Finally bought some LED bulbs

Cariboocoot

Home Hardware had a sale on Phillips A19's: 800 Lumens, 10.5 Watts (60W equivalent they say), bright white, 20,000 hrs. for $9.97 instead of $15.99.

Now we'll see how they look, work, and last. I do not expect much energy savings compared to 13 Watt CFL's with our ten cent electric. In fact there's no way they will pay for themselves (20,000 hrs. * 3 Watts difference = 60 kW hours @ $0.10 per = $6 savings over the life of the bulb). I'm putting one in each of the three most-used lamps anyway.

waynefromnscanada

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

Good to know and for us here in Canada, an excellent price, at least it would be for us in Nova Scotia, but I haven't seen that sale item in their flier here, perhaps it's only in Western Canada?
Any chance the HH SKU # is on your receipt? I'd like to ask my local HH. Will be 3 digits, a - and 4 more digits. xxx-xxxx
Thanks for the update.

Cariboocoot

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

Wayne; the only ID number on the receipt is 3653206 but the UPC is 46677 43040.
These aren't "dimmable" by the way.

westbranch

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

I'll bet they are NOS and another model is about to come out.

I got mine on sale 2 months ago for $19.95, damn...:grr #46677 41705 280 Lumens, 7W (50w)
also got a 470 lumen 8W (40w) version for $16.98, not a 'flood' type, called ambient.

Martha fire up the motorized wagon, we are off to HH.... Wait, tis NOT in our Flyer either... In Store Special?

BB.

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

The LED bulbs I have purchased so far--All seem to have 120 Hz line rate flash (move your hand and you get "stop action").

So far, they work, but I am not convinced I like them better than CFL (better life, instant on of LED is better--so far). The CFLs usually have some sort of >> 120 Hz inverter circuit in them (it appears).

-Bill

Cariboocoot

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

westbranch wrote: »

Martha fire up the motorized wagon, we are off to HH.... Wait, tis NOT in our Flyer either... In Store Special?

In the flyer here, Eric.

Bill; I've got two of them on right now and they don't look any different than an incandescent to me.

Only thing I notice is the 3000K colour temp is a bit yellowish.

waynefromnscanada

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

Cariboocoot wrote: »

Wayne; the only ID number on the receipt is 3653206 but the UPC is 46677 43040.
These aren't "dimmable" by the way.

Awesome! the # 3653206 is it!
And the price is the same here:
http://www.homehardware.ca/en/rec/index.htm/Plumbing-Electrical/Electrical/Light-Bulbs/Led/Miscellaneous/10-5-Watt-A19-Medium-Base-LED-Bright-White-Light-Bulb/_/N-2pqfZ67l/Ne-67n/Ntk-All_EN/R-I3653206?Ntt=3653206

Photowhit

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

Any one have a light meter?

I hear LED's dim after the first 300-1000 hours. I have a couple cheap from Ebay, I use a 4watt on front porch that lives 'on'. Just enough light to find my keys and key hole;). I have one 'real' one UL that is a 7watt that I can sorta read by in a bed side lamp at the cabin. Not sure what I'll do with it when it comes home, I'm selling the cabin.

westbranch

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

OK, found out from the link, there are 2 E-flyers, and we did not get the printed Plumbing and Electrical Flyer just the Hardware Building Center one, ... Have to note the difference!

Thanks for the link Wayne

waynefromnscanada

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

Photowhit wrote: »

Any one have a light meter?

I hear LED's dim after the first 300-1000 hours. I have a couple cheap from Ebay, I use a 4watt on front porch that lives 'on'. Just enough light to find my keys and key hole;). I have one 'real' one UL that is a 7watt that I can sorta read by in a bed side lamp at the cabin. Not sure what I'll do with it when it comes home, I'm selling the cabin.

Every light inside and outside my home, including in the outbuildings have been LED for a couple of years now, and while I can't say dimming doesn't happen, I can say I haven't noticed it.

waynefromnscanada

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

westbranch wrote: »

we did not get the printed Plumbing and Electrical Flyer

Neither did I, so if Coot hadn't mentioned it, we'd never have known.

Cariboocoot

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

westbranch wrote: »

OK, found out from the link, there are 2 E-flyers, and we did not get the printed Plumbing and Electrical Flyer just the Hardware Building Center one, ... Have to note the difference!

Thanks for the link Wayne

We get e-mail notification for them, but curiously couldn't get the on-line flyer to work. This item happened to show up in the notification as one of the sale item examples!

ggunn

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

Photowhit wrote: »

Any one have a light meter?

I hear LED's dim after the first 300-1000 hours. I have a couple cheap from Ebay, I use a 4watt on front porch that lives 'on'. Just enough light to find my keys and key hole;). I have one 'real' one UL that is a 7watt that I can sorta read by in a bed side lamp at the cabin. Not sure what I'll do with it when it comes home, I'm selling the cabin.

My main reading light is a battery operated LED array on a gooseneck that was sold (and gifted to me) as a "barbeque light". It is useless for grilling because the LEDs have almost no red in them and by the light they generate I cannot tell rare from well done. It's great for reading in bed, though, because it is pretty bright and throws a fairly narrow beam.

