LED full spectrum T8 replacement bulbs.
- Thread starter Que
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Interesting. Though I have yet to see white led's match a high performance light like T5HO that werent redicoulously expensive. And the lumens they are rated at seems like 1/3 or less than a common cheap T8 like the 2/$7 HD phillips daylights. On a shoplight you loose a lot due to restrike, etc. but on a T5HO with a good reflector the loss should be much smaller.
Plecosterone
We don't need no stinking badges!
Interesting. I have never seen them but at that cost I could pay the electricity to run my overdriven t8's NO for years.
If I buy 2 of these bulbs and have them shipped to me the cost is about $180 and they last 9 years. To get the equivalent light I need 6 t8 32w bulbs at about $3 each for 1 year (assuming you change your bulbs once a year as recommended). So 6 bulbs times $3 is $18 times 9 years for $162. You save $18 on bulbs.
Now for the energy savings. The 2 LED bulbs use 28w total power for equivalent of 200w of light. The t8 32w times 6 bulbs uses 192w so there is a 164w difference. In New Jersey the average cost per Kwh is .07c. So 164w times 9 hours times 365 days times 9 years divided by 1000 is 4848.66 Kwh times .07 is $340 I save over 9 years in electricity alone. This assumes the price stays the same but we all know the price of energy will rise.
It looks like I'll save $322 minimum using LED bulbs VS regular 32w t8s over 9 years
Q
I don't know enough about overdriven T8s to make that comparison.
Now for the energy savings. The 2 LED bulbs use 28w total power for equivalent of 200w of light. The t8 32w times 6 bulbs uses 192w so there is a 164w difference. In New Jersey the average cost per Kwh is .07c. So 164w times 9 hours times 365 days times 9 years divided by 1000 is 4848.66 Kwh times .07 is $340 I save over 9 years in electricity alone. This assumes the price stays the same but we all know the price of energy will rise.
It looks like I'll save $322 minimum using LED bulbs VS regular 32w t8s over 9 years
Q
I don't know enough about overdriven T8s to make that comparison.
Plecosterone
We don't need no stinking badges!
Too much math for sure.....lol. That is assuming the LED's last that long and if they will give your plants what they need. I often wondered how LED's would work in a planted tank. If you do get them keep us posted and let us know.
This is the major issue above all else. I want these only if the plants will be able to get what they need and what exactly does 30,000 hour life mean? As far as I know LEDs don't degrade over time... they work for just so long then die. I'm sure they don't all die at once so with 300 LEDs in a bulb, how many are dead when they consider the bulb at the end of it's life.
I assume full spectrum means just that so if plants want full spectrum light then these should be OK right?
Another issue is lumens. These LED lights don't need reflectors because they point down. Fluorescents shine in 360d around. How do you compare output in lumens from a fluorescent to an LED? With the fluorescent tubes the quality of the reflector has a major impact on output as well as the "T" size.
So many questions.
Q
legendaryfrog
Tactical Refreshment Action
Uh huh, leds sure are interesting. I've got 5 led bulbs (100 watt replacements) shining down into my reef tank at work.....I didnt get them for energy savings or money saving....they're just quieter then MH.
Can't really comment on performance....everything is going by alright so its all good.
Can't really comment on performance....everything is going by alright so its all good.
I think you are way overestimating these things... I don’t believe the advertisements per se without actually seeing them in person but I'd only figure 1 LED bulb will replace the output of maybe 2 standard T8's, and thats being generous without actually seeing them, and figuring T8's with no reflectors. And 30,000 hrs is only about twice the life of a common fluoro - many are actually rated 20,000 hrs or more. And yes LEDs will gradually dim over time (well depending how they fail, just like fluoros there are different failure modes). There are different ways white leds are made and without having more info its hard to say - some white leds are just like fluoro bulbs - they use UV to excite rare earth phosphors.
Here is another comparison. Their 14W tube is rated 1,000lm so thats about 70 lumens per watt. many high performance fluorescents can make 100 lumens per watt. Many do suffer from restrike and not being able to get that light into the tank, so lets look at one that can. T5HO with a good reflector like Icecap SLR and we can assume there is very little loss in light. So picking one common one is the GE 54W 6500K Starcoat, rated at 5,000lm. Thats just about 100 lumens per watt, and is rated 20,000hrs. So assuming that maybe 4,000 lm make it to the tank per each 54W bulb, youd need 4 of the LED bulbs to replace it, which would be 14Wx4=56W. I'm not seeing a big difference other than you'd need a whole lot of these LED bulbs.You would save money on the ballast and reflector but I am still thinking that would make up for the extra cost of the bulbs by a long shot.
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9 years is a long time to save $350 over... that's like $3.25 a month. Granted, money is money - and not changing the lights out would be nice... but on a financial basis, not quite worth it yet!