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Old 05-29-2015, 07:31 AM   #21
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Light in typical household can be anywhere from 20% to 40% of electricity consumption.

This is assuming heating is via other means (gas/oil), and not much airco.

So I would expect a drop from $75 to $25 is about more than LEDs. But you might be an outlier of course
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Old 05-29-2015, 07:38 AM   #22
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I have had a mixed experience with CFLs. Have not tried any LEDs for home use yet.


I replaced a 40w incandescent frosted globe with a CFL in the bathroom, but it didn't last. Not sure if the cause was the perpendicular mounting of the globes above the mirror, or the frequent on/off cycles which killed it, but I went back to incandescent bulbs for that fixture.


I replaced a 200w incandescent bulb in a floor lamp at my parent's house with a 150w equivalent CFL, and that is working out well. The light output is enough, and they tend to leave that lamp on for the evening so it doesn't cycle too much.


I need to replace a halogen floor lamp in my living room because it gets too warm and turns itself off at odd times. Is there anyway to retrofit the fixture to take an LED?
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Old 05-29-2015, 08:45 AM   #23
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I am an outlier of some kind, but there may be other reasons as well. The days are longer with natural light. And since we are back from abroad, we cook with gas; DS (in residence) prefers the microwave. He also does not have his peeps over all night with their computers and role-playing games as often.

The LEDS have made a noticeable change, though.

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Old 05-29-2015, 08:46 AM   #24
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We have replaced nearly all of the Edison & CFL lamps in our home over the past 2 yrs. Our monthly electric bill has softened considerably, about 20%. None of the lamps have failed so far.

I have noticed the price for 40w & 60w LED lamps has fallen quite a bit in thepast year, at least here, to under $4.00ea. The smaller accent and other styles are still pricey.

I'm currently replacing our outdoor flood & accent lighting with LED equivalents. They're very inexpensive and since they use considerably less energy than the incandescents I can add additional lighting if I desire & not increase the energy useage. The light they produce is every bit as good as the incandescents. And, they're avaiable in all sorts of color outputs as well.

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Old 05-29-2015, 08:54 AM   #25
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I'm going to start this campaign to get most of our lights switched to LED this month.

The question I have is how do I get DW trained to not have the TV on (in every room there is one) all day long to keep her "company"?
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Old 05-29-2015, 09:04 AM   #26
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When it is just my husband and I at home these days we have been running 10 kw of electricity a day, despite a decent sized, drafty older house. We have quite a few projects in our queue to lower that number further without any major investments. It' has been kind of a fun project though we're reaching the point of diminishing returns now. We are spending more time on lowering water use this year instead. Our water bill is often more than our monthly energy bill now and it is going to go up even further as soon as drought pricing goes into effect. So the lawns have to go. Native gardens with drought tolerant plants look prettier anyway.

We have a lot of discussions here on things like when to take SS, but having very low utility bills for 40 or 50 years can have a big influence on total retirement funding, too, by decreasing overhead. A small economy like LED bulbs that save money every day over 40 years really adds up. For us, lowering our utility bills $300 a month over 40 years means $144K less in total retirement expenses we will need to cover.
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Old 05-29-2015, 09:11 AM   #27
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Originally Posted by aja8888 View Post
I'm going to start this campaign to get most of our lights switched to LED this month.

The question I have is how do I get DW trained to not have the TV on (in every room there is one) all day long to keep her "company"?
Use the money you save on electricity for something more fun or interesting than using it up on kilowatts?
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Old 05-29-2015, 09:49 AM   #28
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Use the money you save on electricity for something more fun or interesting than using it up on kilowatts?
I do need a new set of Ping irons....maybe I'll see how well that goes over (keep TVs off during the day and I'll drop $1500 on new golf clubs?). Yea, right!

OK, value recommendations on LEDs to replace common 60 - 100W incandescent bulbs? Can someone provide this? (Amazon, HD, etc, brand, ave cost?)

Thanks
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Old 05-29-2015, 09:58 AM   #29
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I do need a new set of Ping irons....maybe I'll see how well that goes over (keep TVs off during the day and I'll drop $1500 on new golf clubs?). Yea, right!
I think it has to be something your wife wants, too, if you want her to turn off the TV. What else could she do with the money? And show her the savings over several decades.

