LED Bulbs
- Thread starter Capt Worley PE
- Start date
Help Support Professional Engineer & PE Exam Forum:
wilheldp_PE
PE, LEED AP, SPAM KING
With keeping the AC off as long as I can stand it (had to turn it on when we had 5 straight 90+ degree days), I've managed to keep my power bill under $75 for the last 2 months.
knight1fox3
Jedi MASTER & Friend of Capt. Solo
LOL! I literally just did the same thing since as I had an incandescent go out and had been waiting to try the new LED version. Seems much more dim and like you mentioned, very directional. Oh well. I do like using the CFL equivalents in most of the other fixtures and the outside lights. However in my finished basement, the drop ceiling uses recessed lighting and 60W floodlights. Nothing seems to light that up quite as well as an incandescent.
We also have landscape lighting that runs on a 12V circuit. The bulbs for that are a bayonet style similar to a typical vehicle brake light. Last year in addition to the Xmas lights we put out, I thought it would be cool to change out all the incandescent bulbs with alternating red and green bulbs. Didn't have any luck finding incandescents to do this but did find this website which sold an LED version of the same bayonet style bulb. They actually worked really nice and gave off the same amount of light only in red and green. Looked pretty slick against the snow for the holidays.
Dexman PE PMP
Internationally PMP'n his PE-ness
We really haven't had to deal with summers yet with the new house (we moved in early August), but here's our electricity usage. We're only charged $0.11 per KWH so there's no real "savings" by going LED or CFL.
View attachment 5135
View attachment 5135
Last edited by a moderator:
cdcengineer
Sharp as a piece of beach glass
Not sure they make sense in a residential application yet. They are great in commercial settings where maintenance is difficult and/or costly (think parking lot lighting). They also work best when left on continuously as other's have mentioned.
Led's are typically native dimming so compared with dimmable CFL's they are the way to go IMO.
Led's are typically native dimming so compared with dimmable CFL's they are the way to go IMO.
Capt Worley PE
Run silent, run deep
You have to remember that my house was built in the 50s, so I'm guessing attic insulation is R3 and wall insulation is R0.
cdcengineer
Sharp as a piece of beach glass
When we remodeled the kitchen, I noticed our house (with it's 2x4 exterior walls) had blown in insulation. Some product they used in the 70's when the house was built. The stuff was cracked and dried out and compressing on itself and leaving huge voids. No wonder the house is cold in winter.
Halogen lights at least help heat the house. LED's not so much
Halogen lights at least help heat the house. LED's not so much
Chucktown PE
Well-known member
Don't LEDs run on DC? If so, isn't the bulk of the cost in the LED bulb the rectifier and the cooling for said rectifier. If so, I wonder if it would be possible to modify a couple of lighting circuits with a central rectifier attached to our breaker box?
Chucktown PE
Well-known member
I know we get our power from the same utility so I assume our rates are the same. Our house is about 8 years old and I think it's fairly well insulated. The AC units are original so I'll probably end up having to replace those soon. Our bill crept up to $400 once in either July or August but usually it's about $370 during the summer and $200 in the winter. That includes the natural gas though.
snickerd3
Taking suggestions
Seriously replacing 8 yrold ac unit?? or are they window units? Our outdoor part of the ac unit is probably pushing 20 yrs Had to replace the coils on the inside part of it a couple years ago.
Chucktown PE
Well-known member
The only reason I say replacement is on the upstairs unit, it seems like it's way undersized.
Capt Worley PE
Run silent, run deep
Yeah, Chuck, mine includes gas and the winter bills are about the same.
Mom and dad have an AC that was installed back in 1964 and it STILL runs like a champ. All original parts, too.
Our outdoor unit is 21, and the inside coils and fan motor were replaced a couple years back. I hate the thought of replacing when a repair will do, but I'm sure a new unit would be more efficient. Probably not nough to produce an ROI for a decade or so though, so I ain't wild bout the idea.
Mom and dad have an AC that was installed back in 1964 and it STILL runs like a champ. All original parts, too.
I posted a while back about replacing our dryer because the old one took two 70 min cycles to dry anything. Well we did last October and I'm proud to say electric bill dropped 20-30$ a month from the previous year.
:th_rockon: :th_rockon: :th_rockon:
:th_rockon: :th_rockon: :th_rockon:
wilheldp_PE
PE, LEED AP, SPAM KING
I hope you didn't buy an Electrolux (Frigidaire, Kenmore, GE).
G
Guest
I thought it wasn't the kilowatts but the lumens that made for a good bulb ....
Just sayin' ....
Just sayin' ....
