LED Light bulbs

[JRLesan]

Suffice to say these bulbs don't last anywhere near their 7 year supposed life nor do the earlier CFL's. I made a habit of marking the install date on these 'new' energy saving bulbs when I started to replace incandescents with them some years back. Although the LED's carry a 'supposed' warranty, who's going to save a receipt for a pack of light bulbs and then spend more than the lightbulb cost to get a warranty replacement? I wouldn't be surprised if energy savings did not add up to the extra cost of LED's over incandescent bulbs...

[XDROB]

I also started replacing my bulbs in the house a few years ago. Stared with fluorescent bulbs. Those did not last very long. Changed over to LEDs. So far I have some that are over 5 years old. And still work very well. And yes I write the date on every one of them.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

[StuBach]

I’m guessing cost vs savings is relative to which bulbs you buy. I’ve been buying the Kirkland brand bulbs when they are on super sale and at $5 for 6 LEDs my cost savings is pretty apparent. Buying the Philips (or other big brand) name bulbs at $12 per bulb like they used to be I can’t imagine the savings being there though I haven’t run any energy usage tests in these.

Personally I just like the quality of light and the color spectrum better with LEDs. I even upgraded my 4’ shop tubes from t8s to 6000k LEDs from Green Tek and they have been awesome, haven’t replaced a one in 7 years. Again savings will depend on the brand bought though, when I bought my 4’ bulbs for $7-$12 a piece my company was installing Philips brand 4’ bulbs in their stores and they were running $70 a bulb at the time ([emoji2961]). I think I got better value out of mine vs theirs. (Note: large company wouldn’t even entertain my recommendation for the American company I was trying to show them was just as good and cheaper than the national brand).

[MostlyLeverGuns]

With LED's, they say 7 years, but that is for 3 HOURS a day for seven years, ON AVERAGE(7665 hours), THE FINE PRINT. That is SOME bulbs might go 2 years and some might go 12 years. I too have marked the install date and not gotten '7 years' from some but most are still running for a couple of years. I have NOT kept track of the actual hours used, my shop lights are on 8-12 hours a day, year round. I do like getting more light in the work shop for less wiring and less heat (in the summer). I can replace 10 100 watt bulbs with 10 '300 watt equivalent bulbs (30 watt LED) and get much more light out of the same circuit. Are they cheaper ??? Maybe. Better - probably. I like the the extra light.

[Daekar]

I haven't had many (any?) LED bulbs die on me, and I started switching to them as soon as they had decent CRI at 4000K, or 3000K for the kitchen. Had some track lighting which pulled over a kilowatt with the old incan bulbs and made the room hotter to boot. Haven't had a single one fail, they pull way less power, and the color temperature doesn't make the room look covered in orange juice when dimmed like the old bulbs did.

My experience with CFLs and flashlights was that you get what you pay for, so I haven't tried buying the rock bottom cheapest LEDs either. Honestly, though, most of our CFLs are still going strong, so I don't expect to have to replace them for a while.

[GhostHawk]

I have yet to replace a LED bulb. I am slowly but surely getting rid of CFL's and replacing with LED's.

I am like StuBach I like the Kirkland brand bulbs and some others like them. I did pay more for a 150 watt equivilent very white 6 pack. One is in the light by my recliner that is on from 7:30 am until 10:30 PM except for an hour here and there for naps.
It has been there for over 5 years and still going strong.

But the ones I really love are the Harbor Freight single line LED 4 foot strip lights that I bought for under 10$ each. Each of those replaces 2-4 Flourescent fixtures, puts out more light, with less glare and way less energy use. And they come wired to plug into an outlet with a pull chain for on off.

I originally bought 6, went back after I plugged the first one in and turned it on. Went back and bought 4 more.

I pulled the guts out of my fancy 4 flourescent light fixture in the kitchen. Replaced with a single strip light. Have more light, better quality light. And that was 2 years ago. As far as I'm concerned that light has paid for itself already.

[DougGuy]

The only LEDs I have had problems with are in a 4 bulb chandelier over the dining table, these stay on more than any other light in the house and I have replaced them twice in 3 years and one of the 4 is on the fritz as I type. They have a small base and sit upright in the sockets.

The rest of the house is great with LEDs, and I need to convert the fluorescents in my shop to LEDs. I prefer the Reveal bulbs for the bedroom, they do nice things for skin tones *wink* these are well worth the $12 going rate.

