LED's For Home Use
#1
Anyone here use LED's enough to see a big difference in your electric bill? What do you think of this statement from Energy Trust Oregon? How would they know a bulb can last 25 years?

LEDs, take efficient lighting to the next level. These cutting-edge bulbs are up to 85 percent more efficient than traditional incandescent bulbs and offer extremely long lamp life. While they may cost more upfront, they deliver significant savings in the long run. An ENERGY STAR qualified LED bulb can last 25 years, on average.

They also go on to say...

Thanks to Energy Trust of Oregon, you can find reduced prices on super-efficient, ENERGY STAR-qualified LED light bulbs at Costco, Home Depot and Lowe’s (more stores are being added). Look for special signs or ask at the store. You might consider calling the store first to confirm availability.
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#2
They are using LEDs on cars. A big boon for the criminal element out there.Wink
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#3
A big boon for truck drivers, who end up with more reliable lights that don't shake loose in their sockets.
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#4
(11-19-2013, 09:53 PM)Valuesize Wrote: Anyone here use LED's enough to see a big difference in your electric bill? What do you think of this statement from Energy Trust Oregon? How would they know a bulb can last 25 years?

LEDs, take efficient lighting to the next level. These cutting-edge bulbs are up to 85 percent more efficient than traditional incandescent bulbs and offer extremely long lamp life. While they may cost more upfront, they deliver significant savings in the long run. An ENERGY STAR qualified LED bulb can last 25 years, on average.

They also go on to say...

Thanks to Energy Trust of Oregon, you can find reduced prices on super-efficient, ENERGY STAR-qualified LED light bulbs at Costco, Home Depot and Lowe’s (more stores are being added). Look for special signs or ask at the store. You might consider calling the store first to confirm availability.

If you go strictly by lumens per watt, CFL's are slightly more efficient than LED's (which both are quite a bit more efficient than incandescents). http://www.eco-revolution.com/lumens-and-light-output/

[Image: 11966-2.png?nc=2456]

According to this same site, LED's put their lumens out in a more focused pattern, so for example if an LED was put in a recessed light it can give the appearance of giving out more light than a CFL, which "scatters" the light more in every direction than being focused in just one direction. The LED's certainly do last longer, and might be less toxic to throw away, I'm pretty sure CFL's still have mercury in them but less than there used to be. That's the main difference I'm seeing.

If you want to know what the hot technology is in lighting, I always look at what dope growers are using, because this is a big deal to them. LED's haven't made much of an inroad there yet, so I find that significant.
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#5
I have used LEDs for sometime now.
I get most of them from

Chuck's favorite LED store

They are cheaper than buying from Walmart. The shipping is free.,
They come from china, so it takes about four weeks.

The bulbs are rated for indoor use, but I used them outdoors in dry areas.
The early ones had a 33% failure rate in the first two years. (spot lights). The rest died within 2 more years.
The LEDs were fine, but the internal electronics failed.
They probably weren't rated for freezing conditions.

The ones I bought for indoor (corncob leds) have lasted I have had one fail out of 4.
I haven't done a autopsy yet, but I suspect workmanship. I have to say, the Chinese are the most piss-ass solderers, I have ever seen.

Most white LEDs change over time. They can drop half their brightness in 2 to 3 years.

My LED Christmas lights didn't do well outdoors in the rain. (I didn't usually run them when it was raining) . Indoors the strands lasted much longer than filament types.

The LED Christmas lights I made years before they sold them have lasted all this time. A good seven years or so.
I took old buned out strands and replaced the bulbs with LEDs., You have to put them in the same direction through out the strand. The last bulb I replaced with a diode and a resistor. (insulated with shrink tubing)

Fifty is about the max number of bulbs in a strand. Which happens to be the length of most strands. (100 strands are generally two fifties)

Bottom line is LEDs are great light sources.
The electronics that drives them makes all the difference.
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#6
Anyone care to chime in on the topic? I'll see if I can edit the title.

Sorry, I see you did while I was posting. I'm envious of you rapid typers. Embarrassed

And those that can spell. Smiling
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#7
(11-19-2013, 10:53 PM)chuck white Wrote: I have used LEDs for sometime now.
I get most of them from

Chuck's favorite LED store

They are cheaper than buying from Walmart. The shipping is free.,
They come from china, so it takes about four weeks.

The bulbs are rated for indoor use, but I used them outdoors in dry areas.
The early ones had a 33% failure rate in the first two years. (spot lights). The rest died within 2 more years.
The LEDs were fine, but the internal electronics failed.
They probably weren't rated for freezing conditions.

