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YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Sun Apr 03, 2016 6:12 pm

Just installed one of these in the light fixture over the kitchen sink, replacing a decorative clear incandescent bulb.

When the previous bulb burned out, my wife read my mind (i.e. "you're going to try and put some sort of weird-a** energy efficient bulb in here, aren't you?") and declared that her one requirement was "nothing stupid looking", which I took to mean no spiral CFLs (which I've given up on for reliability reasons anyway), and no oddball-looking LED bulbs like the Philips "flat" bulb. I figured something with a clear envelope and non-ugly innards was the way to go, since that would more closely approximate the appearance of the bulb being replaced.

The light output is a bit lower (and yellower) than I expected, but overall I'm satisfied with it, and I think it will meet spousal approval (she hasn't seen it yet, as she's out of town until tomorrow evening).

A few other observations:

It's an enclosed fixture, which is incompatible with many LED bulbs. This one doesn't specifically say not to use it in enclosed fixtures (but doesn't explicitly say enclosed fixtures are OK either). I guess I'm about to find out...

I was under the impression that "filament style" LED bulbs simply strung enough LEDs in series to create the "filaments" that a voltage converter was not necessary (i.e. each "filament" just runs directly off of half-wave rectified line voltage). This bulb, however, has a slight (but definite) turn-on delay, which seems to imply some sort of active electronics in the base of the bulb. Or at least filter caps that need a half second or so to charge up. Anyhow, I just thought it was interesting since it contradicts what I'd read previously about this style of LED bulb.

Nor am I noticing any flicker (which would be another tell-tale sign of a cheap half-wave design with no active electronics in the base of the bulb), but I wouldn't say this is conclusive. It's a bit hard to tell right now since the sun is shining through the window (west-facing) right below the light fixture. It'll be easier to tell after it gets dark outside.
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Sun Apr 03, 2016 7:21 pm

Wow....bulb makers are getting really bad with their wattage rating games. I've seen some that are pretty far off, but that one takes the cake. A standard 60w bulb is 800 lumens. They're calling that one a "60w equivalent" when it's only putting out 309. Clearly there's no regulation on wattage rating whatsoever, because that should be considered false advertising. 309 lumens is even substantially less than a 40w (450), and actually closer to a 25W than anything. It looks like we've gotten to the point where you can't trust their ratings at all, and should only be looking at lumen output.

I also noticed that the color temperature is really warm (2200k). That's almost as low as candlelight (1900k).
 
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Sun Apr 03, 2016 7:35 pm

The Egg wrote:
Wow....bulb makers are getting really bad with their wattage rating games. I've seen some that are pretty far off, but that one takes the cake. A standard 60w bulb is 800 lumens. They're calling that one a "60w equivalent" when it's only putting out 309. Clearly there's no regulation on wattage rating whatsoever, because that should be considered false advertising. 309 lumens is even substantially less than a 40w (450), and actually closer to a 25W than anything. It looks like we've gotten to the point where you can't trust their ratings at all, and should only be looking at lumen output.

I also noticed that the color temperature is really warm (2200k). That's almost as low as candlelight (1900k).

Yeah, I didn't notice the low lumen rating until I'd already bought it (it was an impulse buy at the local Lowes). My guess is that the lumen output is comparable to a historical 60W Edison bulb of the type they're emulating, and since that's the aesthetic they're going for I guess they... *ahem*... took some liberties with the wattage equivalency rating.

That fixture typically gets switched on only late at night, for the night owls in the family to get a snack or glass of water after the non-night-owls have gone to bed. In that role, the low light output -- even if it wasn't exactly my plan -- isn't really a detriment; there's another ceiling fixture if you need more light.

It's definitely not "60W equivalent" as we normally interpret that phrase, though. :-?
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Sun Apr 03, 2016 8:01 pm

just brew it! wrote:
Yeah, I didn't notice the low lumen rating until I'd already bought it (it was an impulse buy at the local Lowes). My guess is that the lumen output is comparable to a historical 60W Edison bulb of the type they're emulating, and since that's the aesthetic they're going for I guess they... *ahem*... took some liberties with the wattage equivalency rating.

That fixture typically gets switched on only late at night, for the night owls in the family to get a snack or glass of water after the non-night-owls have gone to bed. In that role, the low light output -- even if it wasn't exactly my plan -- isn't really a detriment; there's another ceiling fixture if you need more light.

