# Light Bulbs



## stowlin (Apr 25, 2016)

Who stocks them as a prep? Do they have a shelf life if not used? Are they not worth the space or are we just better off with another roll of TP?


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

We have them. Not as high a priority as it once was . Stock LED's they last a long time. If STHF get serious and it goes on a year or more . We will not be to concerned about using a lot of electricity . 
MRE's still have a little TP we have a fair supply of those for times they maybe needed. 
It pays to sock some of everything you can most it will come in handy at some time.


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

We made the conversion to LED's this past fall. From what we can tell our electricity usage on our power bill is lower but I'll reserve judgement after we have one full year of data.

I saved the incandescent bulbs that we replaced.


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## azrancher (Dec 14, 2014)

Slippy said:


> I saved the incandescent bulbs that we replaced.


I stocked up on lots of 100 watt incandescent bulbs when I realized the .GOV was trying to help us save electricity and money by eliminating them, and then eliminating 75 Watt bulbs, and it probably goes down from there...

*Rancher*


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## Oddcaliber (Feb 17, 2014)

I got bulbs mostly for flashlights and battery lanterns.


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## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

I plant _bulbs_ in my garden.

I put_ lamps _in my lights.


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## azrancher (Dec 14, 2014)

Back Pack Hack said:


> I put_ lamps _in my lights.


Well in this part of the world, lamps emit light, unless it's a firecracker, then you can light them up.

*Rancher*


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## dwight55 (Nov 9, 2012)

A friend of mine and his wife went thru their entire house and replaced every bulb with LED's, . . . says he has the electric bills to prove his monthly cost is down by over $40.00.

Wife and I did the bathroom, kitchen, and living room, . . . gonna do others in the near future. I will be stocking a box of them, . . . as they last 25 years I am told, . . . and at 72, I don't plan on having to change a bunch of them. Also not tossing my squirrely florescents, . . . they last a long time as well.

Sectioned off part of my electrical panel, . . . into a smaller panel, . . . will be able to have lights just like normal, . . . from battery backup and 12v / 115 v converter. Don't have the full life span of the battery yet as we are in the process of getting it together, . . . but eventually, we want to put them on the inverter 100% and put the battery on a solar panel setup.

It won't save us much, . . . but at least it will be self sufficient lighting.

May God bless,
Dwight


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## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

azrancher said:


> Well in this part of the world, lamps emit light, unless it's a firecracker, then you can light them up.
> 
> *Rancher*


In my neck of the woods, lamps suck up the dark. That's why I call 'em Dark Suckers. They suck up all the dark around them. Eventually, they get full of dark and quit working. Sometimes, you can look at the Dark Sucker and see some of the dark in it. Then you go buy some more Dark Suckers.


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

The two led bulbs died within a week of each other. They were about 18 months old.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

I have a habit of buying a package of mini florescent bulbs every time I go to home depot. 

I have six milk crates full of them and incandescent ones.

I have 150 watt incandescent ones for my abrasive cabinet.

The mini florescent bulb do not last anywhere as long as claimed, more like 1/16th the time. 

If the SHTF, like everything else none will be available.

Not a waste of time keeping some on hand.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

We are 3 years into LED change over. We change a few at a time. 100% LED now. Have not changed any of the yet. Of course it seems they have progressed. The new generation is better than the first.


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## azrancher (Dec 14, 2014)

Denton said:


> The two led bulbs died within a week of each other. They were about 18 months old.


Oh heck that's nothing I had a couple that are used inside a fixture that can best be described as walkway lighting in a dark theater environment, it lights the steps that go up to my front door, it uses... an E17 socket, which is halfway between an E13 (candelabra) and an E27 (intermediate edison, which is a typical light bulb), so it had an incandescent, long tube type, I thought, go LED lasts a long time, so I only found one dealer... china... I put another socket so I could have 2, like the one long incandescent... was nice and bright, lasted maybe a month, took it apart, one dead, one dim... yeah oh boy saved a bunch of money there. I ordered E17->E12 adapter, I have a couple of candelabra 40 watt eq LED's that I can try...

I know CFL's suck, electronics can't stand the heat, but yeah we are going to save a lot of money going to LED's....

*Rancher *


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

From what I have seen here, none realizes that these led bulbs have surface mount technology.

Most of the circuits have a series of diodes to effect a voltage drop across the circuit and full wave bridges incorporated in some mixes.

The circuit is required to create a DC current to operate on some including a step down X-former.

Virtually any circuit incorporating any type of semiconductor is subject to an EMP burst

whether on or off, as long as screwed into a circuit that has long line outside the home acting as an antenna.

It does not take much of an overload to fry one, I would suggest keeping old style incandescent bulbs on hand if their is a strike.


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## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

SOCOM42 said:


> ............ I would suggest keeping old style incandescent bulbs on hand if their is a strike.


Or just stock up on extra LEDs and keep 'em in a faraday cage.


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## Inor (Mar 22, 2013)

I bought literally cases of incandescent bulbs at the dollar store when they were outlawed. I bought mostly 60 and 100 watts because that is what we use. When we moved, the rental house came with those curly-Q bulbs and I hate them with a passion. I have not tried any LED bulbs yet - maybe in the new house once get the build completed?

When we were still in Minnesota, I switched my workshop over to the T-38 florescent bulbs. I generally liked them because they did not really have a "heat up" time like the old fluorescent bulbs and they gave off really good bright light. But, the manufacturer said they would last about 8 years; I never got one to last more than 5 months. That meant that I was changing out all the bulbs in my shop 2-3 times per year at about $50 each time I would do a changeout. Maybe it was due to the extreme temperature changes through the course of a year or maybe GE was just B.S.ing me?

