Another New LED

[CarlF]

Note: I have no relation to the following company beyond having bought two of their bulbs.

I ran across another new LED. It's from a US company "Nexxus Array Lighting". The 12v G4 bulb is very small with a claimed 85 lumens at 1.2 watts. Bean width is 90 degrees. Most impressive is that they cost $8.95 each here:

Mylightstore is the source for LED Lamps!!

In the attached picture the Array bulb is the rectangular one. The round one is an Imtra 10w equivalent bulb. Nexxus claims that their bulbs do a better job at heat management by attaching a small wire radiator directly to the back of each LED instead of using a single large piece of heat sink metal for the whole fixture.

The other picture is not very scientific but shows the Nexxus bulb on the right and a new SCAD Sensibulb on the left (which I consider the gold standard). To my eye the Nexxus is not quite as bright as the SCAD but it's very close. Both have a very pleasing warm color. I preferred the Nexxus color to the Imtra bulb. Brightness was about the same between those two. All three were "warm" color.

These bulbs are sold for commercial use so I was concerned that they would require tight voltage regulation. One of their engineers replied in an email to me that they would expect little if any decrease in the 20,000 hour lifespan with voltages as high as 15v.

Another interesting aspect is that the bulbs can be dimmed with standard dimmers.

As I say, I know nothing about this company or it's products. Before I buy a bunch of these bulbs, I'd love to hear some other experiences.

Carl

[Christian Van H]

Great find!!! I'm getting one ASAP! Keep testing and post what you can...BTW, which color temp did you choose?

[anjou]

Heres one I made earlier.
See what trouble some people can get into on dark winter nights when theres no TV to watch.

[Christian Van H]

Originally Posted by anjou

Heres one I made earlier.

What's the color temperature?

[CarlF]

Christian,

I bought the 12v DC Warm White G4 bulb.

They also have 12v MR16 bulbs that are supposed to be 35 watt equivalent at 2.6w. They might be great reading light bulbs but would certainly lack the sailing romance of reading Melville in a dim fo'c'sle lit only by the light of a swaying, soot-encrusted kerosene lamp.

Carl

[Pblais]

They might be great reading light bulbs but would certainly lack the sailing romance of reading Melville in a dim fo'c'sle lit only by the light of a swaying, soot-encrusted kerosene lamp.

After a few good shots of Scotch it won't be so bad.

I got one of the new SCAD bulbs and also have an older one. It's brighter and warmer. I think it's fair to say LED's are getting better across the board. I'm almost done replacing the interior lights for LED except the one large dual cold cathode fluorescent we have in the galley that really puts out the light and is quite efficient. I've a mix of bulb styles and LED replacements are now seem for all of them. They seem to be doing better at getting a warmer glow too.

There really is no reason not to have good light every place now. We still have the brass oil light above the dining table but it's under the dual red / white dome LED with a dimmer. During dinner you can take a step back in time once in a while. Sailing still has a lot of romance left and LED's won't really make that go away.

Now if they could make a fridge as efficient as LED's are for light we could solve all the problems and eliminate most of the battery bank. Using less power is clearly the road to happiness.

[Christian Van H]

You kiddin'! Melville would have killed for LED illumination. Have you ever heard Eileen Quinn's "The golden days of sail"? See here: Amazon.com: The Golden Days of Sail: Eileen Quinn: MP3 Downloads