LED Lamps to Replace Incandescent Bulbs - But When?

[admin]

Have you been keeping up with the LED lighting movement? I'd even go so far as to call it a "transition". The future is here - it's just a tad expensive right now. What is driving consumer and professional fascination with LED bulb technology is that it lasts longer, uses less power and should, eventually, cost less. LED lamps produce more light than heat - and that means they are more efficient. They are also safer - both for you (they don't shatter) and for the environment (they are toxin-free). You can also run LED lighting with existing dimmers. Right now they have a higher threshold for dimming than their incandescent counterparts, but they do indeed dim. The other thing we like about LED lighting is that it doesn't require the expense or bulk of a ballast system. That's less to troubleshoot, and less to pay for. It also makes LED lamps smaller - giving them the potential of being used in some pretty creative and compact scenarios where fluorescent technology fell flat on its face. For home theater, LEDs represent the next logical step for projectors - and they've already made their way into the backlighting systems of flat screen televisions.

Discuss "LED Lamps to Replace Incandescent Bulbs - But When?" here. Read the article.

 

[Warpdrv]

I'm all for the transition - although LED lamp/bulb replacements have been out on the market for a while, the cost is still not coming down, and until they get more reasonable, people like me are scared off...

I have a bunch of florescent tubes in my kitchen that I would love to replace but they were talking hundreds of dollars for a pair or even a single 12-18" bar replacement. I haven't looked around for a little while now, but it was so ridiculous that I pretty much gave up on the idea. That to me is just silly with what a strip of LED's can be had for. WHY ?

 

[wiyosaya]

I am skeptical about the statement that LEDs contain nothing toxic.

What is almost certainly true is that if they do contain anything toxic, it is far more difficult to release it to the environment - far more difficult than a compact fluorescent bulb which can release mercury if broken.

That said, when an LED reaches its end-of-life, it should still be given to an electronics recycler for recycling, IMHO. Saying an LED contains nothing toxic implies that it does not need to be recycled. IMHO, a very bad implication.

 

[majorloser]

I've been following the LED market for some time now. I have quite a few examples throughout my own home. The industry is advancing quite rapidly. The most important advancement has been color temp. For the most part they have been way too warm (yellow) or way too cool (blue). I personally want something closer to the mid to upper 5,000's in temperature for inside my home. CF's will never be anywhere as good as an LED. Too long to warm up and don't last nearly as long.

Working for the public sector we are in the transition to more electrical efficiency. One of the largest power hogs is street lighting, traffic lights and large indoor public facilities. The costs for LED fixtures is quite high per fixture. It only becomes economical when you take into account to associated costs for lamp replacement; MOT (management of traffic), labor, equipment and safety.

 

[nickboros]

How resilient are the LED lamps to having the power cut out and turn on quickly (like when the power goes out when there is a thunderstorm)? Many times this will kill a regular light bulb. Is this also true for a LED bulb. Imagine if this happens and you kill you new $65 light bulb. This is my concern.

 

[highfigh]

I've been following the LED market for some time now. I have quite a few examples throughout my own home. The industry is advancing quite rapidly. The most important advancement has been color temp. For the most part they have been way too warm (yellow) or way too cool (blue). I personally want something closer to the mid to upper 5,000's in temperature for inside my home. CF's will never be anywhere as good as an LED. Too long to warm up and don't last nearly as long.

Working for the public sector we are in the transition to more electrical efficiency. One of the largest power hogs is street lighting, traffic lights and large indoor public facilities. The costs for LED fixtures is quite high per fixture. It only becomes economical when you take into account to associated costs for lamp replacement; MOT (management of traffic), labor, equipment and safety.

Keep looking for CF- The ones I have are on when I turn them on and if it's the middle of the night, I don't want them at full brightness but when they do start lower, it's not a problem. They're not tinted blue, either. The one in the hallway entrance is a bit colder but it goes on full brightness, too. I haven't replaced a CF bulb yet and they have been there for well over 5 years.

 

[j_garcia]

I have a few CFs that have lasted many years but I have had plenty of them die as well. I have started to put a few LEDs into specific lights in the house and I am pleased with the results so far. I doubt I will completley switch over though, since the prices are generally still too high for my liking to replace all of them. As the CFs die out though, I will likely replace many of them with LED.

 

[highfigh]

I'm not convinced that using more efficient lighting will save us anything, other than the time needed to replace bulbs every year, or so. The CF and LED bulbs are a lot more expensive, but the payback takes years. As far as less electricity, I don't think we get a complete payback. At $45+ for a single LED bulb, if it really lasts 45 years longer (as the ad stated), maybe, but the problem isn't only with the bulb, a lot of the equation has to do with the power utilities.

