IKEA switching to just LEDs.: Motoring Non-motoring forum

Non-motoring > IKEA switching to just LEDs.	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: henry k	Replies: 13

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Tue 11 Aug 15 23:47

IKEA switching to just LEDs. - henry k

www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/aug/10/ikea-ditches-conventional-lightbulbs-for-energy-saving-led-lighting

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Wed 12 Aug 15 00:17

IKEA switching to just LEDs. - mikeyb

They have had signs up in my local announcing it would only offer LED in the future for the last few months

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Wed 12 Aug 15 20:44

IKEA switching to just LEDs. - swiss tony

No good to me, as the flickering of LED lamps gives me a headache.

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Wed 12 Aug 15 21:11

IKEA switching to just LEDs. - Old Navy

Do LEDs operate at a different frequency to other 50hz lights on the UK power supply?

Last edited by: Old Navy on Wed 12 Aug 15 at 21:14

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Wed 12 Aug 15 22:13

IKEA switching to just LEDs. - Zero

>> Do LEDs operate at a different frequency to other 50hz lights on the UK power
>> supply?

Its a bit weird, (in very basic terms):- LEDs are DC devices so don't flicker. However to make them bright you need to drive them near to the limit of burning out, but you can have them burning out, so they are "pulsed" in output. Most noticeable out of the corner of your eye.

Last edited by: Zero on Wed 12 Aug 15 at 22:14

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Wed 12 Aug 15 22:22

IKEA switching to just LEDs. - Old Navy

My house is almost all LED lit. I do not see any flcker from the various brands fitted (they probably all come from the same Chinese factory).

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Wed 12 Aug 15 22:23

IKEA switching to just LEDs. - Zero

I can see it - more so on car leds

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Wed 12 Aug 15 23:10

IKEA switching to just LEDs. - henry k

>> No good to me, as the flickering of LED lamps gives me a headache.
>>
So what do you use at present? I assume the slow start energy savers.

I have a stock of old fashioned bulbs but the failure rate is poor.
Several have popped the MCB when the globe departed from the bayonet.

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Thu 13 Aug 15 09:21

IKEA switching to just LEDs. - Cliff Pope

>>
>> I have a stock of old fashioned bulbs but the failure rate is poor.

The quality of those that are still produced is very low. Even the permitted allegedly heavy duty lamps fail at the slightest movement, or just because they feel like it.

The longest lasting bulb in our house is in the pantry, at least 30 years old. It is a gloomy room with only a tiny north-facing window, so the light gets endlesly turned on and off all day.

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Thu 13 Aug 15 09:28

IKEA switching to just LEDs. - sherlock47

>> The longest lasting bulb in our house is in the pantry, at least 30 years
>> old. It is a gloomy room with only a tiny north-facing window, so the light
>> gets endlesly turned on and off all day.
>>

30 years ! that is nothing.....

www.centennialbulb.org/photos.htm

but they are cheating - running it at very low power.

Last edited by: sherlock47 on Thu 13 Aug 15 at 09:33

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Thu 13 Aug 15 09:46

IKEA switching to just LEDs. - Slidingpillar

Beats my pre-war valve by quite lot.

I've got a CAT6 type valve, originally fitted to the Scottish Transmitting Station at Westerglen. Home or Scottish regional service. About 7.5 kW output and the regional transmitters used to run 12 of them in parallel with 2 as a hot reserve.

The valve itself has a water cooled anode, and the cathode is one end of the heater, so it is also is a bright emitter.

Filaments are still working when last checked. No idea of value, but it's not for sale anyway.

Last edited by: Slidingpillar on Thu 13 Aug 15 at 09:49

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Thu 13 Aug 15 09:50

IKEA switching to just LEDs. - Fursty Ferret

A few thoughts on this - since I don't have an incandescent or fluorescent LED lamp in the house.

I think it's a great thing. IKEA LEDs are quite high quality and have no noticeable flicker to me. You will find better ones online (particularly GU10s or the dinky G4s) but to all intents and purposes there's no excuse for not changing.

I'm off in a few minutes to pick up one of these to stick over the dining table:
www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/90211263/

CAVEAT: Unless you want dimmable lamps, at which point you're better off with incandescent. You can get dimmable LEDs but you need a trailing edge digital dimmer, and even then you'll get shimmer at low settings.

Or you can go fully digital, which is what I did in the lounge and fitted two Philips Hue Lux lamps and a colour-changing table lamp.

www.philips.co.uk/c-m-li/hue-personal-wireless-lighting

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Thu 13 Aug 15 10:22

IKEA switching to just LEDs. - Cliff Pope

>>
>> but they are cheating - running it at very low power.
>>

Also perhaps it has a carbon fibre rather than tungsten filament. Very old light bulbs I think had carbon filaments, and had a different behaviour when turned on. Instead of taking an initial high current, diminishing as the filament got hot, it was the other way round. So although taking a noticeable paues before getting fully bright, it lasted longer.

My father had an ancient light bulb which occasionally he liked to demonstrate. He liked old electrical anomalies, recalling the days when different electricity companies in Leeds used significantly different voltages, so when buying lightbulbs you were asked where you lived so as to be sold the appropriate kind. Wirelesses etc of course had adjusters to suit a range of voltages, as well as the ability to work on DC as well as AC.

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Thu 13 Aug 15 10:32

IKEA switching to just LEDs. - sherlock47

Yes you are correct - a carbon filament - PTC vs NTC or is it the other way round?

"high inrush current characteristic of tungsten lamps. For a 100-watt, 120-volt general-service lamp, the current stabilizes in about 0.10 seconds, and the lamp reaches 90% of its full brightness after about 0.13 seconds.[89]

Carbon filament bulbs have the opposite characteristic. The resistance of a carbon filament is higher when it is cold than when it is operating. In the case of a 240 Volt, 60 Watt carbon filament bulb, the resistance of the filament when at operating temperature is 960 Ohms, but rises to around 1500 Ohms when cold."

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