"D Peter Maus" wrote in message
...

You've got 100 elements putting out as much light as a single
incandescent. One two, or ten superbright LED's will save you a lot of
energy. 100...not so much.

But still, there's less heating, there IS an energy saving, and
there's far less maintenance involved.

That, alone, is worth the investment.

32 ultra bright LED lamps in a single bulb draw about a watt, perhaps 1 1/4
watts. I suspect the traffic lights may draw as much as 5 watts with the
number of lamps therein. These are replacing standard 67 1/2 watt
incandescents normally used in traffic lights.

Brenda Ann wrote:
"D Peter Maus" wrote in message
...
You've got 100 elements putting out as much light as a single
incandescent. One two, or ten superbright LED's will save you a lot of
energy. 100...not so much.

But still, there's less heating, there IS an energy saving, and
there's far less maintenance involved.

That, alone, is worth the investment.

32 ultra bright LED lamps in a single bulb draw about a watt, perhaps 1 1/4
watts. I suspect the traffic lights may draw as much as 5 watts with the
number of lamps therein. These are replacing standard 67 1/2 watt
incandescents normally used in traffic lights.




Figures I've seen for the arrays put them at just under 40 watts in
service.

That would be the extreme LED's built for commercial purposes. About
100 of them in the array. As a point source, each one will knock you
back a step. In an array within 6 feet they'll leave you glare blind.

I'm hoping we'll have LED bulbs which can replace the RF-polluting compact
fluorescent bulbs. I bought a few bulbs from C. Crane but they are only
good as reading lamps or a closet bulb.

Sincerely,

Bruce Atchison - author of When a Man Loves a Rabbit (Learning and Living
With Bunnies).
http://www.bookadz.com/batchison.htm
http://www.bookstream.biz/cgi-bin/bo...s&store_id=102



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

D Peter Maus wrote:


Actually, they are, in a way, getting in on the LED wagon. Here in The
Windy, as well as in a good number of venues I've visited in Wisconsin,
the traffic lights have been changed from incandescent, to LED arrays.
They're very harsh to look at without the original color filters used
with the incandescents because the colors are pure, and the viewing
angle is narrow...putting the output of nearly 100 high output LED's
into a narrow beam. Small matter. Slap the filter over the LED's and
you've got a mellower color output with no diminution in brightness. ]

They'll last. Lower maintenance costs. Total energy for the traffic
system is reduced, but not by as much as you might think. But they
depending on installation and operating parameters, produce a hellaceous
amount of RF noise. The LED arrays in my area cast RFI shadows as far
inland as my house.

It can be overcome. Whether it will is a matter of some debate.

LED's are particularly well suited for this application because the
color purity is high, and consistent.

Most applications for white LED's have limited applicable product due
to the generally more blue nature of white LED light.

LED's are also finding their way into the marker, tail and brake
lights of many models of car. With varying results depending on the
purity of the voltage applied. Also easily overcome. And manufacturers
are motivated.

All of the flashlights in my house, my flight bag, tool and remote
kits, and vehicle glove boxes are multi LED models.

Varying color temperature makes some better than others.

There are some track lighting systems that are retrofittable to LED
projectors. For more than $40 a pop. With dramatic long term savings.
Casual lighting, like table lamps are still not practical for LED
lighting, and the color temperatures of many white LED's are still too
blue to be practical for most applications.

But there is a lot of development going on. With progress in color
and lumen output being made at a good rate.

Nearly every wholesaler of light bulbs for general lighting, now,
offers some LED product for home and business lighting applications.



I'm thinking electroluminescent lights may end up taking over for home
lighting, though it'll look different from what we're used to.


http://www.electronicproducts.com/Sh...5.jul2007.html


But for now, it's still a little expensive.

A problem with LEDs is they project light on a relatively narrow beam.
A normal light bulb is omni-directional.

