Any LED light bulbs?

[AMD64Blondie]

I was wondering, are there any LED light bulbs that fit in common overhead light fixtures? (I've just had one of the two light bulbs,that are in the overhead light in my apartment...burn out..again.)

I'll probably pick some incan light bulbs up at Safeway tomorrow,but I thought I'd toss this idea out.

 

[kaichu dento]

Bulbs have been available for at least a year now and are available in neutral or cool. I have one that has both emitters in it and a remote control to select output level and emitter balance.

Main drawbacks are that it's not very bright and I would estimate about the same as a 40 or 60 watt bulb. Shouldn't be too much longer before more powerful ones are available, especially in Japan, which is where this one came from for about $70.

 

[Rocketman]

I haven't seen any but from what I have seen they would be not bright enough and too expensive. Go with the compact fluorescents.

 

[Light Sabre]

Don't buy any of the Lights of America 5mm showerhead bulbs. They are total crap. Don't even last 6 months. They either die or lose half their intensity which isn't vey high to begin with. There is a recall on them too. I have only seen them in Walmart for about $6 or $7.

 

[r1gm1n]

I'll probably pick some incan light bulbs up at Safeway tomorrow,but I thought I'd toss this idea out.

Take a good look while you are there and see if Safeway carries them. I bought mine at Fry's grocery store last month. Cool and bright emitters were available for the same price. About $12, I think. I'll go shopping tomorrow and get price and brand name.

 

[LEDninja]

Define common overhead light fixtures. A quick look at a hardware store shows:
Recessed Lighting
Flush Mount Lighting
Semi Flush Mount Lighting
Track & Canopy Lighting
Pendant Lighting
LED and CFL do not work well in some types of fixtures especially enclosed types.
Can you describe the fixtures and bulbs.

The cheaper (<$30) LED lightbulbs are almost all 5 mm types. 5 mm based LED light bulbs (not just LoA) tend to dim noticeably in 6 months, useless in a year. So you would end up replacing them almost as often as much less costly incan. bulbs.
Those bulbs are 50-150 lumens. A 60W bulb is 840 lumens. A 100W bulb is 1400 lumens. So they are VERY DIM.

Power LED bulbs usually last longer. There are still too many that use outdated 1W/3W LEDs. They are still too dim to replace incandescents
A $1 40W left (~500 lumens), A $30 7W Plilips MasterLED right (~155 lumens).
(Look at the wall behind the bulbs instead of at the bulbs themselves.

CFLs are probably better for your application. 1/4 electricity usage, 3-10X bulb life. Be aware CFLs cannot be used in enclosed fixtures (including insulated recessed fixtures) and some models do not work well upside down.

 

[blasterman]

There are still too many that use outdated 1W/3W LEDs

?

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Don't buy any of the Lights of America 5mm showerhead bulbs. They are total crap. Don't even last 6 months. They either die or lose half their intensity which isn't vey high to begin with. There is a recall on them too. I have only seen them in Walmart for about $6 or $7.

They ARE total crap! I bought one that was supposed to replace a 40W candelabra fixture, and it was pretty bad. I used it in a nightlight socket in the garage and it dimmed within a few weeks and then quit altogether. I wasn't aware of the recall, though.

 

[r1gm1n]

The ones I got at the grocery store are $7.99 and are Lights of America. They come in "warm white" and "bright whte" for the same price. I have only had them for a month, so I cannot comment on reliability. I use them in a bedroom light/fan so they do not get long, hard use.

 

[shane101]

I think I have seen some LED light bulbs from one site but not pretty sure about for overhead light fixtures. Just check this link: light bulbs coz this is a comparison shopping site with reviews so maybe you could find something you are looking for in there. Anyways, I don't recommend Lights of America coz some products are totally crap!

 

[EZO]

There seems to be a lot of cheap Chinese stuff on the market and then a lot of very pricey bulbs that are for those early adopters who can afford to blow 70 bucks on a lightbulb so they can save a few pennies on their electric bill.

So far, there doesn't seem to be much in the middle that is affordable and reliable. Phillips Electronics has made strides in that direction and won an important award last year (the Department of Energy's L Prize) but I'm not sure if these are on the market yet or what exactly will be the price point. Somewhere I saw the word "affordable" connected with this bulb but I forget where I read that.

Because of the difficulty using LEDs in making a round lightbulb, a lot of the higher end development for commercial use tends to be in the area of directional floods, spots and other downlighting from companies like Nexxus (Array Division) . http://www.arraylighting.com/products/array_par38.html

C. Crane has a growing selection of rather pricey bulbs for the early adopter types.

Finally, this place, well known to CPFers has a large selection and range of qualities. Some people are reporting good experiences with the higher priced items but again the best ones seem to be the PAR type lamps. Looks like we will still have to wait awhile for a good affordable LED lightbulb we can buy in a four pack at the supermarket.

 

[tylernt]

Wal-Mart now has "FEIT" brand 1.2W LED bulbs for about $8. There's a 66-lumen frosted and 72-lumen clear; construction appears to be a conical tower of 5mm inside chandelier glass. The clear has a mottled "beam pattern", which could be neat or annoying depending on what you want. Interestingly, they have LOT of "afterglow", i.e., the phosphors continue to glow quite brightly for many seconds after shutting the light off.

I put a frosted in a clamp lamp for my desk and a clear in a gooseneck reading lamp by the sofa. Both are what I would describe as a very warm temperature, nearly as yellow as incandescent, actually. New, the lumen ratings seem quite accurate compared to my 75-lumen Lumapower Avenger GX, but I expect them to dim significantly: they are warrantied for only 2 years at "consumer use levels" of 3 hours a day, so that doesn't bode well. At that rate, they'll die before paying for their savings in electricity.

