Buying led lighting from Aliexpress

[Kevian]

Friends,

I have my first floor under construction and which is in the ending phase. Lighting work is about to start in a week or 2. I've decided to go green and do an all led lighting for recessed and rope fittings. In Hyderabad, I've checked with electrical lines@rangunj and they say no bargain with high prices over my head. I believe they get it from China and sell it at inflated prices. So I've checked Aliexpress where the shipping price to India is half or more than that of product.

I've decided to buy following products:

2 lots of this one
and 23 pieces of this one for following rooms

Sizes of the rooms are:

Living Room 24ft x 12ft = 8 lights
Bedroom 1 17ft x 15ft = 5
Bedroom 2 17ft x12 ft = 5
Drawing room 12ft x 9ft = 4
1 light spare. Do you guys think 3w led lights in the rooms will be sufficient for reading books/dressing/makeup?

Please shed some light as to how I can get a good deal and further opinions are welcome.

Thanks & cheers!!
Kevian

 

[shankarcams]

In my experience LED lights are good where the intensity of lighting is not high like corridors etc. Alternately they are good for spots. They are not good in living room etc. or you have to use too many of them so the benefit is lost.

Perhaps you should buy a couple from local market to test them out in your home.

 

[shankarcams]

I also wanted to add that whatever Chinese LED fixtures I have bought have looked very nice and worked well for a brief while but failed very soon. If you di buy them get many extra power sources (chokes).

 

[santhosh]

Firstly Kevian, you need a pat onyour back for your commitment to a greener earth. I am running two rooms in my house on LED completely for over two years and plan to convert the entire home lighting to run on LED and solar energy.

Just to add to the tips that Shankar has given... I would recommend that you don't buy from China/online. Get your lights from a local shop after you have seen the quality and if the lighting is sufficient for your application. Even if the light fitting costs marginally high, go for good quality LEDs as these can really last long returning your investment month after month in energy savings. Another tip is to have a secondary lighting (for eg: T5 tubelights) for use only when more lighting is required.

 

[santhosh]

The prices on the Chinese site seem to be on the higher side.

Most of the fittings that I have used are from an indian brand called Amtrex that I bought from a shop in Bangalore called "Rudraksh Jhoomars". For spread, I used a fitting that is made up of 30 LEDs connected in series and consumes only 2W costing Rs.350. I had to use 8 of these to cover an area of ~130 sqft. For spot, I have used a fitting which is a single 3W LED costing around Rs.900, costs more because it includes a heat sink and a reflector for longer throw. I have used 2 of these driving my opticfiber lighting in my hometheater. The roll of acceptable quality LED strip should cost you ~4k + 1.5k for the power supply.

 

[quad]

If you want single colour LED strips, they are available in the
Koti Gujarati galli market for about Rs 150 per meter. They also sell
a 12V SMPS. But you cannot do mood lighting etc as they are not RGB
and no controller.
Another place is Troop Bazar (behind Ramakrishna Theater).
Lots of LED lights there and you have to definitely bargain with them.
It is a long time since I went, so maybe they now have RGB also there.

1W white LEDs (bare) are available at PROM Electronics, SecBad
(lane beside Anand Bhavan Hotel, RP Rd) if you want to
make a DIY fixture. Also Big Apple at Paradise (HDFC Bank building) has
advertised about imported LED fixtures/spotlights, so you can see if
he has some good deals.

 

[Kevian]

Thank you Guys. Great inputs there. Like Santosh & Shankar have suggested, I'll get it locally. From where? places suggested by Quad. I'll check these places on this weekend. From the chinese website, my requirement would cost me almost ?20,000.

Quad, I'm ok with single colour led strip also. But my big question for myself is how many down lights should I be getting. And will they be giving any warranty if anything experienced by Shankar happens?

Santhosh, I am trying to avoid tube lights as it'd occupy wall(I want to put some paintings and artwork done by my sister)

Please chime in with any opinion that crossed your mind. ()

Cheers!!
Kevian

 

[amol12]

As already pointed out the spread of LEDs is very low and they are better for spots. I would suggest you buy a couple of them (or 4) and use them in your existing home for few days to experience what I say here. If you are used to tube lights the experience will be different as many areas remain unlit/dimly lit. Go ahead with LEDs if you like the experience.

 

[theironhorse]

if you wanna check out LED rope lights check the lane behind the threater . nead abids where they have a big water cooler market. i remember picking up about 50 metres LED rope lights from there for a friend's place..

one type was for 30 rs/metre and another one was for 48 rs/metre..

we picked up purple for the hall , blue for the bedroom and red for the private bar.. all this was hidden under the fall ceiling so you just get the light effect..

there are multiple shops over there though we could find the best rates at the 2nd last shops of that lane...PM if you need help for directions..

 

[theironhorse]

and i dont think all the rope light would cost you 20k .. i guess it should be all done under 10k...

 

[santhosh]

Ironhorse, purely based on the cost you mention, IMO what you mention is not LED, those are incandescent lights. They look similar, are less brighter, don't last as long as LED and also not sure if they bring in the energy savings like LED.

