Are LED light bulbs too hot?
However, they are not nearly as hot to the touch as incandescent, halogen, and CFL lights. One of the newest and most effective lighting technologies is LED lighting. Compared to the heated filament used in earlier generations of bulbs, high powered illumination LEDs provide light at substantially lower operating temperatures. The hottest surface of an LED light bulb is typically 20% cooler than a CFL and frequently half the temperature of an Incandescent or Halogen bulb of similar brightness.
When my LED light bulb is on, should I touch it?
The diffuser, which is the plastic dome that the light shines out of, should be used to handle LED light bulbs. Avoid handling or touching LED light bulbs by the heat sink when they are illuminated or hot.Heat sinks on LED light bulbs are made to heat up, taking heat away from the LEDs and dissipating it into the atmosphere. With the LED power supply and electronics being kept as cold as possible, the heat sink is the section of the bulb that gets the most heat, and for good reason.
All well, but how hot is hot?
During research and testing, we discovered that a fully illuminated LED bulb's heatsink ranged from 60°C to 100°C (140°F to 212°F), depending on the LED bulb's brand and type, the ambient temperature, and airflow. Here is an examination of a thermal camera image that includes three top-name LED light bulb samples that were just acquired brand-new from the hardware shop and the grocery store. More yellow indicates a greater temperature.
Left to right, in order:
9W LED. Compact LED bulb with a brightness output of 600
9W LED. Compact LED bulb with an unknown output that appears to be 600 lumens
13W LED. A19 size bulb (1055 lumens of output)
LIFX A21. Full-color, white-output bulb with an A21 size (output: more than 1000 lumens).
The hottest LED lights are the two 9W tiny ones! Although the light output and power of tiny bulbs are lower, there is no airflow control and very limited heat sink space. The sealed 86°C 186°F heat sink is directly occupied by the power supply components.
It is a little bit cooler with the 13W LED A19 bulb. It has a wider heat sink surface to deal with and can dissipate the LED heat into the surrounding air while still being 30% brighter than the two tiny bulbs.
The brightest bulb that also produces the most light is the LIFX A21.
Convection airflow through the body, flowing both within and outside the heat sink, is used in its airflow management design. In this new type of bulb, the electronics and power supply are kept as cool as possible.
The LIFX A21 bulb maintains the lowest temperatures for the electronics and heat sink system even at much hotter room temperatures than the warm 28°C 82°F utilised in this test, or in semi-sealed enclosures, especially when compared to current model LED light bulbs as tested in sockets 1-3.
Why does touching the heat sink feel so hot?
Any object that is over 50°C (122°F) will rapidly feel extremely hot to the touch! You'll instinctively want to withdraw. Always keep in mind that it is meant to be hot since it is a heat sink. The temperature at which the proteins in your skin will begin to fry is one that is automatically being protected by your fingers and pain senses. 'Protein denaturing or unfolding' is another term for this type of cooking. Starting around 57°C (134°F), cooking begins. It is instinctive to withdraw body parts from anything that is hotter than 50 °C (122 °F) in order to convey the message that something is "way too hot."
