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I'm planning to install some light on my balcony and was just wondering what would be the best choice of lamp.
I live in a relatively cold climate, and the current temperature at night is around -10°C. I'm wondering what my best choice of (E27 fixture) lamp is; incandescent, CFL or LED?

My preference is LED, since I like the white balance of modern LED lights and their environmental advantage, but before I put down the money for a LED bulb, I'd like to know whether LED lights can withstand temperatures of up to -20°C.

Aarthi
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oKtosiTe
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2 Answers2

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The short answer is to check with the bulb manufacturer. Ambient temperature and use case requirements may also be mentioned on the box/packaging.

The long answer is that it depends (as always eh?). From what I could find online, CFLs and incandescent bulbs are actually MORE sensitive to LOW temperatures than LEDs. So in your specific use case, I would think you would be fine in using an LED bulb.

That being said, keep in mind that there ARE certain environments where LEDs may perform worse -- particularly in settings where the ambient temperature is very high, resulting in overheating of the LED package and eventually leading to device failure. I think most manufacturers are getting better at heat sink designs anyway so this may not be a concern later.

-M

Mike B
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If you can afford the LEDs to do it, and they are rated for that use, I'd definitely go that way. But at $20 to $70 per bulb, LEDs can cost you quite a bit. Also, would you leave twenty dollar bills scattered around out there? Or fifties? Consider if the LEDs might make an attractive theft target...

I live in a slightly less cold climate, and we put some CFLs outside a couple of years ago. They work ok, but they definitely take a while to start up and even longer to produce their normal output. For example, it's 22F out right now and I turned the light on and then walked around the house to get the garbage can, and it finally turned on by the time I was at the can. Once it's on though, it burns fine. So except for very short trips, it's not really a problem.

What I did was got several strands of white LED Christmas lights that I have strung along that side of the house to supplement the CFLs in the sockets. Those come on immediately, and work just great.

Sean Reifschneider
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