How Do LED Filament Bulbs Work? - The Lightbulb Co. UK (2024)

FAQs

How Do LED Filament Bulbs Work? - The Lightbulb Co. UK? ›

Filament LED light bulbs do have an LED “filament”, but instead of heating it up to produce light, this metal strip is actually lined with light emitting diodes (LEDs).

LED filament light bulbs differ from traditional incandescent filament bulbs in that they use a metal strip lined with LEDs to produce light instead of heating a filament. The LED strip is coated with a phosphor, typically encased in glass, creating a warmer yellow tone similar to incandescent bulbs.

LED lighting products produce light up to 90% more efficiently than incandescent light bulbs. How do they work? An electrical current passes through a microchip, which illuminates the tiny light sources we call LEDs and the result is visible light.

By January 1879, at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, Edison had built his first high resistance, incandescent electric light. It worked by passing electricity through a thin platinum filament in the glass vacuum bulb, which delayed the filament from melting.

An LED bulb produces light by passing the electric current through a semiconducting material—the diode—which then emits photons (light) through the principle of electroluminescence.

PRO TIP: LED filament bulbs generate less heat than traditional LEDs (which still emit significantly less heat than incandescent, halogen, or compact fluorescent bulbs) because their diodes are more spaced out. As a result, they dissipate heat more easily and often have even greater longevity than standard LEDs.

LEDs are efficient and long-lasting. On average, LED can last up to 100,000 operating hours, which is four times longer than what other lighting solutions can offer. Even more, research shows that LED lights can last 40 times more than incandescent bulbs.

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You can't buy incandescent light bulbs anymore. With a few exceptions, the bulbs – patented by Thomas Edison in 1880 and a common fixture in American homes for more than a century – have officially passed into history.

Other inventors had tried to perfect incandescent lamps but had failed. The Edison lab worked on at least 3,000 different filaments in their search for a practical solution.

Do LED bulbs have gas in them? ›

An LED is what's called a "solid-state lighting" technology, or SSL. Basically, instead of emitting light from a vacuum (as in an incandescent bulb) or a gas (as in a CFL), an SSL emits light from a piece of solid matter.

Yes, there are LED bulbs that don't get hot. The reason that they don't get hot is that they don't use a filament as incandescent and halogen lights do. Instead, they use semiconductors that produce light through electro-luminescence (EL).

LED is a highly energy-efficient lighting technology, and has the potential to fundamentally change the future of lighting in the United States. Residential LEDs -- especially ENERGY STAR rated products -- use at least 75% less energy, and last up to 25 times longer, than incandescent lighting.

But unlike incandescent bulbs, they don't have filaments that burn out, they use less electricity, and they don't get especially hot. They're illuminated solely by the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material, and they last just as long as a standard transistor.

You can simply replace them with LED light bulbs without having to change anything about your lighting system. Although they were once known as energy-saving light bulbs compared to incandescent filament light bulbs, they consume more electricity than LED light bulbs and have a shorter useful life.

LED bulbs afford in the region of 50,000 hours of light, with some brands boasting as many as 100,000 hours. In general, terms, if you use your lights for 10 hours each day, LEDs should serve you well for just shy of 14 years.

In short, yes. LED lamps are cheaper to run than energy saving bulbs. It's worth considering that the upfront cost of your light bulb isn't the final cost, and that the cheapest initial cost doesn't guarantee long-term savings.