We sold an energy hog TV very cheap to one of of our kids' college friends who was living in a dorm and not paying his own electricity bill. We put the money towards a newer model, lower energy replacement TV.
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Old 05-29-2015, 10:44 AM   #30
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Originally Posted by aja8888 View Post
I do need a new set of Ping irons....maybe I'll see how well that goes over (keep TVs off during the day and I'll drop $1500 on new golf clubs?). Yea, right!

OK, value recommendations on LEDs to replace common 60 - 100W incandescent bulbs? Can someone provide this? (Amazon, HD, etc, brand, ave cost?)

Thanks
We've been using CREE, either through home depot or Amazon. The 10 year warranty is the selling point for me...they stop working, I go swap them out at HD. As for price, this is highly subjective since the price is coming down every day. Also, we LOVE the three ways, you can't do that with the nasty CFLs.

Sent from my mobile device so please excuse grammatical errors.
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Old 05-29-2015, 11:08 AM   #31
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We have been switching to LED where possible for a year or so. We gut renovated our maser bath in early 2013 and switched to 100% LED in that room and I've been tracking our energy usage since that time. Our usage has dropped between 16 and 23 % per month depending on the month. Mostly in the 16-18 percent range. My biggest user of energy in light bulbs is a set of 15 50W halogen bi-pin bulbs in track lighting in our kitchen which get heavy usage. I tried unsuccessfully to swap out those bi-pins earlier this month with LED MR 16's, but it was unsuccessful. (tried it out on an array of 3 bulbs over the kitchen sink. They flickered, even after swapping out the dimmer for a digital dimmer and the light source changed in such a way that I didn't like the effect. If it had been successful I'll bet I could have achieved another 10-15% decrease in usage, going from 750 watts to 105 watts. Darn!!!
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Old 05-29-2015, 12:17 PM   #32
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We replaced 28 incandescent recessed lights on the second floor. Bigger than the cost of the electricity had to be the air leaking past the bulbs and then through the non-airtight canisters into the attic. These seal up very nicely with a rubber gasket against the ceiling and then I went into the attic space and covered all the cans with R30 insulation. They were IC rated but the first owner didn't trust insulation over the top, apparently. It should reduce ice dam issues also. Nice little weekend project.

I got the LEDs from HD for $10 each.
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Re: Small Economy
Old 05-31-2015, 06:39 AM   #33
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Re: Small Economy

What I have been doing on the new LED and CFL light bulbs is using a sharpie to write the year on the base. It quickly became apparent that the CFL bulbs weren't lasting long at all as I suspected. I still have not had to replace an LED bulb, but I was disappointed with the life of the CFL bulbs.
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Old 05-31-2015, 07:28 AM   #34
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Pay attention to the equivalent 'temperature' of the light. We like bright, 4K or 5K [i.e., 4,000° Kelvin] Most lamps are softer and 'warmer' with a more yellow light at 3K.

Ceiling panels intended for workplaces are most often 4K or 5K and are designed to be recessed. Some flat on the ceiling fixtures have an enclosure. (Obviously, what we go for. I am not going to dig a hole in my drywall.) I expect that I will have to make one or two shallow ceiling-hugging enclosures in future.
The temperature rating is something you must watch out for - even within the same manufacturer! I remodeled my kitchen 5 years ago and bought thin under-cabinet strip lights from Lowe's, 5 LED lights per strip, to mount above my countertop.

I absolutely love them! Only problem - when the electrician turned them on, we noticed that out of the 4 lights, there were 2 different colors! One a blueish tint, the other a yellowish tint!

Reading the Lowe's reviews on-line, I saw where some had posted the same comment regarding different hues. I looked on the package, but even (at that time) they said nothing about which temp it was! So you truly had to buy it and plug it in at home or have a store employee open it up and plug it in to turn it on to see what the color was. I returned the blueish ones and had to have the store employee open up 2 or 3 packages to finally find a yellow one to exchange it for.

By now (5 years later), I hope all LED manufacturers list temperature color on their packaging, but keep in mind that even a same manufacturer may have 2 (or more!) different color temperatures on the same LED light product.
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Old 05-31-2015, 07:38 AM   #35
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I have had a mixed experience with CFLs. Have not tried any LEDs for home use yet.