The ones I bought for indoor (corncob leds) have lasted I have had one fail out of 4.
I haven't done a autopsy yet, but I suspect workmanship. I have to say, the Chinese are the most piss-ass solderers, I have ever seen.

Most white LEDs change over time. They can drop half their brightness in 2 to 3 years.

My LED Christmas lights didn't do well outdoors in the rain. (I didn't usually run them when it was raining) . Indoors the strands lasted much longer than filament types.

The LED Christmas lights I made years before they sold them have lasted all this time. A good seven years or so.
I took old buned out strands and replaced the bulbs with LEDs., You have to put them in the same direction through out the strand. The last bulb I replaced with a diode and a resistor. (insulated with shrink tubing)

Fifty is about the max number of bulbs in a strand. Which happens to be the length of most strands. (100 strands are generally two fifties)

Bottom line is LEDs are great light sources.
The electronics that drives them makes all the difference.

If they're so great, why aren't people growing big fat buds with them? I'll give you one answer, they don't put out much of a penetrating light, so they have to be mounted close to plants, which might be good for little plants like strawberries but not so good for, uh, tomatoes.

OK, sure, they're great if you want little teeny amounts of light here and there like fireflies might put out. But what if you want lots?

I've heard you wax enthusiastically over LED's before, and I think you just like technology for technologies sake. Smiling
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#8
LED grow lights are a growing market.
With LEDs you can use blue LEDs and red LEDs. This is the two eave lengths used by chlorophyll.
Although the standard red and blue LEDs are about 20 nm short of ideal wave length.
The green, yellows and IR light content is just wasted energy.

What I found was that you need 10 times more red LEDs then Blues.
although you can tailor that to get desired growth effects.

My 10 Watt red and blue lasted about 3 years continues operation.
they dimmed over the course of time. Then failed. (I had one of each.)

They are costly, but coming down in price fast..
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#9
I have one LED light that I won in a contest, it is a flood light style, i use it outside, I like it. I have neighbors that run LED porch lights, I do not care much for the style of light they emit, for outdoors it is fine, but as an in house light I am not so sure I would like it, perhaps there are various styles and you can get some that are not so, I guess I would say intensely white/blue in the light they emit. I will experiment with them for household use in the future as the price comes down.

small rant: I absolutely despise CFL's for many reasons, they least of which is the whole scam marketing ploy behind them. The light they emit suck, I've yet to have one that lasts a fraction of what they are advertised. And, I've had not one, but two that when they burned out went into a complete meltdown mode and damn near burned my house down and so fouled the air with the most acrid, pungent, chemical odor that we had to leave the windows open for several days to air it out. I literally had to put on a glove due to how hot it was and run outside with a smoke billowing CFL. The night it happened it smelled so bad we had to leave. (and no, they were NOT in dimmer sockets, just regular fixtures) Needless to say I will never use another CFL ever and there is not a single one of them in our house any longer. I have a lifetime stockpile of 60 watt incandescent, Long live incandescent!
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#10
I've never had a CFL burn out on me. Ever. Of course, I also like lower light levels, so I only turn on the lights when it's pretty dark out, and then only one or two lights at that.

I buy the ones that give full spectrum light, and I've been very happy with the light quality. Especially when I'm looking at hardcopy proofs. The only thing better is natural light.
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#11
All of my fixtures have CFL's in them. I've had some quit working, but my house has been a construction zone too, so I don't know if that's a fair statement. I don't see any flaw to them. My last power bill was $22. Smiling
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#12
(11-20-2013, 01:45 PM)PonderThis Wrote: All of my fixtures have CFL's in them. I've had some quit working, but my house has been a construction zone too, so I don't know if that's a fair statement. I don't see any flaw to them. My last power bill was $22. Smiling

$22, that's impressive.....Are you a household of 1?

I am pretty happy our family of 4 can keep our bill between $100 to $150 throughout the year, I feel that is pretty respectable considering how much laundry, bathing, cooking, etc takes place.
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#13
It's a household of one at the moment anyway. Of course, that doesn't count firewood and propane. Smiling
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#14
http://ledsmagazine.com/main
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#15
(11-19-2013, 10:52 PM)PonderThis Wrote:
(11-19-2013, 09:53 PM)Valuesize Wrote: Anyone here use LED's enough to see a big difference in your electric bill? What do you think of this statement from Energy Trust Oregon? How would they know a bulb can last 25 years?

LEDs, take efficient lighting to the next level. These cutting-edge bulbs are up to 85 percent more efficient than traditional incandescent bulbs and offer extremely long lamp life. While they may cost more upfront, they deliver significant savings in the long run. An ENERGY STAR qualified LED bulb can last 25 years, on average.

