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Green Building Bible, Fourth Edition
Green Building Bible, fourth edition (both books)
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Products: Halers EvoLED Energy Usage

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  1.  
    • CommentAuthormzthomps
    • CommentTimeNov 6th 2011
     
    I installed 10 dimmable Halers EvoLED lights over two circuits, rated at 7.9W each and notice using an NPower energy meter that the consumption for these lights is considerably more. I plan to carry out some more detailed measurements shortly but it looks as though the circuit of 4 lights is using the best part of 200W (excluding all other circuit demands). I am using an aurora au-dsp253 dimmer switch 2w 60-250VA. Anybody else experiencing this problem?
    •  
      CommentAuthorDamonHD
    • CommentTimeNov 6th 2011 edited
     
    Note that if that is a clip-on meter that you have then it will be wildly inaccurate on some loads such as electronic ones. Such clip-on meters can read as much as 6x too high in my experience, see more here:

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/24/alertme_energy_monitoring_system_review/

    and:

    http://www.earth.org.uk/note-on-clip-on-power-meters-for-the-UK-REVIEW.html

    the second actually including a test of an nPower clip-on meter.

    Rgds

    Damon
    • CommentAuthorCWatters
    • CommentTimeNov 6th 2011 edited
     
    It's probably the meter that's the problem. Many cheap power meters measure the current and assume the voltage is 230V. However the voltage is AC and the current isn't DC. When the current is at a maximium the voltage might not be at 230V. This is particularly true for electronic devices such as LEDs. With ordinary incandescent lights the voltage and current are more likely to be in phase and the meter will be more accurate.

    PS this is a common mistake made by people who claim to have invented a "free energy machine". They use two seperate meters, one measures voltage and the other current, then they multiply the reading on one by the other. That only gives the correct answer if the voltage and current are in phase.
    •  
      CommentAuthorJSHarris
    • CommentTimeNov 7th 2011 edited
     
    I concur with the others, these meters are diabolically inaccurate when dealing with anything other than a resistive load. For example, the fluorescent light in my kitchen (an ordinary 5ft low energy one) reads around 90 watts on the meter when it should be around 55 to 60 watts. The one remaining incandescent light I have (on a dimmer) reads about minus 10 watts when turned on and dimmed (that's right, according to the meter it's delivering power to the circuit, rather than drawing it!). The "free energy" folk that CWatters refers to above would be dead impressed by this light

    The reason is as already mentioned; the combination of the meter assuming a constant voltage and the power factor of things like fluorescent lights and dimmers being way off unity.
  5.  
    Mark, just to reassure you, we have 5 EvoLEDs in our bathroom with a dimmable pull cord and have had lots of problems because unknown to the supplier or electrician the dimmer required a load of at least 50W and the 5 spots are still under the 50W. The dimmer company is now going to fit a capacitor to enable it work!

    Got to say, I think the lights are fantastic.
  6.  
    Phil.Chaddah-Duke is bang on the money. My sparky and LED supplier both told that my dimmers would need at least 5 light in the circuits to give sufficient demand for the dimmer switch to work. Mine are 7w each. I would guess that it also depends on the dimmer switch you are using,
    Gusty.
  7.  
    Out of interest what guarantee did you get with these units. JCC offer a 10 year warranty on their units and they cost approx £32-50 for non dimming and £42-50 for dimming. You register them online to qualify for the 10 years. 7w units and 5w units are available in both cool and warm white. I am very pleased with mine,
    Gusty.
    • CommentAuthormzthomps
    • CommentTimeDec 2nd 2011
     
    Thanks for the responses. I think you are right on the npower meter error although still haven't had time to run a control test.

    I am very pleased with the light quality and immediate brighness (unlike cfl) of the EvoLed lights which cost £42.50+VAT for dimmable and come with a 7 year warranty. Although 3 (our of 10) have "blown" within 6 months of use already which is a bit of pain. I don't know if this as a result of the dimmer - although they dim ok - the dimmer min rating is 60VA which is higher than the load. Don't think I would bother with the dimmable option in future; can obtain ambient effect by multiple circuits/light sources instead.

    Hope to roll out to future rooms as I update the house from 1978!

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