LED lighting

[LTLFTcomposite]

I put in a couple of these CREE LED high hat lights (sold at HD under the ecosmart name). They say they are 10.5w each, but I measured less than 10w for two of them when dimmed slightly. Nice lights, if they hold up they will be worth the rather high price.

 

[Deleted member 3147]

I assume you're referring to these: http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical...splay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051

I installed 12 of these in my house over a year ago, 6 in each of two rooms. I'm quite happy with them. They dim real nicely, although you need to be careful with some electronic dimmers which don't like the low wattage.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

I assume you're referring to these: http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical...splay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051

I installed 12 of these in my house over a year ago, 6 in each of two rooms. I'm quite happy with them. They dim real nicely, although you need to be careful with some electronic dimmers which don't like the low wattage.

Yeah those are the ones. Appears to be the same as the CREE CR6.

I got burned at my last house installing a couple dozen Phillips dimmable CFL high hat bulbs at 13 bucks a pop. They were supposed to last 6 years but many of them were failing after a year, faster than the incandescents. After I complained to Phillips they gave me my $$ back on some of them but it was a hassle and I finally gave up and chucked them. So at 40 bucks a bulb I'm going slow on this one and appreciate that feedback.

Yes they do dim nicely, which is important as these things are super bright at full power. I like the way the light stays mostly white instead of turning orange. They recommend plain old incandescent dimmers, which I assume is what I have. I also like the fact they have the trim integrated and seal up the hole to keep the A/C in. The Halo cans claim to be "air tight" but I don't get that - they have several several sizable openings to the attic.

 

[Nubo]

Gotta remember to be careful when shopping the new bulbs. It's not just wattage and lumens to keep in mind, but the wide range of color temperatures as well. I bought a couple of LED bulbs for our dining room fixture but didn't stop to check the color temp. 5500K bulbs don't work too well in the dining room. "Garish" was an understatement! It was like eating under an Arc lamp! :shock:

Fortunately they were tolerable in the bathroom in conjunction with 2 lower temp CFLs.

 

[lukati]

I installed several of these in my house over a year ago. Nice warm light and so far absolutely no issues.

 

[SteveInSeattle]

What color temperature is equivalent to a warm incandescent bulb? Can you get LED's in that temperature?

 

[amtoro]

An incandescent light is about 3200K, a warm white is about 4000K and a cool white is about 5000K

 

[widgetboy]

I replaced all my recessed bulbs with these LEDs from Home Depot also. I'm very pleased with them and the color is very nice.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

These are supposedly 2700K. I would say they are just slightly "whiter" than incandescent, subjective of course, but maybe even a little more pleasant.

Home Depot recently cut the price on these from $50 to $40. Also I'm installing new recessed lights in several rooms and found that while the "cans" are cheap (about $6 each) they want like $7 or more for the "trim", which is nothing more than a little metal and/or plastic. Since these lights have the trim integrated I'm rationalizing that the bulbs really only cost $33, compared to about $3 for incandescent or nondimmable CFL. I won't do the dimmable CFL again, and not even crazy about the other CFLs as they just don't seem to hold up nearly as long as they claim.

There is some interesting info and resources on the CREE web site about these lights. The feedback is good, but committing to a $700 investment in these is a leap of faith after the bad experience with CFLs.

http://cr6.creeledlighting.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[DeaneG]

I swapped a couple above the bathroom vanity, where my wife frequently forgets to turn them off. She didn't notice the change from incandescent (she certainly noticed the CFLs I tried first). They behave just like a conventional frosted PAR30 with a pleasant light.

 

[DaveEV]

I would love a CR6 with about double the light output. I've got a cathedral ceiling with just one can in it and it currently holds a CFL 23W R40 which supposedly puts out around 1200 lumens when warmed up.

I see that there are some PAR38 bulbs with enough light output, but they appear to be fairly directional from the reviews. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Lopton]

I just got one of these Philips bulbs (http://www.usa.philips.com/c/led-li...br30-soft-white-dimmable-046677414900/prd/en/)

It is a perfect replacement for PAR30 recessed cans. The light is nicely diffused and it is bright, but still a pleasing color. This bulb is my ideal bulb, I will be installing them slowly through out each room in my house. The diffusion is perfect unlike the spot-light like effect I get from some other bulbs, and the color temp matches the CFLs I have now (they just take forever to warm up).

