LED Light Bulbs, Please school me on them

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - LED Light Bulbs, Please school me on them

Posted: 8/10/2011 9:04:45 AM EDT

I am looking to change over my lights to more efficient bulbs.

I have a number of them that are on dimmers in various applications
(Bathroom, bedroom, Dining room, living room track light, outside light).

The LED bulbs look interesting because they appear to use
less power and produce less heat (though they are a bit pricier).

Has anyone here switched over to them and is able to give me some
info as to do I need to replace my dimmers, what brands are better, etc.

Thank you

Posted: 8/10/2011 1:31:07 PM EDT

[#1]

IMHO, they have not hit the tipping point in terms of cost/benefit. I have only two of them, one in my youngest daughters lamp which stays on 24/7. The other is in my reading lamp, right next to my bed and the LED doesn't heat up so much so it is more comfortable.

Been thinking about others, especially for the main rooms of the house where the CFL's fail at higher rates than they should (one fails almost yearly).

Almost forgot, got some accent lights upstairs that are not yet set up, but they cost about $50 and I still need another $20 worth of them to finish it up.

Posted: 8/10/2011 5:37:46 PM EDT

[#2]

Quoted:
IMHO, they have not hit the tipping point in terms of cost/benefit. I have only two of them, one in my youngest daughters lamp which stays on 24/7. The other is in my reading lamp, right next to my bed and the LED doesn't heat up so much so it is more comfortable.

Been thinking about others, especially for the main rooms of the house where the CFL's fail at higher rates than they should (one fails almost yearly).

Almost forgot, got some accent lights upstairs that are not yet set up, but they cost about $50 and I still need another $20 worth of them to finish it up.

Thank you

Anyone know if they require "Special" dimmers

Posted: 8/10/2011 5:41:17 PM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:

Quoted:
IMHO, they have not hit the tipping point in terms of cost/benefit. I have only two of them, one in my youngest daughters lamp which stays on 24/7. The other is in my reading lamp, right next to my bed and the LED doesn't heat up so much so it is more comfortable.

Been thinking about others, especially for the main rooms of the house where the CFL's fail at higher rates than they should (one fails almost yearly).

Almost forgot, got some accent lights upstairs that are not yet set up, but they cost about $50 and I still need another $20 worth of them to finish it up.

Thank you

Anyone know if they require "Special" dimmers

You need to get dimmable bulbs, they are available.

Posted: 8/10/2011 5:47:57 PM EDT

[#4]

I'm in the industry and I've been holding off on this new fangled lighting.
I have absolutely no use for cfl's - I'm waiting for LED technology to emerge and I think it finally has.
These are somewhat expensive but I'm going to purchase a couple of these to see how they work:

http://www.switchlightbulbs.com/

ETA: Review - http://www.slate.com/id/2298444/

Posted: 8/10/2011 5:49:40 PM EDT

[#5]

I have been experimenting with LED bulbs for a while I like these the best

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202668646/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

60w equivalent output (850 lumens). About 12w draw. They throw light in all directions. Turn on instantly. And they dim without special dimmers. I replaced 6x 60w bulbs I keep on the most in my house. I noticed about a $20/m decrease in my bill. Plus it doesn't heat up my room.

They have a 950 lumen bulb that throws out a cooler whiter light. Its not warm (yellowish) like a normal bulb.
http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-Light-Bulbs-LED/Philips/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbm79Z15b/R-202530170/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

I also like these. They dim a little better. But they take about half a second to come on after flicking the switch. This bulb throws out a really warm (yellowish) light I can not distinguish from a normal incandescent.

Both bulbs are full brightness right away. No warm up.
-Foxxz

Posted: 8/10/2011 5:49:42 PM EDT

[#6]

i hope you have several hundred dollars. it's not worth i right now, prices are still too high compared to the actually savings you might get. go CFL instead.

Posted: 8/10/2011 5:52:41 PM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
i hope you have several hundred dollars. it's not worth i right now, prices are still too high compared to the actually savings you might get. go CFL instead.

+1
LEDs will come around, they'll get cheaper, then it'll be worth it, but at $15-20 per bulb, not yet.

Posted: 8/10/2011 7:35:29 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
I am looking to change over my lights to more efficient bulbs.

If you're using compact florescent bulbs, you're already where you should be.

Many of the LED bulbs currently on the market are less efficient than their 2-dollar CF counterparts - i.e., they produce fewer lumens of light per watt of power consumed. Also, it's almost impossible to find a LED bulb with a good color spectrum - Most of them look like the florescent tubes of 50 years ago: cold and ghastly.

There are a few niche applications where these disadvantages can be overlooked - But for most residential lighting purposes, CF (or even halogen incandescent) is still the way to go.

