Anyone else hate the new light bulbs?

[ultrarunner]

When I worked overseas daytime light law had just passed.

The next time I was there... I noticed many cars without the lights on.

I was told their was such an uproar on two accounts...

Lower fuel mileage... especially with small engines AND the very high cost of replacing European Lamps... some well over $200 each!

 

[user.69169]

So, have they been able to do away with the annoying 60Hz flicker that LED and fluorescent lights seem to possess? That makes my eyes tired. We use LED Christmas tree lights. They have the flicker. My wife doesn't notice it, but it's hard on my eyes. Wears me out. I try to avert my gaze whenever they come on. Perhaps they can speed up the rate to make it indistinguishable, like computer screens. I bump the refresh rate to 90Hz or more on my laptop and the problem seems to disappear.

Joe

Now I've met people got problems with the fluorescent lights, seem to recall how most had the problem when the crying got them out of a job of work.
You'd be so kind as to tell me how that flicker works out on a LED light I'd be real happy to learn because LED lights only work on DC electric. I know cause I've been putting a bunch of them inside my kitchen cabinets with magnet switches on the doors so they come on when the door opens. I even put in a couple strips of the LED light to run as emergency lights when the fool power company craps out cause they too dumb to trim trees.

 

[aczlan]

Now I've met people got problems with the fluorescent lights, seem to recall how most had the problem when the crying got them out of a job of work.
You'd be so kind as to tell me how that flicker works out on a LED light I'd be real happy to learn because LED lights only work on DC electric. I know cause I've been putting a bunch of them inside my kitchen cabinets with magnet switches on the doors so they come on when the door opens. I even put in a couple strips of the LED light to run as emergency lights when the fool power company craps out cause they too dumb to trim trees.

They do, but if you plug in a Christmas tree or other LED 120VAC lights, they are only getting power half the time (being as 120BAC goes from +120volts to -120 volts 60 times per seconds in the US), so the lights are turning on and off 60 times per second (they are on for the 0-180 segment of the sine wave in the picture below and off from 180-360).

Source: File:Sine wave 2.svg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Many people (myself included) can see the flickering in a computer monitor that is running at 60 hertz, 75 hertz or higher and I am fine.

Aaron Z

 

[grsthegreat]

As i am an electrical contractor and have to deal with this every day it seams, i do get kind of tired of all the hoopla there is surrounding LED lighting. I keep trying to get onboard with the program, but its real hard to convince anyone to use them when they hear the price. Alot of time i try to run the numbers for them and it usually works out that it will take 80 years to pay for themselves on average for the residential customer.... but maybe 7-10 years for the commercial customer.

I recently replaced my 175 watt high pressure sodium light on my shop exterior ,with a retrofit 40 watt LED package (as a test package ... so i can relate my findings to some clients). What i found was i really do love the light. No more waiting 5 minutes for the light to come up to brightness. Nice white, bright light. As bright...if not brighter than the old light. But at $126.00 for the fixture, it will officially take me 80 years to realize a payback on the light. in terms of energy savings.

Now, last month i installed six (6) 50 watt LED wall packs and two (2) 88 watt flood lights on a commercial parking lot. This owner wanted worryfree light fixture to deter vandalism. I could run all these lights on same power use as existing 400 watt wall pack that was in place. So in effect i could light 3 entire sides of the building for the price )in power) of lighting one small area. The results were amazing. VERY well lit parking and side areas of building. Owner really impressed. Cost for all fixtures was $3,410.00 plus 2 men and sizzor lift and 8 hours of labor and materials.Not cheap by any means. But cost savings over having to run 2 new circuits plus cost of conventional HID lighting offset the cost in this example. He should realize a savings in as little as 4 years over the cost to do this conventionally.

I do believe that as soon as LED's come down in cost, their use will skyrocket. CFL's will go by the wayside just as fast.

If you like incandescent lights...you better stock up now. 100 watt and 75 are already gone. 60 are to be gone next year. Personally ive stockpiled cases of 8 foot HO lamps ( I have 26 of these fixtures in use) and 65 watt par 30 lamps (recessed can lights) for use until LEDS drop in price. Ive been told that 65 watt par 30's will be gone soon also. Heck, i had trouble finding 50 watt par 20's last week.

 

[grsthegreat]

Our dryers is on a 30 amp circuit, so worst case the dryer uses 30*120=3,600 watts per hour.

