LED's for the House

courtdale

courtdale

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I'm in love. While hitting Lowes for egg crate and some Stoner's, I decided to finally sample a household LED. Upon turning it on, I instantly decided I would have to replace ALL of my lights with these. It's a pricey undertaking so I'll be piece-mealing this little project. The one I grabbed was a Utilitech, 7.5w, 5000k color (white/blue), rated at .90 cents a year energy cost and an estimated lifespan of 22 years for $18. It throws light comparable to what you would see with a typical 100w bulb, but not nearly as oppressive.

Does anyone have any tips in this area? Right now I'll just be experimenting randomly picking out a bulb here and there, but would love to maximize my money considering the price of these.
 
The only thing about led lights is the light spread. The beams r more spot than flood.
 
courtdale said:
I'm in love. While hitting Lowes for egg crate and some Stoner's, I decided to finally sample a household LED. Upon turning it on, I instantly decided I would have to replace ALL of my lights with these. It's a pricey undertaking so I'll be piece-mealing this little project. The one I grabbed was a Utilitech, 7.5w, 5000k color (white/blue), rated at .90 cents a year energy cost and an estimated lifespan of 22 years for $18. It throws light comparable to what you would see with a typical 100w bulb, but not nearly as oppressive.

Does anyone have any tips in this area? Right now I'll just be experimenting randomly picking out a bulb here and there, but would love to maximize my money considering the price of these.
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The light quality LEDs produce is very nice. I just replaced all my kitchen lights with Feit Par38 883 lumen lights, and I love them.

The price will come down quickly as production ramps up and the technology continues to develop.

After making the investment in LED lights, I am going to be adding a whole home surge protector, I would hate to loose these lights to a lightning storm.
 
LegacyGT said:
After making the investment in LED lights, I am going to be adding a whole home surge protector, I would hate to loose these lights to a lightning storm.
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Wow, didn't think of that, especially being in the lightning capital of the world. I'd lose my mind if I completed a project like that and lost them in one fell swoop.
 
Nice, I'll be looking into that come spring. Never thought I'd be investing in "lightbulb" protection. Doing them in the car as well, luckily they are way more affordable in that area.
 
courtdale said:
The one I grabbed was a Utilitech, 7.5w, 5000k color (white/blue), rated at .90 cents a year energy cost and an estimated lifespan of 22 years for $18. It throws light comparable to what you would see with a typical 100w bulb, but not nearly as oppressive.
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Maybe I'm all wet on this, but I think 7.5 watts is more like a 40-watt incandescent.

LG LB08D830L0A.E50JWU0 LED Bulbs - LG 7.5W LED light bulb (40 Watt Equivalent A19 light bulb) - LG Electronics US

Philips says their 10W is equiv. to a 60-watt incandescent: http://www.usa.lighting.philips.com/pwc_li/us_en/connect/tools_literature/downloads/p-6287.pdf
 
My dad has a few of these LED jobbies. The blue/white is nice really. I thought it would be weird at first, but it's different and kind of cool. I will have to tell him about this surge protection thing though.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Maybe I'm all wet on this, but I think 7.5 watts is more like a 40-watt incandescent.

LG LB08D830L0A.E50JWU0 LED Bulbs - LG 7.5W LED light bulb (40 Watt Equivalent A19 light bulb) - LG Electronics US

Philips says their 10W is equiv. to a 60-watt incandescent: http://www.usa.lighting.philips.com/pwc_li/us_en/connect/tools_literature/downloads/p-6287.pdf
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That's listed, but real world output is a different story. I have 3 hanging lights in the bar area of the kitchen put it in one of those, other 2 had 60 or 70w bulbs and the LED blew them away. I'll see if I can catch it with a picture later, but its not subtle.
 
I replaced all my lights with the same ones you purchased 3 years ago. They are still going strong!
 
I used a 28'' led strip to back light my tv. The strip has a low and a high setting, and it looks great!
 
6 months ago I replace my track lighting bulbs in the kitchen. Original were 50 watt flood lights. Replaced with 6 watt warm white (same as incandescent) Replaced all 13 bulbs. 2 went bad already!
As far as transient suppressor goes, Just what are Transients? Can anyone explain?
Example of transient is turn on light switch, Instant arc in switch, Voltage will spike up over 1000 Volts. Transient suppressor will not catch these spikes because they last few nanoseconds and there is nothing there to react that fast to eliminate this transient. Now , if you have a noise on your line (usually induced in your house by appliances, and motors this could be somewhat reduced.
Bottom line,,"Don't go chasing Transients" cause you will not see them or catch them!
It would be like me looking for a product that would automatically keep my car cleaned and waxed without doing any work. MAGIC
 
I am a big fan of LED's as well. I just ordered 2 of these to give them a shot. Gonna put one outside and one inside:

E27 13W 6500K 1000LM 13-LED Cool White Light Bulb (AC 85~265V) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme

I also just replaced some of my old Christmas lights with these LED's that Bill recommended to me:

Wide Angle 5MM LED Lights - 70 LED Warm White Wide Angle, Flicker Free Style Light Set, 4" Spacing, Green Wire

I have 3 of the strands so far and just ordered another 3. Very happy with the look of them.
 
mark58 said:
6 months ago I replace my track lighting bulbs in the kitchen. Original were 50 watt flood lights. Replaced with 6 watt warm white (same as incandescent) Replaced all 13 bulbs. 2 went bad already!
As far as transient suppressor goes, Just what are Transients? Can anyone explain?
Example of transient is turn on light switch, Instant arc in switch, Voltage will spike up over 1000 Volts. Transient suppressor will not catch these spikes because they last few nanoseconds and there is nothing there to react that fast to eliminate this transient. Now , if you have a noise on your line (usually induced in your house by appliances, and motors this could be somewhat reduced.
Bottom line,,"Don't go chasing Transients" cause you will not see them or catch them!
It would be like me looking for a product that would automatically keep my car cleaned and waxed without doing any work. MAGIC
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I think you are the only one talking about transients, the rest of us are talking about surge suppression.
 
LegacyGT said:
I think you are the only one talking about transients, the rest of us are talking about surge suppression.
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APC’s Residential Surge Suppressors are the first line of defense against damaging electrical surges and spikes that originate outside your home. They are installed by an electrician at your circuit breaker panel and safely reduce the severity of power transients caused by utility accidents, power outages and lightning. Always use APC line cord surge suppressors in conjunction with Whole House Surge Suppressors for maximum protection of your computers, audio/video components and other electronic devices.

Just what is a surge suppressor. Usually 2 Metal Oxide Veristors (MOV) with a capacitor makes up a surge suppressor. Each one connected between each pole and ground and a cap. between poles.
 
tw33k2514 said:
Oh come on...whats $250ish dollars for a lifetime of lights (depending on your age)...
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I have soooo many things on my list that $250 in lights for my living room is pretty far down the list. NOW, on the other hand, money for my detail studio, thats another story.... I have some plans for this winter to add some more lights... keep in mind I already have 20 - 4ft flourenscents going on....:hungry:
 
You all need to do what I did and stop looking at it as an "all in" project and tempt yourself with just one, the rest will take care of itself ;)
 
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