It's definitely not "60W equivalent" as we normally interpret that phrase, though. :-?

I see. So I guess that because it's "vintage", the 60 watt they're equating it to is the first one he invented back in the 1800's, not the modern-day 60w. :wink:
I don't doubt that would be their explanation, either. The main takeaway is that "wattage rating" is a meaningless number without any regulation, so manufacturers are free to throw whatever they want on the package.

Another disturbing trend I've found is that "standard light bulbs" in the sense that you and I know them are almost extinct. If you go to the incandescent bulb section of any store now and look closely, what you'll actually see bulbs that look nearly identical, but strangely have lower wattages and are (again) "rated" at a higher wattage even though they have slightly lower lumen output. These are not standard bulbs. What they actually are, is pressurized halogen in a standard bulb casing, and they're prone to some degree of explosion if cracked or broken. Hooray!
 
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Sun Apr 03, 2016 9:01 pm

The Egg wrote:
Another disturbing trend I've found is that "standard light bulbs" in the sense that you and I know them are almost extinct. If you go to the incandescent bulb section of any store now and look closely, what you'll actually see bulbs that look nearly identical, but strangely have lower wattages and are (again) "rated" at a higher wattage even though they have slightly lower lumen output. These are not standard bulbs. What they actually are, is pressurized halogen in a standard bulb casing, and they're prone to some degree of explosion if cracked or broken. Hooray!

This is a result of energy efficiency standards which went into effect over the past few years. Traditional (non-halogen) incandescent bulbs no longer meet mandated federal efficiency requirements for lumens/watt.

Edit: In a somewhat amusing tangent, check out this product listing at Home Depot. Wouldn't you think the person taking the product photo for their web site would've noticed that the product they were photographing was obviously damaged?
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Mon Apr 04, 2016 9:05 am

I don't think even normal incandescent Edison bulbs put out 800 lumens / 60W rating. For example, this bulb puts out only 230 lumens to it's 60W rating. Color temperature for Edison bulbs is certainly warmer than even soft white incandescent bulbs as well, so that's normal.

Interesting what you said about the half-wave design. I just tried a couple LED floods in my basement cans a couple weeks ago and they flickered BAD when I dimmed them (they say dimmable right on the box). The flickering wasn't very noticeable/non-existent at full and half brightness though, makes sense I suppose. I bought them cheap at Menards last fall for the front porch but never got around to installing them. Their color temp is 3000k which is just too cold for my taste also. Probably can't return them now.... $15 down the drain.

I think that's the most frustrating thing about modern lighting: Going from incandescent bulbs that were very consistent in color/temperature/operation/durability/price to the wild variations we have now. Just replacing that "standard 60W bulb" in your bedside lamp has gone from a trivial task to a science experiment. That kind of time-suck should be relegated to designer/special lighting scenarios. They really need to standardize the market better. Take my flood light example above, that bulb should not have been labeled as dimmable, or never even made it to market in the first place. Color temp and lumen ratings are helpful to go by, but now we've got bulbs with the same temp/lumen specs but can vary from yellow to green, to pink in color hue (all of which variations I have in/around my house). Not to mention things like on-delay, "warm up time" etc. Just....ugh.
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Mon Apr 04, 2016 9:20 am

Pretty much all "dimmable" LED and CFL bulbs I've seen come with a disclaimer that they may not be compatible with all dimmers, especially older ones.

At least the Feit LED bulbs from Costco mean I don't need to do a "science experiment" when I need basic, frosted, soft white bulbs any more. I just grab a three-pack of the Feits and I'm done. They seem to get along well with my dimmers too.

I've had two of the Cree bulbs fail in strange ways so far (and another one that just stopped working well before it should have) so they've gone on my "avoid" list. They don't seem to be much better than generic CFLs in terms of reliability (and that's a low bar).
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Mon Apr 04, 2016 10:31 am

JBI, what about the Feit's you got from Costco? The reliability on those any better than the Cree bulbs? I still haven't bought anymore Feit's from Costco since I returned the last two packages for the irritating buzzing noise, but it's been a year and everyone seems to like those bulbs now.

