More LED bulb options

[jhdale]

I got some in Massachusetts at the same price. It was a subsidy from the electric utility. This area is good for that sort of thing, although the deals change all the time. If you live in MA or RI, check this site for some of the current options: http://www.energyfederation.org/estarlights/default.php At the moment they have the CR6 for $29.75 with free shipping (max of 12 per year, not a whole lot left) and the Philips EnduraLED 12 A19 for $15.

The CR6s are great lights all around. I am controlling them with Insteon dimmers.

 

[signal15]

Because the guy who built my house knew nothing of lighting design and layout, I need BRIGHT bulbs in my cans to sufficiently light the rooms. Those CR6's are a bit on the dim side right now. I'm hoping they come out with a 90W+ equivalent version of it soon.

I don't like the trims on them either. My current lights have brushed nickel trim rings and a mirrored reflector, and it looks a lot better than white plastic.

 

[gatchel]

Because the guy who built my house knew nothing of lighting design and layout, I need BRIGHT bulbs in my cans to sufficiently light the rooms. Those CR6's are a bit on the dim side right now. I'm hoping they come out with a 90W+ equivalent version of it soon.

I don't like the trims on them either. My current lights have brushed nickel trim rings and a mirrored reflector, and it looks a lot better than white plastic.

If you want to spend some cash there is always the LR6-DR1000 :rofl:

I just installed 2 of the Cree 4" (Ecosmart) replacements. They are small and very bright for their size. Give it time and I'm sure there will be a brighter version of the CR6.

 

[kwilcox]

For anybody looking for a baseline on the CR6, I run 4 downlights per 100 sq feet of space in my refinished basement area. The CR6s light this up like its day. We normally run at 60% brightness.

 

[apostolakisl]

I find that the CR6's appear a bit brighter than a 65 watt PAR bulb, but not 90 watt eq.

I have about 25 of them in my house now and am very happy with them. No failures with the oldest ones about 1 year installed. And the warranty is 5 years and you only need the receipt (no upc) and you can return it to a dealer (don't have to mail in). Beats the hell out of the crappy useless warranties I find on other bulbs.

The trim of course is personal. Flat white is obviously going to appeal to the largest set of people. I don't think it is plastic though, it feels like metal. I am sure it could be spray painted to some other flat color if you wanted, but brushed nickel I think not.

 

[tpboyce]

I have a couple of the EcoSmart LED A19 bulbs. They dim great and have lasted a long time. I bought one of the Phillips that is meant for a can fixture and it flickers as described above and aventually went out. I also had 3 of the Phillips A bulbs in another fixture and one of them went dead not to long afterwards.

I have a couple of the CR recessed fixtures from Menards. They are bright. Only problem is that the trim ring is about 1/4" smaller. Both the inlaws who helped paint and the previous owner did not pull the trim rings when they pained the ceilings in two different rooms, so I am not able to use them until we repaint.

 

[fwd03]

EcoSmart LED light has better heatsink than Phillips. Heatsink is very critical for any electronics product.

 

[drozwood90]

I was over at Home Depot this weekend. They had "Ecosmart" brand LED lights on sale...well, reduced price. $7.95, instead of the normal $15. Kind of the same thing as the Lowes brand that was listed somewhere on this board (I think in this thread).

So, since I had such good luck with that "style" of LED bulb, I thought I'd try it out.

Hooked it up, looked the same as the Lowes one. I think the color was a bit better, but other than that, they appeared to be the same.

Well, then I started playing around with it to see how it's dimming performed, at least compared the the Lowes one, which I was satisfied with.

The Lowes one, dimmed to ~25% then turned off. The Home Depot one, maybe was a bit higher. I didn't get a really good test done, since what I noticed, every time a UPB command was issued on the powerline, if the Home Depot bulb was dimmed, I could "read" the UPB command on the powerline. Every time a pulse passed through, there was flickering! The lower the bulb was dimmed, the better I could see it. This was to the point of almost ON/OFF when the bulb was dimmed to 30%!!

So, for those of us using Z-Wave, maybe it will be worth your time? For me, I had to return the unit.

--Dan

 

[tmbrown97]

I've seen the same thing happen with the lowes ones. I have a chandelier with 9 of them, and when dimmed, I can clearly see when the UPB system is talking. I played with the dimmers a little to confirm that's what it was; and even opened the WebMtn RUC's iPhone app and watched the lights flicker as it polled for status. Most of the time we don't notice though.

 

[drozwood90]

I will have to check my Lowes one at home (I already returned the EcoBright). I've never noticed it on the Lowes one. The EcoBright was GLARINGLY obvious. As in, 30% dim to 100% on, 30% dim, 100% on type of flicker...not just a slight bump in the brightness level.

--Dan

 

[apostolakisl]

Curious that this happens wtih UPB but not Insteon (I have lots of Insteona and lots of LED's and have never seen a flicker). Is it the higher voltage or is it the frequency?

 

[tmbrown97]

I know that UPB has a 40-volt signal, vs. the 5-volt of X10 - maybe Insteon is on the lower end of that more like X10 for compatibility?

And for me it wasn't like 30-100% - but if you watch the lights, you see it - only when they're dimmed pretty low, like 30-40%... at least with the lowes bulbs. I only really noticed it once or twice; the lights that I dim really low regularly are still incandescent for the color and dimming performance... the LED's are usually at 80%, sometimes down to 60% and once in a while up to 100%; generally I don't use them lower because of where they are.

 

[signal15]

So Home Despot now sells the LSG Glimpse. It's over by the can lights under the Commercial Electric name. I bought one the other day to compare it to the Cree/Ecosmart retrofits. The light is a bit whiter, and it says it puts out 750 lumens. It does look lighter. However, at countertop height, the Cree puts out 136 lux, and the Glimpse only puts out 106. That's a pretty big difference. I'm probably returning the Glimpse.

Also, I talked to someone at Ikea yesterday. They will have low power LEDs in the spring, and the high power incandescent replacements are coming in the fall. It will be interesting to see what they have.

 

[IVB]

Long thread, trying to find experience on CT with zWave dimmers to dim LED disk lights found this but haven't read it all.

In case anyone is interested we just bought 4 LED disk lights from HD, not cheap (about $40 each). eBay item

130654402470 is what we have, trying to figure out how to embed a URL in this fancy new CT forum engine ​

The room is only 9' x 13', I put up 5 4" j-boxes (4 for these LEDs, 1 for a chandelier). They're 750 lumens, I've only got one up so far as I'm still painting the ceiling (new room). Wife was the one who purchased them, at 750 lumens each they will NEVER be on more than a tiny percent otherwise every tiny little mistake I made with the mudding will be visible. Or not, as it'll be so bright your corneas will burn off.

 

[video321]

they will NEVER be on more than a tiny percent otherwise every tiny little mistake I made with the mudding will be visible.

I hear ya....I have a flush mount light in my hallway that lights up a header that was painted with a semi-gloss faux finish that lights up like rolling hills!!! Needless to say...I really don't like that light on! Unfortunately, I didn't realize it was like that when it had the flat paint on it or I would have fixed it.