Has Anyone Tried L.E.D. Lightbulbs For Their Home?
starr...@gmail.com
saving energy. Tales like you could light up an entire house for the
cost of running one incandescent bulb. The bulbs last from 10,000 to
30,000 hours, etc.
Right now, Home Depot is offering an all-white L.E.D. bulb
online. So far as I can tell, you'd only get the equivalent of the
light you'd get from one 20 watt incandescent bulb. Pretty dim, to me.
Some bulbs giving the equivalent of 60 to 100 watt incandescdent
light are available, but list prices are from $80 to $100 a bulb.
Has anyone tried this lighting in their home? If so, is the
quality of light satisfactory? I've seen some articles on the
possibility of too much blue wave light from these bulbs.
Our local electric company is raising their rates next year, to
raise money so they _might_ build a nuclear power plant. I'd love to
pay less on my electric bill by using these bulbs, if they really
worked. I'm already turning off my water heater.
SMS
They don't work. Forget it. Use CFLs.
m...@privacy.net
> Right now, Home Depot is offering an all-white L.E.D. bulb
>online. So far as I can tell, you'd only get the equivalent of the
>light you'd get from one 20 watt incandescent bulb. Pretty dim, to me.
Sam's Club also has them in a three pack for $15
Supposed to be equivalent to 45 watt incandescent bulb
m...@privacy.net
MSfo...@mcpmail.com
If I can't forecast a payback of under three years or so, I'm not
interested. Many of the CFL's promised phenomenal longevity and
crapped out in short order. Now they seem very good. I never have one
go bad. But I never paid more than $3 for one either. Some were on
sale for $1. An LED should last much longer than a CFL. I'm unwilling
to pay $70 for an LED. What if you drop or damage it? This could be a
new direction for thieves. Steal all the LEDs out of a home before
leaving. I believe the penalty cost for being innovative is too high
on LEDs right now.
Evelyn Leeper
They might be better if you have a dimmer switch--there are some
dimmable CFLs, but they're still hard to find.
Also, LEDs are basically directional, while CFLs are broad-range.
--
Evelyn C. Leeper
Be braver. You cannot cross a chasm in two small jumps.
phil scott
Dr John Ott wrote a book about 30 years ago on the liability of not
getting enough broad spectrum light, sun light or incandescent bulb
light..otherwise LED's have to be the best thing since sliced bread in
this energy market and with the price of LED's dropping... Id make
sure I had one or two incandescent bulbs running near a commonly used
table or chair a few hours each evening, esp if I was home bound or it
was winter. In the summer most people get enough natural light..its
an actual vital nutrient, among other things natural light allows the
body to make vitamin D... lack of light is recognised in alaska
winters as a serrous problem, causes depression. (even in the old
days with incandescent bulbs)..its worth some investigation.
Phil scott
phil scott
they work.
you just need an array inside a frosted bulb to get a good spread of
light. alone they act like little spot lights more or less.
Phil scott
phil scott
>
> - Show quoted text -
45 watt equivalent LED bulbs are now at 5 dollars if you shop
around. 70 dollars was true about 2 years ago though.
phil scott
> m...@privacy.net wrote:
im in the hvac bidness... you will see spot heating and cooling more
common shortly...and some systems designed to just cool the lower
parts of a room where the occcupants sit.... same with lighting... LED
spot lights put the light on your word or reading area and dont waste
it othersize... not appropriate of course for room lighting etc unless
its in a frosted bulb with reflectors giving a 180 degree spread.
Phil scott
Tomes
<starr...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:55f8025d-1907-4688...@q36g2000vbn.googlegroups.com...
I tried this experiment, for what it is worth.
I swapped out one of the rear backup lightbulbs for a 5 cell(?) LED light
[the biggest one that would fit into the enclosure] and left the other one
in place. While looking at the Jeep from the rear it appears to be much
brighter. I thought 'well this is something good'. However, when I am
inside the Jeep and backing up I see very little from the LED side behind
me.
My conclusion here is that the LED looks brighter when one is looking at it,
but it does not 'throw' the light out well at all in that situation. My
quest for lighting up the area of backing up failed with the LED.
Tomes
phil scott
> <starrfl...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> - Show quoted text -
thats because no difuser lense was used... for diffusion of the LED
light you need a diffuser, thats what the frosted bulb does
Phil scott
The Real Bev
A friend gave me a single-AA-cell LED (no idea how many individual bulbs)
flashlight that gives a 1" circle of extremely bright light 6" away and a 6'
circle of bright light 30 feet away. Not much spill. I'm amazed at how really
good it is.
