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I had noticed that my lights in my fridge were still using 40w incandescent bulbs, and I initially tried to replace them with bright white CFLs and for some reason they wouldn't work in my fridge light fixtures.
CFLs are a very dim in any low temperature environment. I wouldn't have bothered with them as fridge light.
Yeah I tried them out because I had a few spare CFLs just lying around and thought I might as well try them. I got one of my CFLs to work in my fridge but most didn't work. I think the one that did work was a little dim though...
A few years back, when I got my first LED-based lightbulb, it seemed natural to stick it into a wattmeter to get a sense of its efficiency. At under 15 Watts of power drawn, it clearly beat any incandescent bulbs I'd ever put into the same lamp. But I was disappointed to find that it wasn't any better than a compact fluorescent bulb.
Based on the graph shown above, my experience was hardly unique; in fact, it was decidedly average. Although the technology behind LEDs had the potential to be far more efficient than any other lighting source, the complete LED bulb package wasn't doing that much better at the time than the far more mature fluorescent bulbs, which output roughly 60 lumens for every Watt put in.
After some small boosts in 2013, however, a new generation of more efficient LEDs hit the market this year, raising the typical efficiency to nearly 100 lumens per Watt. The increased efficiency is coming at a time when prices for the bulbs continue to drop; given their expected lifetimes, they're now far and away the most economical choice for most uses.
The graph also nicely displays why incandescents have been booted off the market for a failure to achieve sufficient efficiency, as they have flatlined at around 15 lumens per Watt.
Has anyone fucked with the led tube lights yet? Phillips makes these instant fit t8 direct replacement lights that you swap out your cfl tubes for; 14.5w compared to 32w but $25/ea
The reviews on those bulbs are mixed at best. Costco had LED tube shop lights ... tempting. I've got eight 4 foot shop light fixtures in my wood shop that would be nice to replace with LED so I don't have to worry about hitting them with a piece of lumber and I don't have to keep spare tubes around.
Here's the most efficient led bulbs I've found. 115lm/w
HOLIDAY SALE !!!!!SAVE 10%!!!!!SELS LED Bulb, Ul Certified, A19, A60, Dimmable LED, High Performance Cree LED, Warm light, 3000k, 7 Watts, 800 Lumens, 60 Watt Incandescent Bulb Replacement, E27 Base, Frosted Cover, 120v, AC (3 Pack) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00II45YW4..._CNsJub14D7VB4
The reviews kind of suck. I'd much rather go with a known entity and a 10-year vice 3-year warranty for the same price. Lumen output is the same and I really doubt the SELS claim of 7 watts is accurate:
Here's the most efficient led bulbs I've found. 115lm/w
HOLIDAY SALE !!!!!SAVE 10%!!!!!SELS LED Bulb, Ul Certified, A19, A60, Dimmable LED, High Performance Cree LED, Warm light, 3000k, 7 Watts, 800 Lumens, 60 Watt Incandescent Bulb Replacement, E27 Base, Frosted Cover, 120v, AC (3 Pack) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00II45YW4..._CNsJub14D7VB4
Pie-in-the-sky efficiency rating. SHOUTING marketing like a Kia dealership. Color temperature all over the place. Dimming usefulness very limited.....and piss-poor reviews.
Sounds like a quick-buck effort to jump into the market, with poor quality control.
From a half-interested search, it appears that Smart Era Lighting Systems (SELS) may have been incorporated less than one year ago.
The reviews on those bulbs are mixed at best. Costco had LED tube shop lights ... tempting. I've got eight 4 foot shop light fixtures in my wood shop that would be nice to replace with LED so I don't have to worry about hitting them with a piece of lumber and I don't have to keep spare tubes around.
Are they t8 or t12? are the a direct replacement for cfl tubes with no need to make modifications?
The reviews on those bulbs are mixed at best. Costco had LED tube shop lights ... tempting. I've got eight 4 foot shop light fixtures in my wood shop that would be nice to replace with LED so I don't have to worry about hitting them with a piece of lumber and I don't have to keep spare tubes around.
Anyone have any experience with those drop in LED upgrade bulbs for maglites?
I have a 3 D cell one that I'd like to upgrade and found one on Amazon for $16.
Upgrades to 150 lumens and 17hrs run time.
It's a bit cheaper than buying a new flashlight
I had a Mini-Maglite in the car until the alkalines leaked. Maglite doesn't replace for battery leaks anymore.
So I got a Mini-Maglite Pro at Wally World for about $24. maglite.com/mini-maglite-pro-led-2-cell-aa-flashlight Only 2 AA batteries make 272 lumens and 4880 candle-power. It absolutely kicks ass on my 12 year old Sure-Fire halogen weapon light and my big ol' 3-D-cell halogen flashlight. I have never seen that much intensely bright white light, project that far from any flashlight, let alone a 2-AA pocket light.
