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Lately I've been fooling around with high-powered LED lighting... well, still not over 10 watts, but you get a lot of light for just a few watts! Also you can run off 12 volts DC (solar power system) or use a high-efficiency switching PSU to run from normal 120v (or whatever) wall power.

The really good discussions are over at the Candlepower Forums - gurus hang out there.

However, there's some simple fun to be had now that everything is available packaged up - you can buy something in the 3-5 watt range, get a matching controller, etc. Only really tricky part is having enough heat sink, though I've scavenged a couple from dead power amplifiers and also started making my own out of scrap copper rain gutter.

LED's! Heat sinks and efficiency are enemeneez. emenease... enemies! Ya, thats it.

LED's are still more efficient than compact flourescent... they just have so little surface area that you have to add some to take heat away. Yes, still not as efficient as we'd all like... but a step closer at least.

Really? I was under the impression that fluorescents are more efficient. Maybe that doesn't count for compact...
....and a hallogen too.

Do I need to re-research that....? No, I won't take your word for it.

LED's are not very much more efficient than compact flourescent, though.

On the other hand the packaging you can do is really interesting - you don't need a big vacuum bulb, so you could make a ceiling lamp that's just 1/4" thick.

ESL or electron stimulation lighting seems to be a good candidate to replace compact fluorescent if they ever get it to market.

If you want to get serious about LED lighting, check out some aquarium websites. TONS of people have done LED lighting for their tanks. I know someone built a lighting fixture for a 55 gallon tank and just drilled holes in a quarter in. thick (maybe, I don't really remember) aluminum plate and the entire thing acted as his heatsink.

I think the whole thing with LEDs is the fact that they last FOREVER. Well at least I think they do.

Here's a quick google found link for your reading pleasure.

http://geeknizer.com/led-vs-cfl-vs-inca ... omparison/

LEDs last a long time and they are much more rugged than the florescent bulbs. I was doing all florescent bulbs at one time but am now switching over. The LEDS are more expensive, but I believe they are worth it. For someone attempting to live off the grid, they are probably a very good investment.

Has anyone every experimented with using CCFL tubes scavenged from old laptop back-lights for lighting? I would think they could be found easily for in quantity for free.

It would be interesting to see how well you could light a small work area (desk?) with a few of those. I would think the wattage has to be pretty low, as laptops have to run for a long time on batteries.

Of course modern laptops are moving to LED back-lights...but I'm thinking savaging the older back-lights; as they should be getting thrown away pretty often.

MK500 wrote:Has anyone every experimented with using CCFL tubes scavenged from old laptop back-lights for lighting? I would think they could be found easily for in quantity for free.

It would be interesting to see how well you could light a small work area (desk?) with a few of those. I would think the wattage has to be pretty low, as laptops have to run for a long time on batteries.

Of course modern laptops are moving to LED back-lights...but I'm thinking savaging the older back-lights; as they should be getting thrown away pretty often.

Hmmm, interesting idea. I might look into that. I think the hardest part would be getting them out without breaking them.