My lightbulb died

[Pistolero]

OK, here is the details for a "white" LED. I was right, it is a blue LED with phosphors to fill in the spectrum.
So a bit like a fluorescent, but instead of pure UV, it is blue light towards the UV spectrum, plus phosphors
to fill in. Adjust the phosphors and adjust the light color spectrum or color temperature.

As far as lasting "forever" it depends on how hard they drive them. Too much power and
they heat up and it destroys the unit - probably what JW has seen, designer is "getting greedy" and getting
too much light per LED, overheating and failing. Lasts longer with more LEDs in the array,
but that costs more.

 

[Brian Palmer]

Could be just me and my eyes but I can see ALOT better in the darker corners with no natural light with the Edison bulbs vs the LEDs.

 

[Ian]

That would explain why blue and turquoise never look right under my LED bulbs. "Notchy" indeed. I'm just happy to HAVE light. My first electric light to read and study by was in my college dorm room, having grown up without electricity. Everything I did after dark until graduating high school (including reloading) was by the light of a kerosene lamp.

 

[Pistolero]

Wow, Ian. I had no idea. Was this in Alaska or Canada in the roadless areas? I know a lot of folks still
live off the grid out there and use either Coleman 'white gas' or kerosene pressure lamps, although those kerosene
used mantles, very white like Coleman gas lamps. I have a couple of unpressurized wick kerosene Alladin brand lamps with
mantles which put out a pretty pleasing light, not like a plain wick kerosene, but still more yellow. The Alladin adventive
is that they are quiet where the pressurized Coleman lamps have a loud hiss. We lived in
hurricane areas and always had Coleman and kerosene lamps for backup, but not primary.

My cabin has no mains electricity, uses a self-designed and built solar-battery system, and all lamps have been fluorescents
since 1995, when they were quite expensive to buy. I plan on replacing them with LEDs when they fail, but so far, since
1995 none have failed.

Here is sunlight for comparison, wavelengths are on the bottom in both. Notice no deep blues or reds are pretty weak, too, and not much power beyond 700 nanometers.

Bill

 

[Intheshop]

Yup,leave it to the beltway braintrust to improve on litebulbs.Still got fluorescents in our shop,some are 30 y.o. ..and could count on fingers and maybe one foot how many times they've been off.

 

[Bret4207]

As long as I can get 15-45w incandescents to hang in the water drops in the barn or my powder safe I'm happy. Need that heat! Now the end of the Bi-Centennial, that made me sad. That was a wonderful era with bunches of Americana on display or for sale, flags flying, "The Bi-Centennial Minute" on CBS every night, Gordon Sinclairs "The Americans" playing on the radio, men and boys wearing tri-corn hats, the black power boom, Eric Sloans books for sale everywhere, folks finally taking pride in America after the Vietnam/Watergate era....it was a grand time to be a teenager.

 

[Ian]

Bill, growing up "off grid" was my parent's choice, homesteading on some acreage they bought before I was born. We had a couple of Aladdin lamps too, in the kitchen and one hanging over the dining table, but they were extremely hot and only ran during the cooler months, which in SW Texas isn't much. One of my chores as a kid was to maintain the 30-something lamps in the house, all of them glass except the Aladdins (so you could see the level), trim wicks, replace burners, clean the globes, keep them filled. Yeah, I love electricity. I love my air conditioners. I love my water heater, welders, Golden Rods, ceiling fans, porch lights, heat tape, microwave oven, and all the other little things you can't easily have without the grid. I know how to live without that stuff, and never take it for granted.

 

[RicinYakima]

Yep, just like growing up poor in Kentucky.

 

[Pistolero]

Ian,
I have lived both ways, but not for long periods without. Electricity is better. My solar house has the substantial loads
offloaded to propane, like water heater, stove and refrigerator (what a marvel of genius a Servel refrigerator is!)
so that electricity is only used for things which only electricity can do, lighting, water pumping, power tools, computers, TV and
sat dish, etc. No electrical heating loads are practical with my system. I let my guests know that, Yes, a hair
drier is permitted, but please understand that it should only be used in the morning since each minute of hair
drier use requires about 90 minutes of full sun to recoup. The good news is that it is a dry climate and if a
hair drier is "needed", it doesn't take long. Thank goodness. We never use one there.

I'll bet you are familiar with The Mother Earth News, then. I used to read TMEN a lot back in the 70s.

We never had AC when I was a kid in Fla and Va. Hot and humid. We lived on a lake in
Fla and the only real relief was to jump in the lake, which we did often in the summer. About
30 minutes in the water and you were good for 3-4 hours. Wash off the sweat, cool down
your core temp, helped a lot. Nights were the worst, but we had a fan to blow on you
in bed, that helped a lot. Without the fans, it would have been a lot worse on a 98F 90%
RH day - which is pretty common in that part of Fla.

Bill

 

[Intheshop]

They'll have to pry the Tig from my cold dead fingers.

Tangent alert;Probably the baddest wood millshop this hillbilly has ever seen.....this guy(we've known each others work for 40 years,yet we can't remember each's name...doh).Is down S of here.Martinsville area.As the furniture industry gradually,unceremoniously,begrudgingly started closings he was in the position to buy up these HUGE moulding machines.These monsters,some 15' long,are now lined up in his big shop.He drives them with a whopper diesel generator.Got a 1/2 dz.Very reasonable pricing.