How many folks use the energy saving bulbs?

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We use dimmable LEDs in almost every fixture. Most expensive, and we'll probably never realize a cost savings, but then again, we're not tracking the costs either.
 
Interesting that when I saw some more comments about this, I read another article by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES) which goes into great detail about the detrimental effects of LEDs. And apparently, "compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) are far worse".
Also, "Children are at high risk for damage from LEDs due to the transparency of the lenses in their eyes".
 
If you must have LED lights, look for ones with high CRI numbers. In the 90's is best to reduce the potential damage to the eyes.
 
I use them all over the place , for example a regular lite bulb use 60 watts per hour
and a energy saving one use 8 watts .
 
I like the LEDs because they are brighter, get whiter colored light, and don't get as hot as traditional bulbs. We are still replacing regular bulbs with LEDs slowly.
 
Funny how when this thread was started in 2006, LED screw-in bulbs were exotic newcomers. Now we have LED light panels that are virtually flush with the ceiling and easy to install. No more bulbs are needed. let's see just how long these all-in-one fixtures last....maybe (hopefully) longer than this thread :rolleyes:
 
I just got LED headlights for my truck the other day. They are so much better than the old yellowish bulbs.
It is interesting how they have advanced over the years. I remember working with LEDs in electronics class in the early 1990s & they were vastly different then.
 
I have a lot of LED bulbs all over the place. My house, my rentals, my shop etc. and I can tell you this. The failure rate definitely feels the exact same. I've had LED's go out in the first week of having them, and the ones I have right now that are "done" are about 2 years old. I've tried multiple brands and multiple kinds. I'm starting to shy away from the ones with built in LED's in favor of the ones with replaceable blub types. Not only is it frustrating to have to replace a whole fixture with built in LED's, but you can't always get a matching fixture. The one I have now ( I call them "boob" lights because my uncultured mind can't see anything else sorry if it's offensive) I bought originally from Lowes, and for what ever reason Lowes switch brands over the last 2 years so now I can't get a match. The only thing that's close is about twice the size and looks silly in the hallway, so I'll probably just get one the same size and let my relatives notice it when they come over.
So I guess all that's to say that the marketing hype on LED's has left me a little bitter in actual practice. I feel like everybody says "Oh they last forever and they are such a huge advancement in technology" but they cost more, fail the same, and probably save you a little here and there on power bills. So I guess that's a win? I just wish everybody would stop treating them like they are the answer to the worlds problems. I've put just as many LED lights with their ballasts in the trash as light bulbs.
 
I have a lot of LED bulbs all over the place. My house, my rentals, my shop etc. and I can tell you this. The failure rate definitely feels the exact same. I've had LED's go out in the first week of having them, and the ones I have right now that are "done" are about 2 years old. I've tried multiple brands and multiple kinds. I'm starting to shy away from the ones with built in LED's in favor of the ones with replaceable blub types. Not only is it frustrating to have to replace a whole fixture with built in LED's, but you can't always get a matching fixture. The one I have now ( I call them "boob" lights because my uncultured mind can't see anything else sorry if it's offensive) I bought originally from Lowes, and for what ever reason Lowes switch brands over the last 2 years so now I can't get a match. The only thing that's close is about twice the size and looks silly in the hallway, so I'll probably just get one the same size and let my relatives notice it when they come over.
So I guess all that's to say that the marketing hype on LED's has left me a little bitter in actual practice. I feel like everybody says "Oh they last forever and they are such a huge advancement in technology" but they cost more, fail the same, and probably save you a little here and there on power bills. So I guess that's a win? I just wish everybody would stop treating them like they are the answer to the worlds problems. I've put just as many LED lights with their ballasts in the trash as light bulbs.


I agree to some extent. I stayed away from them at first as they were way to expensive, but as the price came down I’m now buying something that looks and feels like an incandescent bulb and screws in the same fixture and the last ones I bought were the 60-100 equivalent LEDs and they were a buck each. I don’t know how they can make them and ship them from China here for that but they are.