Assuming that the dryer is used on average 3 hours a day, 3*3,600=10,800 watts. Power now costs us 11 or 12 cents a KWH so lets just say 12 cents for worst case. .12* 10,800= $1.30 a day. Assuming the dryer is run 30 days a week, $1.30*30 is $39 a month.

I think $39 is a bit on the high side but I bet is in the ball park, maybe $30 a month. I think the hot water heater is costing $20-30 a month. If our average power bill is $120 then the dryer is cost 25% of our bill with the hot water heater being another 16-25%.

Later,
Dan

errr. wrongo. dryers work 240 volt. most are rated at 5,500 watts during operation

 

[California]

I read the first page of this thread then skipped to read this page, so forgive me if I missed something.

To me, seeing that spiral flouorescents use about a third the electricity of a conventional bulb for the same light output is a no-brainer. Just read the lumen (light) output on the container for your traditional bulb, buy equal or greater lumen output in the CFL. They're only 'dim' if you overlook this step.

I've tried CFL's everywhere and found only a couple of places I prefer conventional bulbs. One is the light in the bathroom that takes two bulbs. I put in a conventional bulb paired with a CFL because I found the CFL delay confusing when I stumble in there sleepyheaded in the morning. Otherwise the house is nearly all CFL's now.

Our utility occasionally puts their special-offer CFL's in Walgreens, Home Depot etc at $0.50 per bulb. Last time I bought four one-dozen cartons. Even with the occasional replacements needed, this should be enough to last until LEDs come down to reasonable prices.

I want to like LED's but haven't had good luck with them. A couple of years ago the Ebay Hong Kong sellers had the best prices so I tried various types. Half of these failed within a couple of months. All seemed to be misrepresented re actual lumens produced. I was disappointed and decided to wait for US LED's.

Then a LED from Home Depot, Consumer Report's top choice, seemed ideal if expensive - until I discovered it was the cause of terrific TV interference. I tried it everywhere in the house, no improvement. I've had it too long to take it back.

I put a Hong Kong 'corncob' LED with 132 tiny bulbs in the front porch light (mostly so the neighbors can see this technology is here now ), actually because it didn't make enough light to use in a room. But one of the 132 elements died and another flickers. I don't expect it will serve any longer than a CFL. Another LED from Home Depot is in an inner hall where we leave the light on for days when we aren't home. Again, its light output wasn't sufficient for room lighting. Like they say, you can tell the pioneers by the arrows in their backs. I want LED technology to arrive but it isn't cost effective today.

 

[aczlan]

I want LED technology to arrive but it isn't cost effective today.

Agreed. I worked for a hotel and we tried CFL spots in the canlights above the front desk (on pretty much 24x4), but the bulbs only lasted 9-12 months vs 2-3 years for a 130v incandescent and my time to change them was more expensive than the energy that they saved... Good gimmic though.

Aaron Z

 

[ultrarunner]

I bought LED from Costco and use them...

The only complaint is they take awhile to come up to full brightness...

City just changed out all the street lights... 420,000 people live here and they said it is very cost effective.

We also pay as much as 32 cents per Kw

This is the 4th time in my lifetime they have changed out the lamps...

It went from very bright to not so bright and then to energy saver "Orange" and now to LED.

The light pattern is very different... mostly the light is focused along the street and not people's windows.

The exception is the pole at the end of the court... it illuminates both the yards to the left and right like never before.

 

[sixdogs]

There are some great posts here with really useful and informative info. Thank you.

 

[DarkBlack]

I doubt that is really true. You do many things because you are mandated to do them, and you do them willingly. If you don't see the benefits, you resist. That's human nature.

Running lights/daylight headlights contribute to safety. Not being safe on the road has costs, and I'll bet they are greater than the fuel or wear and tear on an alternator which is going around whether lights are on or not. With LED lights, that couldn't amount to much anyways.

Leaving house lights on all the time contributes to safety.
Putting up street lights everywhere, and leaving them on all night contributes to safety.
Driving big heavy vehicles contributes to the driver's safety.
If someone want to really defend unpopular mandates, then you have to use logic that passes the test across the board on all fronts. You can't have it both ways.

Daytime running lights causes the burning of millions of gallon of gas a year in this country. Cherry picking when to dismiss fuel wasting polluting as acceptable, in the name of some 'justifiable reason' doesn't fly with me.