# Lights



## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Some what of an on going feud in our home.
Wife likes traditional lights my point is they are out dated, they use to much power they do not last and give of to much heat.
Wife strongly dislikes the Fluorescent light no madder how they improve them she will not except them. 
I most agree they are no real improvement other than they last longer and use a bit less energy.
The Mercury thing bugs us all. 
Until recently LED conversion has been way to costly compared to Fluorescent. That is changing.
Last night I converted a Dinning room light from 5 25 watt normal type B lights to 5 LED that give the same light as a 40 watt each. The 5 LEDs use the same watts as one 25 normal light. The LED were like a sun filled day. Installed a dimmer and now the best of all worlds.
The LED's were just under 10 dollars each but have an estimated life of 22 years. 
This could have also gone in the gun forum. It came to a head when I was cleaning a gun and just could not see well enough. I threatened to put Fluorescent lights in it and she stood her ground . A quick ride to the store to buy LED's made everyone happy.
Goal is to covert the entire house to LED


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## James m (Mar 11, 2014)

I have also been told that the florescent lights can start fires. The ticker that ignites the gas inside the light keeps trying to ignite the gas even though its blown out.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...afety-alerts/bulbs-pose-fire-hazard/index.htm


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

I recently bit the bullet and dropped some coin on a total of 25 LED bulbs in our house. I have yet to add the dimmers, but plan to soon. I am seriously impressed with the light output. My first full electric bill after the switch showed a saving that I figure should pay for the cost of the LEDs in a few years or less. Probably faster because I'll save more money in winter. I have a few CFLs around but plan to replace as funds permit.


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## sparkyprep (Jul 5, 2013)

CFLs are an "in between" or a temporary solution for energy efficiency. LEDs are the real solution, at least for now. Well worth the money for their energy savings and longevity. I recommend LED lighting to anyone who will listen.


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## Inor (Mar 22, 2013)

I just hate the quality of the light that both the CFLs and the LEDs give off. LEDs are slightly better. But I still do not like that "blue hue" they all seem to have. Besides, I have bought several cases of each major watt of incandescent bulbs over the last few years.

Now that they have effectively outlawed incandescent bulbs, I guess I am an outlaw. When they do get around to outlawing guns, at least my choice won't be too hard since I am already on the wrong side of the law.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

Inor,

You can get LED lights in any color (temperature) you want. They go from soft warm to the intense white light and in just about any shade from yellow to red, green and blue.

You can get an LED that matches the light put out by your incandescent and still save tons in utility costs. 

On the bad side (the only bad part) they will never work again after a high altitude nuclear EMP. They are, after all diodes and will be fried in that event - but they will hold up better to a solar EMP than your current bulbs.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Inor, Mrs Slippy did the same as you did and bought a bunch of incandescents bulbs. She is the outlaw not me...for once. Anyway, I like the LED product. 

However, I put an LED Under Cabinet Light in and the LED blew out and I couldn't find a replacement bulb so I had to buy a whole new unit. Win some lose some I guess. My landscape LEDs have outlasted the conventional bulb by many years AND I've moved them too.


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## GTGallop (Nov 11, 2012)

I bought two LED's on a whim to try them out in different sockets and LOVE THEM! I think I have like 3 or 4 fluorescent spirals left in my stock. When those go, I'll be replacing with LED only.

Side note - There are two types of dimmers. One saves you the energy that you have dimmed by. The other one just converts that unused energy into heat. I can't remember which does what though. Sine wave? Modified sine wave? Something like that.

Something else to look at:
Dimmer with motion sensor
http://www.amazon.com/Lutron-MSCL-O.../B00CAO4NUM/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1398297773

Timer switches 10, 20, 30, 60 minutes (good for the bathroom fan)
Intermatic EI210W Electronic Auto-Off Timer 10/20/30/60 Minutes, White - Wall Timer Switches - Amazon.com

Programmable switches
http://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-RPL...B004SOZHR0/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1398297858


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## BagLady (Feb 3, 2014)

Wake up with the sun, go to bed with the sunset. I don't do that now, but in a case of the SHTF, it won't matter what kind of electronic lights you have. I buy candles at yard sales for 25 cents or less. I have on many occasions read by candle light when the power goes out in a storm. For the record tho, I have been stocking up on incandescent lightbulbs because they're cheap...and so am I.
Also the indoor kerosene lanterns are usefull.


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## GTGallop (Nov 11, 2012)

One thought....

After a Hurricane, we used a little 350w inverter on a car battery to power a 50' string of LED Christmas lights. It gave light to the whole room (large room at that). This was 2008ish, so well before LED bulbs were available for the house. I'd think anyone working off of a generator or solar set up would want to make the switch.

I know technology will continue to improve over time, that's why I'm not rushing out and replacing all of mine at once. With a 20 year life span, who wants to have old technology in 10 years?


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

GTGallop said:


> One thought....
> 
> who wants to have old technology in 10 years?


Great point GT. Sorry, got to go now, my PAGER just went off....


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

As long as it pays for itself quickly enough, my LED's packaging says will pay for itself in 7 years if used for 3 hours per day at $0.11 per kilowatt. I think the cost of electricity will be going up soon due to Obummer's ideas on green energy. A nes program I watched was talking a 25% increase in next couple of years.


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## budgetprepp-n (Apr 7, 2013)

Ok I am way behind on this,,,,,Do these LED lights look like a regular bulb? and how bright do they come in?
Might help save a little energy when I'm on solar. Do they use less than the florescent twisty bulbs?

I checked the florescent with a watt meter and they used about 1/2 as much as the standard bulb 
Has anyone checked them with a watt meter?