In general I like they hardly make any heat and only use about 1/10 the power and IMO most of mine have been lasting longer than the old bulbs.


So all things considered other than making them in the states like incandescent bulbs were, I think they are a good thing.
 
putting an LED bulb inside a glass globe, like a boob light or a tiffany style, shortens the life of the bulb. They generate some heat and the ballast isn't tough enough for the heat build-up in an enclosed fixture. Besides, if you read the fine print, you can only use it a few hours a day in order for it to live up to it's claimed life. Still, I have LEDs that are years old and still working.
 
What a tragedy! As noted above, LEDs are extremely detrimental to health and well being.
 
...and so are cars.

It depends on what you conceder “detrimental to health and well being”. On one hand you produce more CO2 with your lungs walking a mile with 3 of your friends and the food it takes to power your legs and the energy to produce the food than the gasoline and the car would produce doing the same task. But then on the other hand the walking would improve your health and well being.


I’m sure similar analogies could be drawn with using other renewable methods of producing light or simply sitting in the dark 16 hours a day waiting for the sun to come back up.


Whale oil made great lamp oil and of course whale oil was a renewable energy source.
:confused::rolleyes:o_O
 
CO₂ is our friend, makes O₂ producing vegetation grow.
 
I have never heard anything about LED lights being bad for health, sounds about as crackpot science as the anti-vaccine nonsense.

I would never buy a light fixture with the LED bulb built in, non-replaceable.
Except a shop light or utility light, when they die just toss and replace.

As far as LED bulbs being whiter or brighter, that is complete bs.

You can get LED bulbs in warm white, you have to look at the color temperature information.
Around 2700 to 3000 kelvin.
If you like that bright white bluish type light, like 5000 kelvin, you can get those too, but warm white LEDs have been around for a long time.

And you can get them in brighter or dimmer types.
They are not “brighter” by nature, you need to look at the brightness listing in lumens, or else in equivalent wattage to incandescent
 
If you are talking about the high-powered bluish LEDs causing health problems, I can see how that could be.
They are way too intense, and that color is not natural.
Some car headlights, street lights, security lights, are often too blueish white and too high intensity.
Even the bright white bulbs sold for home use are horrible to look at, I think.
And even regular fluorescent tube shop lights give me a head ache, they are not an eye friendly spectrum of light.
But you can’t say it’s LEDs causing the problem.
It is this overly intense bright blue spectrum of light that is bad for eyes.
LEDs in a more natural color temperature of approx 2700 to 3000 kelvin give eye-friendly and brain-friendly light more like regular old incandescent light bulbs.
 
We've been upgrading to LED as the old incandescents die. We put warm white bulbs in the outside garage fixtures and I can't tell the difference from the old incandescent bulbs, with the one exception that they aren't burning out like the old bulbs.
 
I have never heard anything about LED lights being bad for health, sounds about as crackpot science as the anti-vaccine nonsense.

I would never buy a light fixture with the LED bulb built in, non-replaceable.
Except a shop light or utility light, when they die just toss and replace.

As far as LED bulbs being whiter or brighter, that is complete bs.

You can get LED bulbs in warm white, you have to look at the color temperature information.
Around 2700 to 3000 kelvin.
If you like that bright white bluish type light, like 5000 kelvin, you can get those too, but warm white LEDs have been around for a long time.

And you can get them in brighter or dimmer types.
They are not “brighter” by nature, you need to look at the brightness listing in lumens, or else in equivalent wattage to incandescent


Google the Helmholtz – Kohlrausch Effect.


It will give you some information as to how our eyes perceive brightness.
 
If you replace your old incandescent bulbs with warm white LEDs, your brain and eyes will be happy with them.

Since the effect you mentioned occurs at the wavelengths above or below the natural warm amber wavelengths our brains have evolved to be comfortable with, you will be fine if you stay with warm white color temperature.

Even daylight does not have the unnatural bluish or reddish tint that would be a factor in this perceived intensity effect.
 

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