LED lamps are solid state lamps that uses light emitting diodes (LEDs) as the source of light. LED lamps have been used in electrical and electronic equipment for years in place of small incandescent lamps.

Many years ago aircraft cockpit instrument lighting consisted of dozens of small (peanut size) incandescent light bulbs that had a very short life period. It wasn’t uncommon to have to change a dozen or more of these peanut light bulbs on every preflight or during the flight. A great deal of labor was saved when they were replaced with LED lamps as they have a much longer service life.

LED lamps are now competing with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) for home lighting. Because light output of individual light emitting diodes is so small as compared to incandescent lamps, multiple diodes are often used together for sufficient illumination.

However, in recent years diode technology has greatly improved with high power light emitting diodes that have higher lumen output which are making it possible to replace other lamps with LED lamps. Some high powered LED chips used in some commercial LED lights can emit as much as 7,527 lumens while using only 100 watts of power. These very high lumen commercial LED lamps are not always interchangeable with other types of commercial lamps.

LED diodes use direct current (DC) electrical power so as a result they include internal circuits to operate on standard household AC voltage. LEDs can be damaged as a result of their higher operating temperatures so the heat sinks and cooling fins are used to disparate the heat. As a result LED bulbs offer longer service life and higher energy efficiency than both incandescent and CFL lamps but the costs are higher.

Household LED lamps are made in

the same shape as standard light bulbs so they will fit into lamps and light fixtures. All LED lamps include circuitry to rectify the AC power and to convert the voltage to a level so they can be used by the LED elements. However, most LED bulbs are not designed to be dimmed so they will not work on a dimmer switch circuit in the same way that other light bulbs do.

The biggest drawback is their high cost which can run between $20 and $30 for a single light bulb that is equivalent to a 1-29 watt CFL bulb. The manufacturers claim that they will last hundreds of hours. Most homeowners have not been is any rush to replace there CFL lamps with LED’s because of the high cost. They are still getting over the disappointment of having been forced to replace their incandescent builds with CFL bulbs that don’t last as long as the manufacturers claimed.

LED lamps do work great in the world of electronics and aircraft cockpit lighting but I do not believe the average house hold will be purchasing them for some time in the future simply because they do not believe they are cost effective.

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