Shopsmith Forums

There've been many threads here about lighting, most criticizing government for forcing the end of incandescent lighting for more efficient sources. So I have to relate this event. I've been remodeling the lower level in our split level home for several months. I'm working on the bathroom now. My sweetie picked out a light fixture on Amazon and it arrived. I was just finishing the install today adding 3 LED - 100W (16W really, 2700K, 1600L) light bulbs. One slipped from my hand, fell 6 feet onto a vinyl tiled concrete floor and did not break!! Maybe it just my excellent luck or maybe the tile is softer than I think or ????

berry wrote:There've been many threads here about lighting, most criticizing government for forcing the end of incandescent lighting for more efficient sources. So I have to relate this event. I've been remodeling the lower level in our split level home for several months. I'm working on the bathroom now. My sweetie picked out a light fixture on Amazon and it arrived. I was just finishing the install today adding 3 LED - 100W (16W really, 2700K, 1600L) light bulbs. One slipped from my hand, fell 6 feet onto a vinyl tiled concrete floor and did not break!! Maybe it just my excellent luck or maybe the tile is softer than I think or ????

Plastic is more durable than glass.

You will be amazed how much money you save on electricity. I have been on a levelized plan for several years. I have been paying about $125 per month for the past couple of years, but have installed LED where I use light most of the time. So, my bill has dropped from $125 to $109 per month. So, going to fully equip my property with LED.

Steve, the old Florida gator

I just love it when she says I can go make sawdust.

I LOVE LED lights. It is ridiculous how expensive they are, but the companies are getting their R&D back, should see prices falling in a few years. I like the light they give, the lack of heat, and like you found the durability, as well as long life. I have an "operating room" halo in the center of the shop using track lighting .... wouldn't go back to Florescent if you paid me to ...

JMHO

I switched from incandescent lamps about 15 years ago. When the CFL fluorescent lights got cheap I replaced my incandescents. I got excellent service from them for around 15 years with no failures. My dusk to dawn outdoor CFLs run up to 50,000 hours.
Now the past 3 or 4 years, the LEDs are cheap so I'm slowly replacing all my CFLs with LEDs. The CFLs saved a lot on electricity. The LEDs save a bit more yet. The LEDs are instant on which the CFLs weren't, but I'm not getting quite the reliability from LEDs that I got from CFLs. I have had a few of the LEDs go dead within a few months, and a few more that occasionally flash off momentarily and back on. But, I expect that the quality will improve as time passes and the LEDs should eventually be able to match the CFLs level of reliability.
Lighting is improving, so I can't see why anybody would complain about the incandescents going off the market. I never liked them and haven't wanted them since the CFLs took over years ago. There are very few situations where they have any real value today.

I'm always looking for a good deal on LED's. As soon as I find a good deal on 4' LED shop fixtures, I am replacing my humming, sensitive to cold, flickering flourescents. I hope I don't have to wait too much longer for prices to go down.

Depending on how much you are willing to spend, the 4 foot LED replacement lamps are not so expensive now.
Menards has them for $15 each,
https://www.menards.com/main/electrical ... 5183725854

I have seen them on internet sites for under $10 for the direct replacement lamps, and around $5 for the ones where you bypass the fluorescent ballast and wire them direct to 120v into your existing fixtures.

I've had too many fail(at least 25%) after the 6mo. time frame to think there worth the forced change. Never going to see the benefits if that keeps up.

I'm a fan of the LED's. I went from conventional bulbs to CFL's and had a bad dropout rate. Some failed within days. I got new ones for free of course but I was very disappointed in the early CFL's. Later they got better and even more compact and were starting to last as long as I had hoped for.

Keep in mind the 60W bulbs of yesteryear took 60W, the CFL common replacement is just 13W. If you look at that savings in power usage it is large difference. The change to LED from CFL is a lot less overall, just going from 13W to 8W.

We did effectively rid the house of the CFL's. I had about 30 bulbs I had replaces that I gave away CFL's, since I don't plan to go back to them. I may still have a few in odd places that I have forgotten about but when I find them they too will be gone.

As far as life goes I have lost zero LED bulbs thus far. That is at least 30 bulbs in service for a while now. I'm impressed.

As far as cost goes it will take a long while to recoup the expense but I don't mind.

A few years back I redid the shop with T8 bulbs, now I have a few spares left to go before I start looking in to a whole sale replacement program. I did buy 4 LED replacement tubes, (the ones that just plug in) to see how I like them but have not installed them yet. In the long run the ones that require rewiring will be a better choice but for now I just wanted to see the difference.

Ed

I replaced the bulbs in the dash of my car , it was a LED, it took a soldering gun to replace a light bulb,major PIA ,??

I have LED in the kitchen ,,, they dont dim like my others.

Now I hear they make dimer LED bulbs.