Still, $80 for a 100-watt light bulb is not exactly competitive, especially
since we don't actually use all that much electricity for light. CFs will have
to do for a while.
--
Cheers,
Bev
----------------------------------------------------------
"When I was in college, the only job I could get was
shitting on people's lawns. Sure, the owners complained,
but it was honest work and it kept me off welfare..."
-- M. Tabnik in mcfl (paraphrased)
Jeff
> I've seen a lot about L.E.D. lightbulbs being the new thing in
> saving energy. Tales like you could light up an entire house for the
> cost of running one incandescent bulb. The bulbs last from 10,000 to
> 30,000 hours, etc.
Now, where's Don Klipstein when you need him!
Efficiency of stock LEDs is not quite up to CFLs, though some
leading edge LEDs are in the neighborhood. CFLs are your best deal for
household lighting, and LEDs for flashlights.
Most of my electric bill is not lighting, at least since I switched
to CFLs and shut off unneeded lights. Refrigerators and particularly
your water heater are where to look. You can't really get a more
efficient water heater, but you can get a blanket and consider solar hot
water.
Jeff
IRON MONKEY
yes the leds work great , just be shure to use a low voltage
drip ,dimmer.
this will increase the life of you'r led lights.
Marsha
> Most of my electric bill is not lighting, at least since I
switched to
> CFLs and shut off unneeded lights. Refrigerators and particularly your
> water heater are where to look. You can't really get a more efficient
> water heater, but you can get a blanket and consider solar hot water.
>
> Jeff
Does a water heater blanket really save much? I've thought about
getting one, but wasn't sure if it was worth it.
Marsha/Ohio
phil scott
>
> - Show quoted text -
actually CFL's save in the range of 50 to 70 pct compared to
incandescent (depends if its cool white or warm white cfl, warm white
is full spectrum light a lot healthier but its not as efficient...
LED's are 90 to 97% more efficient than incandescent. However LEDs
are not full spectrum light not even close)
Phil scott, electrical engineer
phil scott
it will pay back in under a year in cold weather, you can use any old
fiber glass batt insul to do the job,
phil scott
> Tomes wrote:
>
> - Show quoted text -
try ebay for cheap LED's and try some in the 40 watt equivalent
range, those might be in the 10 dollar or less range per bulb
those prices are coming down fast
Phil scott
lumino...@gmail.com
>
> - Show quoted text -
FYI:
Interior light levels are typically so low as to make Mr Ott's
conclusions irrelevent. This is why light therapy boxes are so bright,
and why only the large ones are effective.
Getting outside or sit near a window will do more for you than
changing all your lights!
-----
RickR
(Lighting Consultant for 25 years)
m...@privacy.net
>actually CFL's save in the range of 50 to 70 pct compared to
>incandescent (depends if its cool white or warm white cfl, warm white
>is full spectrum light a lot healthier but its not as efficient...
>LED's are 90 to 97% more efficient than incandescent. However LEDs
>are not full spectrum light not even close)
Does it make any sense to switch from CFL back to
incandescent in winter time so that the bulbs will help
HEAT the house as well as light it?
Evelyn Leeper
Not really--the bulbs are a very inefficient way to heat the house.
phil scott
your question is generally well founded... exceptions revolve around
the cost of your current heat source.
an extreme exception to your view would be if the home is currently
heated with ground source heat pump.. electric light bulb heat is
vastly more expensive in that isolated case.
Phil scott
phil scott
>
> - Show quoted text -
you sound completely well informed and are no doubt correct in your
remarks ....a few incandescent bulbs might well not be of benefit for
a person in need of therapeutic levels of natural light... however it
might be that the light bulbs would keep the average person out of
trouble to some degree... john Ott mentioned that in some aspect or
the other but it was 30 years ago that i read the book... technology
and research no doubt has advanced since then.
Phil scott
Seerialmom
I have LED's in some flashlights and a few strings of Christmas
lights. Not in a big rush to replace the previously purchased CFL's
with LED's just yet. Plus you would have to "group" a bunch to get
the same lighting effect. One suggestion instead of LED's, how about
installing a few SolarTubes? I had 3 put in last month when I
reroofed, very bright even on somewhat overcast days. No electrical
cost there and they're supposed to be easy for homeowners to DIY as
well.
Bob F
<m...@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:loifl4lcb03uk4kju...@4ax.com...
I thought what I saw was a two pack for that price.
The "Lights of America" brand stopped me dead.
Bob F
<m...@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:b92il4dog05n1k6n1...@4ax.com...
Only if your main heat source is more expensive than electric heat.
