Trouble with Home LED lights

Gary Fowler · Dec 12, 2015

Toyboy said:
Our home, which is 13yr old, has 41 recessed lights in ceilings that take the 65w flood light. Several years back I switched out about 1/2 of them - all in lower level- with CFL's. The wife hated them for the slow warm up when you turn them on. Now I'm going back and changing out the whole 41 of them with LED's. I started with Westinghouse brand @ 750 lumens @ $7.50 ea. from Menards. I find that the light from those are harsh or too bright white.
I just ordered from the net, another dozen @$5.50 ea @ 650 lumens Great Value brand hoping they will tone it down some. Both bulbs are rated @ 9w
If this don't do the trick, I'll have to start looking into dimmers.
In some places like the stair well, the bright bulbs are great. But having 10 of them on in the kitchen is just way too bright, almost like eating on a stage.

The ones I bought at Lowes were the "warm white 2700K" which I find to be more yellow than white. If you like the yellow color then get the 2700K bulbs. I prefer the daylight style in the 5000K range. I have since swapped out the Lowes lights with some from Walmart. I got one 100W equivalent in a regular light bulb (360degree radiant) and one 65 watt flood light style. Both are super bright with the 100 watt being a bit too bright. I may swap it to the kitchen later where lots of light is beneficial.
I plan to return the Lowes lights as I have no need for yellowish/orange light.

davesl708 · Dec 12, 2015

I have been considering changing my CFL's to LED but not looking to buy a bunch of expensive bulbs just to have them go dim in a short time.
I like the appeal of no warm up with LED's.

I currently have three 46w (300w incandescent equivalent) CFL bulbs in my unheated garage. Has anyone found LED's that would have an equivalent output?

k0ua · Dec 12, 2015

davesl708 said:
I have been considering changing my CFL's to LED but not looking to buy a bunch of expensive bulbs just to have them go dim in a short time.
I like the appeal of no warm up with LED's.

I currently have three 46w (300w incandescent equivalent) CFL bulbs in my unheated garage. Has anyone found LED's that would have an equivalent output?

Here are one They are not going to go dim soon, 30,000 hours of useage is a lot.

ultrarunner · Dec 12, 2015

The only place I have noticed any discussion is LED lights around the vanity mirror do not do a good job of keeping the mirror fog free...

davesl708 · Dec 12, 2015

k0ua said:
Here are one They are not going to go dim soon, 30,000 hours of useage is a lot.

Thanks, K0UA.

heehaw · Dec 12, 2015

a couple years ago, i bought 4 LED, 60 watt bulbs at Home Depot, Lowes, and Walmart: within 6 months, 3 of the cree from HD had quit: HD did replace them, after a lecture about they really didn't "have to", etc etc: but i won't buy any more cree bulbs: have not had any other failures: WalMart had some that were subsidized by the local electric co: 88cents each: so i have a bucket load of those now: and am not going to worry about a warranty at that price: on black friday, Lowes had some for 99cents: all of them beat the heck out of the light our of the CFL bulbs.

Toyboy · Dec 12, 2015

k0ua said:
If you don't like the daylight color temperature, get the so called "warm white" which is more yellow in appearance. Cree sells both in the BR30 size. big difference in them. I have some of both.

The 750w LED's that I've installed are 3000k or down around the warm scale. Way too harsh for some areas. The 650w I've ordered are a little better at 2700k. So I hope this does the trick. If not, I'll have to learn to live with them one way or another or mix with CFL's instead of all LED's. I'll have too much $$ invested in this to change again.

ultrarunner · Dec 13, 2015

Would like to know more about he CREE failures.

I live in a mild climate... no heat much of the year and never A/C

Wonder if the failures are heat related or type of fixture.

The whole house change I did was at Mom's place... all 1950's ceiling light fixtures with a few table lamps thrown in...

Not a single bad one and her electric bill dropped dramatically.

The family room had four 100W bulbs in the single ceiling fixture and now has 4 CREE 60w equivalent making for under 40W total... 400W to 40W is dramatic and she likes the light and hated the CFL we tried!

Toyboy · Dec 15, 2015

Toyboy said:
The 750w LED's that I've installed are 3000k or down around the warm scale. Way too harsh for some areas. The 650w I've ordered are a little better at 2700k. So I hope this does the trick. If not, I'll have to learn to live with them one way or another or mix with CFL's instead of all LED's. I'll have too much $$ invested in this to change again.

UPDATE

The 65w @ 2700k did the trick. Much more pleasant light in kitchen. If I were to have used the 65w @ 3000k lights - total of 10- we would have needed sunglasses when preparing meals.
I would advise anyone who has intentions of switching to LED's, just buy a couple of each and see how you like the illumination before you jump in like me and purchase a bunch only to find they're not right for the application. The 65w 2700k LED's are very close to the 65w incandescent in light output.

Fortunately I can mix the 65w 3000k bulbs in with the CFL's in the lower level - every other one - 20 lights - and make them work. You don't notice the slow warm up of the CFL's that way.

Thanks k0ua for the info on the different k output of LED's. I never paid any attention to that before. I will now.