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 I'm in the process of replacing all the bulbs in our house with energy efficient LED equivalents.
One of the more difficult LED bulbs to find is a reflector type R in the image below.
R63 because the diameter of the bulb is 63mm.
These bulbs tend to have an Edison screw 27 type fitting and we have lots of them in our house. There are four in the kitchen alone.
I wanted to find a bulb as similar as possible to the 60 watt incandescent bulbs it replaces with at least the same light output. R63 LED bulbs were actually not that common when I got this bulb back in February of this year.
Having an excellent experience of a Philips LED described here, I had a look to see whether Philips do an R63 reflector. I found the Philips Master R63 LED Dimmable 7 Watt Warm White 25 Degree ES currently available online for £37 discounted from £45.
I opted in the end for a 6 watt R63 LED from Homewatt at £14.90 plus £2.54 postage.
I decided to compare the Homewatt with a couple of the existing 60 watt incandescent bulbs and the more widely available and cheaper Philips LED to see whether a type A bulb would work instead of a reflector.
As you can see the Homewatt is virtually an identical shape to the Compton 60 watt.
Switch On
Unlike CFL energy saving bulbs which flicker or pause, the R63s light up instantly. They do get pretty warm, but not blisteringly hot like incandescent bulbs.
Light Colour
This is by no means a scientific comparison, but in our kitchen, the Osram is a tad whiter than the Compton which to me illustrates that there is some variation in the warmth of incandescent bulbs.
The Homewatt produces a slightly whiter light than both the incandescent bulbs and the Philips but I don't mind this as I don't actually think a yellowy light is particularly useful for illuminating a room. But that's a very personal opinion.
Brightness
The Philips is brightest, of course, because it is higher power and the bulb being longer, extends further down below the level of the ceiling. But it's not *that* much brighter and the fitting is designed for reflector bulbs, not the more common type A.
Whereas the incandescent bulbs have a bright filament with its light reflected down, the Homewatt produces a more even light which to me looks just as bright as the 60 watt incandescents.
In conclusion, I am happy with the Homewatt, which has been performing flawlessly as expected for over 8 months. I will be continuing to buy LEDs to replace our incandescent bulbs because of the cost savings. Although it is more expensive, I prefer the Homewatt to the Philips because it sits properly in the fitting, I like the slightly whiter light and it uses a third less power.
The cost of the LED seems expensive compared to the standard incandescent R63 bulbs which cost from £1 each. But if you look at the longer term view...
Period to examine: 5 years
Cost of your electricity: £0.10 per kWh
Daily hours of use: 2 hours per day
Bulb type Incandescent LED
Power in watts 60.0 6.0
Individual bulb cost £1.00 £17.40
Avergage Lifespan in hours 1000 25000
Number of bulbs needed 22 1
Total Purchase Cost £22.00 £17.40
Running cost £21.90 £2.19
Total cost over 5 years £43.90 £19.59I anticipate that our kitchen lights are on an average of 2 hours a day.
With a cost of electricity at £0.10 per kWh, using LED will save you approximately £24.31 over 5 years. The cost of electricity is already more than that on our bill, so I expect the saving will be considerably more. |
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26-11-2019 04:14:03