LED Bulb questions

[Skyking1992]

Not exactly garage related, but certainly Lighting & Electrical related.

We have fancy chandelier in our entryway. It has 28 small bulbs of 60 watts each. When we turn it on, the space station takes notice! I tried 40 watt bulbs and still way too bright. I tried a dimmer and eventually the dimmer burned out - probably was only rated for 600 watts. If I remember electrical math from high school, the wattage of the bulbs adds, so 28 40watt bulbs is 1120 watts!

So now I see the small base chandelier bulbs in LED. I see price ranging from 99 cents for a bulb from china to a package of 4 for almost $50. There must be some difference.

I have very little knowledge of LED bulbs. What should I look for or what should I avoid? Should I buy dimmable bulbs, and if so, does a normal dimmer work or is there a special dimmer for LEDs?

Thanks in advance for all your help.

 

[kenp51d]

The China bulbs often fail to last as long as the manufacturer says the will.
I have a bunch around my house including the small base ones like you need. I like that I can get LED bulbs in 500 Kelvin (daylight), seems brighter.
But I have also had the spendy name brand bulbs fail also.
Pays you money and takes your chances.
Even LEDs are shock sensitive, and heat also

Ken

Sent from my V10 using Tapatalk

 

[exranger06]

I would buy dimmable bulbs and keep the chandelier on a dimmer. You can use a regular dimmer with LED bulbs, but it may not work as well. It's better to use a dimmer that's compatible with LEDs. Regular dimmers could be too sensitive (one small adjustment makes the light way too bright or dim; difficult to fine-tune), or unable to turn the brightness down as far. I have a lot of incandescent-only dimmers in my house and almost all of them control LED bulbs and that is what I've found. I'm slowly replacing them with LED-compatible dimmers. Leviton sells two kinds of dimmers: ones that are for incandescent/halogen only, and ones that work with basically every kind of bulb: incandescent, halogen, CFL, and LED.

 

[b-boy]

You definitely want to use an LED dimmer with LED bulbs. Dimmable LEDs will be more expensive.

As far as longevity, that's a little overstated IMHO. I redid my entire house with LEDs a few years ago. I've had to replace a bunch of bulbs. Not as many as if they were incandescent, but way more than I should have replaced for LEDs. The failure rate is about up there with halogens. I've had as much luck with the cheaper brands as with the expensive brands.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

I would buy dimmable bulbs and keep the chandelier on a dimmer. You can use a regular dimmer with LED bulbs, but it may not work as well. It's better to use a dimmer that's compatible with LEDs. Regular dimmers could be too sensitive (one small adjustment makes the light way too bright or dim; difficult to fine-tune), or unable to turn the brightness down as far. I have a lot of incandescent-only dimmers in my house and almost all of them control LED bulbs and that is what I've found. I'm slowly replacing them with LED-compatible dimmers. Leviton sells two kinds of dimmers: ones that are for incandescent/halogen only, and ones that work with basically every kind of bulb: incandescent, halogen, CFL, and LED.

What I've found is that the older dimmers will still dim LEDs fine, but instead of having the full range you will only have use of the top half or so of the dimmer switch, and it'll shut off about half way down. It may differ depending on the sensitivity of the dimmer and how many lights/bulbs are on the dimmer.

Either way dimmable LEDs would be needed or there would be flickering.

 

[cybrdyke]

Not exactly garage related, but certainly Lighting & Electrical related.

We have fancy chandelier in our entryway. It has 28 small bulbs of 60 watts each. When we turn it on, the space station takes notice! I tried 40 watt bulbs and still way too bright. I tried a dimmer and eventually the dimmer burned out - probably was only rated for 600 watts. If I remember electrical math from high school, the wattage of the bulbs adds, so 28 40watt bulbs is 1120 watts!

So now I see the small base chandelier bulbs in LED. I see price ranging from 99 cents for a bulb from china to a package of 4 for almost $50. There must be some difference.

I have very little knowledge of LED bulbs. What should I look for or what should I avoid? Should I buy dimmable bulbs, and if so, does a normal dimmer work or is there a special dimmer for LEDs?

Thanks in advance for all your help.

You're in a pickle. Here's why...
You'll find the LED equivalent to your lamps will be around 5 or 6 watts each. You can find them in many styles so just choose the one you like best. Here's the deal with dimming them...
Your existing dimmer wont work well with them. It's not designed to work with LED lamps. Plus, you'll most likely burn it up within an hour or so. You have too many bulbs, regardless of the total wattage, to use on one non-LED rated dimmer.
Most good LED dimmers are rated for a maximum of 150w of LED lamps, so with 28 bulbs, you'll still be over the maximum. If you can find an LED rated dimmer that is capable of handling over 200 watts of LED lamps, you'll be fine. Eaton AL series is a good example. Capable of 300 watts of LED.
http://www.cooperindustries.com/content/dam/public/wiringdevices/products/documents/brochures/AL-series-brochure.pdf
Good luck,
CD

 

[CJ7VFR]

Not exactly garage related, but certainly Lighting & Electrical related.

We have fancy chandelier in our entryway. It has 28 small bulbs of 60 watts each. When we turn it on, the space station takes notice! I tried 40 watt bulbs and still way too bright. I tried a dimmer and eventually the dimmer burned out - probably was only rated for 600 watts. If I remember electrical math from high school, the wattage of the bulbs adds, so 28 40watt bulbs is 1120 watts!

So now I see the small base chandelier bulbs in LED. I see price ranging from 99 cents for a bulb from china to a package of 4 for almost $50. There must be some difference.

I have very little knowledge of LED bulbs. What should I look for or what should I avoid? Should I buy dimmable bulbs, and if so, does a normal dimmer work or is there a special dimmer for LEDs?

Thanks in advance for all your help.

You said you tried 40 watt bulbs and it was still too much light. What about 25 watt bulbs? The bulbs you want are called Candelabra based bulbs. Those are the ones with the smaller screw in part. The ones with the larger, "regular" size screw in base are called Edison based bulbs.

They sell the incandescent Candelabra based bulbs in 25 watts. I use them in several of my light fixtures that are in my main hallway and upstairs and downstairs stair wells.

I found the same thing you did, that even 40 watt bulbs were too bright, so I bought the 25 watt versions and they worked out great.

You can get them at any big box store, like Home Depot, for about a dollar a piece. Below is a four pack they sell at my local HD for $3.97. You would need 7 packs to get your 28 bulbs, so it would cost you about $28.00.

This is an alternative to buying more expensive LED bulbs, plus a new LED dimmer for the light fixture.

Jim

 

[DieselNut88]

I would reccommend Sylvania Ultras. Very good bulbs. They have a candle base 40w equivelant but only uses 4.5w. I have used them and have not had to replace one yet. Some have been installed for 3 years and on 12hrs a day.

 

[PassnThru]

Not exactly garage related, but certainly Lighting & Electrical related.

We have fancy chandelier in our entryway. It has 28 small bulbs of 60 watts each.

That's not a light - that's a heater.

 

[couch67]

What if you took out a few of the bulbs? Easy thing to test out. Might look dumb, especially as you are doing it. But depending on the style of fixture, no one may ever notice?

I would try this alone first to get the desired light level, then 'test' it on someone else to see if they notice.

 

[DenisG]

Here are some 1/2W LED E12-base candelabra bulbs with a (claimed) 25,000hr lifespan:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GKRP722/?tag=atomicindus08-20