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Re: LED bulbs

Please forgive a really stupid question, but woulda "High Hat" fixture (like the ones that were justinstalled in the ceiling of our recently renovatedkitchen) be considered an "enclosed luminary" in this context?
My XYL and I considered putting in LED lamps/bulbsat that time, but when I went shopping at our localhome improvement stores, I became very apprehensive...
Luckily, the shack (which is in the garage) is rightoff of the kitchen, so any RFI will be resolved easily :-)
Thanks,
Brandy, N1HO

GRANT YOUNGMAN <[hidden email]> said:

>>> The one downside I’ve found so far is that virtually all of them specify “not for use in enclosed luminaries”.

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Fred Townsend-2

Re: LED bulbs

In reply to this post by Charles Yahrling

You may want to check Costco. They are selling LED well lamps with luminaries.
73,
Fred, AE6QL

-----Original Message-----

>From: "Bayard Coolidge, N1HO via Elecraft" <[hidden email]>
>Sent: May 12, 2015 2:43 PM
>To: GRANT YOUNGMAN <[hidden email]>, "[hidden email]" <[hidden email]>
>Subject: Re: [Elecraft] LED bulbs
>
>Please forgive a really stupid question, but woulda "High Hat" fixture (like the ones that were justinstalled in the ceiling of our recently renovatedkitchen) be considered an "enclosed luminary" in this context?
>My XYL and I considered putting in LED lamps/bulbsat that time, but when I went shopping at our localhome improvement stores, I became very apprehensive...
>Luckily, the shack (which is in the garage) is rightoff of the kitchen, so any RFI will be resolved easily :-)
>Thanks,
>Brandy, N1HO
>
> GRANT YOUNGMAN <[hidden email]> said:
>
>
>>>> The one downside I’ve found so far is that virtually all of them specify “not for use in enclosed luminaries”.
>
>
>
>______________________________________________________________
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David Christ

Re: LED bulbs

In reply to this post by Elecraft mailing list

Lowes seems to sell retrofit units for what I think you have.

David K0LUM

<http://www.lowes.com/Lighting-Ceiling-Fans/Recessed-Lighting/Recessed-Downlights/_/N-1z0vgcuZ1z10d2u/pl?cm_cr=Light+Bulbs-_-Web+Activity-_-Light+Bulbs+Top+Flex+Activity-_-SC_Light+Bulbs_TopFlexible_Area-_-10377560_16_&cm_cr=No+Campaign-_-Web+Activity-_-LED+Lighting+Cat+Page-_-SC_LED+Lights_TopFlexible_Area-_-10779564_5_pl#!>

On May 12, 2015, at 4:43 PM, Bayard Coolidge, N1HO via Elecraft <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Please forgive a really stupid question, but woulda "High Hat" fixture (like the ones that were justinstalled in the ceiling of our recently renovatedkitchen) be considered an "enclosed luminary" in this context?
> My XYL and I considered putting in LED lamps/bulbsat that time, but when I went shopping at our localhome improvement stores, I became very apprehensive...
> Luckily, the shack (which is in the garage) is rightoff of the kitchen, so any RFI will be resolved easily :-)
> Thanks,
> Brandy, N1HO
>
> GRANT YOUNGMAN <[hidden email]> said:
>
>
>>>> The one downside I’ve found so far is that virtually all of them specify “not for use in enclosed luminaries”.

Bob N3MNT

Re: LED bulbs

In reply to this post by David Gilbert

I would buy one or two of any bulb before replacing a lot of them. Some of the Chinese LED's are very noisy. It is not the LED itself, but the driving circuitry. There are some very quiet ones out there as well, but it is hard to tell until you try them.

KC6CNN

Re: LED bulbs

In reply to this post by David Olean

CONTENTS DELETED

The author has deleted this message.

Fred Townsend-2

Re: LED bulbs

In reply to this post by Charles Yahrling

Gerald, going back to WWII 24 V radio jeeps and trucks have been around. Some used 4 x 6 volt batteries. Some fire trucks and RVs use redundant 12 volt systems so there is still starting power if the primary system runs down. Low loss, high current FET switches are available for switching such systems. All it takes is lots of money and 000 gage wire.
73
Fred, AE6QL

