Why I am going away from LEDs

Since time immemorial, before dinosaurs roamed the earth my bus has been lit by 12v LED lighting. It was understood from the propaganda that the green mob put out that LED lighting was in some way better than incandescent lighting.  Apparently it uses less energy and puts less greenhouse gasses into the environment due to less fossil fuels being needed to power them. Well, since my entire lighting system is solar powered, that is nonsense.

So, what about LEDs using less power? Sure - they do use less power than the halogen lamps I am going over to. By my calculation, a 10W halogen will use 10W of power or a bit less than an amp. I can run one halogen lamp for at least 12 hours from my 30ah battery. That's all fine and dandy but I'm not likely to want to use electric lighting for 12 hours non stop. My LED light will use quarter of the power for allegedly the same light.

Why allegedly? Well, LED lighting is a massive fail. In fact I'd say it's one of the greatest frauds of all time. It doesn't save all that much electricity nor does it save on pollution. In fact quite the opposite - it's a great source of pollution.

Let's look at LED technology - it's a great big chunk of plastic with phosphorous and goodness knows what else. They're pollution intensive to make and will not be recycled - even if they can be. They'll just get chucked into a trash can and go into landfill. Compare that with incandescent bulbs. Those were around way before the dawn of plastic. The average T3 halogen bulb is made of glass, halogen gas and metal (usually tungsten). None of that is toxic. The glass will break down by mechanical action and the metals and gasses will absorb without pollution. 

The light fixtures in the bus are very simple - a G4 base glued to a steel bracket. Those would work well for the halogen bulbs save for the fact they're too close to woodwork and paintwork. Halogen bulbs give off heat. Thus in order to replace the LED bulbs with halogen it's necessary to adjust the bulb sockets. This is not a major issue - it's really straightforward.

But why, you may ask, am I changing over from LED? Three reasons:

1. LED bulbs do not last anywhere near as long as claimed. In the bus I have two currently that are exhibiting signs of future failure. The claims on the packet are for thousands of hours of usage. The actual usage time is somewhere around 12 hours. Failure starts with having to flick the light switch on and off several times before the bulb lights. Eventually this gets quite tiresome then finally the bulb starts blowing fuses. Then, it's dead. 
2. LED bulbs to not have a wide enough spectrum. The other day, trying to distinguish between the silver and gold screws on an electrical socket I was wiring elsewhere was impossible by the light of an LED lamp. I had to take it outside to daylight to see. If colors cannot be distinguished under LED light then LED light is worthless.
3. Cost - for the price of a pair of LED bulbs (around $5) I can buy ten halogen bulbs. 

I've experimented with different LED bulbs - not just one variety. They're universally dreadfully expensive. The cone shaped LED bulb above is heavy and unidirectional. In fact most LED bulbs are unidirectional as opposed to the unidirectional light of halogen bulbs.

The new game plan is to install E26/E27 screw light bulb sockets (like those in most American homes) but then to use an adapter to convert that to G4 sockets. Using the ordinary household bulb socket with its wide variety of available adapters gives rise to a wide range of 12v bulbs that can be used. 

One of my ideas had been to use candle lanterns to house the halogen bulb. Frosted with a Valspar frosting spray the light is softer and much less glaring. That, however, is an idea that might or might not come to fruition. 

LED lighting has many brainwashed supporters but my personal experience has been extremely poor. LED flashlights that dazzle but do not produce much worthwhile light, LED household bulbs that fail rapidly, LED 12v bulbs that fail rapidly and LED stop light/turn signal on vehicles that cease to function and need whole unit replacement rather than just a simple, cheap bulb. The way LEDs come over is as a half-baked idea that sounds good on paper but which in reality is an unmitigated disaster as well as horrendously expensive.