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Posted By: oldskoolboarder Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/02/11 06:48 PM
W/ a 2nd plasma in the house and new lighting (mostly flourescent T8 tubes), I've seen our monthly electrical bill go into a higher tier every once in a while.

I've used our Kill-a-watt meter and even watched our Smartmeter at times and know that most of it is due to the dual plasmas at night and various lights being used during the evenings. I have quite a few computers, a NAS, and Tivos that also eat up a chunk of power as well. I've got the computers on sleep modes but the NAS has to be on. One Tivo HDD just died and I'm replacing the existing HDD w/ a newer green drive (and got it just in time to be cheap enough before the Thai floods increased HDD prices this week...)

Now I'm looking at dipping into LED bulbs for the incandescent lights that are used most. I'm doing this because those lights use 75W to 150W bulbs. Just got the Philips 60W (800 lumens) equivalent from Home Depot and I'm going to try some other Home Depot brand ones for 50W flood lamps. Has anyone gone this route? Any recs? The Home Depot website showed an 1100 lumen Philips but they didn't have it in store, nor could I find it on Amazon.

If this works out, I may even look into modding our flourescent ballasts for T5 and T8 tubes. Unfortunately, we've got at least 200' of tubes to replace...
Posted By: cb919 Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/02/11 07:17 PM
A few months ago I replaced one in-ceiling potlight with the direct screw in replacement LED from Home Depot as an experiment. The +$20 purchase price made it a 1 bulb experiment to start with!

Pros - very little heat generation which I am always conscious of with my lowish ceiling basement.

Con - light distribution and colour not as natural as I'm used to with the standard halogens. Has more of a 'honeycomb' pattern from the multiple LED's instead of a solid wash of light, not quite as illuminating.

I'm not sure at this point if I'll start replacing all pots with LED when they burn out. Still on the fence. Though anything as a night light that is almost always on I do use LED's for.
Posted By: tomtuttle Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/02/11 07:25 PM
I'm interested, but I feel priced out of the market at the moment.

We have ~20 65W recessed, incandescent flood lights in our house. My wife will not abide fluorescent bulbs, so I've just been buying cases of the regular ones at a restaurant supply store while I can still get them.

I'd like to try the LED bulbs, but I'm just not willing to spend ~$25-30/bulb to replace them. Rather die financially of a thousand cuts, I guess.
Posted By: oldskoolboarder Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/02/11 08:15 PM
I hear ya. I bought 4 bulbs to try today and it was almost $100...
Posted By: Ken.C Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/02/11 08:28 PM
I'm concerned about the light quality from the LEDs and the price. I love the idea of the tech, though.

I've found CFLs that are close enough to incandescents to pass, but we're still running a mix in the house.
Posted By: RickF Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/02/11 08:56 PM
Originally Posted By: oldskoolboarder
I hear ya. I bought 4 bulbs to try today and it was almost $100...


We replaced 4 recessed indoor 60 watt flood lights in our vaulted kitchen ceiling with dimmable LEDs for right around $200. I love the things, they are a very bright light when needed but can dim whenever we don't need the kitchen so bright. One of my projects for this winter is to replace the under counter kitchen cabinet halogen lights with LED lights.

I did try a couple of the dimmable LED lights in our TV room but they didn't dim low enough to use as ambient lighting while watching movies and TV but I did replace the lighting over the DVD storage and equipment cabinets with LED floods.
Posted By: chesseroo Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/02/11 09:05 PM
A few quick things on CFLs for those new to them:

Look for the colour rating and choose one you like.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_temperature#Categorizing_different_lighting
Unlike the old incandescent, the new fluorescent bulbs come in different colour spectrums. Get a "warm" colour range if you want that incandescent look. The "cool" colour spectrum provides more of a true white light. We got the cool look first unknowingly and it took some getting used to the colour. Since then we've bought the warm lights and they do emulate incandescent well.
Note that florescent bulbs can take a minute or so to get up to their full lumen level.

Installation is now super easy, even with small sconces (many short fluorescent bulbs being sold). The bulbs are made with the same screw socket ends.

Fluorescent are more expensive and will last a ton longer. In the past five years i've had only ONE F bulb burn out, BUT this one sits in the garage at -30C in the winter (they are only rated down to -15C). In that same time, i've replaced my closet bulb (incandescent) 3 times this past year, and two in the basement stairwell twice (they are all now fluorescent).

