How many folks use the energy saving bulbs?

yes, the "new" light bulb. not the led. the garbage they are forcing on us. HATE IT!!!
i went to wally world and bought 200 100 wat light bulbs. put them in the barn.

I don't get it, frodo. New...as in newer than LED? If you're talking about swirly bulbs and that type, I can understand, but if you haven't looked at LEDs yet, take a look. Why would you want to pay for the wasted energy in an incandescent unless you are heating your house with them....or you need them for you Easy-Bake Oven.

slownsteady said:

Haven't seen those before. Clever. Do they get enough light in the winter to charge properly? That's the big problem for me - not enough sunlight.

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Really depends on the exact spot you put them.
In my case the worst time is Fall because days are starting to get shorter AND still fair amount of leaves on the trees plus a lot of rain.
In the past couple weeks there are so few leaves left and all during Winter that more sun gets to them even though the days are shorter.
In Summer even though they are in shade a lot there is still plenty of sunlight because the days are longer to charge them up enough to last until 6am.

Ideally they need about 6+ hours of direct sunlight to work perfectly.

Costco had those solar lights, I bought a bunch of them for 15 bucks a pack.

Chris said:

Costco had those solar lights, I bought a bunch of them for 15 bucks a pack.

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Yep, only had them for about a month at most though, sold out fast.

My state sucks so much that it doesn't have a Costco. We do have a Sam's Club but its not that great.

A 400 year old oak tree umbrellas my house and shades the front walkway so the solar lights never got enough light. We tried putting some out where there was direct sunlight along the driveway (the kind that have a part that embeds in the ground). My dogs dug them up and chewed them. LOL. It rains quite frequently though..

Someone mentioned those spiral light bulbs... Ugh... I couldn't fit the globe back on my ceiling fan so I had to start making a little chandelier. Unfortunately my brother was playing with my highlander sword one day and smacked the "fandelier" and broke it.

Then one day smoke started coming out of the base of the bulb and there was a horrible smell.

Can anyone recommend some good brands / types of the LED bulbs? Less than half of the lights in my house are working right now and I need to replace them. (although its entirely possible that the problem is electrical-- had some tenants that dicked around with the wiring very badly).

I usually stick to the major brands of LED lights with the standard bases. i just screw them into existing fixtures. I think it's GE that now makes a more compact swirly bulb that fits nicely into tight fixtures. Also Cree makes an LED bulb that looks just like a traditional incandescent.

zannej said:

Can anyone recommend some good brands / types of the LED bulbs? Less than half of the lights in my house are working right now and I need to replace them. (although its entirely possible that the problem is electrical-- had some tenants that dicked around with the wiring very badly).

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http://led-light-bulbs-review.toptenreviews.com/

http://www.cnet.com/news/led-there-be-light-we-pick-the-best-bulb-upgrades-for-your-buck/

http://thesweethome.com/reviews/best-led-lightbulb/

nunyabiz1 said:

http://led-light-bulbs-review.toptenreviews.com/

http://www.cnet.com/news/led-there-be-light-we-pick-the-best-bulb-upgrades-for-your-buck/

http://thesweethome.com/reviews/best-led-lightbulb/

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Thank you very much! I'll have to look in to those.

We recently bought the LED replacement bulbs for the T8 tubes bulbs. They were like $10 each, so a little pricey. But they produce great light and are supposed to last 20 years.

I seen one on Craigslist didnt know they have treasure-talk hows that workout ?

Speaking of LED bulbs, what would I have to look for on the box/description to indicate that the bulbs can be used in a damp environment as well as in an enclosed space?
I noticed some say not to use them in a closed in space.

We no longer have any incandescent lighting being used around our property, only a few CFLs are left while we wait for them to fail.
We have LEDs everywhere else, replacing 7watt night lights, 60, 90 and 100 watt equivalents, solar power security lighting, etc.

With the cost of LED lights coming down as they have, it doesn't make sense to put off the change over anymore.

