Higher than normal Efficiency LED lamps

That is very interesting Mike. I wonder if Sheikh Maktoum has Scottish origins.


In my very large Dubai holiday palace, (In U.A.E. did Zoomup a stately pleasure dome decree) will hundreds of  lamps with a power factor of just 0.5, cause me any problems do you think?


Z.

Well the power factor is essentially capacitive, and near pure sine, so if you load all 3 phases equally, the neutral currents still cancel, unlike the spikey waveforms of the switching supplies, so your neutral currents are safe, also EMC ought to be very good.


Also even if everyone in Dubai, call it 3.3 million folk, had 10 of the 3 watt ones we are still only talking  grand total of 100MW of load and 50MVA r negative - significant of course, but probably swamped by the inductive load of the compressors in all the fridges and air con units.
A few days ago I thought you were a glamorous film star, with an unusual collection of old switchgear, now a Dubai palace as well, well well...  ?


I think it is an interesting lesson in how one small Kingdom has enough wealth and influence to change the commercial path, in this case probably for the better - it is the sort of thing that could have been developed for places a bit short on power, like Africa, but  the economics push in the wrong direction of course, which is a pity.

Meanwhile I have found the Datasheet for them which is pretty comprehensive 

Mike

Big Clive makes an interesting general point that if you "under run" l.e.d.s both life and efficiency are improved. In comparison, if a tungsten filament is under run, life is extended but efficiency decreases.


Well done, Philips, for coming up with this next advancement and achieving 200 lm/W. I have never doubted that Philips is "Simply Years Ahead" in its technological research and development. Unfortunately the marketing side of its operation does not measure up.


Look at the package labelling on Big Clive's picture. The new super Dubai -only packages tell us as it is - the actual wattage is stated in large type. Whereas on the UK package shown alongside, the equivalent tungsten lamp wattage is shown in much larger type than the actual wattage or lumen output.


This is a practice that I deprecate. By all means state equivalents, but not as the main point of description. To compare the performance of lamps of different types we need to note the lumen output, and this is the figure that should have prominence. Where will we be in ten years' time? Will it still then be appropriate to describe the performance of a lamp in terms of what will by then be a museum piece? Fortunately other manufacturers, notably GE, display this information more sensibly.






Now look at the photos of two Philips packages I spotted in a local shop. One is a type clearly designed to replace a traditional tungsten lamp, and shows in large type the equivalent 40 W and in smaller type the lumen output, 470. This is actually quite generous; a 40 W coiled coil pearl lamp gives 390 lumens (BS 161). Look at the other picture, of the GU10 lamp pack. This claims 50 W equivalent, but the lumen output is actually lower at 355. Now halogen is supposed to be more efficient than plain tungsten so why the lower efficiency? I personally think that anyone expecting these to be as bright as a 50 W halogen GU10 is going to be disappointed. Explanation anyone?


Big Clive also made a point about cool white lamps being more popular in hot countries like UAE. He may well have a point, but I suggest the lack of growing "popularity" of these in the UK is due to the reluctance of the retail trade to sell them. Every lamp on display on this stand was of the warm white type. I have said previously that I think the retail trade is several years behind the technology. The most efficient l.e.d. lamps presently available in the UK, are of the surface mounted diode type, commonly known as "corn lamps" because of their appearance. I wonder if the reason why Philips does want to make these super efficient lamps available here yet is because there is a lot of older stock to sell off.


The two occasions when I have visited the UAE have left me with the impression that it is a go-ahead country, which has taken a look round the world and taken its pick of the best ideas. There is certainly some American influence there. They have also adopted some British ideas. Traffic signage uses the same type  face as the UK, and of course you don't need adaptors for your electrical appliances; they use the same 13 A BS1363 sockets as we know and love here.


But never mind; cool white lamps (6500 K) and corn lamps can be obtained here from major electrical wholesalers and distributors, or on-line from You Know Where.

When I was a child I was amused by the way my mother wound up the alarm clock. She would hold the winder and wind the clock.


Maybe this was something to do with the winder turning anti-clockwise and Mum being right-handed. I never really figured it out.

I rather gather this is a way to utilise the difference between watts and VA for commercial reasons. Cunning but not clever. I am surprised that LED refits to cars now cause an MOT fail, that crept past a lot of people on a dark day sometime. They used to have a minimum intensity and now it is a maximum which is banned? Very strange, probably from the manufacturers who want us to use the Zenon ones which have proved unreliable and somewhat dim. It is undipped headlights from idiots that are the problem, perhaps a strange EU thing because the French yellow ones are difficult? We should ignore them forevermore. I know it is more useless "energy saving"!

Well back to the OP .

We have become" the third world" I think!