Coach Dad

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

Cariboocoot wrote: »

I do not expect much energy savings compared to 13 Watt CFL's with our ten cent electric..

Yeah but not dealing with the CFL warm up time will be nice.

I found that I would leave the CFL on all the time so I wouldn't have to deal with the warm up time (specially in the winter).
So I put LED's in areas where I want instant on light. They work great for areas where you turn the light on for just a few minutes and then turn it off.

northerner

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

Cariboocoot wrote: »

Home Hardware had a sale on Phillips A19's: 800 Lumens, 10.5 Watts (60W equivalent they say), bright white, 20,000 hrs. for $9.97 instead of $15.99.

Now we'll see how they look, work, and last. I do not expect much energy savings compared to 13 Watt CFL's with our ten cent electric. In fact there's no way they will pay for themselves (20,000 hrs. * 3 Watts difference = 60 kW hours @ $0.10 per = $6 savings over the life of the bulb). I'm putting one in each of the three most-used lamps anyway.

I have been using LED bulbs for a while now and I love them. They are cost effective at even $30 per bulb, due to the high electric rates in this area. The main advantage over CFL's are they're mercury free, instant on, great cold weather operation, and very long life.

Home Depot has Cree LED's for about $15 each. They are dimmable, and are highly rated for light quality. They are also slightly more efficient and run cooler. 9 watts is a 60 watt equivalent. I haven't gotten my hands on one of these yet!

Cariboocoot

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

Coach Dad wrote: »

Yeah but not dealing with the CFL warm up time will be nice.

I found that I would leave the CFL on all the time so I wouldn't have to deal with the warm up time (specially in the winter).
So I put LED's in areas where I want instant on light. They work great for areas where you turn the light on for just a few minutes and then turn it off.

Never had any problem with CFL warm up. In fact it was desirable; turn the light on any dark morning and not get hit with the full illumination. I particularly like the kitchen one for that.

I've put them in the lights used most, as that is where we should see any benefit in terms of money saved, longevity, and quality of light. Winter is upon us, so we shall ... er, see.

waynefromnscanada

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

I used to have severe warm up problems with the CFLs I had in outside lights and out buildings in Winter. Down around minus 18C (0F) the ones I had would never come up to even half brightness, which is one of the main reasons I switched to LED. I was using Sylvania CFLs. No doubt the newer ones perform much better in cold, but I no longer use them.

Cariboocoot

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

I don't use CFL's outside.

In fact we have very few outdoor lights; the incandescent flood lights in the car port are triggered by motion. All the others are incandescent too. We never turn on the lamps by the front door.

Oh and a couple of solar-powered LED lamps that mark the dog-walking trail. They don't always get enough sun to charge, but when they do they work fine.

waynefromnscanada

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

Just picked up a couple of the 10.5 watt Phillips LED "bulbs" at Home Hardware (mentioned earlier in this thread). First impressions - - very pleased with them. I already have several identical looking and physical sized Phillips 7.5 watt units and have been happy with them. The new ones are definitely a lot heavier than the 7.5 watt bulbs, I assume a lot more internal metal heat sink.
They are substantially brighter then the 7.5, looking good, will probably pick up a few more and replace a few of the ones where more brightness is needed.

Coach Dad

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

Cariboocoot wrote: »

Never had any problem with CFL warm up. In fact it was desirable; turn the light on any dark morning and not get hit with the full illumination. I particularly like the kitchen one for that.

I've put them in the lights used most, as that is where we should see any benefit in terms of money saved, longevity, and quality of light. Winter is upon us, so we shall ... er, see.

I have the opposite opinion....
I found that I wasted power by turning on the CFL's in advance to needing the light so they have time to warm up... Or I would just leave them on all the time so as not to deal with the warm up... That problem was fixed instantly by switching to LED's

I agree with Wayne...:D
LED's are the way to go for outdoor lights.

I even replaced the bulb in my refrigerator with an LED bulb.

ggunn

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

I have replaced several CFL lights in my home with LED's. My only (very small) complaint is that an LED takes about 3/4 second to come on when I hit the switch, which is just about long enough to make me think it's burned out. Otherwise they are great and I haven't had one burn out yet.

RandomJoe

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

I've only noticed the 3/4 second on delay with one specific model of LED bulb. All mine are Philips, the funky-looking ones with a metal body and three wedges of yellow for the emitters are the only ones that have that odd delay. The others - several in a couple different (lower) wattages that look like an incandescent (frosted globe but with a metal heat sink for the neck) and a couple "flame tip" 2W bulbs - all illuminate instantly.

That delay certainly was jarring at first, but I must be used to it now as I rarely notice it. At one point I thought maybe they weren't doing it anymore, but when I consciously watched for it I saw they still were.

RandomJoe

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

On the CFL warmup, at first I had no issues with it. I wondered if people were overly sensitive or what... Then I visited my parents' house. They bought a different brand bulbs, also got the fully enclosed ones. Not sure if it was brand or the enclosed style but their CFLs took FOREVER to come up to brightness! If you turned the bathroom light on you *might* see to wash your hands by the time you finished using the toilet. They took to leaving it on. They had four bulbs in the light over the dining table, those provided enough light to see reasonably when first turned on but would gradually increase in brightness for a couple minutes.

