Jus-A-CMax Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 So tonight the wifey went down to Costco and loaded up with 14 LED can bulbs for the main areas where we predominantly use the lights, aka the kitchen, dining, stairway. Damn - these LEDs are bright. They say it will last 20+ years but we shall see... We did not do the whole house as those can incandescent, we hardly use. Crap...I am turning into a bloody greenie. CMax. LED bulbs, whats next...a whole usb thumb drive of Barbara Streisand's Greatest Hits :gaah: & :redcard: Anyone else on this LED bandwagon....? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurel Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 I am no greenie other than compost. I have a fixed belief that all the stuff that we sort for the recycling truck gets dumped in with the regular garbage when they are out of sight. I am lukewarm on LED's. Hated CFL's. Hubby says I prefer a kerosene lantern LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScubaDadMiami Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 I live in a highrise. So, I can't do much. I have pretty much everything on CFL's or fluorescents. When I had a ballast recently go bad in a ceiling fan, I changed that one to LED. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drdiesel1 Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 (edited) Yep! Added as many LED's to the C-Max as possible and have them in a few outlets in the home. Planning to go all LED at the house. Edited October 9, 2013 by drdiesel1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtb9153 Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 So tonight the wifey went down to Costco and loaded up with 14 LED can bulbs for the main areas where we predominantly use the lights, aka the kitchen, dining, stairway. Damn - these LEDs are bright. They say it will last 20+ years but we shall see... We did not do the whole house as those can incandescent, we hardly use. Crap...I am turning into a bloody greenie. CMax. LED bulbs, whats next...a whole usb thumb drive of Barbara Streisand's Greatest Hits :gaah: & :redcard: Anyone else on this LED bandwagon....?All of my Christmas Lights have been LEDS for several years now, much better than the incandescent type of the past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jus-A-CMax Posted October 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Wow...a lot of late night posters, huh ;) LEDs to me, seemed clearer than the incandescence...but less warmth. For those who don't know, picture less yellow, more "white" but add in the sharpness like a HD TV. LEDs are expensive...these better not burn or quit on me. 3 yr guarantee apparently. CFLs drive me nutz...I have those in the office. Ugh. LED FTW :rockon: hybridbear 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adair Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Yeah, we have LEDs and CFLs at home and work. We have a compost in the back near the garden. We have city-wide recycling at home and work. Laurel, one thing I learned from the secure recycling company that comes to my office for paper is that we can throw in envelopes with windows, magazines still in wrappers, etc. They grind it all up on-site and then dump it in a slurry back at the plant. The plastic all floats to the top to be skimmed off. The truck that comes to the house has separate bins on both sides and the workers divide the stuff up right there. Asia's running team coach even buys recyclable paper cups for practice days. hybridbear 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtnMarty Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 So tonight the wifey went down to Costco and loaded up with 14 LED can bulbs for the main areas where we predominantly use the lights, aka the kitchen, dining, stairway. Damn - these LEDs are bright. They say it will last 20+ years but we shall see... We did not do the whole house as those can incandescent, we hardly use. Crap...I am turning into a bloody greenie. CMax. LED bulbs, whats next...a whole usb thumb drive of Barbara Streisand's Greatest Hits :gaah: & :redcard: Anyone else on this LED bandwagon....?How much were the pot lights? I know the cost has been coming down, but I thought they were still dear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotomoto Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Mainly for financial reasons, I've always tried to conserve but it took purchasing my former Volt to get me seriously looking into our electricity use. Between adding CFL's and LED's, additional attic insulation, replacing a couple of critical windows and patio doors with modern units, experimenting with the programmable thermostat, shopping new electricity rates, and replacing an old, inefficient a/c compressor fan, I cut my charges by over a third. This was more than enough to pay for the Volt's usage so my bill was still lower than before. :thumbsup: hybridbear 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wamba2000 Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 JusACmax, I changed out CFL spots that were in can lights for the Kitchen (8 in total) a few years ago, even CFLs did not last more than 3 years, I think the on/off cycling shortens the life and this is/was a very busy area for our home.Got mine for a store in CA from Ebay, prior to general availability at Home Depot, Lowes etc. After three + years, nothing has burned out, no LEDs stopped working etc., and I don't have to lug the ladder in to get to those high ones. As information:When purchasing LED based bulbs, there are a couple things to check to make sure performance is what you expect:1. Lumens: this tells how much "light" is generated. It is good compare with incandescent bulbs so that you get what you expect for a given application. Wide variance between bulbs2. Output color: this references the warmth of the output. Typically they are shown as warm white (about 2700K), white/cool white (3500K) and sunlight/daylight (5000K +). You just need to know what looks you want. Many jewelers have used LED based lights in display cases to get max sparkle and intensity. LED strips are also available now, I installed them on top of and under new cabinets in kitchen remodel. Have 12 strips (I think) and when lit use about the same energy as a 40w incandescent bulb, plus almost no heat. Hope this is helpful to others. hybridbear and JAZ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAZ Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 At the risk of upsetting some, much info on LEDs can be found at Consumer Reports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fbov Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 LEDs to me, seemed clearer than the incandescence...but less warmth. For those who don't know, picture less yellow, more "white" but add in the sharpness like a HD TV. ...What you're seeing is called "color temperature." Neat animated GIF in the second frame down (on my monitor) showing variations in spectrum and appearance over a wide range of color temperatures. Besided light bulbs, most folks have seen the effect in photographs. Color silver halide systems (remember photograhic film?) were designed for a specific color temperature, so using indoor film outside gave a bluish cast, while the reverse gave a redish cast if you didn't use a flash bulb. Digital cameras are adjustable; "white balance" tries to get the camera to do what the eye does superbly - see white as white regardless the color of the light illuminating it. To dive a bit more into the Physics (I'm a photo scientist by training), there is an extremely strong relation between "perceived color" and actual object temperature. It's Max Planck's Black Body Law. The most famous example of a physical process that follows the law is the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation that's the "last echo" of the Big Bang. Error bars are so small, the prediction line covers them. Back to human preference, we don't typically like high color temps, and I hate the CFL delay, so I went a different route - diodes on incandescent bulbs - long before CFLs came along. Diodes simply cut off one half of the AC voltage into the bulb. Bulbs are dimmer, but the bulbs in our master bathroom have been in use for over 25 years, they come on immediately, and they have a very warm tone (lower color temp) that's not as hard on your fully dark-adapted vision when the 4AM bladder alarm goes off (Don't know what I mean? Wait a few years...). I switched our front door light to CFL and I replace a charred unit every year or so... Have fun,Frank JAZ, hybridbear and Jus-A-CMax 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jus-A-CMax Posted October 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 woo....let me drink my coffee before I digest that. awesome post though....thxs fbov :victory: ps the diversity of the knowledge of people here is totally awesome :) hybridbear and Adair 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adair Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 woo....let me drink my coffee before I digest that. awesome post though....thxs fbov :victory: ps the diversity of the knowledge of people here is totally awesome :)It constantly amazes me. Jus-A-CMax and hybridbear 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotomoto Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 To dive a bit more into the Physics (I'm a photo scientist by training), Hmmm, I'm going to guess you work or have worked for either Kodak or RIT. Do you know, Bill Destler, the president of RIT. He owns a Volt. http://www.rit.edu/news/story.php?id=48419 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wamba2000 Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 I just think it shows the extreme smarts of people that buy a Cmax! Jus-A-CMax, RachelnLa, Adair and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveofDurham Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 I just think it shows the extreme smarts of people that buy a Cmax! A++ grades to C-Max owners who stay at a Holiday Inn Express. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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