Yep .

Wyr

God bless

100% LED here now.

The greatest problem with LEDs and other electronic components, as I understand it, is that China has become a major, if not the major world supplier of the rare earth minerals used in their manufacture.
They were, and are probably still trying to leverage that to their advantage by charging higher prices for their export to other countries, like the US, than what is charged for their domestic manufacturing use.
It helps raise the costs of the manufacturing of the components elsewhere.
My understanding is that was one of the reasons for the "trade war" between the US and China.

I do buy our smaller 7w equivalent bulbs for the kitchen counter lighting on Amazon and eBay direct from China.
We have about 10 of them around the counters, replacing the halogens being used to begin with.
They are cheaper online from China than other areas, and not available locally, but do have a relatively high failure rate due to poor QC.
We lose 1 or 2 a year, maybe a 10 to 15% failure rate, putting a hole in the 20 year service life claim.
Even so, buying direct from Chinese vendors is cost effective, if you don't get scammed.
Amazon and eBay do give protection from scammers.

voyager said:

The greatest problem with LEDs and other electronic components, as I understand it, is that China has become a major, if not the major world supplier of the rare earth minerals used in their manufacture.
They were, and are probably still trying to leverage that to their advantage by charging higher prices for their export to other countries, like the US, than what is charged for their domestic manufacturing use.
It helps raise the costs of the manufacturing of the components elsewhere.
My understanding is that was one of the reasons for the "trade war" between the US and China.

I do buy our smaller 7w equivalent bulbs for the kitchen counter lighting on Amazon and eBay direct from China.
We have about 10 of them around the counters, replacing the halogens being used to begin with.
They are cheaper online from China than other areas, and not available locally, but do have a relatively high failure rate due to poor QC.
We lose 1 or 2 a year, maybe a 10 to 15% failure rate, putting a hole in the 20 year service life claim.
Even so, buying direct from Chinese vendors is cost effective, if you don't get scammed.
Amazon and eBay do give protection from scammers.

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I don’t know. I bought a dozen of the LED screw in bulbs a while back at a garden center I forget the exact lumens but they were to replace 75 watt lamps in terms of brightness and they draw just a fraction of that wattage. They are cool to the touch so all the less wattage was just making heat in the old bulbs. They were selling these LED lamps for a buck a piece. $12 / 12 bulbs. Somehow they are making these things in China shipping them all the way around the world and selling something 10 times as complex for a buck and making a profit. GE had a bulb factory about 30 miles from here and made bulbs from Edison till CFLs came about. They decided at that time to get out of lamps in this country.


All I know is those 12 I bought 6 of them have been going a year at least and 6 more are sitting in a tote waiting for something to need replaced.


For Christmas my nephew gave me a LED bulb that changes colors with an app on my phone. It is the coolest thing ever, but I had no idea what I needed one for. I ended up putting it in the up light above the kitchen upper cabinets near the door for the hot tub. I turn off all the lights and leave that on as a night light when we hot tub. It’s a mood lighting kind of effect. Now that I have it I taught Alexa how to change it.

What do you mean by "new"?
I use halogen however I can get them.
Led's have catastrophic consequences to the human nervous system. This is widely known in the medical community.
Many utility companies that have replaced the 'inefficient' lighting have realized that they made a bit mistake. But this is a capitalist country - that's all some folks can see.

frodo said:

yes, the "new" light bulb. not the led. the garbage they are forcing on us. HATE IT!!!
i went to wally world and bought 200 100 wat light bulbs. put them in the barn.

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The local Dollar Tree store sells screw in LED's for $ 1 each , any day of the year . When I get low , I usually buy 5 - 10 of them .

Wyr
God bless

I use them except where they don't fit or don't look good (candelabra). There is no noticeable difference in my electric bill as I have electric heat.

My son has an overhead light in his bath where he uses an efficient incandescent and one exploded like a gunshot. No one was in the room but it scattered bits of glass and powder all over the room.