Warm white LEDs comparison

[Herve]

I got a FWC with the incandescent lamps and tried a few different options for LED replacement bulbs.

My main concern was to have a warm white, similar as much as possible to incandescent. I found the fluorescent and LED light option that FWC have a too harsh ("cool") white color.

I got LEDs that had been mentioned in this forum:
sensibulb
superbrightleds 1156-PCB-xWHP9
starlights 1141-250NL

To compare:

................lumens..kelvin..amps
sensibulb.......130?....2650?...0.19?
superbrightleds..92.....3100....0.19
starlights......250.....3200....0.27
incandescent....132?....?.......1.44?

Here are my tests:

https://picasaweb.google.com/101661136245789812800/LEDS?authkey=Gv1sRgCKX8yfXr2oKH_wE#5644694184772612082

(same white balance and aperture for all shots, but some shots have longer exposition time)

Subjective findings - inside:

The sensibulb has the nicest color. It's a bit surprising that so much light comes from only one LED. At the beginning it's weird to see the light come from such a small spot, but I rapidly got used to it. Now I like it as much as the incandescent one. It is the most expensive and requires a G4 to single bayonet adapter.

The superbrightleds one works well but needs to be attached to the lamp somehow. The color is "cooler". It is the cheapest.

The starlights one works well but and is noticeably brighter. The color is "cooler". It fits well inside the FWC lamp.

Subjective findings - outside:

The sensibulb works well in orange. It seems to have the widest angle of the LED ones. If you stare at it, you can see that it comes from only one LED and it's a bit awkward.

The superbrightleds one works well but needs to be attached to the lamp somehow. You see the different LEDs which is a bit awkward but not much.

The starlights one is the brightest but the angle is not great due to its shape so it doesn't look quite right outside, the orange or tranparent lens cap is not evenly lit.


I'll finish by saying that you will most likely be happy with any of these, but my preference is for the sensibulb one.

Herve

 

[Alley-Kat]

Very nice report.

I am biased towards the Sensibulb as well.
They are great, look just like the AC tungsten/incandescent lights in my home.

Although I've not seen the Sensibulb single LED unit before.

All I've seen are the twin LED units.

Sailor's Solution SCAD Sensibulb is where I captured the above image, however, they talk in the text description about the "New" one, which may be the one with a single LED. I wonder what they are currently selling?

Even at the official SCAD Technologies web site they show the twin LED unit.
Maybe they are just slow in updating their web site?

I have heard that they have changed (improved) their lights over time, some owners have been happy, some not so much, as the color has been reported to change between versions.

I purchased my set from a guy on Ebay that has now run out of stock of the twin LED units. He had a nice price of $25 each.

Can I ask where did you get the single LED Sensibulb?
And, how much was it?

 

[Lighthawk]

Thanks for the comparison, Herve. We've only changed one inside lamp so far (first lamp on a two lamp ceiling fixture).
I used: BA15S 30 LED 232 Lumen 10-30V DC 3 Watt Warm White Bulb. It has a bayonet 15mm mount, so it just plugs into the stock socket.

 

[Herve]

Sorry for the late reply:

I got the single led sensibulb here at that price:
http://www.semarine.com/store/product.php?productid=517&cat=217&page=1&js=n

The picture shows a double LED but it was indeed single. I didn't know about the difference before your post.

Looks like the double LEDs are going to be increasingly hard to find.

I wouldn't worry about it though, I like the warmth of my single LED sensibulbs very much, and I am pretty picky when it comes to the warmth of fuorecent/led lamps.

Some of the bayonet to g4 adapters were of poor quality but they sent me replacement that were good enough:
http://www.semarine.com/store/product.php?productid=520&cat=217&page=1

So I recommend them.

If you go for sailor solution, you can get 10% off by mentioning some web site that was doing LED comparison. Can't remember but should be easily googable.

Herve

Very nice report.

I am biased towards the Sensibulb as well.
They are great, look just like the AC tungsten/incandescent lights in my home.

Although I've not seen the Sensibulb single LED unit before.

All I've seen are the twin LED units.

Sailor's Solution SCAD Sensibulb is where I captured the above image, however, they talk in the text description about the "New" one, which may be the one with a single LED. I wonder what they are currently selling?

Even at the official SCAD Technologies web site they show the twin LED unit.
Maybe they are just slow in updating their web site?

I have heard that they have changed (improved) their lights over time, some owners have been happy, some not so much, as the color has been reported to change between versions.

I purchased my set from a guy on Ebay that has now run out of stock of the twin LED units. He had a nice price of $25 each.

Can I ask where did you get the single LED Sensibulb?
And, how much was it?

 

[Herve]

BTW I would not recommend these bayonet to g4 adapters if you plan to use the interior lamp housing that comes with the FWC by default as in my pictures:
http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fspecs%2FG4BP-G4-adapters.htm
Reason: even though they are of much better quality than the sensibulb adapters, they are too big and the sensibulb will no longer be in the middle of the lamp housing.