the original and I think I bought a spare. Must be nearly 7 years old by now...
the bulb may be available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Compact-Fluorescent-Torchiere-Replacement-Watts/dp/B000089DBT
Some CFs ara marked dimmable. http://www.nolico.com/saveenergy/23_watt_dimmable_swirl.htm

On Jun 6, 10:32 pm, david.willi...@bayman.org (David Williams) wrote:

If you try to dim a CF with a regular dimmer, the CF fails. The triac remains fine. The circuitry in the base of the bulb can't handle a non-sine waveform.

I have not found this to be the case. I power standard CF bulbs at my campsite with a rectangular-wave cheapie inverter, and have not seen and CF failures in this application. They seem to run a very slight bit dimmer on inverter power versus sinewave.

-> Gee, I always thought that Radiant Energy and Thermal Energy were -> different... -> So if 100 percent is in the form of heat (thermal energy) where does the -> light (radiant energy) come from? -> Donald No. Basically, they're the same thing. In an incandescent lightbulb, 100% of the electrical energy is converted into heat in the filament. The filament emits what you call "radiant energy", which carries most of the heat away. (A small amount of heat is conducted away along the wires that support the filament, and through the gas in the bulb.) The electromagnetic radiation ("radiant energy") is partly absorbed by the glass of the bulb, which becomes hot, and that heat is removed by convection in the surrounding air, and by conduction and radiation. The rest of the radiation from the filament, a small part of which is visible light, goes out into the surrounding environment, where it is absorbed by the things it strikes, being converted back into heat. Possibly, a small amount of light finds its way out into outer space, and travels away indefinitely. This is the *only* part of the original electrical energy that does not end up as heat in the bulb or in surrounding objects that have absorbed radiation. The energy is interconverted between radiation and thermal energy (vibrations of molecules, etc.) many times. Basically, they are both forms of the same thing - "heat". Almost all other electrical appliances are also 100 percent efficient *as heaters*, except for any energy that goes out into space. The only exceptions are things like battery chargers which convert some of the electrical energy into another form which is stored indefinitely. dow