LED Light bulbs

[Stang65Fst]

Anyone have any experience with the LED light bulbs? I have not come to a decision on garage lighting yet, fluorescent, CFL, or LED anyone have any thoughts/experience?

 

[a3tripod]

I saw my first LED PAR38 style bulbs at Costco the other day. They were going for <$12 per bulb and were equivalent to a 65 watt incandescent but only uses 6 watts. Rated for 30,000 hours, LOL.

A huge, well-lit warehouse does not lend itself well to a light display, but i nearly burnt my retinas looking at the damn thing. Sucker was bright. I need 20 bulbs for my garage... As soon as I have my lighting circuits run, I'll do a side-by-side comparison of a CFL and a LED bulb.

 

[Shocker]

Ya, I saw those too. Very neat.

 

[ddawg16]

You might want to check out the link I posted Outstanding Lighting Info.

It's a great web about lighting.....best I can tell from the short time I spent on looking at the LED lighting info is that LED's, while they have come a long way, still have a ways to go, especially when used as replacements for 120V lighting.

I'm using an LED bulb in a Mag Light.....I'll never use an incandescent again...in flashlights that is....

I think the jury is still out.....

 

[CraigFL]

I just bought some 40W equivalents at Sam's Club to try them out. Specs are good and I like them. The best usage would be to replace the 100 or so 4' Fluorescent bulbs in my business that run almost 10 hours per day. The LEDs consume 1/3 the power so they could make a dent in my electric bil. The problem is that they cost somewhere between $80 and $120 each so I'm not up for $8000 minimum in lighting right now. Hopefully, and they should, be able to produce these at a much lower price soon. Most of the replacements now use discrete/individual LEDs so they need a way to produce 4' and 8' long integrated lamps.

 

[global72]

I installed LED spot ligtls in tracking lighting. They worked great much lower temp but 3 times the money.

The LED lighting seesm to be improving very quickly lately.

 

[Stang65Fst]

Yeah I'm just trying to figure out how to light my garage and looking at future things that might come. I built a 40x26 attached garage with lowest point being 12' at the hightest 16' inside the garage. I am trying to figure out if I want flourescents or can lights. And it will have to be bright, can't stand things being dark. I even thought about putting some on the wall that light horizontally.

 

[no2tracks]

I just bought some 40W equivalents at Sam's Club to try them out. Specs are good and I like them. The best usage would be to replace the 100 or so 4' Fluorescent bulbs in my business that run almost 10 hours per day. The LEDs consume 1/3 the power so they could make a dent in my electric bil. The problem is that they cost somewhere between $80 and $120 each so I'm not up for $8000 minimum in lighting right now. Hopefully, and they should, be able to produce these at a much lower price soon. Most of the replacements now use discrete/individual LEDs so they need a way to produce 4' and 8' long integrated lamps.

In the mean time, if you have T-12's, replace them with T-8's when a ballast burns out. That's what I've been doing at work. Something for me to do in the winter and it spreads the cost of replacement over time.

 

[Dragster Racer]

Most LED's are pretty directional. Good for spot lighting, but not as good for lighting a room, especially for low ceilings.

 

[VHF]

I picked up a couple of LED bulbs with which to experiment @ Wal-mart for under $7 ea. The package states it replaces a 40W bulb, but it also mentions "Decor" and "Accent" so I don't think they are claiming it is intended for general or task lighting. At any rate, the light output appears closer to that of a conventional 15W bulb. The bulb, which screws into a standard socket, appears to contain 18 while LEDs. With a power draw of only 1.5W it would be ideal for an "always on" or dusk-to-dawn application that doesn't need a high level of light. But not quite ready to be a general use replacement for incandescent or CF bulbs. And yes, the light is directional.

 

[krooser]

LED's will replace those stupid CFL's in just a few years...

 

[sparky1562]

LED's are somewhere between the bleeding edge and the cutting edge. In five years a lot will change. One issue is the quality of the LED's which varies greatly from one manufacture to another.

I have been considering getting some of those LED retrofits for my house to try them out. Generally they are the lower wattage equivalants. CREE lighting has some interesting stuff.

I have been looking at LED fixtures for parking garages versus 4ft flourescent and HID, and from a cost standpoint, they are not there yet.

 

[Mellotron]

It's definitely bleeding edge right now for sure. I have been experimenting with GU10 socket LED bulbs in my track lights for over a year now. I have spent over 100.00 during my tests. My goal was to light my office with usable task lighting, not decorative. At the end of the day the only LED bulb that would somewhat cut the mustard was the CREE Bulb. The bulb has only 3 LEDs in it surrounded by reflectors and encased in an aluminum heat sink housing. And this bad boy gets hot. Not halogen hot but hot enough to where you can't hold onto it for an extended amount of time. It looks cool too like a mini dentist lighting system or something. Problem with CREE is you pay for them. They are two to three times more than other LED bulbs. But you can quickly see why. Quality. Better Brightness. Heat
Sinked. Etc.

I also own the 36 LED cool and warm bulbs that have a wide dispersion pattern. These pretty much ****. Not enough light at all. Sadly, I currently use them where light is not super important.

What's in my office now? One Cree LED bulb, and the rest are unfortunately 50w halogens. Yep Halogens.

CREE GU10 Base Pros:
Bright, gives 35w halogen a run for the money
Built Well
Efficient
Heat Sinked
Good Light Dispersion Pattern
Look cool and modern

CREE GU10 Base Cons:
Still not as bright as a 50W Halogen
The light output is white not warm
GU10 enclosure is 1/2 inch longer, may not fit your fixture
Bulb needs to breathe to keep LEDs cool, enclosing them not wise
LEDs are semiconductors and dont like to be super hot
Expensive

Other GU10 Base LED Pros:
They light up.....
Cheaper
Good for spot lighting close up!
Run very cool

Other GU10 base LED Cons:
Not enough light for tasks
Cheaply made
Not enough light
Look like a bunch of LEDS shoved together
Did I mention not enough light?