How many folks use the energy saving bulbs?

[Rusty]

What a tragedy! As noted above, LEDs are extremely detrimental to health and well being.

They also produce very poor light for close-up work.

 

[Burgy]

As mentioned earlier, LED light bulbs or LED lighting in general is manufactured in varying light colors (warm to cool; natural light or day white). If you like the day white (nice bright white) you would want a higher kelvin rating (kelvin rating is on the box and/or bulb) such as 5000K. As a comparison, a 2700K bulb would produce a lower light level, warm effect and the bulb would have a slightly white or even yellow/orange glow to it. You might see something like this in a nice restaurant at your table or possibly in the ceiling. Its all about ambience. If you want a room or exterior lighting to produce bright light so that it is easier to see things, 5000K or higher is the way to go. My garage and work area uses 5000K. My exterior flood lights are 5000K. My bathroom lights are 4000K and some 3000K. A good LED product is one with a heat sink built into the case or shell. That helps to keep the heat away from the LED (light emitting diode that produces the light). If you ever touched a LED bulb on the glass or plastic surface, it might be slightly warm to the touch or maybe not warm at all. However, if you unscrew the light bulb and touch the threaded base, it is very hot. The heat sink within that bulb is dissipating the heat so that the LED will last longer. Make sure your LED product has a heat sink. Some LED products require an external driver, such as an LED tube that would replace a fluorescent lamp; 4' for example. A good LED tube is one that utilizes an external driver (NOT an internal driver which will get hot over time and reduce the life of the LED diode). An external driver acts just like a ballast but rather is a low voltage device with constant current. If you have LED tubes connected to a typical ballast used for fluorescent lamps, you are asking for trouble at some point in time. Also, someone mentioned an LED with a 30 year warranty. I am guessing that it isn't a 3o year warranty but rather a 30 year rated life. For example, most LED bulbs have a 25,000 rated hour life. Well, if you use that light bulb for 3 hours a day, 7 days a week as an example, the life expectancy would be 23 years. The warranty on that bulb is most likely 1 to 3 years and maybe 5 depending on the company. An LED tube that was manufactured in China (98% are made in China), usually is rated for 50,000 hours. Most LED and especially LED bulbs are made either in China or other countries. The diodes (LED's) used in these products vary in quality and are all over the map. In my experiences with LED, some last a short time and some last longer. Depending on the brand and also how they are connected to electricity makes a big difference. Those that continue to work vary in color even though they are the same model/brand. Any more I have had the best luck with the Titan LED brand. Titan makes their LED lights (excluding bulbs) out of Arizona. They are completely USA made. You might pay a little more upfront but they do last longer so really you are saving money in the long run. For example, a 4' LED tube comes with a 12 year warranty and is rated for 155,000 hours. Shatterproof, water resistant and can easily be installed in an existing fluorescent tube fixture. I replaced all my 4' fluorescent lamps with these in my garage, work room, laundry room and some closets. I was able to de-lamp which means I removed 4 fluorescent tubes in each fixture and installed only two of the LED tubes. More lighting, no more ballast noise and lower electric bill. The 12 year warranty sold me over. The bulbs that Titan carries are made by one company and these come with a 5 year warranty. Not a bad deal. The other thing to look at when switching to LED is the Lumen value. So the kelvin is the color of the light. The higher the kelvin rating the cooler or whiter the light color. The lumen value on the other hand is the brightness factor. The higher the Lumen value the brighter the light. For example, I have an exterior security light on my shed. The Kelvin is 5000K (nice white color to make visibility easier when looking out the window). The lumen is 700 which is nice but I am looking to get something brighter which will require a higher lumen value. My LED tubes in the basement are 3200 Lumen (very bright) which is why I only needed two in each fixture plus my fixtures have the acrylic lens which the lights shines through. Simple remove the ballast and install the new LED driver. Then just plug in the LED tube with the 3' wire whip that comes with the tube. One end plugs into the driver and the other end plugs into the LED tube.

If you have any questions on LED lighting or converting you can contact me.

 

[Burgy]

LED is the way to go. Different colors, different lumen ratings, different rated hours.

 

[Rusty]

LED is the way to go. Different colors, different lumen ratings, different rated hours.

Very hard on the eyes for close up work.

 

[Guzzle]

Very hard on the eyes for close up work.

Never heard that before, but the LED spectrum is not the same as sunlight or incandescent bulbs.
Also, some few males are color blind, maybe that light comes across as harsh to them?

 

[billshack]

LED is the way to go. Different colors, different lumen ratings, different rated hours.

Try daylight bulbs they are just like daylight .