They also go on to say...

Thanks to Energy Trust of Oregon, you can find reduced prices on super-efficient, ENERGY STAR-qualified LED light bulbs at Costco, Home Depot and Lowe’s (more stores are being added). Look for special signs or ask at the store. You might consider calling the store first to confirm availability.

If you go strictly by lumens per watt, CFL's are slightly more efficient than LED's (which both are quite a bit more efficient than incandescents). http://www.eco-revolution.com/lumens-and-light-output/

[Image: 11966-2.png?nc=2456]

According to this same site, LED's put their lumens out in a more focused pattern, so for example if an LED was put in a recessed light it can give the appearance of giving out more light than a CFL, which "scatters" the light more in every direction than being focused in just one direction. The LED's certainly do last longer, and might be less toxic to throw away, I'm pretty sure CFL's still have mercury in them but less than there used to be. That's the main difference I'm seeing.

If you want to know what the hot technology is in lighting, I always look at what dope growers are using, because this is a big deal to them. LED's haven't made much of an inroad there yet, so I find that significant.

Thanks to all that chimed in. Smiling Lasting longer and less toxic is enough to change from cfl's. I think I'll start with just one and go from there.
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#16
It's a good start

check out the prices here first


Chuck's favorite LED store
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#17
(11-19-2013, 10:53 PM)chuck white Wrote: I have used LEDs for sometime now.
I get most of them from

Chuck's favorite LED store

They are cheaper than buying from Walmart. The shipping is free.,
They come from china, so it takes about four weeks.

The bulbs are rated for indoor use, but I used them outdoors in dry areas.
The early ones had a 33% failure rate in the first two years. (spot lights). The rest died within 2 more years.
The LEDs were fine, but the internal electronics failed.
They probably weren't rated for freezing conditions.

The ones I bought for indoor (corncob leds) have lasted I have had one fail out of 4.
I haven't done a autopsy yet, but I suspect workmanship. I have to say, the Chinese are the most piss-ass solderers, I have ever seen.

Most white LEDs change over time. They can drop half their brightness in 2 to 3 years.

My LED Christmas lights didn't do well outdoors in the rain. (I didn't usually run them when it was raining) . Indoors the strands lasted much longer than filament types.

The LED Christmas lights I made years before they sold them have lasted all this time. A good seven years or so.
I took old buned out strands and replaced the bulbs with LEDs., You have to put them in the same direction through out the strand. The last bulb I replaced with a diode and a resistor. (insulated with shrink tubing)

Fifty is about the max number of bulbs in a strand. Which happens to be the length of most strands. (100 strands are generally two fifties)

Bottom line is LEDs are great light sources.
The electronics that drives them makes all the difference.

Great informative post CW! I'll try your favorite LED store too. In our current place I only need bulbs that produce 100 W brightness and my wife prefers a more white light for kitchen and bath rooms, is there one you would recommend for those purposes?
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#18
I'm ready to try some LED lighting. So far my use of CFL's has been mostly a failure. I've been waiting for the prices to come down and it looks like they have.

I have one of those lights in the bathroom over the mirror that takes four bulbs.

The CFl's I have used there suck. Even if they last they lose the ability to come on at full brightness unless you wait a couple of minutesRolling Eyes
And then later they NEVER have the brightness that they have when they were new.
So sure they may last a million years but the aren't working properly after the first 2 months .
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#19
(11-21-2013, 12:25 PM)tvguy Wrote: I'm ready to try some LED lighting. So far my use of CFL's has been mostly a failure. I've been waiting for the prices to come down and it looks like they have.

I have one of those lights in the bathroom over the mirror that takes four bulbs.

The CFl's I have used there suck. Even if they last they lose the ability to come on at full brightness unless you wait a couple of minutesRolling Eyes
And then later they NEVER have the brightness that they have when they were new.
So sure they may last a million years but the aren't working properly after the first 2 months .

I got free CFL bulbs from the Energy trust of Oregon. I like them fine, but I am not so sure they last as long as they say. I have had a few stop working.
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#20
(11-21-2013, 08:28 AM)Valuesize Wrote: Great informative post CW! I'll try your favorite LED store too. In our current place I only need bulbs that produce 100 W brightness and my wife prefers a more white light for kitchen and bath rooms, is there one you would recommend for those purposes?

You want an LED that produces as much light as a 100 watt incandescent... Me too.

Looking at the LED's in Chucks store They don't seem to state in a clear way how much light they emit compared to something we are familiar with. Seems to me when they market CFL's they always do.
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