I found out about LED shoplight CFL replacements late last year and was floored, it simply hadn't dawned on me these things existed until Costco started carrying them. It's changed my opinion of shoplights in the kitchen, the improvement was drastic. No flickering, instant on and they reach full brightness faster, half the wattage at twice the lumens of the original CCFLs that had burned out. And the light is much closer to white... I much prefer having strips of LEDs "shoplights" instead of a single bulb fixture for kitchen lighting now.
 
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Mon Apr 04, 2016 10:59 am

Kougar wrote:
JBI, what about the Feit's you got from Costco? The reliability on those any better than the Cree bulbs? I still haven't bought anymore Feit's from Costco since I returned the last two packages for the irritating buzzing noise, but it's been a year and everyone seems to like those bulbs now.

I have not had any issues with them; however, I have not used any of the 100W equivalent ones, which are apparently the ones that gave you grief?

I have had multiple Cree failures, and none (so far) with the Feits. So for me the Feits have been much better.
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Mon Apr 04, 2016 11:01 am

Kougar wrote:
I found out about LED shoplight CFL replacements late last year and was floored, it simply hadn't dawned on me these things existed until Costco started carrying them.

Two points:

1) May not be compatible with all fixtures. I have a Philips equivalent of those (T8 style) that work fine in newer shoplights, but not in the 2010-vintage T8 shoplights I also have in the basement. I had three old fixtures and one new, I ended up just picking up a second newer fixture so that the workshop half would have the LED tubes (which are shatterproof). Eventually, the laundry fixtures will be upgraded but for now I still have a box of T8 bulbs to finish burning off.

2) Don't buy random-brand equivalents of these things off eBay, some require a ballast-bypass modification and others have the end terminals miswired to the point of being a shock or fire hazard. Brand names from reputable retailers (Home Depot, Lowes, Costco, etc.) are generally a safe bet.
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Mon Apr 04, 2016 11:26 am

I still suspect that the "20 year life" that was bragged about for LEDs is at best cherry picked.

After TR's first article on LED lights I picked up a bunch of Crees (always write your install date on the base in Sharpie). In their second article (I think) I suggested that the next article should list the meter tested dimming over time and failure rate. I have seen many Crees fail at this point. The ones that have not failed are MUCH dimmer than when they were installed. It will be interesting when they do a part 3.

I have additional LEDs now on aquariums. Fluval SPEC 3 tanks are glaringly dimmer after only 3 months. Finnex Stingray bulbs have also dimmed a lot in just a few months.

I now notice that the LEDs in aquarium bundles at the fish shop say "6 Year life". I suspect that if you are laying out that kind of money for only 6 years (17520 hours) that the power savings over 20K hour T5 florescent bulbs are nonexistant because you can just pop in new bulbs rather than send hundreds replacing your LED light bars. If you are willing to break out the soldering iron there may still be cash savings but I doubt it as this also requires your life investment to have 0 value.

I'm not having a good feeling about where LEDs are right now. I'm just one data point, so RNG may be hosing me.
 
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Mon Apr 04, 2016 11:41 am

@Crackhead Johny -

No, I don't think your problem with the Crees is just bad luck. Cree LED bulbs genuinely seem to have some QA issues. I've had one die by losing its glass globe (the glass globe just separated from the base and fell off one day); one that started flickering erratically; and one that simply stopped working. That's out of a total of... oh, maybe a dozen or so of them. A ~25% failure rate over a couple of years is not good.

OTOH, the Feits from Costco have been great.
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Mon Apr 04, 2016 12:51 pm

I've only purchased three (3) LEDs so far, and all were Cree TrueWhite (2x40w, 1x60w) with the phosphor coated diffuser. The 60w failed about a week ago for no apparent reason, after less than 6 months.


just brew it! wrote:
In that role, the low light output -- even if it wasn't exactly my plan -- isn't really a detriment; there's another ceiling fixture if you need more light.

I've found that for the general pleasantness of the environment/room, I strongly prefer using multiple lower-output light sources rather than a single, higher-output light. I've also found that I still prefer the warmth of incandescent in areas where this is desirable (bedroom, living room). In those sorts of settings, the most inviting light would be 2-4 25w incandescents at different points.
 
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Mon Apr 04, 2016 1:32 pm

Read the fine print, and you'll always find that lifespan estimates are based on some metric where the bulb is installed in an upright orientation (for optimal convection) in an open fixture (for optimal ventilation) and run for just "n" hours a day (simulating a brief morning use followed by a longer evening's use) with a single power cycle per use period (to maxmize the driver life).

