Led

franco b wrote:How about LED lights for rough service in trouble lights or garage door openers?

My garage door opener kills incandescent bulbs fast due to vibration. CFL lasted OK but very slow to brighten especially in cold weather. LED has been great.

Can somebody explain the enclosed-fixture issue with LED bulbs?

If my closed fixture is rated for 60w incandescent, at least 95% of that 60 watts is converted to heat. So the fixture handles at least .95 X .06kwh X 3412btu, or roughly 200btu per hour.

But if the equivalent LED draws only 10 or 12 watts, it should be putting out way way less heat than the incandescent bulb. So what's the problem with using it in the enclosed fixture?

Am I missing something?

rberq wrote:Am I missing something?

Unlike an incandescent bulb, the illuminating region of the incandescent mimicking LED bulb itself is very cool. But the much smaller electronics packed region that sits beneath the illuminating bulb region is scorching hot. So I believe it is a matter of heat per unit of surface area.

I've asked a similar question before citing the use of LEDs in both traffic & street lights, both are incased & weather tight so how exactly is a common kitchen ceiling light somehow more prone to problems or is it just the lower price range LED bulbs themselves?

LED's use DC , if fixture is designed from the get-go it will have AC conversion to DC at a central electric box...if not central then each bulb has conversion built into each individual bulb housing.
And there's the heat that needs disipated, too much heat destroys electronics. Some fixtures built for LEDs even have aluminim fins for heatsinks.

None of the Cree LED packaging has warnings against use in enclosed fixtures, except with other types of bulbs, such as incandescent and halogen. It says the normal operating range is -13 F to +113 F.

I've had a 100watt equivalent Cree LED over the coal range for a couple of years now. It's inside the glass chimney of an antique oil lamp and it gets hot there. Many of my other Cree LEDs are inside glass chimney lamps with no air circulation. I have three in a very damp dirt-floor basement, and four outdoors in covered, and enclosed fixtures. No problems with any. The outdoor one has worked well at below that -13 F mentioned on the packaging.

I also use LED flash lights for work, hunting, camping and as a key ring pocket flash light.

The only problems I've had is with the cheap LEDs.

The Maglite LED conversion bulbs, and the Maglite LED flash lights are excellent. They've been dropped on a concrete floor, and bounced around in tool boxes traveling for work. The ones in my car have been subjected to summer heat of a closed up car parked in the sun and well below zero temps. Again, no problems.

I think the difference in how well the LEDs hold up is directly related to the quality of the LED. There have been a lot of cheap, junk LEDs coming out of China. The Cree and Maglite LEDs are expensive, but not as expensive as having to throw out cheap LEDS that don't last long and then having to buy better ones.

Paul

Got a 25 count case of 4' LED tubes to replace ballasted flourescents tubes...$6 each w/delivery.
They use 18 watts and are 6000kl each and I removed all the ballasts, they were too hot to handle bare handed.
Bought some loose socket/lampholder for repair/overhaul as needed. A few fixtures were converted from 2 x 8' to 2 x 4' with near equal light output at a great savings.