Need to replace regular ceiling lightbulbs with COOLER (Temp.) alternatives

Guys, I sit in my living room all the time and I watch tv and spend time on the computer and I have a few different lights on and they are each 100w

Well, with everything that's on in the living room, it gets pretty damn hot in here and I was looking for some ways to eliminate heat.

Are there any led with regular sockets that will be equivalent to 100watts but still give SOFT light?

I tried one of them low power funky looking bulbs and one said it was equivalent to 75w but man, the output on it sucked.

Also, anything that's priced reasonably and available in the US?
IF it's available on amazon it would be cool 'cause I have no cash right now but plenty of credit on my card there.

I would appreciate direct links if possible.

THanks

George

As far as I know, for lighting a room, CFL bulbs are still an easier solution than LED's. They fit in normal fixtures, produce way less heath than incandescent lights, use less power and they are available in warm tints.

And, btw, this is the wrong forum, this forum is for LED flashlights, there is a dedicated forum for all kinds of fixed lights.

I suppose you could always try switching the lights off.

I'm not sure why you would need the room lights on while you are watching TV ?

And yes, you may well do better to ask this in a different section.

Well, I thought I needed LED's which is why I posted it here.

Okie dokie, I've started another one there.

Guys, I sit in my living room all the time and I have a few different lights on and they are each 100w

Well, with everything that's on in the living room, it gets pretty damn hot in here and I was looking for some ways to eliminate heat.

Are there any led with regular sockets that will be equivalent to 100watts but still give SOFT light?

I tried one of them low power funky looking bulbs and one said it was equivalent to 75w but man, the output on it sucked.

Also, anything that's priced reasonably and available in the US?
IF it's available on amazon it would be cool 'cause I have no cash right now but plenty of credit on my card there.

I would appreciate direct links if possible.

THanks

George

Led lamps to replace 100 watt incandescent are not yet readily available, the brightest that I have seen are these
http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/household-bulbs-screw-240v-bulbs-c-92_110.html

Only equivalent to 75 watt though.

Although at the top of the page these are refered to a 240 volt lamps, they are in fact multi-voltage 100/240 volts and therefore suitable for USA 120 volt supplies.

Alternativly, re-consider CFLs, for reccesed downlights be certain to get the reflector type.
Most of the light from regular CFLs is wasted in reccesed lights.

Damn that's a lot of money

Could you show me some links to these CFL's with reflector?

I need to cool off my house

Thanks

George♦

That bulb is a PAR30 which is 3.75 inches wide. The brighter PAR38 is 4.75 inches wide. They are also correspondingly heavy.
They are also available in north America but does not come with UL or CSA or ETL listings. The CE marking on these bulbs are only good for 230V countries and NOT accepted in the USA or Canada. This is very important because if the bulb causes a fire that burns down your house, your insurance company would not pay if you are using non listed products.

broadgage said:

Led lamps to replace 100 watt incandescent are not yet readily available, the brightest that I have seen are these
http://www.ultraleds.co.uk/household-bulbs-screw-240v-bulbs-c-92_110.html

Only equivalent to 75 watt though.

Although at the top of the page these are refered to a 240 volt lamps, they are in fact multi-voltage 100/240 volts and therefore suitable for USA 120 volt supplies.

Click to expand...

CFLs are not recommended for use upside down, especially in heat trapping downlights. They are very likely to catch fire!!!

broadgage said:

Alternativly, re-consider CFLs, for reccesed downlights be certain to get the reflector type.
Most of the light from regular CFLs is wasted in reccesed lights.

Click to expand...

LED bulbs are dim compared to incandescent and CFL bulbs. So they are not good for replacing multiple 100W bulbs.
Here is a 40W incandescent left compared to a Philips MasterLED 7W LED right.


I find the best way to reduce heat is to not be lazy and light up a room to the max.
First I only light up the room to sufficiently not run into walls and doors nor trip over the furniture. Here is my hallway lit with a 2W Cree. The other light on the left is a 3LED nitelite. That does not light up anything.

Then I use dedicated lamps for spot lighting. Desk lamps for keyboard and desk lights. Headboard lamps for reading in bed.


I am also using 2W Crees but the light output is marginal. The 7W Philips bulb which should be in general release now might be a better choice.

What kind of light fixtures are your 100W bulbs in?
Table/floor lamps, (13W-23W CFL)
Torchieres, (23-40W CFL)
Ceiling flush mount fixtures, (23W CFL or Evolux)
Ceiling semi flush mount fixtures, (2*13W CFL or Zetalux or Geobulb)
Pendant fixtures, (no good replacement)
Recessed fixtures, (no good replacement EDIT Cree LR4 & LR6 /EDIT)
Desk lamps & headboard lamps. (Zetalux or Geobulb or MasterLED. Due to UV emissions I do not recommend CFLs for close in lighting. this recommendation may also apply to table lamps depending on how close you are to the bulb.)

The Philips MasterLED should be in available in July. Got mine at Home Depot. Cost me $29.95 CAD.
evolux $79.95 + shipping.
zetalux $49.99 + shipping.
Geobulb $99.95+ shipping
Geobulb at Amazon $84.84
AFAIK all the above bulbs are UL listed.

I do not recommend multiple 5mm LED based bulbs as they tend to dim to useless in 6 months. Some do not last 2 weeks.

Remember LEDs are very directional so you have to point them at where you need light.