So far, I've burned out a handful of the first-generation Crees but all of those occured in enclosed fixtures. The photocell porchlight, in particular, runs as long as 14 hours a day during winter months and physically bakes against a brick wall in the summer afternoon sun.
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Mon Apr 04, 2016 1:38 pm

I have 4 of the 40W equivalent Feits in enclosed fixtures, and they show no signs of deteriorating so far. One pair of them has been going for several years now.
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Mon Apr 04, 2016 2:06 pm

I have bought maybe a dozen of the 1600 lumen (100W equivalent) Cree bulbs in 2700k and 5000k (like this), and I did have one just up and stop working. It was upside-down in a ceiling fan fixture with no dimmer and no cover, so fairly well ventilated. I also had a dimmer die on me that I swear was the bulb's fault, but the bulb is working just fine 6 months later behind a new dimmer.

I have one of the 40We 4-flow bulbs in the bed room as a reading light, and that does seem like a much better design, not getting nearly as hot as the 100We units.

I'll have to check out the Feit units next time I'm looking to replace a misbehaving CFL.
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Mon Apr 04, 2016 4:48 pm

Ooh, Feit bulbs? I have a few of those in the box (local utility was handing them out for free) - I still need to try those. Will update soon.

I've also had a few Cree bulbs where the base fell off or cracked (on 2 occasions, they had crappy glue at the time), and one where it wouldn't light (or rather, was insanely dim/barely visible at all) half the time. They're good at offering replacements though.
 
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Mon Apr 04, 2016 10:43 pm

Crackhead Johny wrote:
I still suspect that the "20 year life" that was bragged about for LEDs is at best cherry picked.

I now notice that the LEDs in aquarium bundles at the fish shop say "6 Year life".


The datasheets for white emitters show they can degrade in output very quickly at first but level off--so it is entirely possible to have an initially bright LED that puts out barely visible blue light for decades of "life" especially if run hot.

A lot of the cheaper bulbs are not controlling heat well so are expected to have a very fluorescent-looking output degradation curve by design. Phosphors do not like to be cooked so at any particular temperature they should have a different "half-life" whether those phosphors are in a TV screen, fluorescent bulb or white LED. Obviously heat depends on how hard the LEDs are driven as well as the output path for heat--those free Harbor Freight LED flashlights lose some 70% of their output by the first battery change because they are badly overdriven and because 5mm LEDs have a poor heatpath so the phosphors bake. Submerging LED heatsinks would keep the phosphors cool but then cause temperature problems in an aquarium! So use a fan instead.

To avoid this entirely simply mix phosphorless Red, Green and Blue LEDs to make white that lasts far longer than any white LED.

Heat makes LEDs dim, not outright fail, so I expect most of the E26 base incandescent replacement LED bulbs die for the same reason many CFLs do: the electrolytic caps in the driver/ballast fail from the high temperature.
 
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Mon Apr 04, 2016 11:30 pm

bfg-9000 wrote:
Obviously heat depends on how hard the LEDs are driven as well as the output path for heat--those free Harbor Freight LED flashlights lose some 70% of their output by the first battery change because they are badly overdriven and because 5mm LEDs have a poor heatpath so the phosphors bake.
...
Heat makes LEDs dim, not outright fail, ...

Dunno about that. I've had a lot of cheap LED flashlights where individual LEDs go completely dark or flicker intermittently. That seems more like a symptom of physical failure of the anode wire bond, not phosphor degradation. I'm not saying phosphor degradation doesn't happen too; just that it isn't the only (and maybe not even the most common) failure mechanism for the (presumably cheaply made) LEDs in cheap flashlights.

As an aside, cheap LED flashlights typically rely on the internal resistance of the batteries to limit the current. This means that higher quality batteries (or rechargeables, which also have very low internal resistance) do indeed operate the LEDs far out of spec. There's also no attempt to balance the current when multiple LEDs are wired in parallel; so slight variations in the electrical characteristics of individual LEDs will stress some LEDs more than others, since some will draw more current than their siblings. If the over-stressed ones then go open-circuit, this dumps even more current into the remaining ones, accelerating the rate of failures.
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Wed Apr 06, 2016 9:47 am

just brew it! wrote:
I have not had any issues with them; however, I have not used any of the 100W equivalent ones, which are apparently the ones that gave you grief?


