More LED bulb options
- Thread starter signal15
- Start date
drozwood90
Senior Member
Bought one on the way home. So far, like the bulb. We were using Philips "natural" incandescents in the master bedroom. I thought those were white. These LEDS are really white. Nice that they use 7.5W. Noticed the same 10-15% no dim, then it pops on and dims up AOK. Probably replace a few cfls around the house with a few of these...so far they seem to be the cheapsest/highest quality I've seen.
The Philips are 60W, and these LEDs look brighter for sure!
The Philips are 60W, and these LEDs look brighter for sure!
tmbrown97
Senior Member
I also threw one in a can next to several other cans with the typical PAR incandescents - and it looks fine up there... if you look straight up, you see around the bulb into the housing though but not bad. I was considering looking for another housing that would hide more. For $9.98 vs. $40+ for the next best competitor they're a good option. I'm extremely impressed with how their dimming seems to fit right inline with the incandescents they're next to.
drozwood90
Senior Member
Agreed about the dimming. I set my wife's side of the bed to dim at the same time as mine (with the LED bulb). They looked the same until the cut-out at the end.
Will try tossing it up into the can to see what I think. I believe they will seem brighter than what I have up there.
--Dan
Did you notice it said "Do not use in recessed or enclosed fixtures" on the package (according to the Q&A on Lowe's site)?
Any heat issues for you?
tmbrown97
Senior Member
I had it in a can for about an hour and when I pulled it out it was pretty cool to the touch. When I pulled it out of the chandeleir later, I was then surprised to find it to be pretty warm (but nowhere near what an incandescent is). Right now I have one in the kitchen in a can over the sink...
tmbrown97
Senior Member
Just an FYI - I went back to Lowes for more of these bulbs while I had a 10% coupon... instead of pallets in the entry way the sign was moved to a shelf that had about 50 lights on it, and the sign said the sale ends on the 25th I believe.
To refresh your memory: http://www.lowes.com/pd_338802-75774-LA19DM/LED_4294801215__?productId=3341246&Ntt=led&pl=1¤tURL=%2Fpl_Light%2BBulbs_4294801215__s%3FNtt%3Dled%26page%3D3 (seems the sale price is gone online).
I bought another 15 (for a total of 30) and replaced the bulbs in all my cans as well as a couple dense chandeleirs. All in all I'm pretty happy. Theyu don't look like PAR bulbs if you're staring into the fixture while the bulb is off. While the bulb is on, everything is very well lit up - and because of the upward directional nature of the bulb it works quite well. If you knew to look for it you could nitpick color and the way it looks in the can - but if nobody ever told you, you'd probably never notice (and your wife probably won't notice if you don't tell her).
I also let the kitchen ones run for an hour then hit it with the temperature laser - and was getting a max surface temp of about 115 if I hit it just right - closer to 100 degrees most anywhere else. It didn't appear that any heat was getting to the fixture itself really.
For me this was worthwhile. Based on an average 4hrs/bulb/day (some are less, some are way more) - these should save me an average of $78/month, or just shy of $1K for the year - not bad for a $270 investment. Since I'll get my ROI before summer's end, when something better comes along I won't feel bad about replacing these - but, since they'll probably last until my kids are grown, we'll see when I get around to it. For those with more reasonable electric rates, you're looking at more like a year for ROI.
I still have to go back for one more bulb - I miscounted... and maybe a spare or two to keep on the shelf (I did drop one of the bulbs on the concrete while loading them into the car - it may die early!)
To refresh your memory: http://www.lowes.com/pd_338802-75774-LA19DM/LED_4294801215__?productId=3341246&Ntt=led&pl=1¤tURL=%2Fpl_Light%2BBulbs_4294801215__s%3FNtt%3Dled%26page%3D3 (seems the sale price is gone online).
I bought another 15 (for a total of 30) and replaced the bulbs in all my cans as well as a couple dense chandeleirs. All in all I'm pretty happy. Theyu don't look like PAR bulbs if you're staring into the fixture while the bulb is off. While the bulb is on, everything is very well lit up - and because of the upward directional nature of the bulb it works quite well. If you knew to look for it you could nitpick color and the way it looks in the can - but if nobody ever told you, you'd probably never notice (and your wife probably won't notice if you don't tell her).
I also let the kitchen ones run for an hour then hit it with the temperature laser - and was getting a max surface temp of about 115 if I hit it just right - closer to 100 degrees most anywhere else. It didn't appear that any heat was getting to the fixture itself really.
