LED Lighting

[California]

By popular demand

My fifth LED household bulb arrived today. Best yet!

Claimed 7 watts, 720 lumens. $8 including delivery. It seems brighter than a 60 watt incandescent. Some 75 watt bulbs don't claim as many lumens. The price on LEDs is dropping rapidly, last year I see this output cost $40.

Oops GrowFarmers I didn't mean to pull your thread off topic. I encourage you to keep biodiesel in the spotlight.

I would definitely be interested in hearing more about the LEDs. Would you guys want to start a thread?

I just noticed that October 2011 Consumer Reports rates energy-saving lighting including LEDs. They note Compact Fluorescents use "75% less energy and last seven to ten times longer" than ordinary incandescent bulbs saving "about $52 per 60 watt-equivalent over a bulb's lifetime" while LEDs "use even less energy and are claimed to last for decades".

Is anyone else buying household LEDs?

 

[ultrarunner]

Not yet...

Home Depot is running an ad offering LED for under $10 and it is supposed to last for decades.

 

[mrmikey]

Is anyone else buying household LEDs?

I will when the price drops. I've bought a couple off flea bay for outside use by the back door and they're a nice, clean light but the intensity leaves a lot to be desired.....Mike

 

[chipsndust]

So far, all I've used are solar charged lights on flagpoles to light my flags at night.

They have held up well, but are barely bright enough to do the job.

 

[GrowFarmers]

Hey california,
Thanks for starting this thread! :thumbsup:

I succumbed to my curiosity and bought a sylvania 75W equivalent flood light when I needed to replace one on my outdoor sensor lights on my garage but it is paired with a normal flood light right now so I havent gotten a good sense of the light quality. Seems pretty good. One thing I notice is that there is a delay before it comes on compared to the regular flood light. Not a big deal, just an observation.

Of the people who have bought them for indoors I have a few questions.
Is there a brand that is better than the rest?
How well do they work on dimmer switches? I have a lot in my house.
Any tips or tricks for picking out bulbs?

Thanks!

 

[Kays Supply]

I just put up an outside flood light that is LED. I could'nt be happier. It is 37 watts but is plenty bright for a night light. I got tired of replacing the halogen bulbs every few months. It wasn't cheap by any standard but I think it is worth not having to mess with changing it so often. One fall off the ladder and and it could cost way more than an LED light.

 

[jinman]

Is anyone else buying household LEDs?

Yes, and squinting. I bought six expensive candelabra base lamps from Sam's for my hanging chandelier. They are half as bright as my previous incandescent lights. Now I have these lights that I can't afford to chunk into the trash. :smiley_aafz:

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I want to try one, but haven't seen them cheap enough. I love the LED flashlights. I have a few CFL's, don't care for them, especially the CFL flood light.

 

[DavidVT]

I bought one today at HD out of curiosity. It is dim-able and very white. Unfortunately the light in this bulb is very directional vs the incandescent I replaced in a living room overhead fixture for the first test.

The package claims it will cost $4 per year to operate it...

After playing with it a bit, I plan to put it in my moist basement and leave it running year round to replace a dim nightlight.

I am looking to eventually replace my outdoor fixtures with LED lighting that is more directional towards the ground. I am in rural Vermont and don't like the classic flood lights that shine into the trees and sky for no good reason.

 

[IslandTractor]

I'm waiting. I like the idea of LEDs but my experience with compact fluorescents is not what was advertised. We change them about as often as the old incandescent bulbs despite the claims of many fold longevity. I know LEDs are durable but don't trust the manufacturing and other parts of the new lights yet. Especially not at current prices.

 

[Western]

So far I only have them in my boat. One thing is true, they draw very little power, at least on 12vDC. Have none in the house yet, well one little one I use in the deer blind:thumbsup:

This is the lights I want to put on my tractor, fair price for a water proof.

TruckStar DC LED Utility Light — 12 Volt | Work Lights | Northern Tool + Equipment

 

[IslandTractor]

So far I only have them in my boat. One thing is true, they draw very little power, at least on 12vDC. Have none in the house yet, well one little one I use in the deer blind:thumbsup:

This is the lights I want to put on my tractor, fair price for a water proof.

TruckStar DC LED Utility Light 12 Volt | Work Lights | Northern Tool + Equipment

I looked into this a couple of years ago. Problem with the LEDs for tractors is that you don't really benefit from their efficiency as you have plenty of power to run light and yet the LEDs are more expensive.

 

[California]

It's still early in this new technology. None of the bulbs I've received have a UL tag.

I didn't realize less than 400 lumens is pretty much useless. My first LED bulb is now outside the patio door where a little light is sufficient to see wildlife (dimly), and the second went into a multi-bulb frosted overhead fixture where it doesn't contribute much.

