incandescent light bulb sales end Aug 1

[GrayHare]

if there is some spot an LED bulb won't do, you have only a few more days to buy an incandescent bulb...

 

[RunningBum]

Thanks for the warning. When I first heard about this, I didn't like it at all. LED prices were high, and there are definitely places where I didn't want CFLs. CFLs are slow to brighten and don't work with dimmers (I think?).

Fast forward to today. LEDs prices are much more reasonable, and work well in many places where CFLs don't. I've put them in all lights I use regularly. I don't think I've had an incandescent bulb burn out in that time, and I've got plenty of spares. And plenty of CFL spares too. I'll be shocked if I use the last of either type of bulb, probably in any shape or wattage.

So, it's not the big deadline I feared.

 

[Montecfo]

In my experience I qet plenty of early failures of supposedly long lived bulbs. Given the higher cost or feels like they are costing me more.

 

[COcheesehead]

At first I didn’t like the blue or coolness of LEDs, but now that’s changed. The color spectrum available is warm to cool. We can always find one that works.

 

[COcheesehead]

In my experience I qet plenty of early failures of supposedly long lived bulbs. Given the higher cost or feels like they are costing me more.

Some do not do well with being installed with a bare hand. That’s changed, but early ones were susceptible.

 

[badatmath]

I don't like some of my LEDs. Home Depot pretty much has no brand choice now and the last ones I got flicker. Annoying. (Yes I could have returned them but they are in a rarely used space).

 

[Midpack]

Thanks for the warning. When I first heard about this, I didn't like it at all. LED prices were high, and there are definitely places where I didn't want CFLs. CFLs are slow to brighten and don't work with dimmers (I think?).

Fast forward to today. LEDs prices are much more reasonable, and work well in many places where CFLs don't. I've put them in all lights I use regularly. I don't think I've had an incandescent bulb burn out in that time, and I've got plenty of spares. And plenty of CFL spares too. I'll be shocked if I use the last of either type of bulb, probably in any shape or wattage.

So, it's not the big deadline I feared.

+1. Not happy with CFL’s, LED’s are great IME.

 

[COcheesehead]

I don't like some of my LEDs. Home Depot pretty much has no brand choice now and the last ones I got flicker. Annoying. (Yes I could have returned them but they are in a rarely used space).

Flickering is the result of your switch.

 

[GenXguy]

The CFLs and LEDs never have lasted nearly as long as the incandescent bulbs despite the long life they claim to have.

 

[GrayHare]

LEDs flicker at the line frequency, no? 60 Hz in US, some people can sense it

 

[COcheesehead]

LEDs flicker at the line frequency, no? 60 Hz in US, some people can sense it

Our builder swapped out our dimmer switches and the problem went away.

 

[Jerry1]

In my experience I qet plenty of early failures of supposedly long lived bulbs. Given the higher cost or feels like they are costing me more.

I agree. I’ve switched over completely and the LED’s are not what they are advertised to be. I replaced a couple recessed after just a few years and I just replaced two bulbs that couldn’t be more than 6 years old. For something that was supposed to last “forever”, that’s not even close. The most frustrating LED conversion was Christmas lights. I’ve had several go bad after just one season. Even more frustrating is how they wire them. When one goes bad, about 1/3 of the strand goes out. Finding the bad bulb is next to impossible. I wonder if they’ll eliminate the incandescent Christmas bulbs.

The other thing is how finicky they are. I replaced the bulbs in my garage door opener and had all kinds of trouble with my remote control. There are special LED bulbs for garage door openers that don’t interfere with the remote signal. Who knew. Also, while they’re getting better, I never had to replace a dimmer switch depending on my brand of incandescent bulb.

Still, I like them mostly because the light to heat ratio is great. I’ve also recently bought a few wifi bulbs and they work great. Multiple colors and dimming is a function of the bulb. Nice. They can also be programmed to a schedule. I have a few that go on at sunset and off at sunrise. Only bad thing with them is when I lose power and accordingly, lose my wifi/internet, I can’t make them work. Thankfully that’s rare but something I’m dealing with right now after the storms yesterday.

 

[ls99]

That is distressing,i hate the cfl, LED colors.