[bedbugbilly]

We replaced the bulbs in both our places with LEDs. Keep in mind that we are in one place or 6 months for the summer and the other for 6 months during the winter. IIRC - we did the MI house 6 yers ago and the AZ house 5 years ago. So far, none have been needing to be replaced. Anything is going to have a "life" and I think that a person has to remember just how long some bulbs are on each day. Example - a LED bulb used in an office the is on for say 8 to 10 hours a day is a lot different than an LED bulb in a hallway or closet that is on maybe 20 minutes a day at the most.

Here in AZ,, we are required to have one outside light fixture that is on the end of the garage (each house has two - a fixture on each side of the garage door) on during the night to help provide light for security as well as anyone walking down the sidewalk (easier to see Javelenas, Coyotes and Bobcats). The fixtures take two low wattage (40 watt) "chandelier" small base bulbs. The fixture is on an electric eye and right now, during this time of the year it would go on around 5 p.m. and be on until perhaps 7:15 s.m. - so figure 14 hours a day. In the summertime, less than that but probably 8 hours at least. I used to have to replace the bulbs due to burnout about every 60 days. Two and a half years ago, a friend was back here in AZ for a few days and he noticed our bulbs were burned out so he had some LED bulbs and he replaced the burned out bulbs with the LEDs. They are still going strong after two years. So I have no complaints on them at all and have been very happy with how they have worked.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

When LED bulbs first hit the market, I ordered 3 from a china ebay seller. Big mistake, the ran hot and give off RF that interfered with the AM radio, I found out they weren't FCC compliant. I used them for a couple years, then gave them away.

Over time, as prices of FCC compliant LED bulbs became affordable, I started buying them and currently most of my large house has them. Sylvania brand is my preference, for both Price and cold weather functioning in Minnesota. Most of those have been in service for about 5 years. I mention all this, as I had my first Sylvania LED burn out, it is in a enclosed glass globe swag fixture and is on many hours a day.

I bought a bunch of the Corkscrew CFL bulbs years prior when they were all the rage. I will mention, in a few places in the house, I do prefer the Corkscrew CFL bulbs, Over all the years, I've only had two of them burn out.

Coincidence:
Today, I am upgrading the lighting in a room I dedicated to my wood Lathe. It has a high ceiling. So I am replacing the vintage single "dangling wire" fixture (currently Corkscrew CFL bulb installed), with a triple bulb fixture (chandelier type), I plan to use some LED flood lights I bought on sale a couple years ago, and found they were too large to fit most fixtures...so I hope they work well in this chandelier, as they should give great light for the Lathe.

[OS OK]

:bigsmyl2: ..."Bulbs grow in the ground, lamps go into fixtures and give light" ... :bigsmyl2:

I have them in our kitchen recessed light fixtures...give good light but haven't payed any attention to how long they last.

[bangerjim]

Keep in mind it is the HEAT that kills CFL's and LED's! Any recessed "can" light fixture is a death trap for those bulbs. LED's in open-frame lamp environments, they will last a good long time. I see 3-4 years lifetime - with 12-16 hour operation per day in the open. About 1.5-2 years in recessed and can fixtures that trap the heat. And the DO get VERY hot!!!!

I use a magic marker and write the install date on the base of every bulb when i install it and definitely see a trend in enclosed fixtures!!!!

I now have 95% LEDs in our 2 story house, including LED floods front and back and 10 "40 watt" style shop lights. We here in this part of AZ have no laws requiring outside lighting like mentioned above. I do it for safety and security.

The prices are coming down and the technology is going up for LED lighting.

[scattershot]

I’m a fan. No idea how long they last, but our utility bill has gone down significantly. May be due to other factors as well, but I like ‘em. Less battery drain in the RV, too.

[starnbar]

I got 12 8 foot fluorescent in the garage and they are up 20 ft in the air been thinking about the 8 ft leds but at over 70 I do not bounce like I used to and not wanting to replace em every 2-3 years.

[Bmi48219]

We have 24 recessed ceiling lights using 60 watt incandescent reflector flood bulbs. Most are on dimmer circuits. We’ve been in this home for nearly 12 years and half the bulbs haven’t been changed. Finding incandescent RF bulbs is getting tough. When you do find them they’re near as expensive as comparable LEDs. One bulb in kitchen ceiling has been changed to LED. I’m not crazy about the color of light in comparison but don’t see many options and will install LEDs as the incandescents burn out. I’m not at all impressed with the lifespan of the LED bulbs in our bathroom fixtures. One year on average, the corkscrew CF bulbs were way better.
I’ve been told that fluorescent bulbs last longer under continuous, as opposed to intermittent use. Makes sense in a way.
Don’t know about other areas but until the mid 70s the Edison service center would exchange new light bulbs for your old burned out ones. That was a sweet deal.

