A couple of years back, I made some window candles for the house and one
candle for each window. Each candle light is a cheap LED bulb that I
pulled from a string of LED candle bulb lights that I got at the local
Walmart. Problem is that my wife, who I made these for, doesn't like
the dimness of the result and wishes for brighter candles. Initially,
before starting the LED project, I tried standard candle incandescents
but since the candles are in front of curtains and blinds enough heat
was generated to start burning them so I came up with the LEDs.
Yesterday, I tried increasing the current to one of the LED's (from 17
to 35mA) and the brightness doubled but still far short of neighbor's
incandescents.

So, I could replace the LEDs I guess with 5 W equivalent LED ones I see
on the web these days, but they seem expensive. Are there any candle
incandescents that burn cool especially when up against something like
curtains?

Thanks!

In article ,
Sam Seagate wrote:

So, I could replace the LEDs I guess with 5 W equivalent LED ones I see
on the web these days, but they seem expensive. Are there any candle
incandescents that burn cool especially when up against something like
curtains?

Incandescents are all about the same efficiency (10% or so) with the
rest of the power going into heat. Halogens are a bit more efficient
but not by all that much.

The LED "candle" bulbs I see listed at Home Depot are 25-40 watt
"equivalent". If your neighbors have incandescents of a similar light
output then they're probably dissipating about that much heat, which
is not something I'd want to have pushed up close against a curtain.
If the curtain got snagged over top of the bulb you might have heat
damage to the curtain, or possibly even a fire after a while.

Candle bulbs have small bases, and can't be dissipating much of the
heat that way... almost all of it must be coming out through the
envelope. They're gonna be toasty.

I believe the pricey "5 W equivalent" LEDs you are referring to, are
actually "5 W consumption". They put out a whole lot more light than
a 5-watt incandescent bulb... these are the LEDs used in tactical
flashlights, which on full power can be quite blinding.

On Wednesday, December 24, 2014 4:12:22 PM UTC-5, Sam Seagate wrote:


So, I could replace the LEDs I guess with 5 W equivalent LED ones I see
on the web these days, but they seem expensive. Are there any candle
incandescents that burn cool especially when up against something like
curtains?

Check ebay; you can find LEDS in any size, color, and power you want. Very cheap, but they'll take a couple of weeks to get from China.

John-Del kom med denne ide:
On Wednesday, December 24, 2014 4:12:22 PM UTC-5, Sam Seagate wrote:


So, I could replace the LEDs I guess with 5 W equivalent LED ones I see
on the web these days, but they seem expensive. Are there any candle
incandescents that burn cool especially when up against something like
curtains?

Check ebay; you can find LEDS in any size, color, and power you want. Very
cheap, but they'll take a couple of weeks to get from China.

If they are mostly used for christmas decorations, there is plenty of
time :-)

Leif

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