LED lamps are constantly evolving. For ten years, the price of lamps has dropped by almost an order of magnitude, the efficiency has increased, the maximum brightness has increased significantly, lamps of a new generation have appeared - on LED filaments (filament).
OSRAM is one of the leaders in the lighting industry, producing many different lamps. I had the opportunity to study ten different lamps of this brand, among which there are both old and newest models, to test and compare them.
The German company OSRAM, which has been producing incandescent lamps since 1906, launched the production of LED lamps in 2014. Currently, over a thousand models of LED lamps are produced under the OSRAM brand, owned by LEDVANCE.
Among the seven pear lamps and three candle lamps that came to me for the test, half were made according to traditional technology, half were filament lamps. Three lamps support dimming, one pear filament lamp has an ultra-high CRI> 90.
The oldest LED STAR CLASSIC A 60 4052899149229 lamp that came to me was released in 2014. It is much heavier than modern lamps (117 grams, while modern lamps weigh from 30 to 79 grams). The declared power is 10 W and the luminous flux of 806 lm. The tested sample had a power of 9.77 W and gave 822 lumens, so the efficiency was 84.2 lm / W.
For comparison, the LED STAR CLASSIC A 150 4058075056985 lamp, manufactured in 2018, weighs 72 grams, has a declared power of 14 W and a luminous flux of 1521 lm. The actual power of the tested sample was 14.22 W, the luminous flux of 1530 lm. Efficiency - 107.6 lm / W.
Thanks to the use of modern LEDs with higher energy efficiency in new lamps, it has become it is possible to make lamps with a less massive radiator, therefore all modern lamps are much lighter old.
The first LED filament lamps appeared in 2015. Then their power did not exceed 6 W, and the luminous flux was 600 lumens, and they were perceived only as decorative. Now the efficiency of many filament lamps exceeds 130 lm / W and the luminous flux is approaching 1500 lm (replacing a 130 W incandescent lamp). Filament lamps began to be made not only transparent, but also opaque. One of the brightest filament lamps on the market took part in the test: a matt filament lamp with eight LED filaments OSRAM PARATHOM CLASSIC A94 4058075817210 has a declared power of 11 W and a luminous flux 1420 lm. The tested sample consumed 11.31 W and gave 1497 lumens (efficiency 132.4 lm / W).
The manufacturer indicates that such a lamp will replace a 94 W incandescent lamp, but at a voltage of 220 volts, it will be a full replacement for a 130 W lamp.
OSRAM specifies differently the equivalent of incandescent lamps for lamps produced for the Russian and European markets. On European lamps (all labels on the box are in English, Russian only on the sticker), the equivalent is indicated according to the European standard (40 W 470 lm, 60 W 806 lm, 75 W 1055 W, 100 W 1521 lm).
In fact, not a single incandescent lamp sold in Russia gives such luminous flux even at a nominal voltage of 230 V. The voltage in many sockets in our country is about 220 volts, and at this voltage the lamps incandescent give approximately 350 lm at 40 W, 550 lm at 60 W, 780 lm at 75 W, 1100 lm at 95 W.
OSRAM on lamps for Russia indicates the equivalent slightly higher: 400-470 lm - 40 W, 600-660 lm - 60 W, 1521 lm - 150 W (in the latter case, of course, it was worth mentioning 130 W).
In the past two years, advances in filament lamp technology have gone beyond brightness. In 2017, the first dimmable filament lamps appeared, in 2018 the first filament lamps with a high color rendering index.
OSRAM LED HD LIGHTING A 60 matt filament lamp 4058075813670 has a declared CRI> 90, the actual color rendering index of the tested sample was Ra = 90.9 and the skin rendering index was R9 - 56.
For comparison, the spectra and levels of R1-R15 of two filament lamps - PARATHOM DIM CLASSIC A60 4058075817074 and LED HD LIGHTING A 60 4058075813670.
Not only filament "pears" have become brighter over the past couple of years, but also "candles". A lamp with a declared power of 5 W and a luminous flux of 660 lumens took part in the test. The tested sample consumed 4.81 W and gave 715 lumens (efficiency 148.6 lm / W!).
Note that this lamp, the only one tested, had a cold light of 4000K and its "twin sister" with a warm light. most likely it will give less record results, but for sure its luminous flux will be at least the declared 660 lm.
Three dimmable lamps (traditional pear, filament pear and filament candle) took part in the test.
The dimmable driver is difficult to make so compact that it fits in the E14 base, so the "candle" uses a plastic spacer between base and glass and due to this, the lamp is longer than usual (however, already in February dimmable filament "candles" and "balls" without spacers).
Using a conventional leading edge dimmer, LED PARATHOM 10.5 W 4058075026971 quietly hums, when using a special dimmer for LED lamps, there is almost no hum audible. Filament dimmable lamps are nearly silent (hum can only be heard a few centimeters from the lamp) when using any dimmer.
I have tested all lamps in the 2m sphere and measured their performance using a laboratory power meter and a spectrometer-pulse meter. Using LATR and a brightness analyzer, the minimum voltages were recorded at which the lamps give at least 95% of the nominal luminous flux. Before all tests, the lamps were warmed up for half an hour.
The measurement results are summarized in the table.
The power of all lamps is as stated. The luminous flux of most lamps is even slightly higher than stated. This is an excellent result, given that the power and luminous flux of most lamps of Russian brands are almost always lower than those stated.
The color temperature and color rendering indices of all lamps also correspond to the declared ones.
All non-dimmable lamps have practically no ripple (measured ripple coefficient below 0.5%). Dimmable filament lamps have a ripple factor of 4.4 and 6.3%, which is significantly less than the ripple level of light from conventional incandescent lamps. Unfortunately, the LED PARATHOM 10.5 W 4058075026971 had an increased light ripple (ripple ratio 39.4%). This lamp is from the European range of OSRAM, and in Europe the level of ripple is still not standardized. Such ripple is almost invisible visually, but it is still better to use lamps without ripple.
Although the packaging of all lamps says "do not use with illuminated switches" seven out of ten lamps work correctly with switches that have an indicator (do not flash or light up when the switch switched off). These lamps have "off" in the cell. the table says "OK". Three lamps glow dimly when the switch with the indicator is off (they have "on" in this cell).
The manufacturer indicates for all lamps the operating voltage range of 220-240 volts. In fact, most lamps use IC drivers, so the lamps are able to operate at significantly lower voltages (98-182 V) without losing brightness. Two filament lamps (LED HD LIGHTING CLASSIC 60 4058075813670 and LED STAR CLASSIC B 60 4058075116702 use linear drivers, therefore the minimum voltage for these lamps is 219 and 215 V and the brightness of these lamps depends on mains voltage.
OSRAM LED lamps are now among the best on the market. This is one of the few brands in Russia that indicates real, not inflated parameters on lamp packaging. So far, only OSRAM has filament lamps with high CRI> 90. The brand boasts some of the brightest filament lamps as well as dimmable, non-ripple filaments.
P.S. I wrote this review for the elec.ru portal and for the first time it was published there.
© 2020, Alexey Nadezhin
The main topic of my blog is technology in human life. I write reviews, share experiences, talk about all sorts of interesting things. My second project - lamptest.ru. I test LED bulbs and help figure out which ones are good and which are not so good.