[ShooterAZ]

I just had two of my original enclosed LED bulbs I bought go out. They were maybe only 3 years old max. My initial thought was that they didn't last nearly as long as the CFL bulbs I replaced them with. Now I'll bet a bunch more are going to go out. That's OK though, it's only money right? They are more energy efficient for sure.

[Thundarstick]

The only place I've had shortened life for LED bulbs is in the ceiling fan fixtures. I have a red LED in my carport that's been on 24/7 for over 5 years now, that's over 43,000 hours! Watch it be out when I get home! In general they last much much longer than than than incandescent bulbs for me, and you can get them in any light range/ color temp.

[HATCH]

When I moved into my current house in 2015 I replaced my garage overhead florescent tubes with ballet-less LED tubes.

They were ones the company I was working for sold on the side to school districts. Wasn’t our primary business.

They are rated 100k hours or ten years.
I laughed when I was told their rating.
The salesman asked why.
Simple. If I left them on for 100k hours it would be almost 11 1/2 years so basically they have a ten year warranty.

Haven’t had any issues. Not sure how many hours are on them but we have left them on a couple days before.
Only thing I don’t like about them is the delay on starting. It takes a second before they fire up but the fluorescent bulbs did that in the cold weather too.

90% of the fixtures in my house have LED bulbs.
The 60 watt replacements are just under $3 each which is about the cost of decent filament bulbs.
I get the daylight color bulbs as they look brighter even though the lumens rating is the same as cool white.

The ones I been using are rated 25000 hrs which is a little bit short of 3 years 24/7. I have had to replace some already and they were just about a year old.

The price will continue to go down on the LED bulbs as time goes on and I suspect that eventually the incandescent bulbs will no longer be available except for the specialty bulbs

[MaryB]

I have a Sylvania LED bulb in the bathroom that is going n 10 years old. And that room is dark and the light is on 24/7 so I don't kill myself trying to get to the light switch on the opposite side of the room(I did not wire this room!). It is getting a little dimmer but no biggie... I have mirror lights I turn on when I need more light. This one is just so I can see stuff on the floor, like cat toys... Ollie drags all his toys in there at night. He picks them all up and drags them in there... funny watching him hunt for a missing ball and then asking me to get it out from under the stereo/video rack where he doesn't fit(and isn't allowed due to all the wires back there!)

[MT Gianni]

Led fixtures are rated much longer lasting than bulbs. Ours are 3 1/2 years old and show no signs of dimming.

[David2011]

In our last house we had 8 or 10 recessed can lights in the kitchen ceiling. The lamps were incandescent when we moved in. They stayed on most of the time. When the weather turned cool I realized how warm they were keeping the floor. I replaced them with 3200 degree K LEDs and the temperature difference was immediately noticeable. They had to be replaced at probably 2-2.5 year intervals but they were on 16 hours a day.

Our current house has can lights in several rooms, all with LEDs at this point. The only ones that get replaced regularly are the big box store brand in the kitchen which again stay on most of the day. The ones that are only used in the evening are about 3 years old with none having been replaced.

[Idaho45guy]

CFLs are garbage. Heavy, expensive, and last about a year.

LEDs are the way to go. I remodeled my bathroom in September of 2019 and installed two brand new LED lights. Still going strong. Bought my last house in 2014 and every bulb that goes out gets replaced with an LED. All are still working.

[rbuck351]

I bought a three pack of the CFLs when they first came out. The first one I installed made one quick flash and quit. The second one lasted about 3 minutes. The third lasted a couple of years but that was the only CFLs I ever bought. When the LEDs became reasonably priced I replaced every bulb in the house and when we moved I took them all with me to the next house. Most seem to last a few years with the occasional one giving out sooner. The one in the stairway that is inside a glass cover goes out about once a year.

[yovinny]

I changed every bulb in the house & shop to LED when I moved here in 2015.
Sofar, I've replaced only 2 bulbs. One in a ceiling fan fixture, the other in my chair side reading lamp.

[HATCH]

If your not a fan of LED or CFL then I totally understand you keeping the incandescent bulbs.
But If you keep a light on all the time you really should replace it with LED.
When purchasing just get one that is rated 2500-3500 in color.
That will be close to the original incandescent.

On another note -
My HOA has two tennis courts. They replaced the original bulbs with LEDs but didn't change the fixtures.
The paperwork stated it was the same LUMENS (brightness) but it wasn't. They spent a pile of money just to replace the entire fixture a year later.
So bulb replacement works great for household stuff but parking lot lights need a entirely new fixture.

[Nazgul]

I put one of those umbrella looking LEDs in the garage/workshop. Lights up everything! Even the dark corners.