-Matt

 

[DaveEV]

I just got one of these Philips bulbs (http://www.usa.philips.com/c/led-li...br30-soft-white-dimmable-046677414900/prd/en/)

It is a perfect replacement for PAR30 recessed cans. The light is nicely diffused and it is bright, but still a pleasing color. This bulb is my ideal bulb, I will be installing them slowly through out each room in my house. The diffusion is perfect unlike the spot-light like effect I get from some other bulbs, and the color temp matches the CFLs I have now (they just take forever to warm up).

How many lumens does it put out? I can't find the spec on the website...

 

[Lopton]

How many lumens does it put out? I can't find the spec on the website...

found them at home depot http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs..._mmc=shopping-_-googlebase-_-D27X-_-202673214

650lumens, 3000k

 

[ENIAC]

I bought a pack of three "Lights of America" LED bulbs from Costco for $17 a few months ago. I used them to replace 25 watt bulbs in two outdoor lights on either side of my garage and another in the entry porch lantern. They are warm white and 135 lumens. I was concerned they wouldn't be bright enough, but they are fine. They appear about as bright as the 25 watt incandescent they replaced. Each LED bulb uses only 2.5 watts. So the analysis is....

10 hours per day * 25 watts/ bulb * 3 bulbs * 365 days = 273.75kWh per year before
10 hours per day * 2.5 watts/ bulb * 3 bulbs * 365 days = 27.37kWh per year now

Savings of 246.37kWh over the year, 6 month payback on the bulbs. Or another way to look at it is that 246.37kWh saved will take me about 850 miles in my LEAF.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

I bought a pack of three "Lights of America" LED bulbs from Costco for $17 a few months ago. I used them to replace 25 watt bulbs in two outdoor lights on either side of my garage and another in the entry porch lantern. They are warm white and 135 lumens. I was concerned they wouldn't be bright enough, but they are fine. They appear about as bright as the 25 watt incandescent they replaced. Each LED bulb uses only 2.5 watts. So the analysis is....

10 hours per day * 25 watts/ bulb * 3 bulbs * 365 days = 273.75kWh per year before
10 hours per day * 2.5 watts/ bulb * 3 bulbs * 365 days = 27.37kWh per year now

Savings of 246.37kWh over the year, 6 month payback on the bulbs. Or another way to look at it is that 246.37kWh saved will take me about 850 miles in my LEAF.

I got a package of those as well for the porch light and am very happy with them. To your point about the 850 miles this underscores just how little electricity the Leaf actually uses. Basically you are saying a year's worth of driving is like 14 porch lights. That's an inconvenient fact for the "OMG the grid is going to crash you're using all this coal you traded a tailpipe for a smokestack" chicken littles in the room.

I also got a two pack of those LG LED light bulbs (they say 40w equivalent but they seem more like 60s to me) at Costco and they seem really good. They were a good deal, I think only about $14 for two. They seem to have disappeared from our store, but if they come back I'm going to get a couple more packs. Funny thing about these bulbs, of course they don't have they warm up time of CFLs, but there is a noticeable delay, maybe a half second from when you flip the switch until they come on. I guess now we have to think about boot up time for light bulbs :lol:

 

[ENIAC]

Basically you are saying a year's worth of driving is like 14 porch lights. That's an inconvenient fact for the "OMG the grid is going to crash you're using all this coal you traded a tailpipe for a smokestack" chicken littles in the room.

:lol: That's classic.

I was reading about the L Prize the other day. Phillips won the first competition. This is an interesting fact from the web site.

If every 60-watt incandescent bulb in the U.S. was replaced with the 10-watt L Prize winner, the nation would save about 35 terawatt-hours of electricity or $3.9 billion in one year and avoid 20 million metric tons of carbon emissions.

That saved power could take a fleet of EVs about 122 Billion miles or about 5% of the yearly miles driven in the U.S.

 

[Deleted member 3147]

I assume you're referring to these: http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical...splay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051

I installed 12 of these in my house over a year ago, 6 in each of two rooms. I'm quite happy with them. They dim real nicely, although you need to be careful with some electronic dimmers which don't like the low wattage.

If anyone in Northern California is interested in getting these, now is a good time. I was over at Home Depot (Blossom Hill, SJ) today and noticed that new they are being subsidized by PG&E and are available for $25 each, plus tax, out the door! That's half of what I paid a year ago!

 

[amtoro]

For some time already, I have been buying LED bulbs from tmart.com and they have worked perfectly. Their prices are also some of the lowest I've found so far and they even had the E14 bulbs for my wife's german light fixtures.

 

[IBELEAF]

Home Depot has 12.5 watt LEDs on sale which are perfect replacement for 60 watt bulbs

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=202530170&R=202530170" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Philips has just announced a new replacement for these with more lumens (900) and less wattage (10 watt), but I don't think it would be available any time soon at these prices.