Anyone using LED indoor lighting instead of compact fluorescent?

[tk2kewl]

Do they really work with standard 120V dimmers?

[hedgehog]

1. Also - what is the color range?

Are they similar to natural light?

[tk2kewl]

2. Good question...

They are even more energy efficient than compact fluorescents, I know that.

[Tesha]

15. LEDs tend to be very bluish (so "Daylight" colored)

> Also - what is the color range?
> Are they similar to natural light?

LEDs tend to be very bluish (so "Daylight" colored).
A few fancy fixtures (from Herman-Miller and the like)
offer a selectable color temperature so you can have
"warmer"-appearing light if you wish.

Tesha

[seabeyond]

3. those little twirly lined lightbulbs that are suppose to last forever?

lol lol. hubby does this stuff, can you tell. we changed out lightbulb to ones that are supose to be different. lighting is a bet different but i have gotten use to them. they last much longer than the regular. my house is full of dimmers. my lightbulbs dont work on the dimmer though i have chosen them in some of the spots.

[tk2kewl]

4. I think you talking about the compact fluorescent bulbs that look like this

[seabeyond]

6. yup, thanks. guess it isnt what you are talking. lol. n/t

[SoCalDem]

17. I scored big on those flourescent twirly bulbs. 4 for $2.99

UI bought a bunch and replaced the regular bulbs all over the house :)

[wuushew]

5. Its tough to beat the savings of cf bulbs

a 1600 lumen bulb runs a little over two dollars, lasts 8000 hours and consumes 23-26 watts.

I have replaced nearly all the incandescents in my apartment since I signed my lease in July.

[alfredo]

24. They have them shaped like light bulbs now so they can be used with

lamps that have shades that attach to the bulb.

[sweetheart]

7. I have been using G10 LED's

and i'm not impressed with bulb-longevity. I desgined and built a special
fixture for them, as they are not as bright as incandescents, but i've found
that the designers of some of these LED bulbs have designed in a short lifespan
so they can keep selling units... They are expensive per bulb, but i was
expecting them to last near forever, not the same as incandescents....

Can't help you with operating them on a dimmer, after using them (mains 240V Led bulbs),
i would build such fixtures in to a new house for 'little lights' for things like
stairs and the toilet bowl, not a main light for a table or a kitchen.

[Tesha]

16. Did the entire lamp fail or just a few of the LED elements? (NT)

[sweetheart]

20. The coloured ones in this photo

The fixture is a wood beam (a beam of light) and the 14 LED GU10 bulbs
are set in to the wood. The bulbs are so cool at 2-3 watts, that they
don't burn the wood, and its a beautiful lamp.

The total lamp is 30 watts and lights a worktable. The bulbs are 10 dollars each!
And the white ones are blowing out, and the coloured ones are lasting forever.
I first mixed some red bulbs in there to warm the spectrum a bit from the very-flourescent
spectrum of the white LED's.

[Warpy]

8. I think I will probably start to replace the fluorescents as

they burn out, but I've still got a small stash of bulbs and it'll be a while.

The LEDs will probably come down in price considerably by then.

I have been pleased with the fluorescents except there are a few fixtures that simply won't accept them. I use those fixtures very sparingly and most have light bulbs that predated the first set of fluorescents I put in.

[madrchsod]

9. do not throw fluorescents in the trash

they contain mercury. i`ve tried the cheaper ones and they fail just as bad as regular bulbs. i`ve replaced some of my lights with fluorescents but use regular bulbs for reading..

[crispini]

13. Really? Mine haven't gone out yet.

What are you supposed to do with them if not trash?

[SoCalDem]

18. Crush them and use as an ice cream topping? (sparkly sprinkles)

:shrug:

[madrchsod]

19. no one really knows....walmart is going to push these bulbs

and ran into the problem of disposal. they have`t figured out how people can return the bulbs...

[hedgehog]

10. Has anyone had problems with flicker from these bulbs?

I had some on the Christmas tree and one of my kids was complaining about the flicker effect.

