Posted: 6/11/2016 5:49:18 PM EDT
| What is the best source for buying LEDs in quantity? If I want to change out a whole house worth of bulbs, where to shop? |
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I've been having pretty good luck with the GE "Bright Stik" bulbs:
10w/60w Bright Stik at Sam's Club Our power is flaky enough that we blow through incandescent and CFL bulbs way sooner than usual. So far the Bright Stiks have held up pretty well, are as bright as advertised, and aren't some funky color temperature that makes you wonder if you're having a stroke when you hit the light switch. |
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The major weakness is the 120 V AC to low voltage DC power supply built into the base of the bulb.
The typical aluminum electrolytic capacitors dry out after extended use. They only have rubber seals containing the electrolyte. In the electronic parts world capacitors of any type are a very common 'weak spot' in reliability. Electrolytic are the worst unless you switch to very expensive solid tantalum in hermetic cases with large voltage derating. And you cannot have even millivolts of revers bias appear on them EVER. Inductors have issues with solder joints and repeated thermal cycles. All electronics is thermal cycle limited. Every cycle strains every solder joint and seal on every device. Thus the 'leave it turned on' method. |
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Quoted:
The major weakness is the 120 V AC to low voltage DC power supply built into the base of the bulb. The typical aluminum electrolytic capacitors dry out after extended use. They only have rubber seals containing the electrolyte. In the electronic parts world capacitors of any type are a very common 'weak spot' in reliability. Electrolytic are the worst unless you switch to very expensive solid tantalum in hermetic cases with large voltage derating. And you cannot have even millivolts of revers bias appear on them EVER. Inductors have issues with solder joints and repeated thermal cycles. All electronics is thermal cycle limited. Every cycle strains every solder joint and seal on every device. Thus the 'leave it turned on' method. I have 6 LED lamps,that have been burning for 5 months solid. They are in two post lamps out by the pool. I have left them on on purpose to see how long they will last. 150 -170 days at 24 per day. Pretty good in my book. |
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Quoted:
I have 6 LED lamps,that have been burning for 5 months solid. They are in two post lamps out by the pool. I have left them on on purpose to see how long they will last. 150 -170 days at 24 per day. Pretty good in my book. Quoted:
Quoted:
The major weakness is the 120 V AC to low voltage DC power supply built into the base of the bulb. The typical aluminum electrolytic capacitors dry out after extended use. They only have rubber seals containing the electrolyte. In the electronic parts world capacitors of any type are a very common 'weak spot' in reliability. Electrolytic are the worst unless you switch to very expensive solid tantalum in hermetic cases with large voltage derating. And you cannot have even millivolts of revers bias appear on them EVER. Inductors have issues with solder joints and repeated thermal cycles. All electronics is thermal cycle limited. Every cycle strains every solder joint and seal on every device. Thus the 'leave it turned on' method. I have 6 LED lamps,that have been burning for 5 months solid. They are in two post lamps out by the pool. I have left them on on purpose to see how long they will last. 150 -170 days at 24 per day. Pretty good in my book. Outside lamps on posts are a high vibration application. Rough service. Every time the wind gusts the lamp vibrates. Regular service incandescent bulbs rarely last very long in this application. |
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Just finishing building my house and we went with all LED bulbs. Got them from Lowes. All good so far. They were pretty cheap. Was starting to switch over to LEDs in my last house from CFLs. I liked the CFLs but liked the LEDs even better.
We just moved from our rental place and we were using standard incandescent because it was a rental and we only lived there for a relatively short period of time. I forgot how much I hate regular incandescent bulbs. They are always blowing and needing to be replaced. Makes me laugh when I think of the number of people who were buying up the old incandescent bulbs because of the "government ban" coming. I have no intention of going back to incandescent after using CFLs and LEDs. The CFLs lasted a long time but so far, my experience with the LEDs shows they last even longer than CFLs. |
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I did a remod last year and bought my retro can LED's from Costco...Actually found some at the Costco outlet (Eagle Bargain) for cheap.
