LED lightbulbs

[ctbaars]

Bathroom and my work bench; We have 5000K 17W bulbs
The rest of the house 2700K 17W, except the dining room chandelier that are, I think, 6W.
(100W, 40W equivalents)

 

[lxskllr]

I think I like the "edison" style bulbs. Wasn't sure about the color(2.4k?), but its grown on me. I've had several several brands of normal lamps, and they've all been good. I've had one failure on a spot light. It works for awhile, and turns off when it heats up. It lasted til the lower electric use paid for the lamp, so I can't complain.

 

[Imp]

I think I like the "edison" style bulbs. Wasn't sure about the color(2.4k?), but its grown on me. I've had several several brands of normal lamps, and they've all been good. I've had one failure on a spot light. It works for awhile, and turns off when it heats up. It lasted til the lower electric use paid for the lamp, so I can't complain.

Love those. Cool as hell but I wouldn't get one to avoid being blinded by the lack of a diffuser.

 

[edro]

Most people don't use lamps nearly as much as they think.
They don't run 24/7, or even the traditional 8hrs/day you might think.

Assuming you are replacing a 60W incandescent with an 10W LED on $.10/kwh power.
LED replacement lamp cost versus hours to payback:
$3 lamp cost: 600 hours
$5 lamp cost: 1000 hours
$10 lamp cost: 2000 hours
$15 lamp cost: 3000 hours
$20 lamp cost: 4000 hours

 

[Homerboy]

Ok dumb and admittedly, hand-holding question here...

What do I need to get a simple set-up of some smart bulbs/automation so that I can be woken up to slow "sunrise" in my bedroom (bedside lamps) and so that a few lights are on downstairs as I get up as well (lamps and ceiling fixtures as well)

As an added bonus, I'd love to get my two porch lights automated as well so they can turn on/off automatically.

Prefer to buy from Amazon.

 

[dullard]

I must have mental problems, I love the sterile look of 5000K. I want to make a big jump to the Hue White but haven't gotten around to it, right now we have a three pack of the full color Hues which are fun to play with.

I think each room has its own light color needs. I, for one, cannot tell dark navy and black apart without close inspection in a yellow lighted room but can instantly tell them apart in a white lighted room. Thus, I like whiter light in the closet. White light also helps spot blemishes in the bathroom. White light in those rooms helps me avoid leaving the house as a fashion disaster. But white light just doesn't feel correct in the den. Yellow light just is so much more soothing there.

 

[dullard]

Most people don't use lamps nearly as much as they think.
They don't run 24/7, or even the traditional 8hrs/day you might think.

Assuming you are replacing a 60W incandescent with an 10W LED on $.10/kwh power.
LED replacement lamp cost versus hours to payback:
$3 lamp cost: 600 hours
$5 lamp cost: 1000 hours
$10 lamp cost: 2000 hours
$15 lamp cost: 3000 hours
$20 lamp cost: 4000 hours

The direct energy use is only a small fraction of the cost of powering a light. You also have to pay to cool down your house that the light just heated up (assuming you live where you have AC). The cost to cool something is generally far more than the cost to generate that heat to begin with. In winter this is lessened, but you are still heating your house with inefficient methods rather than gas or a heat pump.

Also, you aren't thinking of comfort. Put LED lights in the kitchen and areas where you might hang out in the summer and now you can turn your house temperature to a much higher level in the summer and still feel cool. That is because you no longer have so much radiant heat from the bulbs hitting you. That will save you multiples of what you saved in LED power to create the light. Also think of comfort issues like bathrooms that tend to overheat (I personally really hate shaving when my wife is in the shower and incandescent bulbs right near the mirror are radiating even more heat onto my face, it is just a sweat nightmare).

 

[Red Squirrel]

Regular incandescent lights actually make sense if you heat with electricity, since it's simply adding to the heat anyway. If you heat with gas, then not so much because gas is like 10x cheaper per watt of heat. For the summer months it's negligible as you won't need to turn the lights on as much since it's practically always bright out.