Dimming: you can get dimming fluorescent BUT this has to be stated on the label. Otherwise do not use dimmer switches with fluorescent.

Disposal: Many still contain trace amounts of mercury. Most bulbs can be brought back to Home Depot for proper disposal. Don't throw them in the garbage!
http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/reviews/news/4215199

I have yet to see any LED socket lights around our location but the idea is interesting in the perspective of saving power and being easier on the environment (no mercury).

Posted By: CatBrat Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/02/11 09:08 PM
The office I'm working on, (that is when I finish paying everybody off and have money to work on it), I plan on putting 4 in-ceiling dim-able LED lights in it. The bulbs look to cost about $50-60 each. I want the 90-100 watt equiv if I can find them.

But it might be worth the effort to try 100 watt cheap bulbs first to see if that is too bright.
Posted By: J. B. Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/02/11 09:10 PM
just don't buy Globe CFL's;
i bought 4 of them a couple of years back and they all quit within a year, one within 3 months.

since then, i buy GE's.
Posted By: Ya_basta Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/02/11 10:28 PM
I just tore apart the bedroom in the basement (I'm going to create a thread because I think some of you will find it interesting), and have done extensive research on LED lighting. As a result, I'm going to install Cree LED's coupled with Halo housings. They're quite expensive, but I've read many positive reviews about them-both from electricians and home owners-in numerous forums.

Here's an excellent website with an extensive selection including user reviews - Polar-ray.com

Originally Posted By: chesseroo
I have yet to see any LED socket lights around our location but the idea is interesting in the perspective of saving power and being easier on the environment (no mercury).


Mike, as an alternative to CFL's, I purchased these full spectrum bulbs for my bedroom mainly because I suffer from SAD, but the light is far superior to CFL's. They do contain mercury, but the amalgam fill prevents mercury release to due accidental breakage. They're located in Winnipeg, too.

For LED socket bulbs, there's these (the Phillips one has good reviews). I know it's not local, but I thought I'd pass it along. Maybe there's Canadian retailers online.

Peace
Posted By: cb919 Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/02/11 10:37 PM
Good info. Thanks for the links Cam.
Posted By: fredk Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/02/11 10:38 PM
Cam. Is this going to be a DIY project or are you buying a commercial product with Cree LEDs? Cree seems to produce, by far the, best LEDs in the market. Expensive up front, but they will last forever.

I switched to cfl lighting a few years ago. I much prefer daylight bulbs over the incandescent look. I'm thinking of moving to LEDs as my cfl bulbs start to fail.

LEDs do use rare earth metals, but are much more environmentally friendly than cfls.
Posted By: oldskoolboarder Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/02/11 10:51 PM
Yup, my coworker also recommended the Cree bulbs from his personal usage.
Posted By: Ya_basta Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/02/11 11:47 PM
Originally Posted By: fredk
Cam. Is this going to be a DIY project or are you buying a commercial product with Cree LEDs?


Sorry, Fred; I don't know if I understand your query.

I'm going to have an electrician install the Halo housings (as it's NOT a recommended DIY venture), and I'm going to purchase and install the Cree LED's separately. Is that what you meant?
Posted By: terzaghi Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/02/11 11:48 PM
I use all CFL's in the house. We use the "warm" bulbs throughout most of the house but use a "cool" or "daylight" bulb or something in the office which really helps. No plans to switch to LED yet. try this:
http://www.easywebcalculators.com/cf.htm

Posted By: Ya_basta Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/03/11 12:00 AM
One thing to consider when selecting a LED bulb if you're using a dimmer is that a dimmer decreases the maximum output of said bulb. I've read that it'll take 15 watts of electricity off the top; so a 65 watt bulb will have a maximum output of 50 watts.
Posted By: Ya_basta Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/03/11 12:16 AM
Here's a website I have bookmarked that has detailed information comparing LED, CFL and incandescent bulbs.
Posted By: fredk Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/03/11 12:57 AM
Originally Posted By: Powertothepeople


Sorry, Fred; I don't know if I understand your query.

I'm going to have an electrician install the Halo housings (as it's NOT a recommended DIY venture), and I'm going to purchase and install the Cree LED's separately. Is that what you meant?

I should have searched first. To me, DIY is assembly from raw components. If you are Uber DIY, you also make your own ballasts.