For future reference, if you find you have posted a thread in the wrong sub-forum, please ask a moderator to move it rather than starting a second (cross-posted) thread. I've merged both of these.

DM, sorry. I tried to find somewhere to close it but I couldn't which is (I think) why I said I would move it. Thanks.

Ninja, thanks for the exhaustive answer and especially about the insurance thing. That would suck.

I have pendant lamps (one which is on), I have a floor standing reading lamp type fixture that points down and a third sometimes overhead when I'm on the computer in the ceiling fan which is behind a glass "dome" so to speak.

Yes, I can get away with little or no light but I find it depressing or something. I don't like it and when i turn them off or forget to turn one on, I find it bothers me.

I was thinking of putting up some of my track lighting but not sure if that would make a difference (halogen)

I would suggest just getting some neutral or warm white CFLs and either use them in your current fixtures, or get some cheap torche' style lamps (also using CFLs) and bounce them off the ceiling.

The LED based bulbs listed here are either under-powered, or obnoxiously expensive. Or, they have limited application value because they are too specular and harsh when providing direct illumination.

Guiri's predicament is exactly what annoys me about current LED lighting and why I'm currently building a high-lumen / soft light LED lamp.

I use CFLs in most everything but where there was a 75 watt bulb I would put a 100watt *equivelent* fluorescent so if you are using 100 watt bulbs try 150 watt equivelent fluorescents as they will use less power, be cooler and put out more light.... perhaps use about 45 watts each for approx 125-150 watt equivelent. Be sure to compare lumens on bulbs you buy just because it says 75 or 100 watts equivelent doesn't mean it has the same lumens as they tend to sometimes fudge on the numbers where a normal incan may be 1600 lumens they *claim* a CFL with 1300 lumens is equivelent.

Lynx, any links to the bulbs you're talking about?

If they are the long ones, they stick out from the pendants or whatever I put them in so that looks stupid and the light is all over the place...

Blasterman, would you please keep me updated on how that build goes as I obviously need it and would love to try one.

George

no links, just standard CFLs you can buy at places. the 100 watt equivelent ones are everywhere but the 150watt ones are harder to find and usually bigger than a standard bulb (I saw one at Target I think). I don't think you will find anything smaller that puts out that much light without a lot of heat. LEDs are not high powered enough yet to compete on that level without a fan built into the heatsink and about 6-10 high powered LEDs mounted on a block of metal pointed in weird directions perhaps. You may just have to get different lamps that can hold higher power fluorescent bulb/tubes in them.

guiri said:

Lynx, any links to the bulbs you're talking about?

If they are the long ones, they stick out from the pendants or whatever I put them in so that looks stupid and the light is all over the place...

Blasterman, would you please keep me updated on how that build goes as I obviously need it and would love to try one.

George

Click to expand...

LEDs are not high powered enough yet to compete on that level

Click to expand...

Wrong. The Bridgelux LEDs I'm playing with are 400 lumens, and that's the smallest array they make. The problem is that the junk LEDs sold at Walmart and Target can barely compete with a 40watt appliance bulb.

Most CFLs sold in big box stores are 23-26watt, and they are perfectly sufficient for average lighting needs. CFLs that have higher wattages than this tend to be extremely bright and can be over-powering.

If anything, it's standard incandescents, especially frosted bulbs, that are over-rated in terms of lumen value. Given a choice between a 100 watt Incan or a 23-26watt warm-white CFL I'll happily take the CFL, and at least subjectively I don't find the Inca to be any brighter.

blasterman said:

...a choice between a 100 watt Incan or a 23-26watt warm-white CFL...

Click to expand...

I think this is about right.

Although CFL packaging invariably claims 5 x the efficiency of incan, 4X seems a better multiplier.

So to replace 100W, use about 26W. And so on.

The exception seems to me to be in the 25W range. Here 5W CFLs do indeed seem to match 25W incans for output...

Blasterman, I'm definitely interested in what you're working on. Any chance of getting updates over e mail or pm?

Alright guys, is this what you're talking about?
It says CFL on them all but they all look different. http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productList&N=4294961544&Ne=4294967294&Ntk=i_products&Ntt=cfl

How about halogen? I've got a buttload of track lighting with halogen that I haven't used yet.

Fewer watts and not so much heat coming out, right or not?

Alright, how about these? It says 150w equivalent so I figured, even if they're off, I should get close to my 100w bulbs I have now. These CAN be dimmed, right?

I also don't see any mention of lumens so how do you compare?
I want to try through amazon cause I have a card there I can use and little cash.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000GBBUGQ/?tag=cpf0b6-20

Also, is there some kind of halogen to regular screw socket adapter or is that not doable because halogens are 12v?

Alright, how about these? It says 150w equivalent so I figured, even if they're off, I should get close to my 100w bulbs I have now. These CAN be dimmed, right?

Click to expand...

That 40watt CFL will easily match a 150watt incan in terms of light output, and be cooler.

No, you can't dim that CFL. It's either on or off.

Halogen bulbs come in either 12volt or line level (120volts USA). MR-16 halgen bulbs, which are the most popular for track lights, are most common in 12volt versions, but they also come in 120volts.

Halogen bulbs are brighter than the same wattage of standard Incan.

Well, since I can't dim them and 150 is too much, would you mind pointing me to a 100w and 75w equivalent on amazon when you have a chance and I'll order some from there. IF you don't mind and when you have the time.

My damn AC bill is killing me. Last one was $266

The one in the winter is around 50 bucks

I hate the summer down here

Thanks

George