Yes it was the 100w / 1600 lumen equivalent Feits. I'd consider buying another box to test them but I've run out of fixtures to use them in :lol:

The shoplight LED tubes I got from Costco were Feit brand and haven't made any noise.

ludi wrote:
Read the fine print, and you'll always find that lifespan estimates are based on some metric where the bulb is installed in an upright orientation (for optimal convection) in an open fixture (for optimal ventilation) and run for just "n" hours a day (simulating a brief morning use followed by a longer evening's use) with a single power cycle per use period (to maxmize the driver life).


Don't forget ambient temps, many of the CFL ratings used all those tricks but also an ambient 60-70 degree environment. I'm sure the issue of heat is just as important to longevity of LED bulb circuitry as it was for CFL ballasts.

Probably also why such a large number of the LED traffic lights in use in this city are still perpetually partially failing... :roll:
 
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Wed Apr 06, 2016 10:46 am

Lumens to watts table

Lumens   Incandescent light bulb watts   Fluorecent/ LED watts
375 lm                  25 W                    6.23 W
600 lm                  40 W                    10 W
900 lm                  60 W                    15 W
1125 lm                 75 W                    18.75 W
1500 lm                 100 W                   25 W
2250 lm                 150 W                   37.5 W
3000 lm                 200 W                   50 W
Image
 
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Wed Apr 06, 2016 10:51 am

Jigar wrote:
Lumens to watts table

Lumens   Incandescent light bulb watts   Fluorecent/ LED watts
375 lm                  25 W                    6.23 W
600 lm                  40 W                    10 W
900 lm                  60 W                    15 W
1125 lm                 75 W                    18.75 W
1500 lm                 100 W                   25 W
2250 lm                 150 W                   37.5 W
3000 lm                 200 W                   50 W

That only applies to "standard" style bulbs though. Retro "Edison" style bulbs have much lower lumens per watt.
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Wed Apr 06, 2016 10:54 am

Jigar wrote:
Lumens to watts table


Those are a bit high, at least on the lower end (which I'm much more familiar with). 25W should be around 210-240, 40W = 450, 60W = 800
 
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Thu Apr 07, 2016 2:24 pm

Jigar wrote:
Lumens to watts table


The table isn't right, you shouldn't mix CFLs and LEDS under the same wattages. LEDs are below those numbers and CFLs can drift higher. 14-18w for 1600lumen LEDs is the current average, but CFLs I've seen range from 23-27w at 1600 lumens.

Dimming compatible LEDs also increases the wattage by 1-3w and the price by a bit more, stores stock identical dimmable/non-dimmable models side-by-side so I studied a few of 'em out of curiosity.
 
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Sat Sep 03, 2016 12:55 pm

I hate to thread necro, but I was wondering if any of y'all have any additional input on LED bulbs. I'm in the market to replace bulbs on about 4 lamps and am wondering if I should try out LED. Reading up on user experiences and know-how here at TR lead me to think I'm better of sticking with CFL's. I'm doing a cursory search on amazon and seeing a ton of stuff.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st_revi ... eview-rank
 
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Sat Sep 03, 2016 1:29 pm

SecretMaster wrote:
I hate to thread necro, but I was wondering if any of y'all have any additional input on LED bulbs. I'm in the market to replace bulbs on about 4 lamps and am wondering if I should try out LED. Reading up on user experiences and know-how here at TR lead me to think I'm better of sticking with CFL's. I'm doing a cursory search on amazon and seeing a ton of stuff.

What rooms are they going in, and what type of fixtures?  A decent quality LED is going to produce better light than CFL, though CFL can be used in totally enclosed fixtures, and might be more temperature resilient.  LED is also difficult to find at certain color temperatures, such as anything in-between 3000-5000k (I prefer 3500k in my bathroom).  To me, incandescent still has the most pleasing light, for areas where ambiance is critical (and the bulbs are easily accessible for frequent changing).  My suggestion would be:

Incandescent: Living room, bedroom
CFL: Outdoors, garage, totally enclosed fixtures
LED: Pretty much everywhere else
 
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Sat Sep 03, 2016 1:53 pm

The Egg wrote:
SecretMaster wrote:
I hate to thread necro, but I was wondering if any of y'all have any additional input on LED bulbs. I'm in the market to replace bulbs on about 4 lamps and am wondering if I should try out LED. Reading up on user experiences and know-how here at TR lead me to think I'm better of sticking with CFL's. I'm doing a cursory search on amazon and seeing a ton of stuff.

