Advice needed

[ASinclair]

Steve - We've slowly been replacing incandescent bulbs with fluorescents in our house, but now I will definitely take a look at LED bulbs. Thanks for the information.


Heather - I don't have anything to add to what others have already advised. I work at a computer and I do stop every fifteen or twenty minutes and look out the window and that keeps my eyes from feeling strained.

[Tartan Tess]

Today, my guy and I went to a few "antique" shops in the area. He calls me over to show me one of those bendable arm lamps that the dentist uses to shine into your mouth, and says "I could hook it up to use when your sewing".....

[GregR]

I recently replaced a bunch of light bulbs. Here is what I learned (in addition to what Steve said on cost)

Good light is essential. You may not have realized that CFLs might have been a step down in both quality and quantity of light.

I was never pleased with the CFLs. I remember replacing a 60 watt incandescent bulb in the attic with an equivalent lumen rated CFL. I could not see 1/4 of the distance with the CFL. Lumen amount was the same, the quality of the light was extremely low. I was also disappointed in the early LEDs. Just not enough lumens.

Today it is whole different matter. Last year the 100W LED has hit the main stream (1,600 yellow 2700 Kelvin (or softwhite), 80 CRE) and these things are wonderful.

Not only do 100W equivalent LEDs provide bright light. The type of light is better now too. An if color quality is imperative use color rendering indexed (CRI) LED bulbs. CRE of 80 is the minimum rating for good light. LEDs with a CRE of 93 are available (albeit more expensive) for color critical situations.

If you need a range of colors you can get high end bulbs that let switch the range of the light color with a remote or smartphone. This can simulate the soft morning light and shift throughout the day to mimic sunlight. What these lights can do is provide a range of colors for different tasks in the workshop. This way you do not always have the harsh bright white all of the time. So when not working on detail you could switch to a warmer yellow color.

I am really happy with just 75w and 100w LEDs. I am still amazed at the difference LEDs have made in the quality of the light over the same lumen rating.

There are some gotchas

LEDs are more fixture oriented. The light bulbs have shape numbers. A19 being what we are all used to seeing. But the light might only go up, down or both. A Omni direction bulb is a good choice for a lamp on a desk for general illumination. It is not suited for spot or task light that would be a uni A19 or spot direction BR30 bulb. Picking the right bulb for the work is important.

Also some bulbs are much larger than the traditional light bulb. I could not find an A19 small enough to fit in inside the glass of the porch light. Most tend to be longer or fatter.

Some LEDs run much hotter and are not suited to being in an enclosed fixture.

The method of light generation effects the look of the bulb. For general us and If the bulb is going to be visible I prefer the SYLVANIA 20-Watt (100W) A21 Medium (E-26) Base Soft White (2,700K) Indoor Omni Direction LED Bulb. If behind a shade the Utilitech 16-Watt (75 W Equivalent) A19 Medium Base Warm White (3000K) Omni Direction LED Bulb.

For task light I get the largest BR## bulb that will fit in the fixture.

I am considering replacing the 4 foot florescent tubes with the new LED replacements.

Hope this helps getting better light for all your efforts.

Greg

[AKScott]

Thanks folks. i went to Lowes-Depot today and picked up some standard US based LED bulbs, they ought to fit into regular sockets I already own.

I noticed the reveal series that Artificer and I both like is rated at 2750K IIRC. I got a two pack of GE reveal "long life" bulbs that are advertised as a 72Watt repalcement for a 100 watt bulb, 1120 lumens at 3000K. These are actually halogen according to the box, though they were shelved with the LEDs.

I also picked up a utilitech LED that uses a standard USA base, replaces a 40w bulb by drawing only 7 watts, 450 lumens at 3000K.

I'll try to hook these up tomorrow, kinda late just now.

It was trying to know which base I needed to run whatever bulb I was going to like that put me off. Now that I have a selection of standard base LED bulbs that should mostly fit my existing incandescent fixtures I'll give them a whirl.

[Steve Ashton]

BTW, an LED that gets hot is being over-driven and needs to be avoided. The person who designed it did not know what they were doing.

LED's like any other electrical or electronic component do not like heat. Some people just can't get their brain around light without heat.

I have LED's over my fish tank. Two 3ft. long strips w/ each strip having 504 LED's. They are lightly warm to the touch. You can put you hand on them and hold it there without discomfort. Yet they provide as much light as 5 - H5 halogens that cost three times as much to buy and 1500 times more to run.

And I selected these because the spectrum is perfect for growing plants without being pink like the usual growlights.

If anyone is interested I have the lumen, PAR and Amperage readings.

And if anyone is looking at buying LED's to replace normal household bulbs you need to use - Shape A, Size 19 or 21, with a E26 or PAR base. It can look just like a normal bulb or may look yellow when turned off. These are becoming very common today and can be found in just about any store selling light bulbs.

[AKScott]

I have three pics of my workbench to put up.

First is taken with the flash and the white balance set to flash. Nikon D-40, ASA200, Aperture priority, f/8 I think, thus "flashflash dot jpg:


Next incadescent bulbs, GE reveal series, 100w on the right and 75watt on the left. Same camera setting, except white balance manually set to natural sunlight, no flash, thus "175sun dot jpg"


And then I changed out the old ones for the 72watt new ones, camera settign the same as for 175sun, this one is of course "72sun dot jpg"


I like the new fangled 72s enough to leave them in. I'll see how I feel about them next month...

[bonnie heather]

I'm so totally amazed by the knowledge and expertise, as well as the kindness in sharing all this information on lighting!!
I'm so thankful to everyone for all the very, very helpful advice. I thank you. And my eyes thank you. Aye!