A couple of my bulbs did finally start taking a while to warm up to full brightness, but only after quite some time. The funny thing is there's no consistency. I figured the ones that got switched on/off more frequently (bathrooms mainly) would be worst, but the bulb in one bathroom is fine, the other takes a while. Similarly in the living room fixtures that stay on most all day one CFL comes up to brightness pretty quickly but another takes forever.

The LED instant-on-at-max-bright is a bit of a shock at 5:30 on a dark morning though!

waynefromnscanada

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

RandomJoe wrote: »

I've only noticed the 3/4 second on delay with one specific model of LED bulb. All mine are Philips, the funky-looking ones with a metal body and three wedges of yellow for the emitters are the only ones that have that odd delay. The others - several in a couple different (lower) wattages that look like an incandescent (frosted globe but with a metal heat sink for the neck) and a couple "flame tip" 2W bulbs - all illuminate instantly.

That delay certainly was jarring at first, but I must be used to it now as I rarely notice it. At one point I thought maybe they weren't doing it anymore, but when I consciously watched for it I saw they still were.

My experience as well. The Phillips I've been using lately are instant on - - - but I notice something totally different - - the outside ones I have down the long driveway, when I turn them off on a dark night, they kind of gradually go out, as if a capacitor is discharging into the LEDs, it's interesting to see and now I watch for it. Takes at least a second to go completely black.

Joe_B

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

BB. wrote: »

The LED bulbs I have purchased so far--All seem to have 120 Hz line rate flash (move your hand and you get "stop action").

So far, they work, but I am not convinced I like them better than CFL (better life, instant on of LED is better--so far). The CFLs usually have some sort of >> 120 Hz inverter circuit in them (it appears).

-Bill

I have one of those Phillips 60W bulbs, the one with the three yellow windows and there is no perceptible flash rate at all. There are no numbers on it that look like a part number but it says 125V 12.5W 140mA Dimable and of course the obligatory "made in China".

ETA: This particular one does have the 3/4 second delay.

inetdog

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

waynefromnscanada wrote: »

when I turn them off on a dark night, they kind of gradually go out, as if a capacitor is discharging into the LEDs, it's interesting to see and now I watch for it. Takes at least a second to go completely black.

If the color stays the same, you are probably looking at a capacitor discharging. That same capacitor charging could be related to any short turn-on delay.
If the color changes, you might be seeing the result of a blue LED being used to activate a phosphor to get a warmer component to the light.

Cariboocoot

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

Picked up some 1.2 Watt GU10 LED's being closed out at Wal*Mart for $5 each. Replaced the three 50W halogens in the kitchen. Not good. They aren't as bright and the colour temperature is decidedly cold. But this was as close as I could find to what was in there for a reasonable price. At 48 Watts less per bulb that will add up to a fair difference in energy use (over 1kW hour per day) due to the amount of time the kitchen lights are on in Winter. It will also save burning the top of my head when I'm standing under them doing something. I just wish they were brighter and warmer.

NorthGuy

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

Cariboocoot wrote: »

Picked up some 1.2 Watt GU10 LED's being closed out at Wal*Mart for $5 each. Replaced the three 50W halogens in the kitchen. Not good. They aren't as bright and the colour temperature is decidedly cold. But this was as close as I could find to what was in there for a reasonable price. At 48 Watts less per bulb that will add up to a fair difference in energy use (over 1kW hour per day) due to the amount of time the kitchen lights are on in Winter. It will also save burning the top of my head when I'm standing under them doing something. I just wish they were brighter and warmer.

I recently ordered 10 pieces of 9W GU10 dimmable LEDs from eBay for $40. They're supposed to be warm and bright, and still 82% savings in energy use compared to halogen. We'll see.

solarvic

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

Will receive my 1st led night lites from power co. They insisted to send me an energy saving kit with various cfl bulbs 2 led night lite, furnace whistle and a switched power strip. Kind of felt a little remorse as I havn,t needed to buy any power from them since the winter of 2010 thru 2011. They pestered me, sent snail mail, email and called me. He He He solarvic

solar_dave

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

solarvic wrote: »

Will receive my 1st led night lites from power co. They insisted to send me an energy saving kit with various cfl bulbs 2 led night lite, furnace whistle and a switched power strip. Kind of felt a little remorse as I havn,t needed to buy any power from them since the winter of 2010 thru 2011. They pestered me, sent snail mail, email and called me. He He He solarvic

I bought a pack of LED night lights from Costco a while back, they work great.

We should call you Jack, for Jacking up the power company for freebies.

niel

Re: Finally bought some LED bulbs

many power companies are sending out stuff like that as i had received a package from my power company. i got some cfls, led night lights, and a power strip geared for computers as it shuts off some outlets if the pc is off. i haven't actually tried that feature as i have nothing else running near the pc as things like printers are on another pc.