[Shop-talk] LED heat output

[Randall]

> People say that LEDs don't produce any heat, but is that just 
> relative to
> incandescent blubs?  Does this seem safe or have I created 
> the possibility of
> a dangerous situation?

The heat produced by the LED is very small, 1% or less of what a similar
incandescent bulb produces.  Most LEDs produce very little, but some of the
brighter ones do require heatsinks to carry away the excess heat, otherwise
their life will be greatly shortened.  If your LEDs aren't mounted to an
obvious heat sink, then I don't think you've got anything to worry about.

Still, it couldn't hurt to run it for a day, then remove the cover and see
how warm things are inside.  

The cheesy little LED nightlights we got from Costco had dimmers built into
them.  Only problem is that they forget the dimmer setting (and go back to
slowly pulsing in 7 different colors) if the power fails.  That's not
necessarily a Bad Thing but it might be annoying if your power is bad.

-- Randall