 

[santhosh]

Kevian, reason for having alternate lighting is only to reduce your spend on LED. Since you are at the construction stage, you could also stretch your budget and increase the number of LED spread lights. Connect them such that only half the total number glow on a regular basis, the other half can be switched on when required.

Are you planning false ceiling?

 

[theironhorse]

Ironhorse, purely based on the cost you mention, IMO what you mention is not LED, those are incandescent lights. They look similar, are less brighter, don't last as long as LED and also not sure if they bring in the energy savings like LED.

the one that falls under the incandescent lights were about 30 rs /metre.

however i meant led rope lights.. for 50 rs/ metre..approx.. not sure though if kevian is looking for somethin else. just wanted to pass info incase of he was looking for somethin similar.. and

yes there is loads of diffrence between the two of them..

http://www.koosion.com/uploadpic/201110/1022559925.jpg somethin similar to this...

 

[Kevian]

Kevian, reason for having alternate lighting is only to reduce your spend on LED. Since you are at the construction stage, you could also stretch your budget and increase the number of LED spread lights. Connect them such that only half the total number glow on a regular basis, the other half can be switched on when required.

Are you planning false ceiling?

Santhosh, I agree and completely understand why you've suggested alternate lighting. You've mentioned that for 130sqft you've around 8x2W led lights which is 16W. Assuming that your lighting arrangement is abundant, I've done some calculations.

• My hall is 264sqft which requires 32W lighting and this can be achieved by installing 4Wx8 lights.
• Bedroom 1 is 192sqft which requires 3Wx6 led lights installation.
• Bedroom 2 is 132sqft for which 8x2W or 4x4w lights installation.
• Steps room is 160sqft for which 3Wx6 lights installation.

And yes, POP ceiling is done with almost 20meters groove for led strip lighting.

Ironhorse, I guess you are talking about Ramakrishna theatre and the market you are talking about could be troop bazaar as quad has mentioned.

Thanks for the great inputs pals. Keep'em comin.
Kevian

 

[Kevian]

Iron horse, can you confirm if you've bought the same LED strip lights for your associate?

For POP grooves

and

for false ceiling lights. If it has frost glass then even better.

Are these led lights?


cheers!!
Kevian

 

[theironhorse]

the strip light show above looks certainly diffrent coz what what we bought were 2 qualities of rope lights... i am calling it rope coz its its round in shape..

once was the cheaper one for 30 rs metre as mentioned and certainly not LED as the light is not crisp..

the one which is 50/48 rs metre.. is certainly LED... i have a peice of 2 metre at home.. i will be home in an hour or 2.. will click pictures of it... its a plain white rope with LED.. and not that the rope is coloured... but the LED's are blue... its not in shape of a thin strip but for sure its an LED rope....

i will upload pictures.. if you like it you can try at that shop.. coz i have lost the visiting card for it but i know the place for sure.. we searched the whole market and bargained a lot....


though we even tried places like banjara hills and there were led strip worth 2k a metre as well but we figured out that these gonna be hidden and the LED's wont come directly in eyesight.. just the light will .. so 50 rs/ metre it was a good deal..

i will post pics asap i get home...


and the last pic.. yes that's not a led strip but its a LED rope.. with rubberized plain white coating over it but they are LED and not filament based bulbs...

 

[theironhorse]

cant login to facebook from here.. i can show you too how they actually look while in use.. at my friends place photographs.. we picked around 100 metres is all of diffrent colours and sizes...

all 100 metres costed around 4500. including LED rope and the cheaper one...

 

[ontherocks]

These LED plastic strips with circular cross section can be found all over the place in any electrical shop area. They are made in china. They are ubiquitous for decorative lighting nowadays. At the time of Diwali, electrical shops are flooded with these.
You can clearly see if the the lights are LEDs or not (if the strip is not heavily colored). If you still have doubt the shop keeper can cut a centimeter or so and show you the light.

 

[cmsajith]

If you can post the photos of the ceiling with the rooms, I can suggest you the lighting pattern so that the room can be evenly illuminated. Along with this, you can use task lighting for reading which is more comfortable.

Rope lights are LEDs indeed and are cheaper than the LED strips, only difference is that the strips are having surface mounted leds and the ropes are having the normal leds. The rope light will be less luminous than the strips, but the reqd light can be achieved by running 2 ropes for a single run.

For LEDs spot/recessed lights, the ideal gap is around 3-4ft b/n each.

 

[theironhorse]

The rope light will be less luminous than the strips, but the reqd light can be achieved by running 2 ropes for a single run.

For LEDs spot/recessed lights, the ideal gap is around 3-4ft b/n each.

true.. kevian this can be the case.. that the rope might not be as bright as the strip.. however they are more safer inside the coating.. i could not upload the photos yesterday for i was stuck with something.

i will upload the photos today... but sourcing the LED from the local market wil be a lot cheaper and convinient