I use LED for general purpose use, thats really it, some people don't like it, because they tend to fail at least a few months so, due to the driver supply of the LED. I don't like it, when they replace perfectly good HID fixtures to LED, even in parking lots. Do you agree?
New to the site, so apologies for late replies. LED has its place, I will be the first to admit that. I use them myself for domestic lighting, and for this and other indoor uses such as stage lighting (where there's traditionally lots of heat generated by incandescents) then fine, but in my view that are NOT, I repeat NOT suitable for street lighting.
Firstly, white light is, in my opinon, not a good colour to drive under. LED lighting often has a far higher blue content, which is tiring for the eyes and keeps you awake at night if it's shining in your bedroom window. Unless the fitting has excellent optical control, and certainly for the LED fixtures I've seen around here, that is sadly lacking. Then there are the economics; LED's are forever touted as economical and 'green' whatever that means. They may well consume less electricity, but they don't give out nearly as much light and when they fail, which they do, with excruciating regularity, they nearly always require replacement of the entire fitting, not just a lamp as with traditional HID fixtures. I can show you fittings which have failed within three months of installation, so much for the supposed 25-year lifespan the manufacturers would have you believe.
They are also more complex in construction, which makes for more points of failure, and also far harder to recycle at the end of their (sometimes very short) lives. There is an awful lot of electronics in an LED fitting, far more than a simple ballast for a mercury or sodium lamp.
Well that's my view. I could go on, but I think I've made my point..! As I've said before, I'm not here to argue, and if you like them, fine, you're welcome to put your view, but give me good old discharge lamps any day
