YT2095 Posted February 6, 2004 Posted February 6, 2004 I was bought a 1,000,000 candle power flashlight as an early valentines present. I was wandering what percentage of the power output is actualy light? I seem to rem that an ordinary incandescent bulb is only 2% efficient (a 100w bulb will give you 2 watts of light output). LEDs are 5% IIRC this is a 55w Halogen bulb and I`ve no idea what the efficiency is for that type. I`de like to know how much of this 55W is actualy light power and not heat or EM. so I can work out how many candles it takes per Watt. anyone know?
Radical Edward Posted February 6, 2004 Posted February 6, 2004 what is the solid angle in steradians that it emits at?
YT2095 Posted February 6, 2004 Author Posted February 6, 2004 I work it out to about 2 watts of light making 1w = 500,000 candles. based ENTIRELY upon the assumption that a Halogen bulb is twice as efficient as an ordinary bulb but not quite as good as a semi conductor. it`s little more than a guess though tbh. edit: "what is the solid angle in steradians that it emits at? " erm... what`s that when it`s at home? LOL, I`ve got no idea man. all I know is that it`s a 55W halogen working off a 6v SLA battery. the focus is a concave mirror 4inch diameter.
5614 Posted September 5, 2004 Posted September 5, 2004 power output depends soley on the bulb itself.... and the bubls energy efficiency rating.
swansont Posted September 6, 2004 Posted September 6, 2004 This site gives some efficiencies. 2% for incandescents is pretty close. But LEDs aren't much more efficient, according to the list. Halogens are. Halogens run hotter, which means they give a whiter spectrum - normal incandescents look yellow - and hotter means a larger fraction of the total energy is in the visible. Which also explains why lower power incandescents are less efficient; they should be a little cooler. Another advantage of halogens is that they redeposit the tungsten on the filament, and the bulb lasts longer. Note that the link I give is the ratio of visible to total radiated power - it ignores any inefficiency in generating the EM spectrum in the first place.
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