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Seen a cheap LED light bulb at walmart... I think it was 6.97 or so... 1.1w and 70 lumens.
I wish I had a reference for how weak 70 lumens actually is.

I am interested in the LED light bulbs because it would be trivial to power them with a solar panel. Even after DC/AC inversion.

Anyone else looking at these for having solar powered light when the grid goes down?

As a rough comparison, a 60w incandescent or 13w CFL will produce ~700 lumens. The biggest attraction of LEDs is the absence of Mercury that CFLs have, power(watt) savings between LED and CFL are negligable when you consider the lumens to price ratio. Manufacturing capabilities/capacities need to improve drastically to bring prices in line with John Doe's wallet, once that happens I will gladly use LEDs.

You're looking at 10 LEDs using 11 watts for $69.70 to match a 13w CFL.

Lumens are a measure of percieved light, watts are a measure of power, so there isn't an all in one formula for converting watts to lumens, every light must be tested individually.

I like these cfl's, http://cgi.ebay.com/DC-12V-18W-CFL-Flor ... 2c5790e076
you can actually light a room with them, or read.
18 watts = 1500 lumens
it takes 23 watts of you led example to add up to 1500 lumens,
then the light still doesn't seem as bright to me.

involuntary tentacle wrote:Seen a cheap LED light bulb at walmart... I think it was 6.97 or so... 1.1w and 70 lumens.
I wish I had a reference for how weak 70 lumens actually is.

I should have added.
Home improvement stores like Lowe's and Home Depot carry "60W equivalents" using ~12 watts that sell for $35.00-40.00 or so, wattage claims are "equivalent" to 60w incandescents. Again, CFL vs LED, it doesn't make sense at the price for CFL replacement.

When CFLs first came out, manufacturer claims for the new bulbs were highly suspect, particularly about their brightness. This caused a lot of skepticism about CFLs. Most LED bulbs listed as "60 watt equivalent" are actually 40 or 50 watt equivalent. Keep this in mind if you go shopping for LEDs.

One that I'm watching.
Lemnis released the Pharox about 6 months ago. A 60W equivalent using 6 watts, $30.00+ at this time. Lemnis is forecasting that pricing will reach the $10.00 range around 2015 as popularity and manufacturing capabilities improve.

involuntary tentacle wrote:I am interested in the LED light bulbs because it would be trivial to power them with a solar panel. Even after DC/AC inversion.

Anyone else looking at these for having solar powered light when the grid goes down?

For solar use, see above. In 5 years this would be a totally different discussion.

My favorite are Ott Lite CFL bulbs. $13 each for the 25W version (they also make 15W and 20W versions). Not the cheapest, but there is a big difference in the quality of the light. These are much closer to natural daylight and make traditional CFLs look yellow. I have about a dozen of them lighting up the main work area of The Copper Cave Very happy with the investment.

http://www.amazon.com/Ott-Lite-25ED12R- ... B002X7XEYM

Sorry to bump this older thread, but.....I thought I read somewhere (maybe here) that LED's can be used for indoor lighting for greenhouses or indoor gardens?

Yup. Specific "colors" of red and blue. Produces black leaves. Neat.

I have been putting in pot lights with LEDs instead of the regular MR 16 bulbs. The LEDs save energy but give off much less light. There are expensive ones that give more light but still no match in the amount of light. The LEDs also give off less heat... Good for Americans bad for those in the Great White North.

I would still wait untill there are more improvements in LED technology before I shell out the money for them. In the mean time Ill be sticking to the cheaper lights.

Thanks Mossy and frugalcanuck!

I'm thinking of giving this a whirl this winter with some lettuce or garlic.