In the spring of 2018, I tested 120 different LED bulbs from Leroy Merlin.
For three and a half years, a lot has changed, so in November 2021 I again bought one A60-A80 pear lamp of all models, which were on sale in the Moscow store "Leroy Merlin ZIL", and tested them to understand which lamps you can buy, and which ones are better not costs.
Leroy Merlin stores now sell lamps from five manufacturers: Ledvance (brands Osram, Lexman, as well as unnamed lamps, exactly repeating Lexman), Uniel (brands Uniel, Volpe, Norma, Optima, Bright, Like the Sun), Wharton (Gauss, Lexman powerful lamps), Bel Light Group (Bellight), IEK.
Those who have read my articles about Lexman lamps (this is Leroy Merlin's own brand) are probably surprised by now. Yes, before Leroy ordered lamps in China themselves, selecting the best, and now standard Lexman "gave" Ledvance, and powerful companies Wharton. There are still leftovers from the "old" Lexman in stores, but they will soon run out.
Bellight lamps are produced in Smolensk, Bright lamps in Chernogolovka, all others in China.
There are lamps on sale with "warm" light (2700-3000K) and with neutral light (4000K). For residential use, I recommend using only warm light bulbs. Lamps with neutral light are suitable for work desk lighting and technical rooms.
Here are all the "warm" lamps that I bought and the parameters indicated on them. The table is sorted according to the declared luminous flux - from the brightest to the dimmest lamps.
There were eight more lamps with neutral light.
As you can see from the tables, most of the lamps were produced in 2021. The two 2020 Lexman lamps are the very remnants I wrote about above. All IEK lamps are released in 2019.
The warranty period for different lamps ranges from one to five years (I remind you that burned-out lamps are easily replaced in Leroy). The "longest" 5-year guarantee for filament Lexman and the Russian "Yarkaya" lamp. The regular Lexman, Volpe Norma and Uniel have a three-year warranty. Two years at Osram and IEK. A year at Bellight, Gauss, Volpe Optima, and unnamed lamps.
It can be seen how much the prices for LED lamps have fallen. Conventional non-filament lamps cost 50-113 rubles, filament lamps 80-190 rubles. Dimmable and high-power lamps are slightly more expensive.
Let me remind you the criteria for choosing good lamps:
- there should be no pulsation of light (the ripple coefficient should not exceed 5%);
- color rendering index (CRI, Ra) should be more than 80;
- it is desirable that the lamps have a stabilized driver that allows them to operate in a wide range of supply voltage without fluctuations in brightness;
- luminous flux and other parameters must correspond to the declared ones.
To measure the parameters of the lamps, I used the following devices:
- luminous flux, color rendering index, color temperature and ripple - half-meter integrating sphere and spectrometer Uprtek MK350D;
- power consumption - stabilizer Shtil Instab 500, power meter Robiton PM-2;
- determination of the type of driver, measurement of the minimum voltage at which the luminous flux decreases by no more than 5% of the nominal - Lamptest-1, stabilizer Calm Instab 500, LATR Suntek TDGC2-0.5, precision multimeter Aneng AN8001.
To the usual tests, this time I added a ripple measurement at three supply voltages: 230 volts (nominal voltage of LED lamps), 220 volts (although Russia switched to standard 230 volts back in 1992, in many sockets of the country there are still 220), 207 volts (according to the standard, the network should be 230 volts ± 10%, respectively, the minimum allowable voltage 207 B). Many lamps with a cheap line driver have virtually no ripple at 230 V, but visible ripple appears at lower line voltages.
The results of testing lamps with warm light (2700-3000K).
Test results for lamps with neutral light (4000K).
Let's start with the worst - ripple. Both Uniel Air Dimmable lamps had a measured ripple factor at any voltage of almost 50%. Such ripple is clearly visible visually. Unfortunately, these are the only dimmable pears in Leroy. They are definitely not worth buying.