-----Original Message-----

>From: Gerald Manthey <[hidden email]>
>Sent: May 12, 2015 3:54 PM
>To: Dave Olean <[hidden email]>
>Cc: Elecraft List <[hidden email]>
>Subject: Re: [Elecraft] LED bulbs
>
>Dave
>I have a question for you.
>I too run off of solar when I am in my RV. I have a 900 amp hour battery
>bank. Using a 12v pure sine wave inverter. I took the battery bank and
>divided it to a 450 amp hour 24 volt system and it seems to last longer.
>Have you concidered this or even going to a 48 volt system?
>Just curious.
>Thanks
>Gerald.
> On May 12, 2015 1:44 PM, "Dave Olean" <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>> I am using my KPA500 while running on batteries. Sounds weird but true.
>> The KPA500 is quite efficient although it is always drawing some current
>> even when turned off. I can see that slight drain on my DC ammeters. In
>> receive, there is little current drain. Of course, when I start sending CW
>> I see the ammeter go up to about 70 amps. (Not a peak reading ammeter
>> either!). My battery bank is a pair of 275 AH solar AGM type 12 volt
>> batteries. The charging circuit is a couple of 220 watt solar panels. I use
>> a pure sine wave inverter that is pretty noiseless. (Xantrex Pro Sine 1800
>> W) During the day when the Sun is out, the batteries charge up during the
>> receive cycle, so I don't deplete the batteries at all. At night I can go
>> for many hours and have never gotten close to even a 50% discharge. In
>> short, the K3/KPA500 combo is very efficient. I could not do that with my
>> big tube amps! The filaments and blowers would kill the batteries before I
>> even got the HV turned on!
>>
>> Dave K1WHS
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marc Veeneman" <[hidden email]>
>> To: "Wayne Burdick" <[hidden email]>
>> Cc: "Elecraft List" <[hidden email]>
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2015 3:25 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] LED bulbs
>>
>>
>> Not everyone can turn a QRP LED discussion into a KPA500 pitch with power
>>> plants as the bridge.
>>> --
>>> Marc
>>>
>>> On May 12, 2015, at 10:33 AM, Wayne Burdick <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> LED bulbs are optical QRP, so not O.T. :)
>>>>
>>>> If everyone swapped in LEDs over the next few years, we'd probably
>>>> eliminate the need for any new power plants.
>>>>
>>>> Even if we all started using KPA500s.
>>>>
>>>> 73,
>>>> Wayne
>>>> N6KR
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On May 12, 2015, at 6:18 AM, Marc Veeneman <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>>>> I don't think I've saved much money, though. The reduced electrical
>>>>> demand won't justify the high cost of the modern day wonder -- LED lighting.
>>>>> --
>>>>> Marc W8SDG
>>>>>
>>>>> _
>>>>>
>>>> ______________________________________________________________
>>> Elecraft mailing list
>>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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>>>
>>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>>> Message delivered to [hidden email]
>>>
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> Elecraft mailing list
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>>
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>>
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David Olean

Re: LED bulbs

In reply to this post by KC6CNN

Hi Gerald
That battery bank must weigh a lot! Mine is probably 340 lbs. I'll bet a 900 amp bank is over 600 lbs. Well, I wanted 12 volts so I could run all the hamster type 12 volt gear off the batteries. (K3, P3, etc) My charge controller will do 12, 24 or 48 volts if I tell it to. I also have 24 volts available at the shack for relays and whatever else might show up on 24 VDC, but I just have two 12 volt systems that I bridge together. My eventual plan is to have a 48 volt battery buss and run some homebrew LDMOS or straight FET amplifiers directly off the 48 volts. My hamshack is quite extensive with all sorts of gear for all the VHF bands, and I am working on solid state amps for most of the bands. Right now I have 1200 watts on 50, 1000 watts on 222 MHz, 600 watts on 144, 300 watts on 432, and 175 watts on 1296. The bands above 1.2 GHz are all solid state too. My 2.3 GHz amp is a 500 watt output beast that runs on 24 VDC. I am scared to hook it up!
I have a few years under my belt on the battery bank. So far it is working great, but I am careful to not discharge it down too much. Deep discharges kill batteries. The worst it ever got was to 72% of full charge. I also re charge the battery bank quickly. I never leave it uncharged ever. I use a Bogart Engineering battery monitor to evaluate battery status. With the 12 vs 24 volts, are you referring to the lifetime of the batteries, or the amount of discharge power you can extract from the system?
I am saving my pennies to get a 48 volt solar buss running here. I have had such great results with the 12 volt system and want to expand it to run more bands in the future. Runnings amps directly off those batteries will be quite efficient too. The whole reason for the solar power is that my shack is quite remote from my house with no AC power hookup there. I need to make my own juice.

Dave K1WHS
----- Original Message -----
From: Gerald Manthey
To: Dave Olean
Cc: Marc Veeneman ; Wayne Burdick ; Elecraft List
Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2015 10:54 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] LED bulbs

Dave
I have a question for you.
I too run off of solar when I am in my RV. I have a 900 amp hour battery bank. Using a 12v pure sine wave inverter. I took the battery bank and divided it to a 450 amp hour 24 volt system and it seems to last longer. Have you concidered this or even going to a 48 volt system?
Just curious.
Thanks
Gerald.