I replaced a 40w incandescent frosted globe with a CFL in the bathroom, but it didn't last. Not sure if the cause was the perpendicular mounting of the globes above the mirror, or the frequent on/off cycles which killed it, but I went back to incandescent bulbs for that fixture.
Cycling is an issue with CFLs. Not only does it take time to reach color temp, but cycling can significantly reduce lifespan.


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I need to replace a halogen floor lamp in my living room because it gets too warm and turns itself off at odd times. Is there anyway to retrofit the fixture to take an LED?
Even if there is a way to retrofit it, look at where the light bulb is now. Any retrofit (barring an expensive complete reworking of the socket by yourself or an electrician) will likely have the CFL bulb sticking out much farther than the halogen was. They do make some compact CFLs, but they are on the lower end of the light output scale.

HA! I did a quick search of Lowe's to find the compact CFL I have on my exterior door lights, and actually found some CFLs that have a halogen-like 2 pin base:

Shop Specialty CFL Bulbs at Lowes.com!

Measure your 2 pin spread and size and see if any CFLs match. Looks like there may be low-cost options for you.



Quote:
Originally Posted by chrisaukcam View Post
What I have been doing on the new LED and CFL light bulbs is using a sharpie to write the year on the base. It quickly became apparent that the CFL bulbs weren't lasting long at all as I suspected. I still have not had to replace an LED bulb, but I was disappointed with the life of the CFL bulbs.
I have CFLs in my kitchen flood overhead can lights (which I rarely turn on), the bathrooms, and halls. I had one can light burn out in the kitchen, and realized it was probably because the blown-in insulation I had put in the attic was covering up the can light. Sure enough, I read where the CFLs can overheat and die prematurely from it.

So if you have any can CFL lights recessed into the attic, make sure the insulation isn't covering it up, because it could lead to overheating.
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Old 05-31-2015, 07:45 AM   #36
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.... My biggest user of energy in light bulbs is a set of 15 50W halogen bi-pin bulbs in track lighting in our kitchen which get heavy usage. I tried unsuccessfully to swap out those bi-pins earlier this month with LED MR 16's, but it was unsuccessful. (tried it out on an array of 3 bulbs over the kitchen sink. They flickered, even after swapping out the dimmer for a digital dimmer...
No kind of expert, but: I read about adding to a LED strip light that it was critical that the polarity be maintained. An incandescent bulb doesn't care if the hot lead goes to the center terminal of the fixture or the shell, though there are conventions that we all follow. Given that you have the non-functional LED MR16 bulbs maybe it is worth checking the polarity at the connection point on your track light - maybe someone got all unconventional.
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Old 05-31-2015, 08:02 AM   #37
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HA! I did a quick search of Lowe's to find the compact CFL I have on my exterior door lights, and actually found some CFLs that have a halogen-like 2 pin base:

Shop Specialty CFL Bulbs at Lowes.com!

Measure your 2 pin spread and size and see if any CFLs match. Looks like there may be low-cost options for you.
Thanks for doing some "leg work" for me. However, my current floor lamp is sporting a 200w halogen, and I need at least that much light for reading on the couch, so it looks like I will be shopping for a replacement fixture. It's not as though the current floor lamp owes me anything, I just like the way it looks.
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Old 05-31-2015, 08:11 AM   #38
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Hmm. I have a bag of CFLs that a relative took out to swap in LEDs. Think I changed two bulbs last year that burn all night (we are mostly CFL down south). The LEDs use about the same electricity as the CFLs last I checked, but still cost more than, well, free. Gonna be a long time before we go to LEDs. Tenants still get incandescent from my buying jag before they went away, as some tenants tend to steal bulbs and I don't pay their electric bills.. Also good to throw on instant warm light when showing a place.
Same here, I don't have any issues with my house full of CFLs. Given that LEDs cost more and don't save much more power, it's going to be a long time before we switch over.
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Old 05-31-2015, 08:15 AM   #39
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We are replacing halogen bulbs with LEDs in areas where we use the lights a lot. In areas where we rarely use the light, we are leaving the current bulbs. No sense changing to an LED in a closet in a spare bedroom you go into once a year.
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Old 05-31-2015, 10:20 AM   #40
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I don't like the CFLs because of having mercury inside, especially living in an earthquake area. The EPA instructions for a broken bulb are linked to below. Scary stuff.

Cleaning Up a Broken CFL | Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs) | US EPA
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