Replacing sodium dawn to dusk with led

[Diggin It]

I think in discussions like these price should be mandatory.

If it's okay to tout kw savings then shouldn't cost be required??? Cause ain't money what we are talking about? So if I say I replaced my kitchen bulb with LED which uses a lot less electricity shouldn't I have to tell you what I paid for that bulb????

The LED folks never, ever want to divulge that information. Why is that?

Because prices are varying so much. I've paid less than a dollar for some and closer to ten for others. I got a bunch of 50W halogen equivalents for track lights for about $2/each on clearance, down from something like $7 each. These burn 4 watts each instead of 50. Most of my overhead and lamp lights are now LED. I got a few of them on buy one - get one deals. I bought 4W lamps I use outdoors, six in a pack for less than $15 as I recall. The lamps in my curios are 4W or less replacing 25W traditionals. I paid maybe two or three bucks each on sales or closeouts.

One things that hasn't been discussed here is the size and weight.. Some of the flush mount ceiling fixtures are less than an inch thick and can be literally mounted flush on the surface. The shop light fixture I got from RK a few days ago is about 1/3 the size and weight of the standard 2 40W tube unit it replaced. Very easy to install.

 

[Inspector507]

I have a 70 watt HPS mounted on the chimney above the roof. We've been here 20 years and I've replaced the bulb twice and the sensor once. The bulb needs replaced again, but 3 bulbs in 20 years is not too bad. If someone is trying to find our house after dark, we just tell them to look for the yard that's lit up like a runway.

 

[ovrszd]

Actually, I was at a friends, and he had a wack of 100watt (I think) bulbs. Apparently, using some (Gov) coupon, he got them for free, or even made money, from home depot.

That stuff is changing so quickly, that I think, no one wants to get caught with old inventory.

Of course, the cost discussion is meaningless unless you know the actual life of the bulb.

I agree concerning life of the bulb. There is some LED stuff being purchased that has sinful short life.

But still,,,, cost should be divulged. Then let the reader decide whether life span is worth the gamble.

LED buyers that won't discuss cost shouldn't be allowed to brag about kw savings without being called out.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I'm still in shock over my failed (thought lifetime) X-MAS lights. If someone rips you off at Christmas, what are they gonna do the rest of the year?

I got a bunch of NOMA (Cast Metal) LED garden lighting. Granted at the Restore from Home Depot. Not that it was defective for that reason. But bit by bit ALL that stuff failed. Sometimes the LEDs, sometimes the drivers. I am not impressed! And not about to open my wallet, just yet.

 

[ovrszd]

Because prices are varying so much. I've paid less than a dollar for some and closer to ten for others. I got a bunch of 50W halogen equivalents for track lights for about $2/each on clearance, down from something like $7 each. These burn 4 watts each instead of 50. Most of my overhead and lamp lights are now LED. I got a few of them on buy one - get one deals. I bought 4W lamps I use outdoors, six in a pack for less than $15 as I recall. The lamps in my curios are 4W or less replacing 25W traditionals. I paid maybe two or three bucks each on sales or closeouts.

One things that hasn't been discussed here is the size and weight.. Some of the flush mount ceiling fixtures are less than an inch thick and can be literally mounted flush on the surface. The shop light fixture I got from RK a few days ago is about 1/3 the size and weight of the standard 2 40W tube unit it replaced. Very easy to install.

Good stuff. Thanks for discussing it.

Did you make these purchases to replace items that no longer worked or just to convert?

 

[dragoneggs]

Are you still paying Ma Bell for a Black Rotary (500) set? Or maybe a little more for a color version? lol

My first draft response was going to be a smart arse one too!

I think in discussions like these price should be mandatory.

If it's okay to tout kw savings then shouldn't cost be required??? Cause ain't money what we are talking about? So if I say I replaced my kitchen bulb with LED which uses a lot less electricity shouldn't I have to tell you what I paid for that bulb????

The LED folks never, ever want to divulge that information. Why is that?

Agreed. Price and further to the point, the expected ROI should be discussed. And whether you are replacing burnt out or throwing away a working bulb/fixtures?

One benefit I have found in my home office and in my garage where I have been limited on circuit load is that the swap to LED lights has allowed me to put in more lighting (shop lights). In the case of my home office, the lights used to dim or flip the breaker when my printer started up... Same problem in my shop with certain power tools. Problem gone.

 

[tjkubota93]

I like the 6000K color temp, sort of like normal daylight. A lot of folks like the yellower bands. Especially women that like the yellow warmth of 3500K, plus it is more romantic, makes their skin look nicer, etc. We have been using filament like bulbs forever, rubbing sticks together to make fire, and generals living/being accustomed with the old yeller glow at night for many many moons. But me, mark me down for 6000K... bright white, not blue ... light that my old eyes like when I am actually trying to see something.

It still ticks me off bad that my wife insists on the yellow ones. I like the daylight kind. We compromised and went with the one in-between. So it looks kinda dingy.

I am glad to hear an explanation of why she likes that crap.

 

[Diggin It]

Did you make these purchases to replace items that no longer worked or just to convert?

Both. I can be a bit of a hoarder in some ways and when I find 'deals', I tend to buy extras. When I found the replacements for track lights so cheap, I couldn't pass them up. I still have some 50W Halogens in use, but since I rarely use those fixtures, I haven't replaced them. I had a few still in boxes from a case I bought years ago. Those were donated to a shelter for their use.

I got on a huge kick to reduce power usage a few years ago and started reading my meter every day so I could compare usage over time. Since switching to nearly all LEDs, those readings are consistently lower with a few bumps here and there as other devices use more (AC in hot weather, furnace in cold, times I use heavier power tools, etc.).

I don't know what the break even point may be between cost of the lamps and power usage savings, but that wasn't really a consideration. I know it may take a few months or years, but if you never take the step, you'll never begin the reductions. I held off a while to let prices drop as I knew they would. At $10 -15 per lamp, it wasn't worth it to me. Now that I can usually get them for under $5 (except for specialty lamps), it makes more sense.

Shopping is where it all comes into play. I got a bunch of 1/3 watt nightlights for 50 cents each or so instead of the $6 for a 2 pack I see in stores. I always check the closeout sections in Big Box stores and found some 1/2 watt green LED nightlight bulbs for something like 30 cents each while they show on their website for closer to $3 each.

 

[LouNY]

Well I still have a bunch of incandescent bulbs in use I got quite a few years ago and at a very good cost they may use more electricity and generate some heat but in the winter time the heat isn't a waste. When they run out I'll change to the newer but not till. I am looking at replacing my HPS as it quit this summer and may go led with its replacement.

 

[JerryK]

I have a 15K lumen 6000K motion [using remote mounted reused motion detector heads off old fixtures] LED on each end of my barn. And two 10K lumen 6000K motion on the north side. Right now, the 15K are about $50 on EBAY. If I wanted to go 20K lumens, they were about $100. The LED tech is constantly changing, and the pricing is constantly being lowered. Just like the 12 volt 27 watt LED flood lamps were super expensive years ago, and now they are real reasonable. I replaced all my fluorescent bulbs in the barn with LED and now it is really bright in there. The fluorescent start out as a good choice. But as they age they loose lumens, especially as the top half of the bulb and fixture get covered with dirt. The new LED replacements direct all their light output downward, and are hardly effected at all by dust/dirt.