COB LED panels

 
 
 
 
 
 
Blag
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COB LED panels

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Posted: 18.07.2018  ·  #1
I've been keeping an eye on this "COB LED" technology for a while now and I eventually got around to buying some samples to test. The price has come down dramatically on these over the last couple of years. This one was around €2 delivered.



While some of these panels are 7000 lumen, 70w (and bigger), I chose a more compact 1000 lumen, 10w panel for my needs. I'm pretty sure this 12cm x 4cm panel will fit neatly inside in my original outdoor "patio lamp" with a little modification to the existing bulb holder. I'm expecting about twice the amount of light than the standard 25w filament bulb and it'll use less than half the power.

First impressions were very good. A huge amount of light from the panel and just under 0.8 amp @ 12vDC.

Since changing jobs, I no longer have easy access to a light meter to check the lumen output, but it did a good job lighting up my workbench lastnight!

The quality on these can be a bit touch and go apparently, but the one I received had only 2 dead diodes (of 112 per panel) which based on reviews, seems to be fairly standard. But you don't notice the dead leds unless you're looking at it through a welders face mask. :D

It arrived on Monday and I'll leave it running 24/7 on bench-test for a while just to see how it behaves, but for now I'm pretty impressed. I'll update with pics and more info later.

As usual i went with warm white to try to keep the same light colour as standard filament bulbs. Although you can get them in cool white too if that takes your fancy.

The only thing I've noticed so far is it generates quite a bit of heat (not surprising). So if it's not heat-sinked to a piece of metal or cooled sufficiently, I'd suspect life-expectancy might be a bit questionable. I have it sitting on a 1" lump of aluminium plate for testing at the moment.

Example:
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/1000LM…KDytx--_HQ


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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 18.07.2018  ·  #2
I find the problem with buying LED's, unless they quote the equivalent in Watts, I'm screwed!#

I know what Lumens are, but telling me it is 400 Lumens is useless :) - is there a comparison guide?


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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 18.07.2018  ·  #3
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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 18.07.2018  ·  #4
Well that was easy :)

I have a 10watt LED at my front gate, it seems brighter than an old 60watt bulb! so that chart makes sense. 60watt = 13watt LED


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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 18.07.2018  ·  #5
When buying LED products I try to think of Lumens first and Watts second. More lumens per watt is the goal. If a supplier doesn't quote lumens or lux it's likely the product isn't great. There's other stuff I look for too but I wont go into it as it gets kinda nerdy! Side effect of working for a LED lighting manufacturer for a few years I guess :lol:

A loose rule of thumb for me (in car terms) is a conventional 21w indicator bulb puts out between 250-400lumens. it peaks my interest when I see a LED product quoting low wattage and high lumens. I'll use that oul 21w bulb as a mental benchmark. As long as the lumen/watt ratio is higher than a conventional bulb, I'm interested. In the last few years it's far surpassed it. Lumens per watt is always improving, it's the driving force behind most LED package manufacturers.


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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 20.07.2018  ·  #6
I bought some of these cob type leds last year.
Maybe they have improved since then but the heat off them was unreal.
Some got too hot to touch!!


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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 20.07.2018  ·  #7
Quote by fork

I bought some of these cob type leds last year.
Maybe they have improved since then but the heat off them was unreal.
Some got too hot to touch!!


I wouldn't go sticking them directly onto a plastic housing anyway, that's for sure!

All LED's give off heat. COB's give off even more due to the dense population.

I must put a thermocouple on my one to see what it gets up to. I recon at least 60-70c. Less heat than a conventional filament bulb, but still hot enough to soften or melt some types of plastic if you weren't careful about how you attached it!

I can only imagine how hot the 70w version gets!


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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 20.07.2018  ·  #8
led light strip

I would recommend something like the above.
they are light strip bars and are 12 volt

the same, only half the size, comes up in lidl sometimes

lidl led

each strip is only 1 watt
I have two strips joined in place of my main light and they are brighter

I have gone from 20 watt bulb to 2 watt.
you need to be able to solder or join wires though


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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 20.07.2018  ·  #9
I constantly struggle between warm white (around 3000k) and day/natural white (4000k) which which is best. I don't like the cool white (6000k) at all


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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 02.08.2018  ·  #10
I let this COB panel run 24/7 for a couple of weeks and I'm fairly impressed so far. One more diode failed but still you don't really notice it unless looking directly at it through a welders mask.

The first three diodes in the top string are now dead:

Even though I'm ok with it, I got in touch with the supplier who is going to send a replacement to me. So we'll check that one too.