Dave Garland
> Does a water heater blanket really save much? I've thought about
> getting one, but wasn't sure if it was worth it.
If you have an electric water heater, but non-resistance-electric
(gas, oil, heat pump) heat, it's probably worth it (since electric
heat is usually the most expensive option).
If you have a gas water heater, maybe not as worth it, since the waste
heat is warming an area of your house and probably doesn't cost any
more than your main heat source. Though it would help reduce the load
on A/C during cooling season. With a gas heater, make sure you don't
block the place it gets combustion air from.
Insulating the hot water pipes wherever you can is probably worth it,
since it may reduce the amount of hot water you use (it doesn't get as
cold on the way to your faucet). You can get 4' split foam tubes that
pop right over the pipe. Especially right near and into the tank, and
insulate the cold pipe there too.
Dave
Dave Garland
> <m...@privacy.net> wrote in message
>> incandescent in winter time so that the bulbs will help
>> HEAT the house as well as light it?
>
> Only if your main heat source is more expensive than electric heat.
And those situations will be very rare, I can't actually think of any
though I'm sure that somewhere in the world it happens.
Dave
Don Klipstein
phil scott wrote in part:
>Dr John Ott wrote a book about 30 years ago on the liability of not
>getting enough broad spectrum light, sun light or incandescent bulb
>light..
If the color looks like that of natural light and the s/p ratio is about
that of natural light of the same color, then the light stimulates all
known photoreceptors in the human eye in about the same ratio as natural
light of that color does.
And with the strong mid-blue band, most white LEDs have no problem
stimulating cirtopic receptors if separate cirtopic receptors actually
exist.
- Don Klipstein (d...@misty.com)
Don Klipstein
phil scott wrote:
Where do you get this?
Just a few days ago I checked Digi-Key to see how efficient the best
Cree LEDs in stock there are - about 90 lumens/watt - 100 lumens at 350 mA
with voltage drop of 3.3 volts. Cree recently announced one that produces
up to 122 lumens with similar power input.
The best I have heard from Nichia's website for actual production units
is about 100 lumens/watt. I have yet to hear much better from Lumileds.
Seoul Semiconductor, using Cree chips, has some approaching or maybe
achieving 100 lumens/watt.
A 60 watt standard incandescent achieves almost 15 lumens/watt.
A few months ago, I looked at DOE's web material on their "Caliper"
program that evaluates LED "light bulbs" and fixtures. The most efficient
ones I have known them to evaluate achieve about 60 lumens/watt - and
compact fluorescents often achieve that.
> However LEDs are not full spectrum light not even close)
>
>Phil scott, electrical engineer
- Don Klipstein (d...@misty.com)
Don Klipstein
phil scott wrote:
It's also much more expensive than oil or natural gas.
- Don Klipstein (d...@misty.com)
Marsha
We have a natural gas water heater. I went to a web site that said if
the outside of the tank feels warm, you need a blanket. Ours feels
cool. But the pipes wraps would probably be a good idea. Thanks.
Marsha/Ohio
The Real Bev
> On Dec 28, 8:34 pm, The Real Bev <bashley...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Tomes wrote:
>> >
>> > My conclusion here is that the LED looks brighter when one is looking at it,
>> > but it does not 'throw' the light out well at all in that situation. My
>> > quest for lighting up the area of backing up failed with the LED.
>>
>> A friend gave me a single-AA-cell LED (no idea how many individual bulbs)
>> flashlight that gives a 1" circle of extremely bright light 6" away and a 6'
>> circle of bright light 30 feet away. Not much spill. I'm amazed at how really
>> good it is.
>>
>> Still, $80 for a 100-watt light bulb is not exactly competitive, especially
>> since we don't actually use all that much electricity for light. CFs will have
>> to do for a while.
>>
> try ebay for cheap LED's and try some in the 40 watt equivalent
> range, those might be in the 10 dollar or less range per bulb
> those prices are coming down fast
If all you need is 40 watts you might as well use a candle! The City gave us
$75 worth of CFL bulbs, our choice of sizes. I got a lot of the biggest ones
plus one floodlight that had a higher wattage rating and which might be nice to
point at the ceiling. Wrong. Dimmer than the regular spiral bulbs.
With those, plus a lot of dirt-cheap CFLs from Fedco and Albertson's, plus a
lot of cheap incandescent bulbs, I think we're set for life.
--
Cheers,
Bev
O_________________________________________________O
"John Wayne toilet paper -- It's rough, it's tough,
and it don't take no crap from nobody."