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

LED's now come in all shapes and sizes, to fit any need an example of replacing a 23 watt normal bulbs for a kitchen chandler a led replacement would be 1.8 watts for the same amount of light. In my case I want it brighter so I replace all 5 25 watt standard bulbs with 5 LED that are equal to 40 watts each. The LED lights only use 5 watts each . Do the math 1 25 watt standard bulb uses the same watts as 5 LED and the LED are almost twice as much light.


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## Moonshinedave (Mar 28, 2013)

Smitty901 said:


> Some what of an on going feud in our home.
> Wife likes traditional lights my point is they are out dated, they use to much power they do not last and give of to much heat.
> Wife strongly dislikes the Fluorescent light no madder how they improve them she will not except them.
> I most agree they are no real improvement other than they last longer and use a bit less energy.
> ...


I love happy endings.


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## GTGallop (Nov 11, 2012)

budgetprepp-n said:


> Ok I am way behind on this,,,,,Do these LED lights look like a regular bulb? and how bright do they come in?
> Might help save a little energy when I'm on solar. Do they use less than the florescent twisty bulbs?


Light quality, volume, feel, and everything considered, there is no difference. If anything the LEDs feel a little warmer or more natural than the twisties - but that is all subjective. Point is, you can't tell the difference when they are in a fixture.

Energy wise there is a TON of differences.

The standard 60w is a 60w bulb.
A comparable CFL is 15 to 20w
A comparable LED is 6w to 8w

My lamps that I replaced were 45w bulbs and I put a 55w equivalent LED in that pulls 5w.
That means I can now illuminate 12 lights on the same energy budget that I use to run one single 60watt bulb on. Or I can run 5 lights for one single CFL.

Another benefit is that the LED's are MUCH cooler than the other two. Here in AZ, I have no problem warming my house in the winter - but in the summer cooling can be a challenge so anything that reduces the BTU's generated inside is a welcome addition.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

The LED lights come in bulbs, tubes and panels. You could literally have a ceiling of lights on different switches so you could have anything from mood lighting to full room light levels well above the norm for a fraction of the watts you use now. They are expensive but getting cheaper and over their ten year life they are considerably cheaper than anything else on the market today.


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## PalmettoTree (Jun 8, 2013)

We are becoming close to all fluorescent as incandescent lights burn out. WE have a good stock of fluorescent so the move to led will be slow. When we have a fixture that holds 4 and one goes out all four are changed and the good ones go back in stock. 

I might buy an LED out of curiosity. I do not like fluorescent warm up time especially outdoors.


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## jimb1972 (Nov 12, 2012)

I don't think those CFL's last nearly as long as is claimed, hopefully the LED bulbs are better. I started going to LED's about a year ago and have not had one fail yet, I put in recessed lights a couple years ago and only one CFL flood survives to this day from the install, no better than the incandescent bulbs I used in the past.


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## dsdmmat (Nov 9, 2012)

I am happy to see the price of the LEDs coming down. The first ones I looked at were going for 25 bucks each. That was a little too steep for me to try out.


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## PalmettoTree (Jun 8, 2013)

jimb1972 said:


> I don't think those CFL's last nearly as long as is claimed, hopefully the LED bulbs are better. I started going to LED's about a year ago and have not had one fail yet, I put in recessed lights a couple years ago and only one CFL flood survives to this day from the install, no better than the incandescent bulbs I used in the past.


I agree especially when the volume first started to increase. I had several CFLs fail.


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## GTGallop (Nov 11, 2012)

When we lived in Houston, we lost two or three CFL's every time there was a thunderstorm. Sometimes they died faster than I could replace them if we had storms blow through in succession.
I started to use a sharpie to date the install and I learned that the ORIGINAL CFL's held up for years but the newer ones died inside of 2 months sometime.

Now that I'm in AZ it hasn't been an issue. I'm just looking forward to better technology.


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## kevincali (Nov 15, 2012)

sparkyprep said:


> CFLs are an "in between" or a temporary solution for energy efficiency. LEDs are the real solution, at least for now. Well worth the money for their energy savings and longevity. I recommend LED lighting to anyone who will listen.


Converted my current home to LED and I got my bill as low as $15 one month 

I think I paid $20 for a 3 pack at Costco?


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Same with me. 3 for $20.


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## Conundrum99 (Feb 16, 2014)

I converted about 80% of my house lights to LED. There as been a signifacant saving in the electic bill and the generator is able to run at about 55% verse 70% saving fuel. I started about 2 1/2 years ago one light at a time, so far none of the bulbs have failed. Eventually I would like to convert all lighting in the house to run on battery and solar. This should not require a large system as of right now I need about 370-400 watts to run all lights inside and out.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

A note on bulb light. I found out some time ago (25 years?) that GE bulbs last about 1/4 as long as Sylvania. (general purpose incandescent bulbs) I recently installed 20 four foot twin tube fluorescent fixtures in my shop and after just two months I have four that are starting to dim and get that black soot at one of the bases. I didn't bother to check when I bought the case of bulbs and when I checked - yep! GE!. I will replace them with Sylvania bulbs and expect them to last for five years or so. (like they did in my shop in Seattle) 

GE rates their equipment at 110% while other companies rate theirs at 90 - 95%. What this means is that when you buy a GE bulb for a 120VAC application it should actually be run at 110VAC for proper life while the others are rated to run at voltages up to 133VAC. Now we call it 110 Volt service but it actually runs between 117 and 123VAC It is easy to see why the GE bulbs burn up so quickly. 

GE is into a lot of electrical gear so when you start looking be sure to check the differences in working voltages and maximum tolerances. Or just do what I do and stay away from anything GE.


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