On May 12, 2015 1:44 PM, "Dave Olean" <[hidden email]> wrote:

I am using my KPA500 while running on batteries. Sounds weird but true. The KPA500 is quite efficient although it is always drawing some current even when turned off. I can see that slight drain on my DC ammeters. In receive, there is little current drain. Of course, when I start sending CW I see the ammeter go up to about 70 amps. (Not a peak reading ammeter either!). My battery bank is a pair of 275 AH solar AGM type 12 volt batteries. The charging circuit is a couple of 220 watt solar panels. I use a pure sine wave inverter that is pretty noiseless. (Xantrex Pro Sine 1800 W) During the day when the Sun is out, the batteries charge up during the receive cycle, so I don't deplete the batteries at all. At night I can go for many hours and have never gotten close to even a 50% discharge. In short, the K3/KPA500 combo is very efficient. I could not do that with my big tube amps! The filaments and blowers would kill the batteries before I even got the HV turned on!

Dave K1WHS

----- Original Message ----- From: "Marc Veeneman" <[hidden email]>
To: "Wayne Burdick" <[hidden email]>
Cc: "Elecraft List" <[hidden email]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2015 3:25 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] LED bulbs

Not everyone can turn a QRP LED discussion into a KPA500 pitch with power plants as the bridge.
--
Marc

On May 12, 2015, at 10:33 AM, Wayne Burdick <[hidden email]> wrote:

LED bulbs are optical QRP, so not O.T. :)

If everyone swapped in LEDs over the next few years, we'd probably eliminate the need for any new power plants.

Even if we all started using KPA500s.

73,
Wayne
N6KR

On May 12, 2015, at 6:18 AM, Marc Veeneman <[hidden email]> wrote:
I don't think I've saved much money, though. The reduced electrical demand won't justify the high cost of the modern day wonder -- LED lighting.
--
Marc W8SDG

_

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KC6CNN

Re: LED bulbs

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NK7Z

Re: LED bulbs

In reply to this post by wayne burdick

Hi Wayne,

A word of warning... You will find some of the current crop of LED
floods sold by Walmart, generate a LOT of RFI in the 14-21 MHz range...

--
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On Tue, 2015-05-12 at 07:33 -0700, Wayne Burdick wrote:

> LED bulbs are optical QRP, so not O.T. :)
>
> IKEA now has 60-W bulbs for about $4.50 each. This is an amazing price, considering that Home Depot was leading the charge and is still at nearly $7. We're using almost all LED at our house now, except for the candelabra type, and even those are rapidly coming down.
>
> I also heard from a couple of local retailers that they're replacing their industrial-size florescent ceiling tubes with LEDs. He pointed out the difference in color: The LEDs were a pleasant pure white, while the fluorescents were the usual "cold" variation (e.g., grayish blueish).
>
> I don't think LED bulbs have a downside, RFI or otherwise. The most important thing is their reduction in energy consumption -- about 1/6th that of incandescents. If everyone swapped in LEDs over the next few years, we'd probably eliminate the need for any new power plants.
>
> Even if we all started using KPA500s.
>
> 73,
> Wayne
> N6KR
>
>
> On May 12, 2015, at 6:18 AM, Marc Veeneman <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> > I've relamped both of our homes with a variety of brands of LED bulbs. Some are very noisy, some are reasonably quiet. I couldn't guess ahead of time which would be noisy, so I bought a cheap transistor radio (Sony ICF=SS10MK2) to watch for the worst offenders. After installation I just walk around with the radio held near the bulbs. They all make noise but some are horrid.
> >
> > However, the only ones I can't live with are the undercounter LED strips powered by WAC 24 volt power packs. Not only are those things, the power packs, unusually expensive, I am surprised that the FCC allows their sale in the U.S. They obliterate the 160 and 80 meter bands on my KX3 and K3. Even after applying toroids to both the AC source side and the DC output side, they still manage to make both the strip lights and the entire house wiring system into giant RFI radiators. We have them in the laundry room and kitchen and there's no low band operating possible while those miserable things are switched on.
> >
> > I will say that 99 out of 100 LED bulbs emit less RFI than their CFL counterparts. And I've got LEDs here from Lowes, Home Depot, Amazon.com and some directly from Banggood's China warehouses.
> >
> > As to heat loss, the higher lumen bulbs do get 'way to hot to handle without a cool down period. I too wonder just how efficient they can be. But those with wattage requirements below 11 watts don't get so blazingly hot. The 45 watters get so hot that I'm concerned they are a fire hazard. None of them have anything resembling a UL label and they were all direct China imports.
> >
> > I seem to be rambling but wanted to share my experience. I will say it's wonderful not to be replacing burned out bulbs, a former weekly experience.
> >
> > I don't think I've saved much money, though. The reduced electrical demand won't justify the high cost of the modern day wonder -- LED lighting.
> > --
> > Marc W8SDG
> >
> > ______________________________________________________________
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