Posted: 8/10/2011 7:42:28 PM EDT

[#9]

I just put in a test bed of LED lights in a 500 sqft room. It is in a commercial facility. They work great, but the manufacture representative (for one of the top 3 lighting manufactures) told me that practical residential applications are 3 to 5 years out. It is starting to work for commercial facilities because they leave their lights on for longer periods of time, therefore shorting the pay back period.

BTW: the lumens per watt issue and color spectrum have been address in the latest generation of LED lamps.

Posted: 8/10/2011 7:51:41 PM EDT

[#10]

I've got about a dozen of them but none of them on dimmers. There are a couple places where I want dimming bulbs (media room) and there I use halogens.

I have LEDs in the hallway ceiling lamps - big 80 LED ones that I can turn on and leave on without worry about the cost. They draw 5 watts so in a year they cost about a buck to leave on. I also have LEDs under the kitchen cabinets, in my office, as a reading light in my master bedroom, some in my ham shack, and in the laundry room. Some of them come on instantly and others have a half a second delay. With each passing year they become cheaper and more powerful.

Posted: 8/10/2011 8:06:00 PM EDT

[#11]

I'm sorry, but when did the idea of saving a nickel's worth of "efficiency" to justify spending more dollars exponentially become such a fad?

Posted: 8/10/2011 9:13:39 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
BTW: the lumens per watt issue and color spectrum have been address in the latest generation of LED lamps.

Yes, some of the latest discreet LEDs have decent efficiency and color fidelity - but few of them have found their way into bulbs you can buy on the consumer market yet. Most of the stuff currently available at your local Home Depot is still pretty crappy.

Posted: 8/10/2011 9:16:32 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:

I'm sorry, but when did the idea of saving a nickel's worth of "efficiency" to justify spending more dollars exponentially become such a fad?

Have you done the math?

Posted: 8/10/2011 9:18:46 PM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:

I'm sorry, but when did the idea of saving a nickel's worth of "efficiency" to justify spending more dollars exponentially become such a fad?

It's more than a nickel. We put $80 worth of CFL's in our house and the electric bill dropped by about $25 a month. That was about 10 months ago and none have died yet.

Posted: 8/10/2011 9:47:59 PM EDT

[#15]

I say wait. Cree is pumping out new LEDs faster than you can say "my crappy CFL burned out", and soon enough they will release a cheap high CRI LED in the hundreds of lumens per watt range. Right now we are in the 200lm+/W range for production LEDs, which is almost the maximum physically possible for a white light source.

Plus, they are very expensive right now.

Posted: 8/10/2011 9:57:54 PM EDT

[#16]

You know how when you shop for fancy loudspeakers, you would look at an audio frequency graph (spectrum) to see how "flat" it is? Well, look at the light frequency analysis graph for fluorescent or LED lights and you will know why they suck.

Posted: 8/11/2011 5:58:26 PM EDT

[#17]

If you just want to try one Lowes is/was running a sale on some last week.

$12 locally for a "bulb" that fit in a standard lamp socket. I bought one just to see how it works.

I prefer the LED light over CFLs. Not as harsh. When the price of these things drops to around $4-5 each I may just start converting.

Posted: 8/11/2011 6:42:13 PM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:

Quoted:

I'm sorry, but when did the idea of saving a nickel's worth of "efficiency" to justify spending more dollars exponentially become such a fad?

It's more than a nickel. We put $80 worth of CFL's in our house and the electric bill dropped by about $25 a month. That was about 10 months ago and none have died yet.

1. LED's are more costly than CFL's.

2. Your anecdote is anecdotal.

Posted: 8/11/2011 6:46:31 PM EDT

[#19]

Wait 3 years. You will thank me.

If you are looking to put them in to a business/commercial building that runs 24/7, they are worth it now. Unfortunately, for residential use, they don't live up to the lifespans suggested and they are still too pricey.

Color rendering sucks
glare sucks (though this isn't an issue with most fixtures)
light spread sucks
color temperature sucks

They just aren't ideal for consumer use....YET. IF you are buying now, CREE and ELite products are the only two I would purchase.

(Electrical Contractor...not trying to up-sell customers on a product that isn't there yet)

Posted: 8/11/2011 6:51:29 PM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:

Quoted:
IMHO, they have not hit the tipping point in terms of cost/benefit. I have only two of them, one in my youngest daughters lamp which stays on 24/7. The other is in my reading lamp, right next to my bed and the LED doesn't heat up so much so it is more comfortable.

Been thinking about others, especially for the main rooms of the house where the CFL's fail at higher rates than they should (one fails almost yearly).

Almost forgot, got some accent lights upstairs that are not yet set up, but they cost about $50 and I still need another $20 worth of them to finish it up.

Thank you

Anyone know if they require "Special" dimmers

Some do, some don't. Some dim, some don't.

