are there any cool window candle incandescent bulbs?

A couple of years back, I made some window candles for the house and one candle for each window. Each candle light is a cheap LED bulb that I pulled from a string of LED candle bulb lights that I got at the local Walmart. Problem is that my wife, who I made these for, doesn't like the dimness of the result and wishes for brighter candles. Initially, before starting the LED project, I tried standard candle incandescents but since the candles are in front of curtains and blinds enough heat was generated to start burning them so I came up with the LEDs. Yesterday, I tried increasing the current to one of the LED's (from 17 to 35mA) and the brightness doubled but still far short of neighbor's incandescents.

So, I could replace the LEDs I guess with 5 W equivalent LED ones I see on the web these days, but they seem expensive. Are there any candle incandescents that burn cool especially when up against something like curtains?

Thanks!

Reply to
Sam Seagate
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Incandescents are all about the same efficiency (10% or so) with the rest of the power going into heat. Halogens are a bit more efficient but not by all that much.

The LED "candle" bulbs I see listed at Home Depot are 25-40 watt "equivalent". If your neighbors have incandescents of a similar light output then they're probably dissipating about that much heat, which is not something I'd want to have pushed up close against a curtain. If the curtain got snagged over top of the bulb you might have heat damage to the curtain, or possibly even a fire after a while.

Candle bulbs have small bases, and can't be dissipating much of the heat that way... almost all of it must be coming out through the envelope. They're gonna be toasty.

I believe the pricey "5 W equivalent" LEDs you are referring to, are actually "5 W consumption". They put out a whole lot more light than a 5-watt incandescent bulb... these are the LEDs used in tactical flashlights, which on full power can be quite blinding.

Reply to
Dave Platt

Check ebay; you can find LEDS in any size, color, and power you want. Very cheap, but they'll take a couple of weeks to get from China.

Reply to
John-Del

If they are mostly used for christmas decorations, there is plenty of time :-)

Leif

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Reply to
Leif Neland

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