For obvious reasons, I am treating the manufacturer's word on the LEDs with more than a little skepticism.


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## LunaticFringeInc (Nov 20, 2012)

light bulbs are cool but LED's are where its at. Lots of light with little electricity use! They will run a lot longer and they take up much less room being stored.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Thee are the only non LED lights we have anywhere. The bike room. They have the so called natural light bulbs in them come on so as you flip the switch. When it comes to working on thing like the bike older eyes need all the light they can get . That just the way life works. I hope to find a good LED replacement for the as they wear out.
The have lasted about 7 years so far.
Another place LED's are amazing is the fish tank.


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## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

stocked up on LEDs because the local electric company subsidized them - super cheap - pushing the change over with $$$$$$


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## Targetshooter (Dec 4, 2015)

yes I stocked up on 12 volt light bulbs , you can get them at Lowe's . I have made 6 lamps using 12 light bulbs . You can use two 6 volts to run them .


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

Back Pack Hack said:


> Or just stock up on extra LEDs and keep 'em in a faraday cage.


The reason I said incandescent is for that reason, not having to worry about them.


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## 8301 (Nov 29, 2014)

Since I'm solar powered I have some meters in the living room to monitor power consumption to the watt, volt, and hertz. Over the last 2 years I've been slowly switching to LEDs and there is a huge difference in power consumption. My garage still uses sixteen T-8 florescent bulbs and it is scary how much electricity they use compared to the LED lights the rest of the house has.

When converting from a tube type florescent bulb to a LED tube shaped bulb the florescent fixture needs to be rewired; takes about 15 minutes per fixture and I've done a few inside the house. But I haven't done the garage yet because the long LED bulbs are pretty expensive. 

As part of my EMP preps I do keep two boxes of incandescent bulbs because at about $7 its an inexpensive prep compared to some of my other preps. Keep in mind that if SHTF and the local power grid goes down if you still have electricity trading for incandescent bulbs should be easy.


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## inceptor (Nov 19, 2012)

I bought one of these on sale at Costco and put it in the garage. I like it so much I'll be replacing the other with one.

https://www.costco.com/4’-Linkable-LED-Shop-Light-with-Pull-Chain,-2-pack.product.100284402.html


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## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

I have what I refer to as "the bulb cube".
A few years ago, the amazingly ill-equipped politicians on the hill thought we should ban all high wattage light bulbs because that would surely save the planet.
The backlash was immense. However, before the backlash lead to any changes, I made a trip down the local Army Navy and nearly bought out the place. They were generic bulbs, and super cheap. I picked up 60w and up in all sizes and sockets. I think I walked out spending $70, and had around 200 bulbs.

My original intention was to ensure I had access to 100w bulbs, since I had a design in mind for a hotbox for my bow building I'd seen another guys use, and the ban would have made it illegal to manufacture such bulbs. So, that was my trigger, but when I saw the prices, I decided to stock up. The resulting stash was neatly stacked into a cube shape, and tucked away for later use.

Since that time, I'd started thinking about how to run lighting during an extended power outage, and realized that bulbs running on 120v power are not as easy to keep burning as I would have liked. So, I started a search for 12v LED bulbs that could be hooked up to a simple battery circuit, and provide wonderful low light during such times. I now have about 6 bulbs for this purpose, which will be more than enough, since during a time like that, we won't be in different rooms. I made sure to stay with low lumen for most of them to minimize the "glow" we might produce, and make it easier to block windows from exposing our gentle lighting. Don't want to draw attention, ya know. ;-)
I do have one super high lumen for cases when that may be a necessity.

Anyways, I've not needed to buy a light bulb in years.


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## tc556guy (Sep 9, 2015)

I stock a variety of bulbs in different wattages only because I hate having a bulb blow and finding I have no replacement on the shelf.
In other words, not a priority purchase. I keep maybe 15 or so bulbs on the shelf at any given time.
LOL at the terminology debate.
Hereabouts a lamp is what sits on the table; the bulb screws into the lamp.


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## A Watchman (Sep 14, 2015)

tc556guy said:


> LOL at the terminology debate.
> Hereabouts a lamp is what sits on the table; the bulb screws into the lamp.


As it is typically referred to in one's own house. However, in the commercial or industrial world the standard terminology used by engineers and architects, designates a fixture as the device and a lamp as the bulb.


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## zachthemac (Jan 17, 2017)

tc556guy said:


> I stock a variety of bulbs in different wattages only because I hate having a bulb blow and finding I have no replacement on the shelf.
> In other words, not a priority purchase. I keep maybe 15 or so bulbs on the shelf at any given time.
> LOL at the terminology debate.
> Hereabouts a lamp is what sits on the table; the bulb screws into the lamp.


Same, I don't consider it a "prep" because having bulbs on hand is not my priority for SHTF. It's my priority to save me trips to the store.

Any SHTF that lasts long enough that I would need to replace bulbs would be bad enough that we wouldn't have power, I suspect.


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## MisterMills357 (Apr 15, 2015)

They are a good item to have, and the LED models last forever, or there-a-bouts. They seem to be brighter and cooler too, from what I have experienced with them.


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## MisterMills357 (Apr 15, 2015)

Back Pack Hack said:


> I plant _bulbs_ in my garden.
> 
> I put_ lamps _in my lights.


I put bulb's in my lamp's, and in light sockets, and flashlights too.


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