I've looked into LEDs for aquarium lighting should I get the urge to set up my salt water tank again.
Posted By: nickbuol Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/03/11 01:40 AM
I hate CFL. The house we bought a few months ago was full of CFLs everywhere. I hate, hate, hate them. I can turn on the can lights in the kitchen at night, and it is so dim until they warm up. I know, someone is going to say that they are cheap ones or this or that. I went out and returned some "cheap" ones I bought about a year ago for our old house and bought more expensive CFLs and they didn't do much for me either. The "this 15 watt CFL is the same light output as a 75 watt incandescent" statements are crap. Maybe the light coming out right at the glass itself, but in real world situations, they aren't as bright.

So I don't care for them (hate hate hate).

They aren't the massive energy saving awesomeness that they are bragged up as being either. On the other hand, LEDs are super energy efficient, but they are way more costly and have the issues mentioned above by people.

Will CFLs save some money for some people? sure, for some, but I don't like the trade-offs. I want instant, full power light now, not once they warm up... Don't mention the fact that they are super toxic. I was reading somewhere about 6 months ago that if a CFL falls on your (the example was) carpeted floor and breaks, you are supposed to evacuate the room of people and pets, to let the fumes dissipate, and then you are supposed to cut out the carpet and pad from the area around the broken bulb and put that and the broken bulb into a thick plastic bag and take it to a recycling center that handles toxins... Not for me... I still hate them.

I think that LEDs will get there someday. Heck, CFLs weren't very cheap when they first came out either. I guess I better stock up on my energy hogging 100 watt incandescent before the end of the year... (No, I don't really use 100 watt bulbs anywhere.)
Posted By: CatBrat Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/03/11 02:00 AM
Hmmm. I'm going to be the first to say that almost all of the bulbs in my house are CFL's. The ones I first bought are in the bedroom ceilings and they are dim when first turned on and take a while to brighten up. But the ones in my dining room chandleer and living room pole lamp are instantly bright. I couldn't tell you what the difference is, except for how old and new they are.

I agree about the brightness. If I want a 75 watt brightness, I get a bulb rated at 100 watt equivalent.
Posted By: nickbuol Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/03/11 02:40 AM
I will say that I've had better "luck" with smaller CFLs, but the larger ones have been suspect.
Posted By: oldskoolboarder Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/03/11 03:26 AM
I tried the Philips 12W LEDs from Home Depot to replace the 100W incandescents in our kitchen. They're 'supposed' to be equivalent to 60W w/ an 800 lumen output. Surprisingly, they almost worked but since it's a main room light, it was just a tad too weak. I'm going to suck it up and buy the 17W 75W ones online. I think those'll work just fine.

I do understand that even w/ the costs amortized across the life of the bulb, it may still be more $ vs standard bulbs but it'll keep my bill from jumping from one power tier to another during the darker, winter months.

I did replace the closet 50W halogens w/ the Ecosmart 40W LED equivalents (8W) and those look great, not surprising since it's a floodlight application. That'll drop the closet from 150W to 24W, which will be significant because we forget to turn off that light for hours at a time.
Posted By: MarkSJohnson Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/03/11 11:07 AM
Almost my whole house is CFLs, the only exception being two rooms (my office and the living room overheads) that have dimmers as well as some desk lamps, etc. I don't have a problem with the lack of instant-on... in fact, in the dark, I almost prefer the fact that they come on instantly to see where I'm walking...but at maybe 40~50% brightness... and go to full brightness within a minute to let my eyes adjust a bit. I don't know what the difference was in the electric bill, because quite frankly a much larger part of the bill is all the equipment that's on all day. Even our front porch lights (6 bulbs on wall sconces and three floods) as well as the floods on our sign out front are all fluorescent. Those, in the winter, might take a full five minutes to get up to speed, but they come on at dusk and go off at dawn, so I'm fine with the slower warm-up and I'm sure that they're saving a good amount on the electric bill.

One thing that I've done...and someone please correct me if I'm wrong here... is to pack much higher-output bulbs in the fixtures since going to CFLs. For instance, I might have a ceiling fixture that's rated to take two 60 or two 75-watt bulbs, but I've replaced it with two CFLs that are "100-watt equivalent". My rationale is that they're drawing less juice AND producing less heat than traditional tungsten bulbs...so what's the harm? I certainly appreciate the extra brightness. I have found that these CFLs don't last more than a couple of years, and I'm not sure if it's because they still don't dissipate the heat in an enclosed ceiling fixture or I just bought a bad brand in bulk when I first switched them all over 3-4 years ago.