I'm impressed overall though. The current draw went up to 1.25 amps after a couple of days, so i recon that's the number for it after it's settled in. I put a thermocouple on it and it seems to operate at around 70c which is pretty high but not unreasonable.

I plan to send it over to my old workplace to see if they'll measure the lux & lumens for me, just out of curiosity.

It's probably too bright for using inside in a camper though. Even though it's warm white, it's probably more suited for tasklight or floodlight.

I have 5 more on order as I kinda like these. Gonna put two of them on my ride-on lawn mower!!! :sun: :sun:


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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 02.08.2018  ·  #11
Are you going to cut the lawn at night Kevin 😉


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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 02.08.2018  ·  #12
Quote by mad max

Are you going to cut the lawn at night Kevin 😉

I guess everybody has one daft neighbour right? :lol: :lol:

More cob's arrived today. Smaller square ones. :-)



Not nearly as bright as the 48SMD panel (front n centre) that I'll be using for the hab lighting.



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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 09.08.2018  ·  #13
The second order of COB panels arrived in less than 2 weeks. Very unusual to have a fast delivery from China.

Of course I couldn't resist lighting them all up in parallel! WOW!

It wouldn't take long to drain a 12v battery, but they sure lit the place up!

Might even be able to boil the kettle with them... :lol:



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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 09.08.2018  ·  #14
Looks like this could be my next little project. I have an 11w 2G7 CFL over the door which works a treat when the awning is out. Could a 3w COB replacement do the same job I wonder? I've been looking on Ali express and there's units intended as aftermarket DRL's, they only cost about €1 each so I'm going to order a few to play around.


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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 13.08.2018  ·  #15
I fitted a pair of those 10w COB panels to my ride-on mower. :D

I tend to mow my lawn late in the evening, often into the night. The pair of standard 21w incandescent bulbs aren't up to much as you'll see in the video clip below, but the COB's are a massive improvement!

Lucky I don't have neighbours to complain about the eejit cutting his grass in the dark! :lol:

The COB's are separately switched so the video shows the difference as I switched between the incandescent bulbs and COB panels...



I think one of these panels will be a good upgrade to the awning light on the camper.


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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 13.08.2018  ·  #16
Make a mighty reversing light aswell 👍🏻


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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 13.08.2018  ·  #17
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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 06.09.2018  ·  #18
Latest eBay purchase. COB LED 1156 bulbs.

They arrived on Monday and I'm pretty impressed! I'll have a proper play with them over the weekend, but having powered them up briefly, they seem to be nice n bright...



https://www.ebay.ie/itm/DC12V-…2749.l2648


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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 06.09.2018  ·  #19
Those are what I need for the RV, are they small enough for the RV lights?


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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 06.09.2018  ·  #20
Quote by Ally

Those are what I need for the RV, are they small enough for the RV lights?


Standard car indicator sized bulb (1156 or ba15s). :up:


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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 06.09.2018  ·  #21
Will you need to change the flasher relay to use them.


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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 06.09.2018  ·  #22
Quote by Mark&Wendy

Will you need to change the flasher relay to use them.


Those are the fitting I need for inside the habitation area.

Any good for that Kevin?


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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 06.09.2018  ·  #23
There's no talk of load resistors in the description so I assume they're basic hardwired bulbs.

I suspect your relay would need to be changed (or load resistors fitted) if you're going to use them for indicators. I'll know for sure over the weekend. :up:

For hab lights or running lights, they'd be spot on Ally.

The colour temp of the ones I received are cool white (blueish tint). personally I only like warm white for hab lighting but if that doesn't bother you, they'd probably be good.

I'm curious about how much current/wattage they use. I'll let you know.

I'm patiently waiting for someone to develop & sell some decent 1157 COB LED stop/tail light bulbs with the same 'filament' arrangement as above, (but with 2 separate filaments). That'd be a game-changer...


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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 06.09.2018  ·  #24
I assumed you meant for habitation then wondered after Mark's post. Not many motorhomes about with that fitting!


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Re: COB LED panels

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Posted: 26.09.2018  ·  #25
I eventually got around to putting a meter on these.

They're pretty good. The only downside for me is the colour temperature is cool white, but if that doesn't bother you, they would be very good for marker lights, hab lighting or general task lighting.

I wish I had a light meter to see how much light they emit. I'll say they're bright, but not quite as bright as the incandescent bulbs.

Pics (COB LED on left, Standard incandescent on right).
 

 


21w incandescent bulb uses 1.677 amps
 


2w COB LED bulb uses 0.144 amps
 


I'll leave them running 24/7 for a while to see how they go.


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