One way of dealing with the color balance of LEDs is you can mix in some
red ones with the white ones, but again, the narrow beam from an LED
makes it tougher to get even light with even color balance.

I've done some LED lighting at my observatory, and at home. At the
observatory, we put a recessed red LED every 4" in the molding for the
dome trim ring so they tend to light the walls and floor. We also made
an LED lectern light for star charts.

At home, I've got white ones that illuminate a stairwell, and I've got
some mounted on the top of a beam that are aimed at the cathedral
ceiling in my kitchen for background lighting.

I use regulated DC power supplies so they can dim quietly, though with
my antenna a couple hundred feet away, I doubt it would matter.

There are a lot of them new fangled LED traffic lights around here
too.How do I tell which traffic lights have them spy cameras up there?
cuhulin

I think some of those LED traffic lights have fresnell (spelling) lenses
on them.
cuhulin

On May 22, 8:27 am, "Mark S. Holden" wrote:
D Peter Maus wrote:

Actually, they are, in a way, getting in on the LED wagon. Here in The
Windy, as well as in a good number of venues I've visited in Wisconsin,
the traffic lights have been changed from incandescent, to LED arrays.
They're very harsh to look at without the original color filters used
with the incandescents because the colors are pure, and the viewing
angle is narrow...putting the output of nearly 100 high output LED's
into a narrow beam. Small matter. Slap the filter over the LED's and
you've got a mellower color output with no diminution in brightness. ]

They'll last. Lower maintenance costs. Total energy for the traffic
system is reduced, but not by as much as you might think. But they
depending on installation and operating parameters, produce a hellaceous
amount of RF noise. The LED arrays in my area cast RFI shadows as far
inland as my house.

It can be overcome. Whether it will is a matter of some debate.

LED's are particularly well suited for this application because the
color purity is high, and consistent.

Most applications for white LED's have limited applicable product due
to the generally more blue nature of white LED light.

LED's are also finding their way into the marker, tail and brake
lights of many models of car. With varying results depending on the
purity of the voltage applied. Also easily overcome. And manufacturers
are motivated.

All of the flashlights in my house, my flight bag, tool and remote
kits, and vehicle glove boxes are multi LED models.

Varying color temperature makes some better than others.

There are some track lighting systems that are retrofittable to LED
projectors. For more than $40 a pop. With dramatic long term savings.
Casual lighting, like table lamps are still not practical for LED
lighting, and the color temperatures of many white LED's are still too
blue to be practical for most applications.

But there is a lot of development going on. With progress in color
and lumen output being made at a good rate.

Nearly every wholesaler of light bulbs for general lighting, now,
offers some LED product for home and business lighting applications.

I'm thinking electroluminescent lights may end up taking over for home
lighting, though it'll look different from what we're used to.

http://www.electronicproducts.com/Sh...=hlap05.jul200...


But for now, it's still a little expensive.

A problem with LEDs is they project light on a relatively narrow beam.
A normal light bulb is omni-directional.

One way of dealing with the color balance of LEDs is you can mix in some
red ones with the white ones, but again, the narrow beam from an LED
makes it tougher to get even light with even color balance.

I've done some LED lighting at my observatory, and at home. At the
observatory, we put a recessed red LED every 4" in the molding for the
dome trim ring so they tend to light the walls and floor. We also made
an LED lectern light for star charts.

At home, I've got white ones that illuminate a stairwell, and I've got
some mounted on the top of a beam that are aimed at the cathedral
ceiling in my kitchen for background lighting.