It takes a certain amount of money to operate a power utility and if it's public, they want to pay stock dividends. If we use far less energy, they have to charge more per KWh in order to break even and we all know that their goal isn't to break even. The more we use, the less it costs, per unit.

However, running every available piece of electrical equipment strains the grid and it's already old and dilapidated, so this runs the risk of crashing it, or having brownouts.

 

[HookedOnSound]

Dimmable - maybe

I'm all for LED but I need something compatible with the dimmer switches in my home.

I keep reading about these dimmable LED models but I've been browsing alot of vendor brochures and there is a wide assortment of dimming techniques which means there is no guarantee your LED light bulb will work flawlessly with dimmer switches. The most likely scenario of an incompatible dimmer would be shortened life span, which would defeat the purpose.

Some of the better LED manufacturers have a list of tested dimmmers that appear to be compatible but realistically i doubt the tests are extensive enough considering your light bulb is meant to last 30 000 hrs.

Once I start seeing some kind of manufacturer guarantee from dimmer switch companies identifying their product as LED friendly than I'll make the switch (no pun intended), even at today's prices.

That's my 2 cents.

 

[wiyosaya]

I've been following the LED market for some time now. I have quite a few examples throughout my own home. The industry is advancing quite rapidly. The most important advancement has been color temp. For the most part they have been way too warm (yellow) or way too cool (blue). I personally want something closer to the mid to upper 5,000's in temperature for inside my home.

There are LEDs, that is the LED itself without electronics, housing, etc., out there that are in the 5000 - 5500 K range. Unlike you, I prefer mine at about 5,000K, and I have an "unpackaged" 20W, 1,000 lm, LED that is rated at 5,000K. (I'm a bit of a tinkerer. ) I expect that the reason that daylight LEDs are not more prevalent on the market is that they are being marketed as an incandescent bulb replacement - where most bulbs are WW. In theory, they will sell more that way as the "average" person is familiar with that color of bulb, and any difference in color is likely to find the common user returning them. Many people find daylight bulbs too "cool."

I would expect that the more educated people will prefer daylight LEDs. It is unfortunate that they are not readily seen in the marketplace at this time. Sooner or later, I bet they will hit the market; my hope is that they hit the market sooner rather than later.

 

[j_garcia]

I like daylight bulbs in certain applications, but it doesn't work for every room/light.

 

[Smackrabbit]

I'm not convinced that using more efficient lighting will save us anything, other than the time needed to replace bulbs every year, or so. The CF and LED bulbs are a lot more expensive, but the payback takes years. As far as less electricity, I don't think we get a complete payback. At $45+ for a single LED bulb, if it really lasts 45 years longer (as the ad stated), maybe, but the problem isn't only with the bulb, a lot of the equation has to do with the power utilities.

It takes a certain amount of money to operate a power utility and if it's public, they want to pay stock dividends. If we use far less energy, they have to charge more per KWh in order to break even and we all know that their goal isn't to break even. The more we use, the less it costs, per unit.

The math on the payback of the bulbs is pretty easy to do, as I did it this weekend after noticing 60w LED bulbs available for right around $10 each. Given that the main room in my house has a light fixture with four 60w bulbs, and it's probably on 8 hours a day (probably more), and that energy here is around $0.10 a kW/hour, the saving for me meant that the LED bulbs broke even after 222 days of use. So, 8 months after getting them they're already paid for, and that's discounting the fact that the incandescent bulbs would be past their lifespan already during that period and have to be replaced.

If utilities started to charge more, that only shifts the balance even more towards the LED lights as they'll pay off much quicker. They are a bit expensive now, but getting much cheaper, and will only continue on that route. I will probably start to replace some of the lights bulbs in our next house when we move, and replace the less used ones as the LEDs come down in price.

 

[MidnightSensi2]

People look better under warming lighting. Daylight balanced light is great for showcasing products, but for people it makes them look a little harsh.

Generally at trade shows I rig daylight balanced (or near, depending on budget) light over products and then warm light over people. 2700-3000k for people.

LEDs are getting really good. I bought 8 LED par cans last year and they are already out of date (they work great, no regrets, already more than paid for themselves).... the new **** is out of this world.

For those of you who like daylight balanced stuff, check out Kino Flo Their website is garbage and out of date ( http://kinoflo.com/ ) but it's what you see basically all film, tv and music videos using. Awesome lights.

 

[highfigh]

I'm all for LED but I need something compatible with the dimmer switches in my home.

