Home Lighting - LED vs CFL
 

Yo,

I just moved into a new place that has a ton of incandescent bulbs (including 3 300W!!!). I want to replace all of the lighting from incandescent to something more efficient. So far, I used a bunch of CFLs that I pilfered from my old place but I still have 3/4 of my home left.

Are LED bulbs ready for mainstream use? Would you recommend them in a home office?

If CFLs are the way to go, are there any bulbs that have a broad light spectrum?

What do you suggest?

the led bulbs are good, but just overpriced in my opinion. They will hit a point soon I hope where they start to drop in price, but until then I would hold off. Unless you just have tons of money to blow, then I would go with them now.

as for cfl, I have finally gotten rid of old filament bulbs and replaced them all with cfl. If you are looking for a wider spectrum bulb I would check lowes hardware. home depot doesnt have as many bulbs for some reason in my area but lowes has tons and on the back it will show the spectrum coverage. I keep a bulb that I think is supposed to be an outdoor cfl in the lamp at my computer becaus it has a more yellow light which isnt so hard on my eyes.

Strictly speaking, if you mean a close match for some form of daylight, none I have found. Spectrally, they are very spiky. The closest you can get to actual daylight spectrum are Halogen bulbs from Solux (used by various museums and art exhibitors). I use a Solux lamp for monitor-print matching and they work pretty well. However these Solux lamps dissipate tons of heat...so not very efficient :(

Typical "daylight" CFL spectrum; this one from Full Spectrum Solutions:
http://www.fullspectrumsolutions.com...l-spectrum.jpg

"Daylight" Solux Halogen spectrum:
http://www.solux.net/images/prod13.jpg

ps: D50 is a standard illuminant specified by the CIE to closely model the sunlight at around 5000K CCT.

I don't know much about LED lights just yet :/

Have CFL's finally come out with one that's able to be on a dimmer switch?

iirc cfls will result in a cheaper energy bill

Do you get different types of led bulbs over there? My old man swapped about 60 50w halogen spot bulbs for led ones. I prefer the colour light they give out, they cost about £3 each and use about 2 or 3 watts I think.

Do you know where he got them so cheap? I hate the halogen ones, they blow constantly [cursing]

I'm not sure. I might have got that wrong as I can only find them for £7 each online. I'll ask him.

Yes I sell them at my store, however they cost about 3x and are considerably larger due to the ballast dimmer in the base. Also they really do not work that well, maybe have a dimming range down to 40% then they go off. It has always been more of a gimmick then a practical application.

LED's are cheaper actually.

Honestly though, if you use CFL's in areas where they don't get turned on or off constantly, they usually run good. But in areas were they may be on for a short time, they tend to burn out pretty quick.

A bathroom is a good example of this. There's a lot of times I turn on the lights, do my business, then leave. I'm always blowing CFL's in my bathroom. So once you consider the costs of constantly replacing the bulbs, LED's start to become cheaper because LED bulbs aren't affected by constant on/off cycles like CFL's are and should last a whole lot longer.

Either there is something wrong with your circuitry or your CFLs. I have never ever "blown" a CFL.

They are generally not known to like being cycled regularly. They are designed to be turned on and left on for hours.

Can someone link me to LED bulbs available in the US that have a light output > 450 lumens?

I want to replace a 100W incandescent in the bathroom, I want 1000-1500 lumens for this, at least.

Nothing wrong with my power. It's a simple fact of life for CFL's. There's been numerous tests that show CFL's do not like frequent on/off cycles.

http://www.gelighting.com/na/busines...faqs/cfl.htm#4

4. Can I use a CFL in applications where I will be turning the lights on/off frequently?

Compact fluorescent light bulbs work best if they are left on for over 15 minutes each time they are turned on. These types of lamps can take up to 3 minutes to warm-up. Warm-up will probably not be noticeable from a user stand point, but the lamp needs to warm-up in order to reach the point of most efficient operation. Frequently switching them on and off will shorten the life of the product. If the life of the lamp is shortened significantly, you will not reap the financial benefits (includes energy & life of lamp), that are common to CFL lamps.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=...nid=2797237011

This may or may not be what you are looking for.

It may "shorten the lifespan" of a product. But the fact is that for the past 6 years I've had the same CFLs in my bathroom and closets, and have never had a single failure.

Anyone on my question? http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/cry1.gif

From the link I posted.

3. Can I use a compact fluorescent light bulb with a dimmer switch?

To use a compact fluorescent bulb on a dimmer switch, you must buy a bulb that's specifically made to work with dimmers (check the package). GE makes a dimming compact fluorescent light bulb (called the GE Longlife Plus Soft White Energy Saving Bulb) that is specially designed for use with dimming switches. We don't recommend using regular compact fluorescent bulbs with dimming switches, since this can shorten bulb life. (Using a regular compact fluorescent bulb with a dimmer will also nullify the bulb's warranty.)

Halogen is a good stopgap solution, the best LED bulbs do not provide enough output per socket (I think Philipps Masterleds are as much as you can get in terms of lumens)

CFL just have shitty light quality, as YCH demonstrated

Thing is that CFL dimming is only done "correctly" with PWM dimmers (pulse wide modulation). And is done in the CFL itself (by the eletronic balast) and controlled by a Trim pot that controls 1-10v

"Regular" dimming on a adjusted CFL is very energy inefficient and only goes down to 20% atm. Since the CFL needs a minimum voltage to ignite.

LED's the same story. Heck alot of companies backing down from LED's now that its clear that Lumen/Watt is lower the CFL. That and LED specially the earlier ones loose their brightness fast and overheat alot. (yes they need alot of cooling)

Atm there is no real good alternative to normal bulbs in homes, the tech is just too infant atm.
I get new products to test every 2 months with new designs on how they power / cool / disperse light. Small improvements but nothing yet that made me go and ditch all my lightbulbs yet.