Don

[Hossfly]

LED’s are fine for lighting but don’t give off enough heat to keep well pump from freezing. Hard to find incandescent bulbs 100 watt for spot heating.

[jsizemore]

My local breakfast joint got it's florescent fixtures replaced to double 4' LED's 3 years ago. I noticed 2 bulbs out. Still plenty of light. I'm curious if the power company approved contractor is going to take care of them. Cafe owner said they would be under warranty if installed by the contractor. Well see.

[MaryB]

heat is the enemy of LED bulbs. If you are using existing can fixtures drilling a could vent holes in the top to let the heat out will extend their life a lot. I did that to my bedside reading lamp, drilled 10 holes spaced around the base of the hood over the bulb. Heat rises and it self cools.

[HATCH]

funny story - we use to go to a chinese buffet about once a week.
One day when we were there my coworker complained to me that some of the food wasn't as warm as it normally was.
I typically don't eat a bunch of chinese buffet food. Just mainly egg rolls or soup.
But today I wanted something different.
I went to the isle that had the dish my buddy was eating and noticed something.
The heat lamps weren't producing heat. I looked up and they had replaced the heat lamps with CFL.
Guess to save electricity. That explained why some food was cold.
I didn't go back there again.

[facetious]

I have also replaced most lights with LED's. What I have found is that lights that get turned on and off a lot seem to be harder on them. The ceiling fan fixture in the kitchen will have one go out now and then but the ones that get left on for hours seem to last forever.

[Fishman]

In 2017 or thereabouts I replaced all my 4' fluorescent utlity lights with LED's tubes that were plug and play. I also replaced the ones in my main kitchen fixture with the same. So much more light and to date I've had to replace exactly zero of them. I used to buy replacements by the box and would replace four or five every year. I'm already saving money, not even counting the electricity savings.

The next year I installed two floodlight fixtures on the corners of my house with LED floodlights. These replaced cheap, crappy floodlights with proprietary bulbs that cost a fortune. Light everywhere for the electricity cost of a 75 watt bulb.

Last month I replaced the three ceiling light fixtures on my porch with round, flat LED fixtures that are very plain, but put out a ton of light. The originals used a ton of little decorative 15-20 watt bulbs which were pricey and we could never keep them all working. Now we have too much light. When we leave the porch light on for someone arriving home late, it's like daytime in the bedroom. I'm sure we will figure it out.

Don't even get me started on the obvious benefits of LED's in battery-powered lights.

I'm a big fan of LED's. Hooray for technology.

[jonp]

Went from standard bulbs to the curly ques to LED's for everything except the shoplight near the pressure tank on cold nights. Our electric bill dropped and I haven't noticed any going out yet. Seem to work ok. I know that the curlies have a low temp rating. I tested that up north by installing them in my outside porch light. At -30 they still worked but weren't happy with it and took a little to warm up.

[GregLaROCHE]

I replaced four LEDs this weekend. Most of them don’t last near as long as advertised. I like the low wattage for the amount of light, but I put a lot of value in how long they last. The one’s I replaced this weekend were outside, needed a ladder and tools to open the fixtures. They weren’t more than two years old. I would have paid more if I knew I wouldn’t have to do the same job again before seven years.

[osage]

I started on LED's on my 76 KZ750 that I was having charging problems with. I bought correct color LED to match lens color. I did 1156's, 1157's and indicator also back lights in tachometer and speedometer. They used less power than one standard 1157 and ended the charging issue. Superbrightleds.com had all the information I needed to do this probably 8 years ago.
I started changing over in the house as costs decreased. Going from four 300w bulbs to 60w LED adjustable arms in large machine building was a huge savings. Four foot fixtures have been changed over. As others have said the well pit still gets a low wattage incandescent heat lamp.

[MaryB]

I replaced four LEDs this weekend. Most of them don’t last near as long as advertised. I like the low wattage for the amount of light, but I put a lot of value in how long they last. The one’s I replaced this weekend were outside, needed a ladder and tools to open the fixtures. They weren’t more than two years old. I would have paid more if I knew I wouldn’t have to do the same job again before seven years.

Heat is a killer for them, many outdoor fixtures are sealed... and you get what you pay for with LED light bulbs. Sure you may get lucky and those cheap ones may last, or you may replace them within a year... I pay $5+ each for 60 watt equivalent bulbs. And they last.

[MaryB]

I started on LED's on my 76 KZ750 that I was having charging problems with. I bought correct color LED to match lens color. I did 1156's, 1157's and indicator also back lights in tachometer and speedometer. They used less power than one standard 1157 and ended the charging issue. Superbrightleds.com had all the information I needed to do this probably 8 years ago.
I started changing over in the house as costs decreased. Going from four 300w bulbs to 60w LED adjustable arms in large machine building was a huge savings. Four foot fixtures have been changed over. As others have said the well pit still gets a low wattage incandescent heat lamp.