LED #3, 3.5 watt 400~480 claimed lumens, replaced a 15 watt CFL in the hall outside the bathroom door. (and 75 watt incandescent long ago). Its light level isn't quite as high as you would want for an occupied room but for there its fine. That light stays on for days when we aren't at home, so its the most important one to reduce consumption.

#4 6 watt 800 "maximum" lumens is fine for the front porch light that can run for hours. Its color is toward cold gray, not so attractive for room lighting.

The next light with 108 LEDs should have been brighter than 81-LED #3. It wasnt. And it faded over its first 100 hours to no output. It was under $7 from ebay. Lets consider that a gamble lost.

#5 that I described at the top of this thread looks like a winner, a real replacement for a 60 watt incandescent or 15 watt CFL.

So far this project is mostly $50 of entertainment. Lets hope it soon accumulates more than that in cost savings,

 

[shanehobson]

I bought 4 x 5w LED bulbs to replace 15w CFLs. Light is much whiter. Lights up instantly which is nice. Paid $NZ25 ea (about $US20). Unfortunately 2 have failed, less than 1 year old. Just waiting to hear back if they will be replaced under warranty. If they hadn't failed I'd be perfectly happy with them and would be buying more. Now I'm waiting to see how the seller treats my warranty claim.

 

[California]

Problem with the LEDs for tractors is that you don't really benefit from their efficiency as you have plenty of power to run light and yet the LEDs are more expensive.

The elderly Yanmars over in the Yanmar forum generally had 15 amp alternators - and the smaller Yanmars don't have room for a standard automotive alternator. I think early Kubota is similar. If you want to add snowplow lights etc I think LED's are a practical solution.

In fact I think the following is the solution one poster was looking for.

This is the lights I want to put on my tractor, fair price for a water proof.

TruckStar DC LED Utility Light 12 Volt | Work Lights | Northern Tool + Equipment

 

[IslandTractor]

I bought 4 x 5w LED bulbs to replace 15w CFLs. Light is much whiter. Lights up instantly which is nice. Paid $NZ25 ea (about $US20). Unfortunately 2 have failed, less than 1 year old. Just waiting to hear back if they will be replaced under warranty. If they hadn't failed I'd be perfectly happy with them and would be buying more. Now I'm waiting to see how the seller treats my warranty claim.

Exactly what I have feared. The failure rate in practice is way different than the hyped two million hours of light marketing BS. I do not doubt that the LEDs themselves last that long but if the rest of the bulb craps out in 20 hours (like half a dozen of my fluorescent bulbs have) then they are not ready for prime time.

 

[IslandTractor]

The elderly Yanmars over in the Yanmar forum generally had 15 amp alternators - and the smaller Yanmars don't have room for a standard automotive alternator. I think early Kubota is similar. If you want to add snowplow lights etc I think LED's are a practical solution.

In fact I think the following is the solution one poster was looking for.

Yeah, I wasn't thinking about older tractors. LEDs would make sense if the alternator doesn't put out at least as much as the lights require. Not an issue though on most modern CUTs.

 

[forgeblast]

I bought a few off ebay. They throw no where near the light some of the others do, but more light from an led means a lot more $$ up front.
Pros I like the clean daylight type light, most of the other lights have an orangie tinge to them, and its not as harsh as some of the CFLs can be. they do last a long time, I wanted them for our ceiling fans in our great room, replacing bulbs at 18' high is not fun.
cons $$. when they come down, and make led's specifically for outdoors ill get them.

 

[SpringHollow]

LED lights are like anything else - there are good ones and bad ones. You should be able to see how much light they put out before you buy them (the number of lumens should be listed on the package). The quality varies a lot. Also, their light is very directional so the reflector design of the bulb is important for spreading out the light if you need flood capability.

We just installed some LED light fixtures that are a flat 8" wide continuous light. It is amazing how nice they look. The design is such that it just looks like about 40' of continuous uniform light. It really is amazing. But I am sure they were not cheap.

Ken

 

[grsthegreat]

I have alot of issues with the claim that they last for decades. I was at a recent manufactures get together at a local supply house, and of the lights on display 2 had issues. One had a few burnt out LED lights on the fixture and one had 1/2 of the led's burnt out. The dealers were chest fallen and tried to explain this as the fact that they travel alot and are on all the time....wait, arnt LEDs supposed to be on 50,000 hours?? thats like 5.7 years. Since these fixtures are only a few months old....sounds kinda fishy to me. When the prices come down, ill try some. But not till then.

Home depot had a LED work light that supposedly is the equiv of a 300 watt light, but it was next to a compact florescent that was also stated to be equiv to 300 watt. The florescent was at least 3 times brighter. I'm really confused as to how they test/rate these. The florescent was $38.00 the LED was $65.00.