LED Longevity
 

At my work there is a big vaulted entryway with impossible can lights to replace. Lights are 24 feet up on an angled ceiling. My electrician is trying to talk us into making the jump to LED bulbs. Now I'm in the midst of doing the leg-work to justify the 50-100 bulbs to the boss.

I need to know how well the higher end spot lights last when they are on 24/7 as its a public entryway. I only need to get 800-1500 lumen out of them as right now I have 2 of 5 cfl's working and they started life at 1500 lumen.

Finally does anyone have suggestions on brands and models of lights.
I found one with a 100lm/watt but $500 on the 5 bulbs i need will be a hard sell.

Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

also forgot to mention, I have a medium base socket (Edison)

I'm not sure if anyone here is using those real expensive bulbs. I'd be a bit weary about the electronics in them lasting. The LEDs themselves will have no problem lasting the entire duration of that time I"m sure, but the other stuff... eh. Of course, if you're paying this guy much just to put in the bulbs it might very well be worth a shot.

no, not 500 to change the bulbs that should only be $200 or so for him to come out with his lift and install. If I can get a bulb to last even 3 years continuous Pricey bulbs would pay for themselves in installation costs let alone maintaining a better lit entryway to make that first impression.

The led bulbs are still very new, the main complaint I have heard is they tend to beam meaning they are more like a spot light rather than a flood light. I'm sure they have some with a lens that will help with that problem.

At my old warehouse job they switched all the fork lifts to LEDs and these trucks are being used 24hrs a day 6 days a week. Doing this saved the company a ton of money because they were replacing the incandesents all the time, not only from them burning out but the impact of going over the dock plates in to the trailers kept breaking fillaments. There are on occasion some lights that fail due to a problem with the circuit board. Thats the main thing that is keeping people from making the switch to direct replacement parts.

I would contact the companys who you are considering purchasing from and ask them if since they say that the bulbs should last 20+ years do they have a warranty on the circuit boards.

If your higher ups won't go for the expense talk to them about the benefits of the tech and how it will save alot on energy costs, and discuss a transition plan over the next few years as the tech gets cheaper. Then stick with the cfls for the time being.

I've had a few cfl's go bad after only 2-3 years (the rest are still going after 10-15 years) and the problem was always with the electronics inside, not with the tube itself. So I'm guessing that every now and then an LED bulb will also go out prematurely, though maybe less often than cfl's since there is less load/current going through them.

Maybe replace every third bulb and see how they perform. If the light distribution is OK, then next time the electrician comes replace another batch.

How about have him rewire all of the fixtures with groups of Cree LEDs and locate the power supplies in an easily accessible location? The LEDs are going to last almost forever and the power supplies are easy to replace. (If they're good, they should also last almost forever...)

LED's will pay for themselves where it is expensive to change the lamps. There are a number of considerations, if you are using incandescent (regular lamps) and like the color of the light, then buy warm white lamps. Virtually all LED lamps are made in China, and I have a list of good Chinese sources, usually at about 1/3rd the US retail cost, you can pm me and let me know a bit more about what you need in the way of lamps, & I will try to help you choose a supplier.

Led's are very directional, but many lamps are made with precise flood angles. If you buy led's the SMD types are newer and brighter per watt. Cree makes the most powerful emitters, and have reached 200 lumens per watt - not on the market yet but coming soon. 100 lumens per watt is common these days.