[crispini]

12. The CF I got for my front light did for a while, but then it stopped

[Tesha]

14. It depends on the supporting electronics

> I had some on the Christmas tree and one of my kids was
> complaining about the flicker effect.

It depends on the supporting electronics. Christmas tree LEDs
run in a very, very simple circuit and definitely exhibit
noticeable 50/60 Hz flicker which many will probably find
annoying. FYI: Because of the very simple circuitry, LED
Christmas lights dim just fine.

LED replacements for light bulbs may or may not exhibit this
depending on how sophisticated the supporting electronics in
the "light bulb" are. This also affects whether they are
"dimmable".

Me, I find the flickering of LED taillights on cars quite
annoying and wish the regulations would be changed to force
the eliminatiom of that flicker.

Tesha

[hunter]

23. I hate the flicker of LED Christmas lights.

So much that I built a custom non-flickering power supply for them.

But line voltage experiments like this can electrocute people and start fires, so it's not the sort of thing everybody should play with.

I'm eagerly awaiting low voltage LED christmas lights with a built-in D.C. power supply. They could be made to be very, very reliable -- something you have to buy only once. Heck, if they used U.V. and weather resistant cable, you'd only have to hang them once!

That would be so cool, permanent Christmas lights. You could also turn them on for parties.

[crispini]

11. Not a big fan of the LEDs

They are not anywhere near as bright as CFs and conventionals, at least not the one I got which was ostensibly 60w comparable. I use it for a nightlight now. I got some LED "outdoor floods" and they are just worthless. They last a long time, though, so I am using them in the two-flood fixture along with a regular flood. Haven't burnt out yet.

[Javaman]

21. I just got them for under the cabinet lighting in our kitchen.

They have a blue color temp and actually I find it very soothing. :)

We installed 6 of them and what is nice is if I have to get up in the middle of the night, the light although bright, it's not harsh and doesn't "sting" my eyes.

I have yet to use LED's for the rest of the house. They are still a bit pricey, but I may try one or two to see the effect.

[KurtNYC]

22. They won't work with standard dimmers

The price of LEDs are coming down rapidly but they are still pricey.

The white ones do not last as long as the colors but any of them will last much longer when operating dimmed. Right now there are alot of LEDs which are being over-driven current wise and that is killing them. Heat IS an issue too.

The big applications for LED right now is as neon replacement, grazing (backlighting glass panels) and other industrial applications. The home market isn't expected to develop for another 2 years or so.

Handy white paper here:
http://www.aboutlightingcontrols.org/education/papers/controlLED.shtml

Edit: found an answer at variance with mine (eg 'they WILL work but...):

The question of led light bulbs and dimmers is a bit complicated. Many of our led light bulbs are dimmable using common dimmer switches. However, most 120-volt AC dimmers need a minimum amount of resistive load (typically about 40 watts) in order to function properly. Because led bulbs often do not provide the load a dimmer needs, it is usually necessary to have one incandescent or halogen bulb on the same dimmer control as the led bulbs. The dimmers we have always require at least one incandescent bulb on the circuit in order to function properly.

Even with a proper load, some 120V AC led bulbs respond better to dimmer switches. Some led light bulbs dim down smoothly and completely similar to an incandescent bulb. Our Par38 126-led and 165-led bulbs are in this category. Others will dim down only about 50% even when the dimmer is turned nearly off. Our D19, Par20, and Par30 led bulbs are in this category. Our PAR38 108-led bulb and 96-led 360-degree bulb do not respond to a dimmer; they are either on or off. Similarly there are differences in how the same led light bulb will respond to different dimmer controls.

http://www.besthomeledlighting.com/faqs

I still say if you are going to sink good money into LED I would use them with the right driver and controllers to get the most out of them. To much power will bake them in a hurry.

[tk2kewl]

25. Thanks... that's the best advice I've gotten. n/t