I use regulated DC power supplies so they can dim quietly, though with
my antenna a couple hundred feet away, I doubt it would matter.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

LED Christmas Lights - They Last Forever + Plus the
LEDs use very little Power so you can put-up as many
as you want without causing a Power problem. Makes
your whole House shine and glow like a Constellation. ~ RHF

On May 22, 8:42 am, wrote:
I think some of those LED traffic lights have fresnell (spelling) lenses
on them.
cuhulin

Cuhulin,

A Fresnel Lens is really not needed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresnel_lens
with a well designed "Array" of LED Lights
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led
The individual LED Lights can be positioned
and configured to produce the same effect
with out the expense of a Fresnel Lens.
Flat - Concave - Convex
Center-Weighted -or- Edge-Enhanced

LEDs -another- Super Bright Idea !
http://www.superbrightleds.com/

i have seen the light of the future -and-
it is an led ! - luxeon be it's name . . . ~ RHF
http://www.luxeonstar.com/

On May 22, 8:42 am, wrote:
I think some of those LED traffic lights have fresnell (spelling) lenses
on them.
cuhulin

Cuhulin,

A Fresnel Lens is really not needed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresnel_lens
with a well designed "Array" of LED Lights
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led
The individual LED Lights can be positioned
and configured to produce the same effect
with out the expense of a Fresnel Lens.
Flat - Concave - Convex
Center-Weighted -or- Edge-Enhanced

LEDs -another- Super Bright Idea !
http://www.superbrightleds.com/

i have seen the light of the future -and-
it is an led ! - luxeon be it's name . . . ~ RHF
http://www.luxeonstar.com/

On May 21, 4:50 pm, bpnjensen wrote:
On May 20, 3:14 pm, "Brenda Ann" wrote:



"Joe Analssandrini" wrote in message

roups.com...

Have you tried any of the LED flashlights? I bought several from AES.
They sell a model for $9.99 that is machined from aluminum and runs on
3 AAA batteries: "HOUSE OF DEALS 9LED/3AAAFLSLT*" see this listed at:


http://search.cartserver.com/search/...&cartid=a-6994...

It's the third item down. I have to tell you this thing is BRIGHT! AND
it's made as well as any MagLight I own. These will give you something
of an idea as to what can be done with LEDs. If this can be
accomplished with flashlights, I can't wait until they achieve this
level of lighting quality with home LED light bulbs.

(I've even seen some LED flashlights in the "Dollar Tree" store. They
have only 3 LEDs and are not as bright or as well made as the AES
models, but for only a dollar ... )

I used to think the multi-LED flashlights were bright (and, indeed, compared
to a small incandescent flashlight, they are... but much more difuse). The
ones that are REALLY bright are the Luxeon® type LED lights. These are the
ones most likely to eventually make it into meaningful home lighting. I
have some 32 LED lamps that I use in various places. They are about the same
brightness level as the little 7 1/2 watt sign bulbs (but of course use less
than one watt). The Luxeon is many times brighter, and with just a single
light source. These are quite a bit more expensive for the higher power
ones, but the 1 watt and 3 watt versions are coming down in price rapidly.

Not mine:http://cgi.ebay.com/5-WATT-LUXEON-LE...QQitemZ...Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I agree with Joe and Brenda about LEDs, and I cannot believe that the
powers that be have not jumped onto the bandwagon with these things.
Their potential is enormous. They are fairly cheap, last nearly
forever (maybe that's why?) and use a shred of the energy used by any
other viable light source.

Bruce Jensen

Dear Bruce (any everyone else here),

Within the last two months General Electric and Konica Minolta have
signed a strategic alliance agreement to develop and commercialize
Organic-Light-Emitting-Diode (OLED) devices for home and industrial
lighting applications. It is their intent to have these devices on the
market within three years! OLEDs can be fabricated in sheet form which
is flexible (imagine THAT!), thin, and lightweight. This form of
lighting may eventually be incorporated into walls or ceilings,
eliminating the need for separate light fixtures (table lamps, and so
forth). Color temperature can be anything desired! They've got it NOW;
they must develop inexpensive manufacturing techniques for it to
become commercially viable.

Obviously those two companies are quite confident in their ability to
do so.

And of course the OLED's energy usage is but a small fraction of what
is used in todays bulbs.

Best,

Joe