I keep reading about these dimmable LED models but I've been browsing alot of vendor brochures and there is a wide assortment of dimming techniques which means there is no guarantee your LED light bulb will work flawlessly with dimmer switches. The most likely scenario of an incompatible dimmer would be shortened life span, which would defeat the purpose.

Some of the better LED manufacturers have a list of tested dimmmers that appear to be compatible but realistically i doubt the tests are extensive enough considering your light bulb is meant to last 30 000 hrs.

Once I start seeing some kind of manufacturer guarantee from dimmer switch companies identifying their product as LED friendly than I'll make the switch (no pun intended), even at today's prices.

That's my 2 cents.

Dimmers is another issue, completely, and the ones that will work with CF or LED are dam expensive.

 

[MidnightSensi2]

Dimmers is another issue, completely, and the ones that will work with CF or LED are dam expensive.

I use the Lutron ones, wasn't terribly expensive and works well. The Lutron system itself wasn't cheap, but was reasonable. The dimmer switches for my LED lighting were like 20 bucks each. *shrug* Bought drinks more expensive than that haha and they didn't get me laid as easy.

 

[bikdav]

LED Lighting

I bought a few of the LED bulbs to try in some desk lamps. So far, they are showing lots of promise. The LED bulbs are less annoying to the eyes than regular or CFL bulbs. As for the price issue, they are rather high in price. But, I managed to find some reduced price ones at Lowes and Home Depot. You have to hit those stores at the right time. Some of the CFLs that I bought were areal pain in the *** reliability wise.

 

[MapleSyrup]

Unfortunately, the US government seems to be bent on forcing consumers into alternate lighting technologies earlier than expected - and this might keep costs artificially high for longer than if the market drove itself

Exactly what I feared would happen. Banning the incondescent bulb may have felt good to some but such regulations only hamper development of more efficient technologies, keep the cost of living up, and does nothing for the environment. GE, for example, simply shifted the manufacturing of the bulbs from the US to China where they've no quarrels in burning coal to make the bulbs.

My main concern with LED lamps is the glare ofthe light. Thus far only incondescent bulbs radiate a "natural" glare from my first-hand experience. I'm sure more natural radiating LED bulbs are out there, I've just not experienced any.

 

[j_garcia]

My main concern with LED lamps is the glare ofthe light. Thus far only incondescent bulbs radiate a "natural" glare from my first-hand experience. I'm sure more natural radiating LED bulbs are out there, I've just not experienced any.

There are bulbs in which the LED is contained in a frosted lens giving you the same type of diffusion as a standard incandescent bulb.

 

[MidnightSensi2]

There are bulbs in which the LED is contained in a frosted lens giving you the same type of diffusion as a standard incandescent bulb.

Yeah, they can just be run through modifiers. LEDs are basically a series of tiny point sources, versus an incadescent has the whole area of the glass to radiate off of. It's strictly a surface area issue and not that of the technology.

Also with the warming a simple CTO gel in front of it can turn an unpleasant daylight LED into a warmer, more pleasing, light.

 

[majorloser]

Keep looking for CF- The ones I have are on when I turn them on and if it's the middle of the night, I don't want them at full brightness but when they do start lower, it's not a problem. They're not tinted blue, either. The one in the hallway entrance is a bit colder but it goes on full brightness, too. I haven't replaced a CF bulb yet and they have been there for well over 5 years.

I started out with various CF's throughout my home when it was built amost 10 years ago. Been through many different version, including dimmable and 3-way (both a waste of money). They've all been replaced at least once since installation. As they've "burned out" I've replaced them with newer and better versions. Some of the last versions I've installed were in some ceiling cans in my kitchen. The wife like daylight bulbs, so that what they were. I don't particularly like the look of daylight CF bulbs, but hey, it ain't my kitchen.

LED lamps have gotten a lot cheaper. I've changed out all of my 12V halogen track and under counter lighting to LED MR-16's and G4's. Been through many iterations till I was satisfied with color and light output. For the most part I've stuck with units utilizing Cree elements in cool white. The warm white LED's give off light that is way too yellow and gives things a dingy, dirty appearance. My next home lighting project will be replacing all of the ceiling cans with LED fixtures. Obvioulsy not a cheap project.

One of the main reasons I started swiching to LED's was the high heat output I had from halogen track lighting. Though I do prefer the warm, bright color you get with halogen, it's like sitting under a broiler.

Hey, I admit it, I've spent hundreds of times more experimenting on different types and styles of lamps than I'll ever see in electric savings.

On another note, I'll also be changing all of the lighting in my new travel trailer to LED's. But in that case it's to conserve battery life when not plugged in to shore power. Changing all of the exterior clearance and marker lights with brighter multi-element LED's also makes for more visibility on the road.