For all other lamps, the measured ripple coefficient at a mains voltage of 230 V does not exceed 5.5%, but at 220 V at several lamps appeared to pulsate up to 16%, at 207 V the ripple coefficient of these lamps increases in the worst case to 41%. Of course, this ripple is already clearly visible. All these lamps are built on cheap linear drivers (in the "lin" table), the feature of which is not only an increase in ripple, but also a drop in lamp brightness when the voltage in the network decreases. The "Umin" column indicates the voltage at which the brightness drops by 5%, for many lamps with a linear driver this happens already at 220-226 V.
Unfortunately, lamps with a stabilizing impulse driver (in the "ic" table) were in the minority. Only in such lamps the brightness does not fall and does not change with voltage fluctuations in the network. If your mains voltage is low or unstable, only lamps with an ic-driver are suitable for you.
During testing, three lamps had a low CRI (Ra) 71-73. These are the cheapest Volpe Optima and Gauss Basic lamps. Under the light of such lamps, colors will look unnatural, and human skin will appear grayish. It is undesirable to use them in residential premises.
Only for lamps Osram, Bellight, Lexman, Uniel Like the Sun and unnamed lamps, the measured wattage is close to the declared one. All the rest (Volpe, IEK, Uniel, Gauss) indicate on the packaging not the real capacity, but 12-40% more.
The measured luminous flux (the amount of light that the lamp gives) is close to that declared for Osram, Lexman, Bellight lamps, some IEK and Uniel lamps. The "champions in discrepancy" here are the same Gauss Basic and some Volpe Norma lamps, which give 18-37% less light than the manufacturer promises. Uniel non-dimmed filaments give 22-25% less than promised. Dimmable Uniel, on the contrary, shine brighter than promised by 12-20%, but this will no longer help them due to the high level of ripple.
Note the results for Lexman lamps and unnamed lamps - they are almost the same. These lamps and the names differ by one letter, and in appearance they are almost the same, and they are produced by the same company Ledvance.
In addition to the lack of a brand, the unnamed lamps have a warranty not three years, but only a year, but most importantly - Lexman are made on a pulse driver, and unnamed ones on a linear one.
The price for such lamps of 1000 lm differs by 15 rubles, and for 600 lm lamps it is generally the same. Of course, I don’t see any point in buying nameless lamps, and I don’t understand why they were produced and sold.
I would like to draw your attention to the only lamp with a high color rendering index - "Uniel Like the Sun". She really has a CRI (Ra) of 96, which is a good option for a table lamp.
Unfortunately, such lamps were released only with neutral light, but other manufacturers have lamps with high color rendering and warm light, but they are not sold in Leroy Merlin.
Since I have given the spectrum of a lamp with a high color rendering, I will show the spectra of conventional lamps using the example of Lexman 1000 lumens with warm and neutral light.
All lamps, except one, work correctly with a switch that has an indicator (they do not flash or light when such a switch is turned off). The Volpe Norma LED-A60-16W / NW / E27 / FR / NR lamp glows dimly when the switch with the indicator is off.
Lexman's own brand remains the best choice of all lamps on sale in Leroy, although they have changed the manufacturer. If the voltage in your network drops below 220 volts, I recommend buying only non-filament lamps. of this brand - they are built on impulse (ic) drivers and actually contain a built-in stabilizer. If the voltage in your network is stable, you can take Lexman filament lamps, in addition, you can "support a domestic manufacturer" by purchasing Bellight lamps. IEK and Uniel filament lamps are more expensive, but they are no better than the cheaper Lexman with a longer warranty.
It took me almost a month to test these lamps and process the results. I hope my work will help you make the right choice.
In the near future I plan to repeat my "feat" by purchasing and testing all the "candles" and "balls" in Leroy.
© 2021, Alexey Nadezhin
P.S. This article was written specifically for 3DNews and first published there: https: //3dnews.ru/1055859/56-lampgrush-iz-lerua-merlen-vibiraem-luchshie.
For ten years I have been writing every day about technology, discounts, places of interest and events. Read my blog on the site ammo1.ru, v LJ, Zen, Mirtesen, Telegram.
My projects:
Lamptest.ru. I test LED lamps and help figure out which ones are good and which are not so good.
Elerus.ru. I collect information about domestic electronic devices for personal use and share it.
You can contact me in Telegram @ ammo1 and by mail [email protected].