I haven't converted anything towards LEDs yet (the bulbs are still too expensive), but I just purchased an under-counter lighting kit that was dirt-cheap and has fantastic reviews for the kitchen re-do and I bought a single under-counter strip to use for a rack in my office. This second one was 35% off at a nearby Lowes that's closing, and man, is it bright... almost too much... but will work well for the task light I needed it to be. That kit from Amazon (first link) sure isn't much to look at, and it's not as bright, but it's a really good value. That company ( Inspired LED) seems to have a very good reputation and great pricing on LED.
Posted By: chesseroo Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/03/11 02:57 PM
Just to clarify the light issue, a 75W incandescent bulb may put out more light (measured by lumens) than a rated equivalent 75W (actual 15W) flouresent bulb.
People make the mistake of thinking these wattage comparisons are perfectly equivalent to light output, but they are not.
Does it matter then if you need to buy a 100W (equivalent) F bulb to replace a 60W I-bulb?
No, b/c the F-bulbs pretty much all cost the same regardless of wattage so who would care?

In regards to the mercury, there is a good factsheet here:
http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/promotions/change_light/downloads/Fact_Sheet_Mercury.pdf
And the important thing to note are quantities.
Everyone on these boards sucks in more mercury every year from eating fish and breathing air than you would if you ever managed to break a single CFL bulb somewhere in your lifetime.
Secondly, the mercury in these bulbs are inorganic (not organic) in form and often bound in an amalgam (the organic form - methyl mercury, is the toxic material). Anyone here over the age of 40 who has teeth fillings should be more concerened about that mercury content than getting mercury from a CFL bulb breaking

Education people, education....let's not monger the fear eh?
Posted By: medic8r Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/03/11 03:32 PM
Thanks, chesseroo. I've wondered about the mercury issue, and this puts it into proper perspective.
Posted By: tomtuttle Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/03/11 11:29 PM
Nick is still The Man.
Posted By: oldskoolboarder Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/03/11 11:52 PM
Tonight I'm trying to swap out the halogens on the kitchen hood. Right now they're 2 50W GU10 halogens. Going to try a 4W Ecosmart LED replacement. One big thing I noticed is that the original halogen is REALLY hot so replacing it w/ a cooler LED should help w/ the heat dissipation when you're standing at a hot stove.
Posted By: jakewash Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/04/11 12:31 AM
The only thing I have done is swapped out my lights in my trailer for LED's, my battery now lasts much, much longer. My house has G10 base Flourescents in all fixtures and they warm up fairly quickly but I would like to try some LED's if/when I see some with a G-10 base.
Posted By: Ya_basta Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/04/11 02:03 AM
Originally Posted By: jakewash
I would like to try some LED's if/when I see some with a G-10 base.


Here ya go, Jay - Link

Canadian sites (there are more) - Link Link
Posted By: oldskoolboarder Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/04/11 02:20 AM
Actually, I just replaced a 50W GU10 halogen with a 6W LED GU10 (rated as 20W equivalent) and it's actually brighter, though much whiter than the halogen. But it's WAY cooler (temp-wise, you can't even touch the halogen) and since it's the oven hood, don't really care about the specific color. It's the Ecosmart (Home Depot) brand and cost about US$20.
Posted By: oldskoolboarder Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/04/11 02:39 AM
If anyone knows where to find GY6.35 LED bulbs to replace 50W, I'm listening.
Posted By: INANE Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/06/11 04:31 AM
I'm guessing LED's will get better over time but right now they are way too expensive IMO. Plus their light quality is not very good.

I'm not a big fan of CFL's but I do use them in a few places where we tend to leave lights on for long periods of time. My new HT will be all incandescent thou. I'm not too worried about power usage there because they will usually be dimmed which saves some power.
Posted By: Ya_basta Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/06/11 01:32 PM
Ben, I don't know if you saw my earlier post where I mentioned I use full spectrum lighting. Have you looked into it? It's very efficient lighting, and would be a much better alternative to incandescent bulbs, or even CFL's for that matter because from an interior design perspective, the light output mimics the sun and really brings out the colours of a room.