Wanted to bump this thread because the prices have come down so much now. I just put in a major order for LED bulbs to replace all the CFLs in my house (using the EB amazon link, or so I think!). Prices on the Philips 60 watt bulbs are down in the $10 to $15 range, and reading the reviews on Amazon, the latest versions seem to be very well received, and superior to CFLs. They can take dimmers, too.
I ordered a bunch of the Philips 60 watt flat type bulbs (shaped like a lolypop - weird, but excelletn reviews), and also a bunch of the ordinary-shaped Cree bulbs to try on different fixtures, in addition to some of the clear, sparkle-type Philips 40 watt replacements for fancy fixtures and ceiling fans. I will update once I get a chance to try them out, and see if there's a noticable decrease on my electric bill (probably minor since I'm fully CFL anyway).
Just curious if anyone else has moved to LEDs yet, now that they're considerably cheaper than they were 3 years ago.
I ordered a bunch of the Philips 60 watt flat type bulbs (shaped like a lolypop - weird, but excelletn reviews), and also a bunch of the ordinary-shaped Cree bulbs to try on different fixtures, in addition to some of the clear, sparkle-type Philips 40 watt replacements for fancy fixtures and ceiling fans. I will update once I get a chance to try them out, and see if there's a noticable decrease on my electric bill (probably minor since I'm fully CFL anyway).
Just curious if anyone else has moved to LEDs yet, now that they're considerably cheaper than they were 3 years ago.
wilheldp_PE
PE, LEED AP, SPAM KING
I found a deal on some LED bulbs on Woot a few months ago. I ended up buying 18 of them (mix of 40 and 60 watt equivalent, non-dimmable) for an average of ~$5/bulb. They provide excellent light, color, and distribution especially for the cost and power consumption. There are only 2 issues I have with them....
1. There is a very slight delay between when you flip the switch and the lights turn on. It's only about a half a second while the filter capacitors in the AC/DC converter charge up, but it is noticeable.
2. I put four of the bulbs in 2 fully enclosed fixtures. One of them is in my front entryway, which is hardly used, but the other is in my office which I use quite a bit. When I was in my office for a couple hours one day, I noticed that the bulbs were flickering quite a bit and I suspect that it was caused by overheating of the bulb due to the enclosed fixture. Either the Amazon listing or the box (can't remember which) stated that these bulbs were approved for enclosed fixtures, but the other said they weren't. It's no big deal, but still kind of annoying to get conflicting information.
Philips and Cree make the best bulbs, from what I have read, but both companies are starting to make cheaper bulbs to meet the price point that the industry is driving towards (<=$5/bulb). To get to that point, they are making cheaper/less reliable DC converters, which in turn, reduces the warranty of the bulb. The LED emitters will all last 20k-50k hours...the limiting factor is the capacitors and other components in the DC converter. The cheaper the heat sinking and capacitors they put in the bulb, the less usable hours you will get out of the bulb. I have also heard that the flat Philips bulb are good in light quality and durability, but they have a noticeable line in the light dispersion pattern (understandable given the design, but limiting on the number of uses for the bulb).
1. There is a very slight delay between when you flip the switch and the lights turn on. It's only about a half a second while the filter capacitors in the AC/DC converter charge up, but it is noticeable.
2. I put four of the bulbs in 2 fully enclosed fixtures. One of them is in my front entryway, which is hardly used, but the other is in my office which I use quite a bit. When I was in my office for a couple hours one day, I noticed that the bulbs were flickering quite a bit and I suspect that it was caused by overheating of the bulb due to the enclosed fixture. Either the Amazon listing or the box (can't remember which) stated that these bulbs were approved for enclosed fixtures, but the other said they weren't. It's no big deal, but still kind of annoying to get conflicting information.
Philips and Cree make the best bulbs, from what I have read, but both companies are starting to make cheaper bulbs to meet the price point that the industry is driving towards (<=$5/bulb). To get to that point, they are making cheaper/less reliable DC converters, which in turn, reduces the warranty of the bulb. The LED emitters will all last 20k-50k hours...the limiting factor is the capacitors and other components in the DC converter. The cheaper the heat sinking and capacitors they put in the bulb, the less usable hours you will get out of the bulb. I have also heard that the flat Philips bulb are good in light quality and durability, but they have a noticeable line in the light dispersion pattern (understandable given the design, but limiting on the number of uses for the bulb).
knight1fox3
Jedi MASTER & Friend of Capt. Solo
Also started replacing my 60W floods in the basement with LEDs one by one. Light output is excellent and on-time is barely noticeable. Tried one of the CREE bulb type 60W in some of our hanging fixtures and they seem equivalent, though a bit more expensive. Likely worth it in the long run though.
Similar threads