Costco carries quite a bit of LED...quality of the line up? Look for two ratings: CRI or color rendering index: how well a bulb replicates the true color of an object compared to natural sunlight... stay above 88 if possible K or Kelvin: LED temperature. You'll see 2700 to 4000 ratings...lower is more yellow, higher is more blue...white is in middle... Google with give you all the run down on these values |
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I did a remod last year and bought my retro can LED's from Costco...Actually found some at the Costco outlet (Eagle Bargain) for cheap. Costco carries quite a bit of LED...quality of the line up? Look for two ratings: CRI or color rendering index: how well a bulb replicates the true color of an object compared to natural sunlight... stay above 88 if possible K or Kelvin: LED temperature. You'll see 2700 to 4000 ratings...lower is more yellow, higher is more blue...white is in middle... Google with give you all the run down on these values That was my only gripe about the early LED bulbs. They were too blue. The newest ones are great and I bet that incandescent bulbs will one day be a thing of the past. |
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Quoted:
I did a remod last year and bought my retro can LED's from Costco...Actually found some at the Costco outlet (Eagle Bargain) for cheap. Costco carries quite a bit of LED...quality of the line up? Look for two ratings: CRI or color rendering index: how well a bulb replicates the true color of an object compared to natural sunlight... stay above 88 if possible K or Kelvin: LED temperature. You'll see 2700 to 4000 ratings...lower is more yellow, higher is more blue...white is in middle... Google with give you all the run down on these values CRI is over rated. The bluish cast of 'Daylight' is often not desired om a house or even office. The daylight florescent bulb was quickly adjusted to 'warm white' to look more pleasing. Neither have a very good CRI though. |
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CRI is over rated. The bluish cast of 'Daylight' is often not desired om a house or even office. The daylight florescent bulb was quickly adjusted to 'warm white' to look more pleasing. Neither have a very good CRI though. Quoted:
Quoted:
I did a remod last year and bought my retro can LED's from Costco...Actually found some at the Costco outlet (Eagle Bargain) for cheap. Costco carries quite a bit of LED...quality of the line up? Look for two ratings: CRI or color rendering index: how well a bulb replicates the true color of an object compared to natural sunlight... stay above 88 if possible K or Kelvin: LED temperature. You'll see 2700 to 4000 ratings...lower is more yellow, higher is more blue...white is in middle... Google with give you all the run down on these values CRI is over rated. The bluish cast of 'Daylight' is often not desired om a house or even office. The daylight florescent bulb was quickly adjusted to 'warm white' to look more pleasing. Neither have a very good CRI though. Interesting...I'd like to be able to see more side-by-side light comparisons while out shopping. |
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Interesting...I'd like to be able to see more side-by-side light comparisons while out shopping. Quoted:
Quoted:
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I did a remod last year and bought my retro can LED's from Costco...Actually found some at the Costco outlet (Eagle Bargain) for cheap. Costco carries quite a bit of LED...quality of the line up? Look for two ratings: CRI or color rendering index: how well a bulb replicates the true color of an object compared to natural sunlight... stay above 88 if possible K or Kelvin: LED temperature. You'll see 2700 to 4000 ratings...lower is more yellow, higher is more blue...white is in middle... Google with give you all the run down on these values CRI is over rated. The bluish cast of 'Daylight' is often not desired om a house or even office. The daylight florescent bulb was quickly adjusted to 'warm white' to look more pleasing. Neither have a very good CRI though. Interesting...I'd like to be able to see more side-by-side light comparisons while out shopping. It is very hard to judge except at a distance with the lights far enough apart that you can see them individually. The bluish cast of 'daylight' looks rather jarring. Your brain adjusts somewhat though. |
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Quoted:
I've been having pretty good luck with the GE "Bright Stik" bulbs: 10w/60w Bright Stik at Sam's Club Our power is flaky enough that we blow through incandescent and CFL bulbs way sooner than usual. So far the Bright Stiks have held up pretty well, are as bright as advertised, and aren't some funky color temperature that makes you wonder if you're having a stroke when you hit the light switch. These. I replaced all ours with these. Also replaced the can style lights with the replacement LED cans from Sams. They work great. I just need some decent ones for the skinny ones, about 1/4 ot 1/2 in, that screw in. Most of my fans have those instead of the fat screw in ones. |
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OP, you're in Wisconsin... home of the home improvement big-box store called Menards. IMHO, Menards prices CANNOT be beat on LED bulbs.
I have had the typically trashed brand O'feit in my house for 4 years now, the ONLY bulb failure I have experienced was a bulb that was defective out of the box. I have a total of about 40 LED bulbs I'm guessing. I've been replacing them as my CFL's die out. I've never had a single LED bulb die for any reason and our power co-op is notorious for voltage spikes, frequency inconsistency, and other power problems. The gas-station near me (I'm friends with the owner) put power quality monitoring equipment on his lines after he lost $40k in HVAC equipment due to a suspect power fault/blip/spike etc. He has shared with me some of the data charts and it's astounding. Frequencies vary anywhere from 51-68 hz routinely. Voltage varies from 104-137 VAC routinely. My "cheap" LED bulbs are still going strong. ETA, I even have some in my attic so they see significant temperature extremes and thermal cycling (sometimes while turned on) and no problems with those either. Menards routinely has the O'feit 60W equivalents on sale for less than $2 each. Use a Lowe's $10 off $50 purchase coupon (can be bought online for $1) and you can get them at a VERY attractive price. The $10 of $50 purchase coupon is the ONLY one that works on sale items at Menards; if the cashier says she can't take it she doesn't know what she is talking about, ask for the manager. To maximize savings, buy only $50 at a time and it will turn out to be 20% off; IE, is the bulbs are on sale for $1.99 each, get 26 bulbs, $51.74, - $10, gets you 26 LED bulbs for $1.605 each... that's as cheap as quality incandescents... |
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I've bought a bunch of Cree bulbs from HomeDepot with good results. There are bulk packs available and shipping over $50 is free, so just have them sent to you.
A few of my bulbs are Phillips (PAR 30L and S), and those are nice too. Some of those older Phillips have a delay which is annoying. The Cree bulbs work well on my dimmers. I prefer 3000k bulbs. |
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I bought quite a few of the Cree from home depot last year. I read enough bad reviews on the newer ones (with the vented plastic base instead of the heat sink) that I went with the GE Stik LED bulbs for the latest.
A 100w on the table next to the front door and another as a trouble light. I just installed a 3pk of the 60w (10w) in the living room and get another pack tomorrow. 3/$10 is better than the $9 each I spent on the Crees. I did have one Cree that was wonky, would shut off and come back on. That's going back to fund the GEs. HD sells 8pks for $25 & 28 locally (regular vs "daylight"). I have one "daylight" 60w Cree as my porch light and it's very noticeable when I approach the house at night 
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