Even though you'll have them dimmed the majority of the time, they'll still give more "life" to your HT.
Posted By: INANE Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/08/11 05:55 AM
For some applications I do like the higher freq lights that mimic the sun but for living room type settings I actually prefer the yellowish light you get from incandescents.
Posted By: chesseroo Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/08/11 03:26 PM
Originally Posted By: INANE
For some applications I do like the higher freq lights that mimic the sun but for living room type settings I actually prefer the yellowish light you get from incandescents.

Much like audio standards to oneself, many ppl got used to the yellowish lights for so long that the newer colour variations for CFLs were hard to accept.
In some situations, the warm white colour is actually easier on the eyes (i find the cool white light to be hard on the eyes reflecting off of white paper).
However, as household wall colours go, the more natural white light better compliments one's house colour choices as they are not painted with a yellowish hue. Something i've noticed since installing CFLs (cool whites) into the hallways.
Posted By: Murph Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/08/11 07:25 PM
One can take solace in that there is no "true black" in the universe, nor true white for that matter. It's all perception dependent on the contrast of the surroundings.

Hmmm, Black holes possibly being the one exception. Since they are sucking in light, they might appear truly black no matter what the background.
Posted By: HomeDad Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/19/11 08:43 PM
Well, I had never hear of LED light bulbs until I checked the forum a couple weeks ago.

I first replaced a couple dimming bulbs in the family room with LEDs and although they don't put out as much light I liked the effect better. Then I went on to replace the 10 CFL bulbs in the recessed lighting in our kitchen with these, IDEAL LED (CREE) 12 Watt Warm White 3000K PAR30 Flood Light Bulb 90 deg - Replace 100 watt.

I really like the color of the lights compared to the CFLs and the fact that the lights are bright immediately rather than the warm up of the CFLs. For the price they better last the 20 years as advertised.

But I'm really happy with the results in the kitchen, and once again I browse this forum and it costs me money smile
Posted By: cb919 Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/21/11 03:21 PM
Battle of the Bulbs
Ran across this article today about the phase out of incandescent lighting in Canada and USA.

For the stock thread - maybe it's a good time to be investing in LED manufacturing stocks?
Posted By: INANE Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/26/11 06:30 AM
Articles like that are just frustrating for me to read as someone that rejects CO2 being labeled a pollutant. That said I'm a believer in efficiency and saving money but that's a much more complicated comparison.
Posted By: Zarak Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/28/11 03:15 AM
Is there anything special about the Cree part that it should be on the must have list when buying a LED bulb?
Posted By: oldskoolboarder Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/28/11 06:04 AM
My coworker swears by the Cree. Apparently they're bright and pretty close to incandescent coloring.
Posted By: michael_d Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/28/11 08:46 PM
Rates where I live are .2544/kWh, one of the highest in the US.

Years back I swapped all bulbs I could to CFL and converted many to 12v. Now I'm looking into LED. But, like already mentioned, they are expensive. Costco is starting to carry a few now and I pick up a couple boxes each time I go through the store.

Some CFL light immediately. I did not know this at first and ended up buying them twice. Again, go to Costco to get the ones that light immediately. I find they do put out bright, near 4300K light. You just have to look for them.

One concerning point with CFL, is that they are very dangerous if you happen to break one and then step on them. We had a safety bulletin go out at work with pictures. Very gruesome. Be careful changed them, and if they bind on you, don't just grit your teeth and keep turning. Get some gloves and eye protection. And whatever you do, never step on one. You might just have to amputate your foot - no exaggeration.
Posted By: fredk Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 11/29/11 02:08 AM
Originally Posted By: Zarak
Is there anything special about the Cree part that it should be on the must have list when buying a LED bulb?

Cree makes the best LEDs in the market by quite a margin. A lot has to do with reliability.
Posted By: MarkSJohnson Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 03/13/12 02:26 PM
Resurrecting an old thread to ask a couple of questions about LEDs:

LEDs consume less power and create less heat. So, does anyone know why:

1- LED bulbs are built like they have huge heat sinks?

