OK, this is an odd subject for my blog. A lightbulb. The TCP B22/BC 10 Watt LED bulb is the first LED bulb I’ve bought and there’s not much to say about it except that it’s wonderfully bright and only uses 10 watts of energy but is the equivalent of (or brighter than) an old 60w bulb. I replaced several bulbs in my home with them and I’m really impressed with how bright they are. As they’re LED bulbs there’s no warm up, they’re instantly bright as soon as you switch them on.
All the CFL bulbs that were replaced like this Solus model used more energy, from 15w for that Solus one to 20w for a cheap Tesco model. The TCP bulb is rated for 25,000 hours too, much more than the Solus one (10,000) and a gigantic step up from the Tesco one of only 3,000 hours.
The bulb isn’t cheap. You can buy them for €9.99 in Woodies, and they’re even more expensive on Amazon UK. A quick Google search shows Homebase have them cheap however.
In the course of researching this post I also found out that the bayonet mount so familiar to everyone in Ireland and the UK isn’t used everywhere.
The bayonet mount is the standard light bulb fitting in the United Kingdom and in many countries which were members of the British Empire including Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Ireland, and New Zealand, parts of the Middle East and Africa and, historically, France and Greece.
The real advantage of LED bulbs is their longevity which is difficult to review, but I’ll update this post or leave a comment here when I have to replace any of them. Leave a comment and subscribe to the comment notifications if you’re curious how long they last.
What is the color of the light like? Also, does it also light up the way above it?
It’s 2700K, so very white. A lot whiter than the old incandescent bulbs. The packaging says it shines out 230 degrees so it’s comparable to an ordinary bulb. It’s a bit smaller in size than old bulbs.
I’m going the LED route as well. The first one to replace a CFL lamp bulb, which I was impressed with. Now I’m eyeing up those GU10 CFL bulbs in the kitchen (well the 4 out of 8 that still work). I got one LED GU10 replacement to see how it was. £5 one form Amazon. Rated to use only 3W (!!) compared to the CFL 11W. The light is bright abeit a little yellow. Still amazed at how it come on at 100% straight away. The CFL GU10’s took about 2+ minutes to get to full brightness.
Only thing is with my new LCD is there is a slight strobe effect. When you move your hands quickly under the light, there is more “blur” than doing the same under another light, which means there is a flicker although I can’t see it with my eye.
From research it seems this is down to a cheaper driver ( http://www.ledsmagazine.com/articles/print/volume-11/issue-4/features/developer-forum/proper-driver-design-eliminates-led-light-strobe-flicker.html ) so I’m going to try another one on Amazon for a bit over £6 and see how I get on with that. it uses 5W though. 🙁
Funny you should mention a strobe effect. I plugged my Macbook Air into two monitors here using a VGA cable and noticed an odd shimmering occasionally. It’s overcast so the light’s been on so I’m not sure if it’s caused by the LED light or not.
I shared this post on G+ where I found out that LED lights cause radio interference, well, the transformers they use can cause it.
I tested mine and they didn’t interfere with LW or MW but the strip lighting under our cupboards in the kitchen did!