The end of Edison's greatest invention.

December 12, 2000 7:48 PM

The end of Edison's greatest invention. All good things must come to an end, I suppose. This one lasted longer than most of the 19th century's great inventions -- like the steam locomotive.
posted by Steven Den Beste (10 comments total)

The Chicago Fire Department is starting to replace strobes on ambulances with LEDs. I was surprised at how bright the white LEDs were.
posted by @homer at 8:25 PM on December 12, 2000

it sounds great
posted by lagado at 8:30 PM on December 12, 2000

You can purchase some of this stuff already from theledlight.com. Lots more information on LEDs at the LED Museum.
posted by xiffix at 6:18 AM on December 13, 2000

Nifty, but I'd argue that Edison's greatest invention was the research lab...
posted by plinth at 6:23 AM on December 13, 2000

I got a white Photon Micro-Light about a month ago and was amazed how bright it was on just a couple of small button-cells. It does seem to have a slight bluish cast, at least as compared to the fluorescent and incandescent lamps I'm used to.
posted by harmful at 6:50 AM on December 13, 2000

If the prices on the site xiffix linked are any indication, LED's won't be replacing incandescents in most applications for quite some time.
posted by harmful at 7:42 AM on December 13, 2000

<geek type="lighting">
Does anyone have any pointers to information on spectrum, color temperature, and Color Rendering Index on this stuff?
</geek>
posted by baylink at 10:12 AM on December 13, 2000

Harmful, there was a time when semiconductor lasers were absurdly expensive, too. But time goes on and the prices plummetted as production rose. Now they cost less than a buck.

I think the prices on these will come way down as demand, and thus production, rises. Economy of scale is a powerful mechanism.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 10:37 AM on December 13, 2000

I expect we'll see affordable, temperature-adjustable lighting (with combinations of red, blue, and green LEDs along with a few whites for extra brightness) that can be installed, for example, as a strip around the edge of your ceiling within a decade. I'm there, dude.
posted by kindall at 11:20 AM on December 13, 2000

Great, now I can replace the turn, stop, *and* reverse taillights on my truck with LEDs.
posted by Mars Saxman at 1:34 PM on December 13, 2000