Get a high lumen LED LOL they crank the heat out! And your well pit will be lit up like the surface of the sun!

[Rizzo]

FWIW,
Some LED bulbs are not dimmable.
If replacing bulbs that are on a dimmer circuit then make sure the LED box says dimmable on it.

[Bmi48219]

I updated the kitchen of a vacation condo we had 8 years ago. Only light in the room was on a ceiling fan and it didn’t illuminate the sink area well. No window in the room either. I installed a lamp soffit on three walls and picked up six small halogen recessed ceiling lights HD had on clearance for it. Plenty of light after that but for only 15 watt bulbs those lamps threw some heat!

[Keyman]

I replaced every bulb in the house with LED's. Screw in bulbs, 4 foot replacement bulbs for the fluorescent tube and stand alone 4 foot strip fixtures. We cut the electric bill a bunch. We pay 90 cents a kilowatt hour. They are great and come on at -50 F.

[ioon44]

I bought 4-foot LED replacement bulbs for the fluorescent tube lights in my shop, they are 30 yr or older fixtures and the 4-ft led kept going on and on, the store where I bought the 4ft LEDs had no idea why.
Then I was at another store and was asking questions about the 4ft LEDs and was told the older magnetic balist would not work with LEDs, of course they had replacement balist for the LEDs at $20.00 ea. I bought some and the lights are working fine but it would have been cheaper to have bought new 4ft fixtures to start with.

[David2011]

Not a replacement, I put 8 foot LED lights in the new construction workshop and reloading room. The reloading room got two of them and the shop got four rows of two on two separate switches. They’re BRIGHT. I flinch if I turn on all four rows at once.

[Fishman]

I bought 4-foot LED replacement bulbs for the fluorescent tube lights in my shop, they are 30 yr or older fixtures and the 4-ft led kept going on and on, the store where I bought the 4ft LEDs had no idea why.
Then I was at another store and was asking questions about the 4ft LEDs and was told the older magnetic balist would not work with LEDs, of course they had replacement balist for the LEDs at $20.00 ea. I bought some and the lights are working fine but it would have been cheaper to have bought new 4ft fixtures to start with.

The ones I used were designed to work without bypassing the ballast but my fixtures are 24 years old so they may be different than yours. You can also buy cheaper 4' led replacements that require you to remove the ballast.

[Keyman]

I have run into 3 different types of replacement led tubes for old fluorescent fixtures. #1 Take out old ballast and rewire the tombstones. Power in and return at one end of bulb. This bulb is marked. #2 Take out old ballast and leave power in one end of lamp and return is at other end of lamp. You do not have to change wires at tombstones. #3 Buy new led lamps and install in fixture, and leave the ballast in. This only works if the correct ballast is in fixture. I like the total replacement fixture, but they can be very hard to mount tight in a row, and many times the extra wire will show.

[lightman]

LEDs were just coming in when I retired so I'm not an expert on them. But personally I have mixed feelings. I have experienced short bulb live with 3 different brands of screw in bulbs. When we remodeled the kitchen a couple of years ago I rewired the 3 fluorescent fixtures for LED and they are still working fine. The last fixture in the string will blink when you turn them off. A weird but normal thing for some types of LEDs.

[GregLaROCHE]

Heat is a killer for them, many outdoor fixtures are sealed... and you get what you pay for with LED light bulbs. Sure you may get lucky and those cheap ones may last, or you may replace them within a year... I pay $5+ each for 60 watt equivalent bulbs. And they last.

The ones I fixed were complete bulbs, so I had t do some dismantling. Two of the three, all in one fixtures I installed a year ag, are starting to go on the fritz now. They were from a top line store and cost $30 a piece 20 Watts I think. Another all in one in the laundry room blinks like a strobe light half the time. I need to do something to fix that one next.

[MaryB]

Strobing is often a sign the LED chip is going bad, no fix other than replace... one of my kitchen lights is starting to flicker on one LED string so it is headed to failure.

[GregLaROCHE]

Strobing is often a sign the LED chip is going bad, no fix other than replace... one of my kitchen lights is starting to flicker on one LED string so it is headed to failure.

The light works half the time. It’s another ceiling fixture and I’m not excited about changing it, one because it’s difficult, but most of all, I don’t have confidence in how long a new one will last. When I do change it, I think I will look for one with an independent bulb. That will be a lot easier to change than having to get into the wiring and screws holding it to the ceiling.