LED Light bulbs

[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.