I was thinking about upgrading the old 3-D-cell, but it just isn't worth it, when it will never match the power and portability any of the tiny LED pocket lights you can buy now.
Also, for the car, I put lithiums in the new Mini-Mag. Much longer life, better cold performance and far less likely to leak.
Those SELS bulbs showed up today, and I'm going to send them back.
Color was fine, brightness was more than I expected (too much in most cases) and I had issues with dimming them.
Since these are more of a flood light the focus the lights so it may shoot out 800 lumens but it's concentrated at the tip so it's too bright for me. However it was just right for my side room where the washer and dryer is, I liked it there but nowhere else.
On my LED approved dimmer switch I replaced one of the OSRAM LEDs with a new one and it worked fine besides the light issue I mentioned above. Dimming worked great, so I swapped out the other OSRAM LED and once I had two SELS in everything went to shit. The light started pulsing on and off every second like a really slow strobe light or if someone was turn it on and off manually to a set tempo. Completely unusable.
If I could keep one I would and put it in my side room but I'm going to return all 6.
Keeping the 5w bug light though, it works well.
While the crappy dimming is the worst part about it I'm really returning them because the light was too focused. I didn't really need them to be dimmable but because of the way it distributes the light and how bright that makes it I can't really use them anywhere except one spot.
I've done a couple. They work fine for me, but they don't make up for the lousy reflectors that Mag uses.
hmm.. thanks.
Originally Posted by XLR8R
I had a Mini-Maglite in the car until the alkalines leaked. Maglite doesn't replace for battery leaks anymore.
So I got a Mini-Maglite Pro at Wally World for about $24. maglite.com/mini-maglite-pro-led-2-cell-aa-flashlight Only 2 AA batteries make 272 lumens and 4880 candle-power. It absolutely kicks ass on my 12 year old Sure-Fire halogen weapon light and my big ol' 3-D-cell halogen flashlight. I have never seen that much intensely bright white light, project that far from any flashlight, let alone a 2-AA pocket light.
I was thinking about upgrading the old 3-D-cell, but it just isn't worth it, when it will never match the power and portability any of the tiny LED pocket lights you can buy now.
Also, for the car, I put lithiums in the new Mini-Mag. Much longer life, better cold performance and far less likely to leak.
yea the price for a new light is pretty close to just the LED bulb, but i think id rather just upgrade my old one rather than junking it or having it sit in my closet collecting dust.
Plus the battery life on the 3D LED upgrade is about 17 hours vs the 2.5 hours on that mini for example.
I should expand a bit... the light pattern with a regular bulb is uneven. The LED lights move the light source much farther back in the reflector than the filament of an incandescent is -- I find they have either a pronounced dark spot or a dark ring around the center with the LEDs. The light is less even than with the incandescent bulb.
yea the price for a new light is pretty close to just the LED bulb, but i think id rather just upgrade my old one rather than junking it or having it sit in my closet collecting dust.
I sell my removed car parts to metal recycling, so I tossed in the old flashlights in with the aluminum.
Originally Posted by Mizouse
Plus the battery life on the 3D LED upgrade is about 17 hours vs the 2.5 hours on that mini for example.
True that. I suppose it depends on how often/long you run your light. For $8.99 you can buy:
4 D alkalines.
8 AA alkalines.
or 4 AA lithiums with 9x the life of an AA alkaline.
For my daily use LED headlight, I use cheap alkaline AAAs. For emergency home/car flashlights, I use lithium.
I'm pretty happy with the TCP LEDs I bought from Amazon recently. I first bought a tcp branded bug light and liked it so I bought 6 of their 5w 300 lumens globe lights for the bathroom and my bedroom fan. Good reviews and I like the way they look compared to the weird CFLs. These 300 lumen lights were just as bright as the 60w equivalent CFLs they are replacing, I was actually expecting them to be dimmer.
Went to Lowes today, to upgrade the R20 indoor floods over the hearth, and the Sylvania LEDs (7W=50W) were less expensive than the Sylvania halogens (37W=50W).
i guess it just seems wasteful... fluorescent bulbs aren't that expensive and i'm not in the garage every day to be replacing them very often... I think in my 8 yrs of home ownership, I've changed maybe 1 bulb...
i guess it just seems wasteful... fluorescent bulbs aren't that expensive and i'm not in the garage every day to be replacing them very often... I think in my 8 yrs of home ownership, I've changed maybe 1 bulb...
I hate them because I have to drive them to the town hazardous waste site to get rid of them. I will replace my shop lights with LEDs as they fail. The tubes tend to go all together for me.
I hate them because I have to drive them to the town hazardous waste site to get rid of them. I will replace my shop lights with LEDs as they fail. The tubes tend to go all together for me.
you have a point... maybe as my fluorescents start to go, i'll slowly replace them...