 

[edro]

Also, you aren't thinking of comfort.

Interesting. I haven't really thought about that except in intense situations like a vanity in a bathroom.
Still, I think the effects are relatively negligible to most people, especially general lighting like table lamps.

 

[dtgoodwin]

My problems with LED lighting have been trying to find a reliable source that isnt gouging on price for 60w equivalent candelabra base LED lighting. The GE ones ive found are great and they arent TOO terribly priced at $8 per but dang is it hard to find them in stock.

While they aren't Philips or GE, Costco in my area has some FEIT candelabra bulbs I love. They are the "filament" bulbs where the entire bulb is glass, not just the top half, and there are 4 LED cobs that are conical in overall shape. The power supply is down in the socket itself. They are orange-ish when powered off, but look very much like regular incandescents. They come in a 3-pack for $12. I have purchased 15 in total and most of them have been in dusk to dawn lighting without any noticeable issues. I replaced 60-watt bulbs with these 4.8 watt - 40 watt equivalent, and they honestly seem just as bright as the incandescents I took out. I have some older candelabra where there is a acrylic diffuser in it, but only the top half is clear, the bottom is the power supply/heatsink. The filament bulbs look so much better.

 

[TheGardener]

Most people don't use lamps nearly as much as they think.
They don't run 24/7, or even the traditional 8hrs/day you might think.

Assuming you are replacing a 60W incandescent with an 10W LED on $.10/kwh power.
LED replacement lamp cost versus hours to payback:
$3 lamp cost: 600 hours
$5 lamp cost: 1000 hours
$10 lamp cost: 2000 hours
$15 lamp cost: 3000 hours
$20 lamp cost: 4000 hours

I'd love to pay 10 cents per kwh. I just signed up for 8.125 cents for the service provider portion of my bill. The generation cost is another 7 to 8 cents per kwh. Two years ago I was paying 20 cents per kwh when our state AG okayed the utility companies rate increase. They doubled. Can't wait to see how much they want to charge me for my carbon foot print.

I just paid $22 for 10 Cree candelabra lights to be used in our condo's outside post lights. They are either 25W (3 W) or 40W (5W) equivalent replacements of 40 watt incandescent bulbs installed this spring. Two bulbs in each post light. The idiot installer of lamps left a 1/4 inch gap on the top of the post lights and the original bulbs burnt out. Some for a second time.

The trustee responsible spend a ridiculous amount for the post lights, because she was selling her unit and wanted to spruce things up. So I, who know little about these things, figured out how to put the top on the lamps on without leaving an opening. Hopefully, I never will change out one of the new LED's which is a benefit onto itself. I got the 3W bulbs, because I don't like the damn 80W (40x2) shining through my window.

 

[dullard]

Interesting. I haven't really thought about that except in intense situations like a vanity in a bathroom.
Still, I think the effects are relatively negligible to most people, especially general lighting like table lamps.

It probably is person dependent.

I'm a relatively fit person surrounded by many unfit relatives (several are quite obese). Other than in the bathroom (where I had enough lights to essentially be a space heater on low), the lighting heat doesn't seem to affect me. But my relatives complain incessantly in my house that they are way too hot even though I turn the house temperature way down hours before they come over. I look up and they always complained only when they sit underneath a half-dozen lights (track lighting). I move them 5 feet over, so they aren't right under the radiant heat of the lights, and suddenly they are fine. I dealt with that one too many times and moved to all LED in those rooms. Their complaints went away, at least at my house. I no longer need to set the house temperature to the lower 60s when they come over. I just need to do the same in their houses.

 

[dullard]

Regular incandescent lights actually make sense if you heat with electricity, since it's simply adding to the heat anyway. If you heat with gas, then not so much because gas is like 10x cheaper per watt of heat. For the summer months it's negligible as you won't need to turn the lights on as much since it's practically always bright out.

It is probably a bit different for people way up north, but many of us in the US who heat with electricity have heat pumps which are maybe 4x to 5x cheaper than direct electrical heat.