For me this was worthwhile. Based on an average 4hrs/bulb/day (some are less, some are way more) - these should save me an average of $78/month, or just shy of $1K for the year - not bad for a $270 investment. Since I'll get my ROI before summer's end, when something better comes along I won't feel bad about replacing these - but, since they'll probably last until my kids are grown, we'll see when I get around to it. For those with more reasonable electric rates, you're looking at more like a year for ROI.
I still have to go back for one more bulb - I miscounted... and maybe a spare or two to keep on the shelf (I did drop one of the bulbs on the concrete while loading them into the car - it may die early!)
drozwood90
Senior Member
yep...
I was looking at some 65w equivelant LEDs (10.5w actual) at Home Depot that I believe were about $35.
Correct me if I'm wrong here...
I have 4 65w bulbs in my kitchen. Assuming they are on 4 hours per day, 30 days per month, I come up with a usage of 31.2 kWh.
If I replace with 4 10.5w LED bulbs, same 4 hours per day, 30 days per month, I come up with ~5 kWh.
Doing simple division my electric company is charging me ~13.9 cents per kWh per month. So, my current bulbs cost me ~$4.37 per month. Switching to these LEDs should drop me to ~70 cents per month - a savings of $3.67 per month.
At $35 per bulb, it would take about 38 months to break even.
Does this sound right to you?
Correct me if I'm wrong here...
I have 4 65w bulbs in my kitchen. Assuming they are on 4 hours per day, 30 days per month, I come up with a usage of 31.2 kWh.
If I replace with 4 10.5w LED bulbs, same 4 hours per day, 30 days per month, I come up with ~5 kWh.
Doing simple division my electric company is charging me ~13.9 cents per kWh per month. So, my current bulbs cost me ~$4.37 per month. Switching to these LEDs should drop me to ~70 cents per month - a savings of $3.67 per month.
At $35 per bulb, it would take about 38 months to break even.
Does this sound right to you?
RAM
Active Member
Sounds right to me.
Like you, I don't have a lot of lights that are on a lot of the time, so the payback period would be long for me also.
apostolakisl
Senior Member
38 months is a reasonable payback time considering the bulb is likely going to last you 20 years.????? However, it is likely that if you wait another year, the bulb might cost half as much and probably work better. So, if the bulb is $12 cheaper in one year, and each bulb saved you $10 per year in electricity, you would be $2 per bulb ahead by waiting one year. But who knows? For myself, I am waiting a little longer. I really doubt they will get much more efficient since they are already so efficient, there just isn't that much room for efficiency gains. However, I do think they will get nicer from color and dimming capabilities. That is the main thing holding me back right now.
It would be nice if they lasted 20 years, but I'm not banking on it. I have only a limited number of CFLs in my house, but I think they die at the same rate if not more often than my incandescents. I'm getting excellent life out of my incandescents which I can only attribute to running them at 90% brightness and also ramping them up over a second or so.
apostolakisl
Senior Member
Yeah, you have to take that "50,000 hours" on faith. That was what I meant by ??????. What are you going to do 10 years later when the bulb dies after 20,000 hours? Return it? Yeah right.
And I agree with the CFL thing. Most of them die way before 10,000 hours they claim. I actually wrote dates on my cfls with sharpie for a while and found that I had many dieing after less than 10,000 of hours of installation. This on bulbs that were used an hour or two a day. Believe it or not I successfully returned them, but that was Costco.
I agree about the 90% and ramping thing. I have a lot of cans in my house and the house is two years old. The bulbs were installed by the electricians at installation. I put Insteon switches on many of them, but some places where I rarely used them, I didn't. Guess what, the rarely used bulbs have already burned out and the ones that get used hours every day (and are on the Insteon with .5 second ramps and 80 or 90% max) are still working.
And I agree with the CFL thing. Most of them die way before 10,000 hours they claim. I actually wrote dates on my cfls with sharpie for a while and found that I had many dieing after less than 10,000 of hours of installation. This on bulbs that were used an hour or two a day. Believe it or not I successfully returned them, but that was Costco.
I agree about the 90% and ramping thing. I have a lot of cans in my house and the house is two years old. The bulbs were installed by the electricians at installation. I put Insteon switches on many of them, but some places where I rarely used them, I didn't. Guess what, the rarely used bulbs have already burned out and the ones that get used hours every day (and are on the Insteon with .5 second ramps and 80 or 90% max) are still working.