E Z Peaces
>
> Dr John Ott wrote a book about 30 years ago on the liability of not
> getting enough broad spectrum light, sun light or incandescent bulb
> light..otherwise LED's have to be the best thing since sliced bread in
> this energy market and with the price of LED's dropping... Id make
> sure I had one or two incandescent bulbs running near a commonly used
> table or chair a few hours each evening, esp if I was home bound or it
> was winter. In the summer most people get enough natural light..its
> an actual vital nutrient, among other things natural light allows the
> body to make vitamin D... lack of light is recognised in alaska
> winters as a serrous problem, causes depression. (even in the old
> days with incandescent bulbs)..its worth some investigation.
>
>
> Phil scott
Doesn't the skin require the destructive kind of UV, where the sun is
above 45 degrees, to make Vitamin D? Can you get that from a bulb?
Doesn't that mean ingesting the vitamin at least in winter can be vital
for people who don't live in the tropics?
Don Klipstein
Incandescents in general don't. Some halogens (all of which have bare
halogen "capsules" without outer bulbs, and not even all of those) do
provide some significant UV-B at close range, sometimes also along with a
significant trace of UV-C - highly considered harmful.
I have often heard of sun being 40 degrees above the horizon being
sufficient to produce adequate Vitamin D in the skin. There are also
supplements and fortified milk.
- Don Klipstein (d...@misty.com)
E Z Peaces
Here's a page I like:
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080107072603AAfpfSP
It says uvb is 5% at 40 degrees and 18% at 50 degrees.
It says if A is the sun's elevation and K is the number of extinction
magnitudes for radiation passing through the atmosphere at 90 degrees,
the relative intensity is 10^(-K*(1-sinA)/2.5sinA).
With a normal amount of ozone, K is 6 magnitudes for uvb, which seems to
mean 10% at 45 degrees.
So somewhere around 40 to 50 degrees, people who spend time in the sun
at noon might not get enough Vitamin D from it. At Fort Lauderdale you
would get 40 degrees in winter. Corpus Christi is too far north.
I think it was in 1999 that a large group of elderly Americans were
tested and most found to be deficient in Vitamin D. Milk has been
fortified since 1930 or so. D2 was the most common additive because it
was cheapest. It worked for lab rats, but after 70 years they found it
didn't work so well for humans.
phil scott
> Don Klipstein wrote:
>
> - Show quoted text -
good info, thanks
Phil scott
E Z Peaces
I like to use a 45-degree limit, partly because it's easy to see by
shadows. During the time of day that the sun is higher, I wear a hat
and walk or stand rather than work or rest in the sun. That way my
limbs are vertical. My summer exposure is likely to be 40 degrees or
less, which Don says may be adequate. I pick up plenty of uva that way,
and I've read that this helps protect the skin from uvb damage.
Once a woman asked me to help her pick poke salad. If I'd known how
long it would take I would have gone home for my hat. The sun climbed
to 45 degrees and we weren't finished. Fifteen minutes after it broke
through heavy clouds, I got my hat. My face was red for a few days.
My neighbor asked me to mow his 1.5-acre lot about Labor Day. I had to
mow in the middle of the day. All year I'd been spending about 6 hours
a day in the sun, but not with my legs horizontal under the midday sun.
They got sunburned.
spendwize.com
xxxxo
-------------------------------------
SMS wrote:
> starr...@gmail.com wrote:
>> I've seen a lot about L.E.D. lightbulbs being the new thing
>> in
>> saving energy. Tales like you could light up an entire house for
>> the
>> cost of running one incandescent bulb. The bulbs last from 10,000
>> to
>> 30,000 hours, etc.
>> Right now, Home Depot is offering an all-white L.E.D. bulb
>> online. So far as I can tell, you'd only get the equivalent of the
>> light you'd get from one 20 watt incandescent bulb. Pretty dim, to
>> me.
>> Some bulbs giving the equivalent of 60 to 100 watt
>> incandescdent
>> light are available, but list prices are from $80 to $100 a bulb.
>> Has anyone tried this lighting in their home? If so, is the
>> quality of light satisfactory? I've seen some articles on the
>> possibility of too much blue wave light from these bulbs.
>> Our local electric company is raising their rates next year,
>> to
>> raise money so they _might_ build a nuclear power plant. I'd love
>> to
>> pay less on my electric bill by using these bulbs, if they really
>> worked. I'm already turning off my water heater.
> They don't work. Forget it. Use CFLs.
I disagree - they DO work - at least at the low wattages- try them in
places like bedroom lamps - when you first turn them on, they will seem
too dim - it takes a few minutes for them to get up to full power and then
they are fine. This is one small way we can do our part to save the planet!
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