LED home light conversion

Joel_BC · #1 10/13/13, 02:27 PM

My sources are telling me that LED bulbs offering good output (bright and comfortable light), durability, good warranty (5 years), and affordability will be widely available in North America within the next few months. In terms of "affordable", I'm being told $10 and under for a screw-base ("Edison-style") bulb, equivalent to a 60w incandescent. Something that will simply fit your existing sockets. (That would be $10 or under in the U.S. - possibly a little more for us up in Canada.) Of course, the manufacturers estimate these bulbs can last 20 years or more, but who really knows?

The brand name that people are most often recommending as the one that will best fit the bill of the above description is Cree.

As many of us are used to 100w incandescents (or compact-fluorescent equivalents) in some placements, I've inquired and been told those too will be getting affordable and widely available... possibly not long after the 60w ones.

What do you think? (know?)

jacqueg · #2 10/13/13, 02:59 PM

Just bought an LED bulb from W*Mart for about $9. It's a 60w equivalent. The light is bright and cold-feeling. I prefer a warmer-color light, maybe they will come...

davel745 · #3 10/13/13, 03:13 PM

were can I get a LED replacement for a 4 foot fluorescent tube. I have cheap Ace hardware fixtures. the bulb says F-40 universal. I was told I have to cut the ballest wires and rewire the fixture.

Joel_BC · #4 10/13/13, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacqueg

Just bought an LED bulb from W*Mart for about $9. It's a 60w equivalent. The light is bright and cold-feeling. I prefer a warmer-color light, maybe they will come...

That's what I've been told. Seems there are several 'degrees' of warmer light - already available, but possibly not yet in the cheap bulbs that have good warranties.

I'm interested in buying ones that would be similar to sunlight. I'm happy with brand-new incandescent bulbs when their light tone hasn't gone too much (yet) toward the yellow/red end.

davel745 · #5 10/13/13, 03:22 PM

I love my LED flash light How do I find out the temperature of the light I love bright light in my kitchen, bathroom, garage.

arabian knight · #6 10/13/13, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davel745

were can I get a LED replacement for a 4 foot fluorescent tube. I have cheap Ace hardware fixtures. the bulb says F-40 universal. I was told I have to cut the ballest wires and rewire the fixture.

LED home light conversion - General Chat

Yes they are out there but you have to cut wires and take the Ballast, and Or the Transformer out of the picture. As these tubes are 110 volts, not 24.
Vending Industry have already been converting those long tubes with LED ones now for over a year that are in snack and soda machines.

Joel_BC · #7 10/13/13, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davel745

I love my LED flash light How do I find out the temperature of the light I love bright light in my kitchen, bathroom, garage.

I'd do something like putting search terms like LED, light, temperature, warm, cold, and so on into Google. I'm sure the hits would get you started.

davel745 · #8 10/13/13, 04:23 PM

Thank you so much Joel

plowjockey · #9 10/13/13, 04:26 PM

LEDs are great, but IMO are still marked up too high, considering they cost pennies to make.

I'll wait until they get better and cheaper, before a complete hangover.

I'll be so glad to see tube florescence go.

Joel_BC · #10 10/13/13, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plowjockey

LEDs are great, but IMO are still marked up too high, considering they cost pennies to make.

I'll wait until they get better and cheaper, before a complete hangover.

I'll be so glad to see tube florescence go.

They must be pretty cheap to make, you're right. I think where the expense comes in (besides the retailer's mark-up) would be in advertising campaigns, transport, warehousing, etc - plus standing behind the warranty.

So much has been made about these bulbs having the potential to last for 20 or 25 years meant that the manufacturers have had to offer a substantial warranty - like, say, five years. I wouldn't spend anything like $10 for a bulb without that 5-year warranty. That means the whole chain of supply has to kick into gear for each clunker accepted back (and replaced) by the retailer.

arabian knight · #11 10/13/13, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plowjockey

LEDs are great, but IMO are still marked up too high, considering they cost pennies to make.

I'll wait until they get better and cheaper, before a complete hangover.

I'll be so glad to see tube florescence go.

Course look at how TV's are really getting an edge now with LED TV's better color, less power consumption, all make a LED tv a smarter buy now.

plowjockey · #12 10/13/13, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joel_BC

They must be pretty cheap to make, you're right. I think where the expense comes in (besides the retailer's mark-up) would be in advertising campaigns, transport, warehousing, etc - plus standing behind the warranty.

So much has been made about these bulbs having the potential to last for 20 or 25 years meant that the manufacturers have had to offer a substantial warranty - like, say, five years. I wouldn't spend anything like $10 for a bulb without that 5-year warranty. That means the whole chain of supply has to kick into gear for each clunker accepted back (and replaced) by the retailer.

It's a non-issue IMO. We can now a get a 4 pack of CFL bulbs, for $3 that come with a 9 year warranty.