2- I can never seem to find 100W replacement bulbs? They always seem to be 40~60 watt replacements...with the occasional 75 watt replacement. I have many locations where I'd like to have 100 watt-equivalent bulbs on a dimmer, to allow brightness for tasks and dimming for normal or mood lighting.
Posted By: Ken.C Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 03/13/12 02:37 PM
Probably because the electronics associated produce a lot of heat.
Posted By: MarkSJohnson Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 03/13/12 02:56 PM
Is there a built in transformer?
Posted By: Ken.C Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 03/13/12 03:35 PM
More than meets the eye!
Posted By: cb919 Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 03/13/12 03:58 PM
Mark, I am not an expert but believe the extra parts behind the bulb are both transformer and heat sink as LED's radiate the little heat they produce backwards. I did some Google searching, here's a site that had a bit of useful information.

Also because of this thread I have started slowly replacing my halogen potlights with LED's. My strategy is mostly to wait for the GU-10 halogen to burn out and replace with an LED. I actually find I prefer the LED light better than the halogen anyway. I have been buying the Philips LED replacement from Home Depot which I believe is just re-badged Cree.
Posted By: CatBrat Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 03/13/12 04:09 PM
Speaking of heat, I had one of those curly lights go out on me last week. Normally they are very low heat. When this thing went out, there was a spot on it (where the light is emitted, but near the base) that got very hot to the touch.
Posted By: dakkon Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 03/13/12 04:40 PM
Originally Posted By: MarkSJohnson
Resurrecting an old thread to ask a couple of questions about LEDs:

LEDs consume less power and create less heat. So, does anyone know why:

1- LED bulbs are built like they have huge heat sinks?

2- I can never seem to find 100W replacement bulbs? They always seem to be 40~60 watt replacements...with the occasional 75 watt replacement. I have many locations where I'd like to have 100 watt-equivalent bulbs on a dimmer, to allow brightness for tasks and dimming for normal or mood lighting.


Mark, its the way that an LED functions on the atomic level. A traditional light, generates light from heating the tungston to a ridiculous temperature, hence the reason they use tungston... LED's are a much more eloquent (scientific) way of generating light.....

When i was in school for electrical stuff, we spent a large amount of time on Diodes, which included LED's.. However, i do not remember the best way to explain it to you, so you will have to do some reading.. I found these two articles. They are pretty good, the second one seemed to go a bit more in-depth (i did not "read" the entire articles, i skimmed them for content)

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/led2.htm
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/03/how-an-led-works/
Posted By: MarkSJohnson Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 03/13/12 04:53 PM
Hmmmm the "How Stuff Works" link might be a bit dated:

Quote:
Over the next couple of pages we'll take a look at the future of LEDs in our homes. One day they may be plugged into our light bulb sockets, lighting up our digital readouts and illuminating the millions of pixels that make up our high-definition televisions.


Not that I'm not grateful for the links! I wasn't having any luck Googling for the info!
Posted By: BrenR Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 03/13/12 05:08 PM
Originally Posted By: MarkSJohnson
Hmmmm the "How Stuff Works" link might be a bit dated:

Quote:
Over the next couple of pages we'll take a look at the future of LEDs in our homes. One day they may be plugged into our light bulb sockets, lighting up our digital readouts and illuminating the millions of pixels that make up our high-definition televisions.


This new invention called "plastic" may prove to replace Bakelite in many applications... you may even have body panels and bumpers in your car made out of it someday. Ha ha! No, just kidding, that would be stupid!

Bren R.
Posted By: dakkon Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 03/13/12 07:25 PM
Mark, the todayifoundout link discusses the physics of LED. While manufactures may change materials, the fundamental physics of the operation of an LED should not change. I would recommend reading that article
Posted By: RickF Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 03/13/12 08:10 PM
Speaking of LED lighting, we're in the process of a little home makeover and one the of things we are doing is replacing the old plug and play halogen/xenon puck lights with hard wired dimmable LED 'tape' lighting for both our kitchen and den cabinets. Not cheap by any means but we are really excited to see the outcome, our electrician says they are doing quite a lot of those for undercounter lighting nowadays. The heat generated from the old puck lights was tremendous, we could actually feel the heat from the little lights mounted under the counters inside of the cabinets.

I absolutely couldn't wait to get rid of those things.
Posted By: BrenR Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 03/13/12 08:59 PM
Originally Posted By: RickF
The heat generated from the old puck lights was tremendous, we could actually feel the heat from the little lights mounted under the counters inside of the cabinets.