 

[SJhawkins]

My garage door opener likes to eat up LEDs, they do not like the shaking and voltage flicker is my guess.

Have a handful of old rough service incandescent lamps that seem to last year's in the opener, will run those until gone.

For rest of the place it's generally warm dim led, they are getting better. But as others have noted they don't last nearly as long as stated.

 

[GrayHare]

it is not clear to me if online sales of the incandescents, such as via ebay, will be illegal

 

[MTB4me]

Big fan of LED bulbs and lighting, in general here. I try to buy quality brands instead of the cheapest and have had great luck. One area that the LED bulbs excel is with outdoor lights that are on a photocell to turn on at dusk. I’d go through an incandescent bulb about every 6 months or less in that application. I installed a couple of Cree-branded bulbs that have been going strong for over 4 years now.

It is important to make sure that the bulbs or fixtures you select are dimmable and that you are using a compatible dimmer. The old dimmer switches typically had the wrong voltage range to work properly. Have had great results with Lutron replacement dimmers. And pay attention to color temperature when purchasing bulbs or fixtures. Some of the newer ones even have selectable color temperatures.

I have LED bulbs in every lamp and fixture in my house, probably upwards of 40 or more. In at least 5 years of use, I think I might have had one go out - a somewhat expensive 3-way bulb from Cree. They replaced it, no questions asked.

I don’t miss incandescent bulbs at all and fluorescent ones even less. Also really appreciate the power savings, which is significant.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

That is distressing,i hate the cfl, LED colors.

LEDs can pretty much any color you want. Even in one bulb!

 

[Aerides]

it is not clear to me if online sales of the incandescents, such as via ebay, will be illegal

I don't think it's a matter of "legal" but it's retail sales, and manufacturers, and regulatory. No one is going to jail if they sell old bulbs on ebay (but good luck if they arrive in usable condition).

I also like LED's in general. Putting them in my kitchen replacing the old floods makes a noticeable difference in heat output - as in, none anymore. I also don't have to get the ladder out to replace them every year or less. Heck, how many hips have they saved already? lol...

I like the integration of Smart LEDs too. I can turn my outdoor lights on and off on my phone, change colors, etc. My neighbor had his outdoor lights in red white and blue for July 4th.

 

[sengsational]

As an aside, if you have old 'cans' in your ceiling and put LED's instead of incandescent, you could address air infiltration inefficiency by putting aluminum tape over the holes on the inside of the can...no heat to allow to escape with LED's.

 

[Aerides]

As an aside, if you have old 'cans' in your ceiling and put LED's instead of incandescent, you could address air infiltration inefficiency by putting aluminum tape over the holes on the inside of the can...no heat to allow to escape with LED's.

Even better, just get the can-replacement LED's that cap the whole thing, with a nice flat look.

 

[NoiseBoy]

Does the "ban" on incandescent bulbs include halogens too? My primary light in the living room is a dimmable floor lamp that takes a 300 watt halogen. I like its style so I haven't replaced it with a fixture that uses an LED bulb yet. I also have some incandescent bulbs in my bathroom vanity mirrors. I tried a CFL replacement once, and it lasted about a month. Too heavy to hang perpendicular to the wall, was my guess on why it failed so quickly.

 

[Gumby]

I replaced all my incandescent bulbs en masse with CFLs back in the 90s, and then, as they burned out, replaced all of the CFLs with LEDs about 5-10 years ago. I still have a large box full of the old incandescent bulbs down in the cellar.

 

[statsman]

I still have a large box full of the old incandescent bulbs down in the cellar.

You could probably fund part of your retirement with that collection.

We have a dwindling supply of 60 watt incandescent bulbs we use for our two reading lamps. Other than that, most everything in the house is bulb or disk LED. Appliances would be the exceptions.

 

[COcheesehead]

LEDs can pretty much any color you want. Even in one bulb!

Correct. We can switch the color tone in our can lights, outdoor lights, garage, etc. We like the warmer tones.

 

[freedomatlast]

We have a store nearby that sells all kinds of stuff for your home, some new, some used. They have boxes of incandescent bulbs for sale you can sort through and take what you want at a price of ten for a dollar. I stocked up in the spring knowing they will become scarce. The light from LEDs is just not the same.