What rooms are they going in, and what type of fixtures?  A decent quality LED is going to produce better light than CFL, though CFL can be used in totally enclosed fixtures, and might be more temperature resilient.  LED is also difficult to find at certain color temperatures, such as anything in-between 3000-5000k (I prefer 3500k in my bathroom).  To me, incandescent still has the most pleasing light, for areas where ambiance is critical (and the bulbs are easily accessible for frequent changing).  My suggestion would be:

Incandescent: Living room, bedroom
CFL: Outdoors, garage, totally enclosed fixtures
LED: Pretty much everywhere else


They would mostly go into plugin-lamps; with various flavors of cloth lamp-shades. There are several ceiling fixtures with dimmers as well, but everything I've read (and even mentioned here) leads me to believe the dimmer might muck up the bulb (I'm currently in an old, old, apartment). I've been using CFL's my lamps for years now and have had no qualms about the light quality. Maybe its because I'm still young (although my eyes are garbage), or maybe it's because I simply don't know what I'm missing.

I'm looking at prices for LED's and they just seem pricey relative to CFL's. Especially if the bulb is going to crap out on me in ~5 months.
 
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Sat Sep 03, 2016 7:39 pm

SecretMaster wrote:
I'm looking at prices for LED's and they just seem pricey relative to CFL's. Especially if the bulb is going to crap out on me in ~5 months.

They're rated for far, far longer than 5 months. Barring defects, an LED bulb should last you for multiple years, certainly much longer than an incandescent or a CFL.

I have moved a few times in the past five years and therefore have never seen an LED bulb die, but I've at least seen multiple bulbs hold up perfectly well for two years (my last apartment).
 
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Sat Sep 03, 2016 9:11 pm

SecretMaster wrote:
The Egg wrote:
SecretMaster wrote:
I hate to thread necro, but I was wondering if any of y'all have any additional input on LED bulbs. I'm in the market to replace bulbs on about 4 lamps and am wondering if I should try out LED. Reading up on user experiences and know-how here at TR lead me to think I'm better of sticking with CFL's. I'm doing a cursory search on amazon and seeing a ton of stuff.

What rooms are they going in, and what type of fixtures?  A decent quality LED is going to produce better light than CFL, though CFL can be used in totally enclosed fixtures, and might be more temperature resilient.  LED is also difficult to find at certain color temperatures, such as anything in-between 3000-5000k (I prefer 3500k in my bathroom).  To me, incandescent still has the most pleasing light, for areas where ambiance is critical (and the bulbs are easily accessible for frequent changing).  My suggestion would be:

Incandescent: Living room, bedroom
CFL: Outdoors, garage, totally enclosed fixtures
LED: Pretty much everywhere else


They would mostly go into plugin-lamps; with various flavors of cloth lamp-shades. There are several ceiling fixtures with dimmers as well, but everything I've read (and even mentioned here) leads me to believe the dimmer might muck up the bulb (I'm currently in an old, old, apartment). I've been using CFL's my lamps for years now and have had no qualms about the light quality. Maybe its because I'm still young (although my eyes are garbage), or maybe it's because I simply don't know what I'm missing.

I'm looking at prices for LED's and they just seem pricey relative to CFL's. Especially if the bulb is going to crap out on me in ~5 months.

Just do what most of us do-Buy one as a test...................

Have some Philips in front of me-box states-"Lasts up to 15 years" then in magnifying glass size print-"Based on 2.7 hours day"
In my experience Incandescent bulbs die at switch on or off-current surges and switch arcing probably main cause,with older switches
being the worst-Don't think LED or CFL's suffer from that problem.............................
 
Usacomp2k3
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Re: YALBT (Yet Another LED Bulb Thread)

Sat Sep 03, 2016 9:25 pm

We bought the 10-pack of 5000K Feit bulbs and love them. As the incandescent a have died we've replaced them with the LED's. Love it. Especially ceiling fan fixtures. Much cleaner light for working and cooking etc.
We just replaced the ceiling lights in the kitchen either LED. We had 3 separate 2-tube fluorescent fixtures and replaced with 3 16" round LED 4100K fixtures. It is something like 51 individual LED's per fixture. The fluorescents were 4100K also, but the LED's are much more directional, so they work really well in the kitchen.

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