Make a pest a pet... can you think of a better way to preheat plates? wink

Bren R.
Posted By: RickF Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 03/13/12 09:23 PM
LOL ... We never thought of that Bren, great idea!
Posted By: BrenR Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 03/14/12 02:16 PM
Nothing worse than putting hot food on a cold plate...

Well, no, that's not true... LOTS of things are worse...:P

Bren R.
Posted By: CatBrat Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 03/14/12 02:30 PM
Originally Posted By: BrenR
Nothing worse than putting hot food on a cold plate...

Well, no, that's not true... LOTS of things are worse...:P

Bren R.


Like no food and no plate?
Posted By: zero002021 Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 03/21/12 12:19 AM
I bought ten of the Philips Ambient LED 12-Watt (60W) to try around the house. I installed them in the kitchen and upstairs hallway, and so far they're working great. They're bright and the color temperature is similar to that of a regular incandescent light bulb. If they actually last as long as they are rated to, they will be worth the money.
Posted By: cb919 Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 02/25/13 05:46 PM
Small update on the LED subject. I was dragged/duped into going to Ikea this weekend by my wife. I had managed well over a year without being in an Ikea and even avoided the new 'super' Ikea since it opened here in Ottawa.

Anyways, while trudging through the lighting section I noticed that Ikea sells LED GU10s for only $10 a piece. I have no idea if they are Cree or who makes them, but that is less than 1/2 of what I had been paying at Home Depot as I have been slowly replacing all the pot light bulbs in basement. Who knew? I did not buy one, but next time I need one I'll try one of those for the cost savings.
Posted By: tomtuttle Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 02/25/13 05:55 PM
You didn't buy one.

Thanks a lot.

Now somebody else has to brave the horrors of Ikea for us to get a review.

wink
Posted By: CatBrat Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 02/25/13 05:58 PM
I put some cheap LCD bulbs over the mirror in the bathroom about 3 months ago. Now they are burned out. I wasn't impressed.
Posted By: MarkSJohnson Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 02/25/13 05:59 PM
Front me some meatballs and I'll do it.

Jeeez, some of these jokes write themselves!
Posted By: CatBrat Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 02/25/13 06:00 PM
Your response tempted me to go back to my last message and change the contents. Hehe.
Posted By: fredk Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 02/25/13 06:03 PM
They're probably not Cree. I wonder how much longer Cree's patent runs? At some point it is no longer going to matter who makes the LED units.

I'm still working through my supply of CF's from 4 years ago. Those things last a long time.

I must say I do not understand why people like the light from incandescent bulbs. To me they are a dingy yellow that is so far from what sunlight provides.
Posted By: INANE Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 02/26/13 06:09 AM
I'm sick of replacing CF's that fail after 1 year (I've had many) and LED bulbs have limited use for me. Guess I'm just picky about the light quality they give. There are plenty of incandescents that aren't yellow but I do like that soft yellowish light in some cases. It's easier on the eyes (for me at least) than those bright "white" bulbs.
Posted By: fredk Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 02/26/13 05:31 PM
Why are LEDs of limited use?

I have not bought a lighbulb in two or three years now.

I should probably get back up to speed on LEDs. I suspect some of my CFs are close to end of life.
Posted By: INANE Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 02/27/13 05:45 AM
They just don't diffuse light very well. Definitely are not "warm" at all either. I think you'd need to find a location for an LED that is only nearly 24/7 to ever recoop the amount of money you spend on them.
Posted By: fredk Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 02/27/13 08:07 AM
I think diffusion is a design issue. without a reflector, they will radiate 180 degrees or close to that. A lot of what I have seen are designed like spotlights: not the best for a floor lamp.

I have not looked at the spectral output of what is in the market, but I personally do not like the yellow incandescent look (somewhere around 3500K). I prefer something closer to sunlight (6500K).

A good LED has a useable life approaching 50,000 hours. That's around 17 years at 8 hours per day, or a lifetime for 4 or 5 hours.

To me, it is as much about the resources used as it is about energy savings. CF are dirty. They last around 3 years and have a high content of rare earth metals. LED has a much higher life and much lower rare earth content (as far as I know anyway).