LED in general have been super high reliable for 20 years. We have had them on our trucks/trailers, for 6 and I dont recall ever seeing any of them fail.

Maybe they want to charge so much up front, is that there wont be much in the way of repeat customers.

plowjockey · #13 10/13/13, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arabian knight

Course look at how TV's are really getting an edge now with LED TV's better color, less power consumption, all make a LED tv a smarter buy now.

Frankly, I am amazed how fast prices for LED TVs have dropped since inception, to get a awesome 50" TV for under $500.

But, from a manufacturing standpoint, there is really not much to them, compared to a tube tv. Screen, little control circuit board and a little power supply

Danaus29 · #14 10/14/13, 12:08 AM

I've had LEDs go bad. First were in several flashlights then a string of Christmas lights and some solar lights. I'm NOT willing to shell out the big $$$$ for LED tube lights and have them burn out faster than the fluorescents do.

I was just reading a price comparison of the fluorescent T-8 tubes vs LED tubes. A majority of the cost was the ballast replacement as $15 every 2 years. I've had the same ballast in several of my lights since they were converted to T-8 5 years ago. And the tube cost for the LED was much much higher than the listed price in the site I visited.
http://www.ledlightsworld.com/4-feet...ght-p-573.html
(of course the site was one produced by a company that makes/sells LED lights)

Another study of questionable value:
http://www.ledlightsworld.com/4-feet...ght-p-573.html

Now I could see where cheaply made bulbs and ballasts would increase your costs due to premature failure and necessary replacements. But we have had bulbs last several years and have yet to have a t-8 ballast failure. We installed the t-8s more than 8 years ago.

Ballasts were Advance brand and tubes were made by Phillips.

MushCreek · #15 10/14/13, 05:30 AM

We're using Cree 6" recessed lights in our new house, but they are $30 each. The estimated life is 32 years, and they only burn 9 watts, so they will eventually pay off. I like the light- it is warm, like an incandescent. I haven't tried any of the lights that look like a regular light bulb yet.

Oxankle · #16 10/14/13, 11:28 AM

Bought LED replacement fixtures from Lowes and inserted them in our recesses ceiling boxes. Light is much better than the 60 watt incandescents used previously. Cost was substantial, about $39 per fixture, but it was a simple changeover. Just screw in the bulb and put on the new bezel.

The choice of color temperature will improve down the line; at the moment the incentive to change is cost of operaion.

unregistered353870 · #17 10/14/13, 01:47 PM

Amazon currently has the Cree brand for $20 for a 60 W equivalent: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...2&tag=jm065-20. I think Home Depot has them too. Maybe cheaper there. I only have a few, but I'll probably switch most of them over if they go below $10.

Color temperature is goofy..."warm" light is actually a lower color temperature. 2700K is pretty close to incandescents.

Brightness is measured in lumens. A 60 W incandescent is about 800 lumens. Higher is brighter.

Joel_BC · #18 10/14/13, 02:41 PM

plowjockey and Oxankle both made points about cost - LEDs cheap to manufacture, and so prices should and will come down.

Another factor in why prices are still what they are is the companies' research costs. A true relacement for an ordinary incandescent bulb needs to rate high on the "color rendering index" (CRI), which is the measure of a light source's ability to make the colors of various objects look right, compared with natural light. I'm finding out it's been the most challenging aspect for incandescent replacement. They can make the CRI high, but then the bulb loses power-consumption efficiency. I guess they'll overcome that.

halfpint · #19 10/14/13, 04:34 PM

We have slowly been replacing bulbs with LED's. We started with the kitchen fluorescents when two of our 3 ballasts went bad, so we replaced the lights in two of the fixtures with led's (had to disconnect the ballast). We loved the light and found that I no longer got headaches while working in the kitchen (the flickering lights of the fluorescents probably caused this so we replaced the other one. We found that as our ballasts go out it is about as cheep to replace with an led so have been doing that. With some of the smaller fixtures it has been cheaper to order a new LED light rather than a long tube bulb. We also began replacing the bulbs in lamps as they have gone out.
You have to check the lumen output of the LED's carefully, and we have been able to pick up a couple of sale items at good prices.

I find that I like the LED's better, and they don't seem to generate any heat like other lights. I was replacing the reading lamp bulb over my bed every year and it was hot enough to burn, the LED has been in there 2 years now and I can touch the bulb while it is lit.

I do not stock up on LED's as the prices are constantly dropping, so I'm only picking them up when lights go out or I want to replace everything in a fixture.

Dawn

plowjockey · #20 10/14/13, 08:31 PM

I'll be very interested in where LED technology goes.

I have poor night vision and I love the powerful LED flashlights, but absolutley HATE, every multi LED trouble shop light, I have ever tried. The light was very goofy and very directional, if the light fixture was not turned or angled to the exact correct position. Most annoying.

Cant wait