Thursday, April 26, 2012

Problems with LED lights

        Okay here is the lesson, never believe what you read on the manufacturers label. The package on the left is the $35 LED dimmable bulb. The green package on the right is the $30 non-dimmable bulb. Today I also decided to test the power usage. As soon as I got the package unwrapped I already ran into problems. So here we go with all my problems !






The $35 dimmable bulb - never got tested




Problem can you see the difference already ?
The dimmable bulb on the right is fatter and does
not fit inside the fixture , Grrrrrr !



Not very professional for a $35 bulb
The dimmable bulb on the right is fatter and does
not fit inside the fixture , Grrrrrr !




The power output of the fixture on high was about 18 watts,
that includes my TV at about 5 watts.
As I turned the power down on the dimmer -
the watts did not decrease,
so maybe that is what they mean with non dimmable ?



These little rechargeable  LED lights were also using a few watts
maybe 2-3 watts each



Not to bad for 2 lights and the TV in the off position 9 watts
vampire load on my system



Here is the reading from the 2 standard 50 watt bulbs - 20 for TV and 2 above lights 
is equal to 60 watts, but the reading should be 120 watts.
So again you can see 2 x 50 watt halogen are only using 60 watts,
what is up with that ?




Maybe this reading is really .81 amps x 120 volts ?
that would put it at about 97 watts -
much closer to the 100 watts 2 bulbs should use ?


The thing that I did notice however was that my dimmer switch
 did reduce the power of the 50 watt halogen on what almost looked like a 1 to 1 ratio,
as the light also goes down, but at least some good news

2 comments:

  1. I just got back to playing catch-up on your blog, and I see you are constantly referring to "watts" when using this meter, when it clearly says "A" (meaning AMPS) after the settings. Up until a few years ago, there were no clamp on meters made that can measure DC current, because there is no alternating current "flux" around the wires to be read, which is how AC ammeters work. Chances are, what you are reading here is stray AC caused by the fact that your converter is not putting out pure DC, but rather, a saw-tooth wave type of DC, also called "dirty DC". (Only a scope-meter or oscilloscope can tell you for sure.) No where on this meter does it say that it is capable of measuring DC current, which is why none of your readings match with what you should be getting! DC clamp-on current meters are still relatively new and rather expensive. Some digital meters have a provision for measuring DC current the old-fashioned and much more standard way, of interrupting the circuit and using two leads to put the meter in the circuit being measured, which is the ONLY way to get accurate readings of DC current. And again, that would be measured in amps, or fractions of amps (milliamps). In order to read "watts" you have to convert that mathematically, or have a specially designed meter to convert it. The company that makes "Kill-A-Watt" products and meters may have something that does that. As always, when you buy a new toy and don't know how to use it, or understand the information it gives you, reading the instruction manual may prove useful.

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  2. PLEASE JOHN

    YOU ARE EMBARRASSING THE HELL OUT OF ME !!!! first of all I am trying to keep it simple for the readers as they understand watts :-)) A real person does not understand when you say my light bulb uses .16 amps- GIVE ME A BREAK !!!! For the simplicity and connivence of the reader I am converting AC AMPS to watts.....

    Second I am measuring AC not DC so you are totally confused and your falsely assuming I am measuring DC.

    How do you know, I might be a friggin electric inspector and I'm just trying explaining it so the average person can understand. STOP Assuming ...... when you assume you make an : ass out of U and me.

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