House LED Lights To Bright!!

[Simpo Two]

Sorry, I just googled for small boat - find it at http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/boat-design/build...

[E36GUY]

gaters said:

For those of you who have them, you will agree they are a very bright and "cold" light.

Not all LEDs are this colour. You have obviously bought a high colour temperature which isn't your fault if you were not aware of such things. LED can definitely be warm too. See picture below and also colour temperature guide. Halogens would ypically be about 2700k. The picture below shows about 3200k

[E36GUY]

freecar said:

No they don't. A small one on its own maybe but ones used for illumination certainly require heatsinks to dissipate the heat they generate.

Nearly right. Yes they require sinks as you point out but the OP wouldn't need anything heat resistant as all the heat is in the back of the unit where the sink is. The result of the sink is that the lamp doesn't throw heat forwards so you could use cotton if you wanted to. If you hold an LED downlight that has been running for several hours the sink at the back will be very warm (not hot if it's a good sink) and the front of the lens will be markedly cooler.

[E36GUY]

Simpo Two said:

Slightly OT - I've specified LEDs instead of tungsten in a new boat - primarily to save battery power. How much less power do they use compared to tungsten? If they give off loads of heat that's not a good sign.

There will be no heat into the cabin if they are effectively sinked. Our equivalent to a 50W tungsten Halogen is the ZEP1 which uses 5W so that's 90% less energy.

[Simpo Two]

E36GUY said:

There will be no heat into the cabin if they are effectively sinked. Our equivalent to a 50W tungsten Halogen is the ZEP1 which uses 5W so that's 90% less energy.

Thanks; as far as I can tell they're just stuck into holes in the (GRP) ceiling. The builder chappie said the fittings were the same as normal, he just put different bulbs in (note this is 12V). I will however see if he can use the warm type of LEDs as mentioned above. Sorry OP for the cross-post.

[E36GUY]

Simpo Two said:

Thanks; as far as I can tell they're just stuck into holes in the (GRP) ceiling. The builder chappie said the fittings were the same as normal, he just put different bulbs in (note this is 12V). I will however see if he can use the warm type of LEDs as mentioned above. Sorry OP for the cross-post.

These will be MR16 replacements. Just so long as you understand that if you are replacing 50W halogen you will only managed about 50% of the light output from a replacement MR16 LED bulb. These are still pretty poor.