EDN.com has a great two part teardown of the new Philips AmbientLED 12.5W lightbulb. I use these A19 style bulbs in my house. They have a nice even white-light output, dim much better than the other LED bulbs I've used. All around, great players. And CL&P has an instant rebate for them in CT that makes them $20 each.
- Teardown Part 1: http://www.edn.com/blog/PowerSource/40511-Philips_LED_bulb_Tear_down_Part_I_light_patterns_.php
- Teardown Part 2: http://www.edn.com/blog/PowerSource/40512-Remote_Phosphors_Philips_LED_bulb_Tear_down_Part_II.php
What's really neat about them is that they use remote phosphor technology. The yellow coating on them fluoresces under the blue LED used internally in the devices. This allows for the diffuse white quality of the light. This is in contrast to the CREE LEDs that have the secondary phosphor built into the LED shell itself and a diffuser in the A19-style shell. Their luminous efficacy is actually much better than CFLs for a change.
| Unit | Watts | Lumens | lm/W | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eco-Smart | 8.6 W | 420 lm | 49 lm/W | ~$20 |
| Philips AmbientLED 12.5W | 12.5 W | 800 lm | 64 lm/W | ~$20 AIR |
| Compact 16W CFL | 16 W | 800 lm | 50 lm/W | ~$2 |
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