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Might be a stupid question but which lights cost less electric? (self.interiordecorating)

submitted 6 months ago by DaddysLittleSlut to c/interiordecorating

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So soon enough I’ll be moving into a small studio and was wondering. Would a long LED strip through my Studio be cheaper than the actual lights? For sure I’d know their gonna be more fun but looking for an alternative to save money on electricity.

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[–] slazer2au 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Honestly lights consume so little power I would get whatever LED lights and look at other appliances to save energy.

Getting a 5 watt LED instead of a 7 watt one will be less effective than getting a more efficient fridge or TV. https://www.coolblue.nl/en/advice/energy-consumption-fridge.html

That being said, actually read your power bill. How much of your bill is actually power consumption? Don't be shocked if you see 4 or 5 fees (connection fee, grid fee, access fee, etc) that total to more than your power consumption cost.

[–] DaddysLittleSlut 3 points 6 months ago

Why Tf is there so many different parts of the bill 😭😭😭 also interesting thank you!

[–] Kethal 4 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I don't see numbers on efficiency, but LED strips need AC to DC power supplies to operate. New ones are pretty efficient, but I don't know how you'd ensure that you're buying an efficient one.

For efficiency, buying the LED bulbs that fit standard sockets is probably the best way to go. Maybe you could get a really efficient power supply to maximize efficiency with some strips, but I doubt you'll do much better than getting regular bulbs. You're better off investing time and money into other things. Insulation is usually lacking. It sounds like you're renting so that's possibly not an option.

[–] glimse 3 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Don't LED bulbs have transformers built in? As far as I know, all LEDs run off DC power

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Not a transformer, but a...

!!!!FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER!!!

air horn

[–] DocMcStuffin 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

LEDs are diodes; so, yes they need DC power. They don't necessarily need a transformer. Modern bulbs use an integrated circuit with some discrete components that handle the conversion. Some cheaper bulbs use a capacitive dropper circuit with a bridge rectifier; they're not as efficient. The really cheap ones omit the capacitor in the rectifier; they flicker.

[–] glimse 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Ah I assumed "transformer" meant anything that converted AC to DC

[–] DocMcStuffin 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

When I took electronics, transformer meant a pair of coils of wire wrapped around some magnetic material. Their purpose is to step the voltage up or down. You still need components to convert from AC to DC. The easy way to do that is a rectifier with a capacitor that holds the charge.

[–] glimse 1 points 6 months ago

Makes sense, I never looked up the definition and my only experience with them is with power bricks so I had the wrong idea

[–] Kethal 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Yes, and I don't think you're going to be able to put together any system that is better than what those have built it. I am all but certain that it's technically possible, since although the ones in a decent bulb are probably pretty good, I doubt they're that close to peak efficiency. However, just using a different wall wart one with strips is at best going to be very slightly better, and you'd need a good bit of research to find a high efficiency option, and it probably would cost more for a fairly small gain. You'd be better off spending the time and money on easy, sure-shot things, like better insulation or more efficient appliances.

It would be nice if someone worked out a centralized high efficiency AC to DC converter for all the low voltage LED lights in a house, or if you could start with DC, like solar, and convert just the voltage. There's probably a decent efficiency gain with those options, but it's not something someone is going to work out for a studio.

[–] DaddysLittleSlut 1 points 6 months ago

That makes sense somewhat disappointing but thank you for informing me. I’ll do some more research.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

If you really want to minimise energy expenditure you are probably going to want to change how you think about lighting. Don't try to light the whole room to a reading level, just the space you are actually using. Fit bright lights to the ceiling features in case you need them, but use side and table lamps for actually doing stuff. Tubes, compact or otherwise have issues with being turned on and off often, but that isn't really an issue for LEDs.

The rope lights look nice, and if you position them intentionally you can probably use them efficiently, but to know how much power you are drawing you are going to need to check the data sheet for the actual one you are using, not just the style. (Even then, the only way to be sure is to test it yourself.) A bulb-socket-style LED runs at about 6-15 W and a 15W is a lot of light.

You might also have colour issues if you rely on RGB 'white' and not true white light. Technology Connections on YouTube has a good video about the difference.

[–] Cort 2 points 6 months ago

I think Phillips released some "ultra efficient" led bulbs that use like half the normal wattage for the same amount of light, but they cost 5-10 times as much per bulb.

I think the most efficient would be to get dimmable bulbs or strips and set them to 50%, and use twice as many.

Look for lumens per watt and go for the most efficient you can find. Most bulbs will be around 100 lumens per watt and the Phillips example above is like 200 lumens per watt.