 

[EZO]

Don't buy any of the Lights of America 5mm showerhead bulbs. They are total crap. Don't even last 6 months. They either die or lose half their intensity which isn't vey high to begin with.

Good call! Recently, it was announced that the Federal Trade Commission has sued Lights of America

"The Federal Trade Commission has sued longtime bulb manufacturer Lights of America Inc., charging that some of the company's energy-saving LED bulbs don't burn nearly as brightly or as long as advertised."

also: Feds Sue Light Bulb Manufacturer Over Claims

 

[deadrx7conv]

Every Feit CFL bulb that I've ever used burnt out in less than a year. Every Feit LED bulb that I've seen had pathetic output. Feit and Lights of America are brands I wouldn't even bother with.

I find the kelvin is a little low in my ~8w Sylvania and Ecosmart LED bulbs. They are not a bad replacement for a 40w bulb.
They are a perfect replacement/upgrade for a 25w incan.
They are 'just barely acceptable' in your typical simple ceiling 2bulbx60w fixture.
I will have to replace the ceiling fixtures with 3-bulb fixtures to utilize the Sylvania or Ecosmart.

Ecosmart:
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...eDir=hdus&catalogId=10053&productId=202188260
Ecosmart specs: 429 lumen, 8.6w, CRI 85, 3032k
Ecosmart warnings: Not intended for use with emergency exit fixtures or emergency exit lights. Not for use where exposed directly to the weather or water. Not for use in totally enclosed recessed fixtures.

Sylvania specs: 350 lumen, 8w, vivid color CRI 82, 3000k
Sylvania(cheaper at BJs, Target, and Lowes):
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&productId=100670744

The LED heatsinks get too hot with either brand. We definitely need to consider thermal management when switching to LED.

My review. In a typical 2-bulb ceiling fixture, I would need to share the fixture with a single 14-18w CFL and one of the above LED bulbs. And, I would be 'picky' with the CFL kelvin. Love that homedepot has the various CFLs burning with comparison pictures.

My Kill-a-watt meter says(10ft cord going to the lights):
6.9w for the Ecosmart
6.2w for the Sylvania
21.7w for a 23w LVD bulb http://www.superlumination.com/lvdbulbs/images/lvd_small_dims_wm.jpg
58.8w for 60w extralife incan

If you stare at the Sylvania bulb, you can see the 6 LED's hidden in the globe which is definitely has a better 'frosting' that distributes the lighting around the globe evenly.

The Ecosmart bulb has 'less' frosting so its a little brighter and a tad more glare if you look at it. You can't really tell how many LEDs it has.

IMO, equivalents in enclosed fixtures:
2x 60 want incan's
2x 13w LVD's
2x 15w CFL's
3x 8w LED's
1x 8w LED + 1 13w LVD or 15w CFL

In an open fixture, you should be able to replace a 60w incan with either of the 8w LED bulbs. You might have to aim them for visual preference compared to the better flood of an incan or CFL.

For comparison, typical enclosed fixture:
http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImages/300/8d/8d1cb29b-c1f7-4376-a307-7d0eb8ec3b03_300.jpg
http://i.walmartimages.com/i/mp/MP/10/00/02/18/MP10000218173_P255045_215X215.jpg

Open fixture(tree lamp) almost perfect for 3x Sylvania/Ecosmart LED:
http://i.walmartimages.com/i/mp/MP/10/00/00/49/MP10000049357_P255045_500X500.jpg

If they made Ecosmart or Sylvania in 4k, 4.5k, or 5k, with an extra 40-100lm, I'd buy a dozen.

 

[nein166]

I gave these DX bulbs a try and they are doing fine after 3 months. They are about 50w of light and claim to be 250-290lm which seems possible considering there are 72 LEDs. At 3-4 lumens an LED your getting between 216-288lm. They run warm to the touch, 130F by IR thermometer. I use three of them in a ceiling fan. Its plenty of light for the room. We had 3 9w CFLs before which started off with a purple glow before they came on all the way. Getting instant light again is great.

I'm not sure if the AWB on my camera was locked but the colors represented seem right.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f43/nein166/P1060231.jpg
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f43/nein166/P1060234.jpg

18W CFL only
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f43/nein166/P1060238.jpg

60W Incandescent
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f43/nein166/P1060240.jpg

DX LED
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f43/nein166/P1060241.jpg

All three on at once
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f43/nein166/P1060237.jpg

Only LED Bulbs (the camera can see the flicker and looks like it stepped down the exposure or something, it wasn't this dim when focusing. !*$#@! Point and shoot camera, I love it still)
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f43/nein166/P1060243.jpg

 

[Tuikku]

I tried a DX cheap "3W" E14 socket led-bulb.
It was said to replace a 40W, I think it replaces around 15W of incanwatts.

I bought a showerhead bulb from here at supermarket, it was about 12$.
Says 1W, takes 3-4W in total when measured with cheap energy consumption meter. Makes a somewhat good nightlight, a bit too bright. Has been working OK, china made by some Finnish electrics supplier.

So called HIGH POWER led bulbs cost here around 40-60$ and they claim some 1-3W. I have not dared to even try one because of low output and high price :shakehead



For incan lovers: how about a halogen incan bulb? More runtime, 30% less energy consumption and AFAIK better tint? Only drawback is a bit higher price.

 

[fadingrae]

Led light bulbs, or CFLs, both are not bad solutions.
Just, forget the incandecent bulbs, they are so easy to burn out