It's really that simple. There are plenty of companies that make cfl/led friendly dimmers, which limit the low end of dimming. What happens when you put some of the bulbs on a non-special dimmer is that they flicker when dimmed all of the way down. The "special" dimmers are within a percent or two of regular dimmers, so instead of $20, you spend $22.

Posted: 8/11/2011 7:02:35 PM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:

Quoted:

IMHO, they have not hit the tipping point in terms of cost/benefit. I have only two of them, one in my youngest daughters lamp which stays on 24/7. The other is in my reading lamp, right next to my bed and the LED doesn't heat up so much so it is more comfortable.

Been thinking about others, especially for the main rooms of the house where the CFL's fail at higher rates than they should (one fails almost yearly).

Almost forgot, got some accent lights upstairs that are not yet set up, but they cost about $50 and I still need another $20 worth of them to finish it up.

Thank you

Anyone know if they require "Special" dimmers

Some do, some don't. Some dim, some don't.

It's really that simple. There are plenty of companies that make cfl/led friendly dimmers, which limit the low end of dimming. What happens when you put some of the bulbs on a non-special dimmer is that they flicker when dimmed all of the way down. The "special" dimmers are within a percent or two of regular dimmers, so instead of $20, you spend $22.

I noticed that Lowes had a special display of LED dimmers out last time I was in there.

Posted: 8/11/2011 7:08:15 PM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
I'm in the industry and I've been holding off on this new fangled lighting.
I have absolutely no use for cfl's - I'm waiting for LED technology to emerge and I think it finally has.
These are somewhat expensive but I'm going to purchase a couple of these to see how they work:

http://www.switchlightbulbs.com/

ETA: Review - http://www.slate.com/id/2298444/

Interesting that you have no use for CFL's despite being 'in the industry'. I'm in the 'industry'

, too, and we save thousands of dollars a year with them.

ETA: It would be nice if the people at SWITCH bothered to put power consumption in their breathless presentation of their products. The lumens are on par with incandescents and weaker CFL's, but don't you think power consumption would be a useful bit of info for an energy saving product?

Posted: 8/11/2011 7:30:56 PM EDT

[#23]

Quoted:

Quoted:

I'm in the industry and I've been holding off on this new fangled lighting.

I have absolutely no use for cfl's - I'm waiting for LED technology to emerge and I think it finally has.

These are somewhat expensive but I'm going to purchase a couple of these to see how they work:

http://www.switchlightbulbs.com/

ETA: Review - http://www.slate.com/id/2298444/

Interesting that you have no use for CFL's despite being 'in the industry'. I'm in the 'industry'

, too, and we save thousands of dollars a year with them.

ETA: It would be nice if the people at SWITCH bothered to put power consumption in their breathless presentation of their products. The lumens are on par with incandescents and weaker CFL's, but don't you think power consumption would be a useful bit of info for an energy saving product?

It isn't listed on their site for some reason but some articles out there say that the 75W equivalent bulb uses 16W and the "60W" uses 13W.

Posted: 8/12/2011 4:46:14 AM EDT

[#24]

FYI the LED bulbs I got have a 5 year warranty. Sounds pretty good to me.

-Foxxz

Posted: 8/12/2011 4:49:59 AM EDT

[#25]

Quoted:

FYI the LED bulbs I got have a 5 year warranty. Sounds pretty good to me.

-Foxxz

Same here, from Home Depot.

I love their brightness and natural color. I don't think the price is too bad, unless you need super bright.

With LEDs, at least the ones I have, I think they are really conservatively rated. Try one and see.

Posted: 8/12/2011 4:56:54 AM EDT

[#26]

Tag

Posted: 8/12/2011 4:58:30 AM EDT

[#27]

LED's as replacements for incandescent or CF bulbs still have a long ways to go. They are very expensive, and most have a horrible color output.

It will be several years before they can compete with CF bulbs. I have purchased HONEST '60 watt replacement' CF lamps for $1.25/ea.

They have all the well known shortcomings that CF are known for....but they cost $1.25, and cost WAY less to operate than incandescent bulbs.

I am looking forward to advances in LED technology and manufacturing, to make them economical realities.

Posted: 8/12/2011 5:12:53 AM EDT

[#28]

Lowes had a sale a while back, $10 for 40w equivalent. I replaced my whole house (I had just bought it and was doing reno) so I can't give you a savings number. Here's what I have though: 2300 ft2, Florida heat, and my July electric was $167.

The bulbs could be a bit brighter, not for themselves per se, but in a two bulb fixture 80 watts is a bit low for what I'd like. The bulbs themselves are quite bright. In fact, I bought a few $25 spots/floods and they were too bright so I installed the regular LEDs in those fixtures.

They have a five year warranty and I had three die right away but I have not sent them back yet.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - LED Light Bulbs, Please school me on them

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