LED light bulbs

[ctfjr]

I have also changed to 100% leds.

I was fortunate (??? maybe not so much) several years ago when the excavator was pulling out my underground oil tank he snagged and pulled out the neutral from my service. Didn't realize it for 3 days. By then we had major problems.

Every dimmer (over 100) was shot. The fluorescent lights in the garage and basement were toast (ballasts bye bye). The electrician said even the ones still working were questionable and a fire hazard. That's all my insurance company needed to hear.

As Lutron was mentioned before, that's what he used after I did my research. All The bulbs were changed to leds - even my 11 4' 4 tube fixtures in my basement workshop. They were troffers I got for free when the company I work for went to leds.

 

[Captain13]

I have some LED's. However, they are not as dimmable as incandescent bulbs. I've had some wacky behavior in the low voltage (MR16) recessed cans. Lutron Dimmers.
The lights that are the old style recessed (PAR38???) dim fine. Some others dim to a point and either go off suddenly, flash or just plain act weird. I tried them in the garage door opener. The ones I got prevented me from closing the door at a distance if the lights were on (as they would be as you pull out of the garage).
At least LED's are not temperature sensitive and will work in the cold. At some point, I wll relace the fluorescent tube lights in the garage with LED's when the current bulbs have to be replaced.
I swapped out a 60W incandescent for a 100W LED equivalent in a shower. Made all the difference and it draws a lot less power and does not get hot. Win-win!
I imagine for security lights that are hard to reach LED's will be a one time install and will outlast the owner.

Check out the GE bulbs. Lowe’s carries them. There is a dimmable and a non dimmable version. On all dimmable LEDs now, it will be stamped on the base if the light is dimmable. Just changed out some in my kitchen that wouldn’t dim properly and the dimmable ones work great.

 

[DustyRusty]

Not all Lutron Meistro dimmers are LED friendly. I had a house full when we built the home in 1983, and they all had to be replaced with the new LED Meistro dimmers. They work extremely well with better-quality LED bulbs.

 

[William1]

Check out the GE bulbs. Lowe’s carries them. There is a dimmable and a non dimmable version. On all dimmable LEDs now, it will be stamped on the base if the light is dimmable. Just changed out some in my kitchen that wouldn’t dim properly and the dimmable ones work great.

If/when I need to replace bulbs, I will have to look into that. I have probably a dozen spares on hand so it might be a while....

 

[William1]

Not all Lutron Meistro dimmers are LED friendly. I had a house full when we built the home in 1983, and they all had to be replaced with the new LED Meistro dimmers. They work extremely well with better-quality LED bulbs.

That too, will not happen fast as the dimmers are pretty pricey parts.

Looks like I am 'stuck in the mud' for the time being.

 

[Old_Paint]

Being an electrical engineer, didn't take much to convince me to do it. What I know about LED's versus incandescent lamps was enough to convince me LONG before LED lamps became feasible due to cost. I switched every lamp in my home as soon as they were, with the exception of the garage lighting which is all fluorescent. They're next. I just gotta wait for the next good sale at HF or one of the big box stores and hope I don't miss it.

What I like most about the LED lamps is that I've replaced exactly TWO since I swapped about 5 years ago. That alone is what I used to justify the initial expense of swapping to LED's. Switching spikes on the utility cause the filament in incandescent lamps to shake, and obviously, with it heated to near melting temperature, shaking is a bad thing. I was replacing 5-10 lamps every year. Strangely enough, most of them were in the overhead fixtures in our living room. Probably because it's used the most. The tungsten filament in incandescent lamps gets brittle with use, and it takes very little to break them.

I haven't noticed a huge decrease in our bill, but this year, I've been using a table saw, miter saw, air-compressor, and several different battery chargers on a daily basis. Price increases probably also hid the decreases in energy use. Utility companies are like any other company. They're rated based on their profits. If the government shuts down their least expensive means of producing energy, and they have to use the most expensive means, I guess we can all figure out who's gonna foot that bill.

 

[random]

Never really went for CFLs but we now have all but a couple specialty bulbs LED now. It's better now that they have "soft" light options, my wife is sensitive to blue light.

My shop is all LEDs - they were the best bang for the buck on the amount of light (lumens) for cost. Same when I replaced my kitchen light.

 

[random]

Longevity:

Livermore's Centennial Light Bulb

You have found Livermore California's World famous Centennial Light Bulb! Feel free to read the facts sheet, take a close-up look at bulb photos, tour Station #6, of our downtown of 1901. Learn about the 110th birthday party. Take a look at the Bulbcam, and be sure to leave your...

centennialbulb.org

 

[aaluck]

I switched to all LED years ago as well.I will say that all LED bulbs are NOT created equal. The Ecosmart (i believe they are called) that they sell at Home Depot seem to die rather quickly.

Although more expensive I have about 20 of the Phillips Hue bulbs, which work great. They turn on/off and dim through the app and Alexa. You can set 'scenes' where with one command to Alexa the lights are adjusted.

 

[dlsmith]

In interesting video by bigclivedotcom on LED lights produced by Phillips and only available in Dubai.

 

[Steamer Pete]

At our local Habitat Restore, Consumer's Energy gives them boxes of LED bulbs to be sold cheaply (4 for $2). Have a bunch of them in my new house. They have standard bulb sizes, floods, and sometimes candelabra size bulbs.

 

[Toyboy]

At our local Habitat Restore, Consumer's Energy gives them boxes of LED bulbs to be sold cheaply (4 for $2). Have a bunch of them in my new house. They have standard bulb sizes, floods, and sometimes candelabra size bulbs.

Same thing here now. Only 4 for $1
I guess I started my conversion several years too soon.....

 

[Springer]

They are all the rave for indoor pot growers. LOL

 

[skeets]

Before my wife passed away she said she wanted more ligh inthe basement so I picked up 2 of the 4 foot work lights with the double tubes, hungs then and left it at that, the next day she asked if I saw how much light they put out I said no , I asked her why,, she said she turned the on the lights and she found stuff she didnt know she lost