 

[BvilleBound]

First, LED bulbs are the best way to go because they will save you a bunch of money -- both in the significant reduction in electricity usage (15 LED watts = 100 incandescent watts), plus a much longer life (~10,000 hours LED vs 1.000 for incandescent). The health concern about LED lights is related to intensity and blue light, not 'high frequency flicker'. So buy 'warm white' bulbs, which are also more pleasant -- and don't boost the total lumens. LED compatible dimmers are also a nice feature.; we prefer the Lutron Maestro line which has a built-in range display that also helps you find the switch at night. See: Lutron Maestro LED+ Dimmer Switch for Dimmable LED, Halogen and Incandescent Bulbs, Single-Pole or Multi-Location, White-MACL-153MR-WH - The Home Depot

 

[BuzzLOL]

This thread is from 2006... since then the price of LED bulbs has dropped down to or even lower than the price of fluorescent bulbs... most general stores around here don't even carry the fluorescent or incandescent bulbs any more... a couple years ago the 100 watt equivalent LEDS were priced vastly higher than the 60 watt and lower equivalents, but now they are all the same price.... 4 LED bulbs of 22 year life rating for $4... or lower...
20 - 30 years ago... don't remember just when, converted my house and some relatives houses to all fluorescent bulbs... local electric company, stores, and GE had a deal where they paid us about $1.50 per bulb to convert over, so we did... ever since then been saving about 1/3 on every monthly electric bill... some of my old fluorescents are still working, but have LEDs to replace with when they go...
Noticed the LED flashlights have warning stickers on them that they are not to used by people with heart pacemakers...

 

[Eddie_T]

Here is a weird comment. Note what I made bold.

Though LED light bulbs consume less electricity, the same amount of electricity flows through the wiring system in your home. The bulb only uses a small amount of flowing electricity and the remainder is sent back to the wiring system. This causes dirty electricity.​

 

[Hamberg]

Though LED light bulbs consume less electricity, the same amount of electricity flows through the wiring system in your home. The bulb only uses a small amount of flowing electricity and the remainder is sent back to the wiring system. This causes dirty electricity.

HUH?

 

[Eddie_T]

I forgot to provide the link; Do LED Lights Emit EMF? | Emfguardtips.com
I wonder if they really believe electricity works this way. I have ran into people that believe the neutral returns unused electricity to the source so that it can be resold.

 

[BuzzLOL]

Here is a weird comment. Note what I made bold.

"Though LED light bulbs consume less electricity, the same amount of electricity flows through the wiring system in your home. The bulb only uses a small amount of flowing electricity and the remainder is sent back to the wiring system. This causes dirty electricity."​

​

And the deadly Covid-2019 shots will keep you from getting, getting sick from, spreading, or dying from Delta-2020 and Omicron-2021... <sarcasm>​

 

[Eddie_T]

When I ran out of incandescent bulbs I replaced them with CFLs as they burn out I replace with LEDs. I haven't noticed any change in electric bills but I have electric heat. With electric heat lighting is essentially free as energy dies a heat death. In the summer I use lighting less so not much savings there.

 

[Guzzle]

Noticed the LED flashlights have warning stickers on them that they are not to used by people with heart pacemakers...

Switch-mode power supplies in LED flashlights emit RFI? I guess, but these switch-mode supplies are everywhere now, wall-warts, etc., but not that close to your chest.

And everyone knows that RFI/EMI = "dirty" electricity.

 

[Rusty]

Soft white LEDS are not as good for doing close work as the old inside frost.

 

[Eddie_T]

My voltage sniffer goes crazy around my bluetooth amp which is class D with a switching power supply.

 

[Spicoli43]

I forgot to provide the link; Do LED Lights Emit EMF? | Emfguardtips.com
I wonder if they really believe electricity works this way. I have ran into people that believe the neutral returns unused electricity to the source so that it can be resold.

That goes along with wireless devices leaking dirty electricity... I go back to my story about the Doctor that had cases of Brain fog, headaches and aches and pains within his home happening to him, his Wife, and Kids... They had "Smart" phones always on, doing whatever online activity with them, wireless everything else including computers for personal use and the work use of Him and his Wife, Streaming devices in all rooms etc...

Being a Dr. and not being able to figure it out was what led him to research until he figured out it was the Wifi, and they ditched the "Smart" phones in favor of flip phones, and wired everything via Ethernet... With no dirty electricity constantly bombarding them, the symptoms vanished almost immediately.

I have a similar story personally, although my symptoms are still kind of with me because I use a modern 32" monitor. I need to get some Blue Light glasses. As far as using only Ethernet, it did significantly help me, and my eyes are much better going back to the almost impossible to find Incandescent bulbs.

Electromagnetic hypersensitivity: biological effects of dirty electricity with emphasis on diabetes and multiple sclerosis - PubMed

Dirty electricity is a ubiquitous pollutant. It flows along wires and radiates from them and involves both extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields and radio frequency radiation. Until recently, dirty electricity has been largely ignored by the scientific community. Recent inventions of...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[bud16415]

A few years back I replaced the 4 ceiling lights floodlights in our kitchen with LED floods. When I turned them on we both jumped back and said OMG that is bright. Almost uncomfortably bright. Within a week or two we grew used to the extra brightness and now they don’t seem bright at all. I have no idea if it is us or the lamps dimming? They are still working great and bright enough for sure. Tempted to replace just one to see if they have dimmed.

 

[Eddie_T]

People are concerned emergency generators might provide dirty electricity and harm sensitive electronics bt the first thing that happens in most electronics is a switching power supply which permits use of small cheap transformers.

 

[Guzzle]

Same with us in the white-walled laundry room, fluorescent to LED, I could do surgery in there now.

3000 lumens gives public restroom level light in a 10'x10' room. With 30,000 you can do watchmaking.

I think we're being sold more than we need, just like you have to buy more than you want at Costco.