1 LED = 6 CF = 34+ Incandescent (I figure at least two incandescent per year unless you go hospital grade)
Posted By: pmbuko Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 02/28/13 03:02 AM
Personally, I'm waiting for these LED bulbs to be available:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/619878070/nanolight-the-worlds-most-energy-efficient-lightbu
Posted By: INANE Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 02/28/13 05:55 AM
I completely agree that LEDs make more sense than CF. I really have no love for CF as their light quality is poor as well IMO, thou they do diffuse similarly to incandescents. 6500k is way to high for me. At that freq lights get a blue tint to them that I just can't stand. I am looking forward to LEDs to continue to develop and drop in price. I'm just not yet happy with them especially at their price point.

As for life expectancy, for lights that are just used as needed (kitchen, dinning, bedrooms, hallways) I've found CF fail more often than incandescents, at least the ones I've had. When I hear people talk about incandescents failing after 6mo or so I question the use because that is not my experience. In my 3 year old house I have a mixture of incandescents and CF doing similar duties and have replaced far more CF bulbs. The only incandescents I've had to replaced were ones that got "bumped" which I will concede is a weakness of those type. The other downside to them is heat. I will conceed that during the summer I try hard to keep them dimmed in my HT room because there is no place for the heat to escape the room on days when we're not needing to run the AC for rest of the house.
Posted By: fredk Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 02/28/13 07:32 PM
Originally Posted By: pmbuko


Hmm, considering that Cree already delivers over 100 lumens per watt on commercially released LEDs and has delivered 276 lumens per watt in the lab, I'm not impressed. Good marketing though.

This one delivers between 100 and 140 lumens per watt depending on color temp.
Posted By: pmbuko Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 02/28/13 11:46 PM
Originally Posted By: fredk
Hmm, considering that Cree already delivers over 100 lumens per watt on commercially released LEDs and has delivered 276 lumens per watt in the lab, I'm not impressed. Good marketing though.

This one delivers between 100 and 140 lumens per watt depending on color temp.

I don't quite understand why you're unimpressed. The NanoLight can deliver over 1600 lumens with 12 watts, which breaks down to over 133 lumens per watt. This product may even be using that LED from your second link.
Posted By: Murph Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 03/01/13 12:21 PM
Of all the things I figured I would experience when I joined this forum, I have to admit that a hearty discussion on light bulbs would be one of them. Round two of such discussion even!

There is a Big Bang Theory episode in here somewhere.
Posted By: fredk Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 03/01/13 03:34 PM
Originally Posted By: pmbuko
[quote=fredk]I don't quite understand why you're unimpressed. The NanoLight can deliver over 1600 lumens with 12 watts, which breaks down to over 133 lumens per watt. This product may even be using that LED from your second link.


I have not looked lately, so maybe they are ahead of other manufacturers, but that level of light output is in line with current generation LEDs that everybody has access to.
Posted By: pmbuko Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 03/01/13 03:55 PM
Originally Posted By: fredk
I have not looked lately, so maybe they are ahead of other manufacturers, but that level of light output is in line with current generation LEDs that everybody has access to.

Right, but those are for a single LED, not for an actual multi-LED bulb that doesn't require a heat sink and actually has great omni-directional dispersion. smile
Posted By: JBG Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 04/20/14 07:04 PM
Changed for led bulb in & out of the house where ever I could 18 - outside and 28 - inside its a long term return investment thing also it started out in the HT room because the heat that the old bulbs generated and it gradually made its way all through out the house
Posted By: chesseroo Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 04/21/14 09:13 PM
I finally ran out of CFLs and bought 3 LEDs for the bathroom today.
Haven't installed them yet.
Posted By: pmbuko Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 04/22/14 03:38 AM
You just gave me green balls.
Posted By: chesseroo Re: Anyone move to LED bulbs? - 04/22/14 06:56 PM
Originally Posted By: pmbuko
You just gave me green balls.

Those were not meant for a light socket Peter.

Anyway, the new LEDs are in place and lit up quite nicely. I was hoping to get more of cool white light (these ones were 'soft' white 3000K, up slightly from the 2400K 'warm' white). I had a choice to get a natural daylight bulb (5000k), but the bulb size was larger (more typical of a full size incandescent bulb) and would have stuck out the bottom of this fixture which required a stubbier bulb (but still a standard medium base).
http://download.p4c.philips.com/l4b/9/929000249111_eu/929000249111_eu_pss_aenaa.pdf

I'll put up with the slightly yellowish light for now and when more options are available in this short bulb size, i'll move those lights into a bedroom perhaps.

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