is it worth it to replace lights in house with LED lighting?

SamDude

We changed all our lights for CFLs around 5 years ago. There were 55 in total and we paid around £10 each (Aurora fittings and Megaman bulbs).

They are all 11w units (each equivalent to a 60w bulb). Since then, only 2 or 3 have 'failed'.

Our electricity bill is lower and they have been a worthy investment if you can swallow the upfront costs.

matelodave

To Terry98 - Not necessarily so - some dimmers are designed to work with an incandescent load of 40 watts or more whereas your average LED is about 4-6 watts so the dimmer doesn't work properly.

Most LED lamps have a voltage regulator in them so need the voltage coming from the mains to be fairly smooth whereas a lot of dimmers just chop the voltage down, relying on the hysteresis of the incandescent filament to smooth it out. Even though you've got a dimmable lamp you might need a dimmer switch that's suited to LEDs.

I've got 12v halogens in the bathroom which are fed from electronic soft start transformers which cause 12v replacement LEDs to flicker so I've either got to replace all the transformers with LED driver units or convert the lamps to 240v working. As the bathroom lights are only used for about half an hour or so a day they can stay as halogens as the payback to swap it all is too long

polymaff

Glad I've got a good stock of incandescent lamps. There's still nothing to beat the ambience that can be achieved with arrays of dimmable incandescents.

lstar337

polymaff wrote: »

Glad I've got a good stock of incandescent lamps. There's still nothing to beat the ambience that can be achieved with arrays of dimmable incandescents.

There is, you just have to pay for it.

polymaff

lstar337 wrote: »

There is, you just have to pay for it.

Which, to a true MSE'er, writes them off.

ByteZine

I'm pro-LED but my only gripe (with CFL as well) is that the lumens in comparison to a 100w incandescent are way overestimated. Everyone who has switched main bulbs is living in near darkness.

To replace a 100w incandescent, I would say you need a 25w LED at least. You can get them on amazon/ebay etc but they are still quite dear.

The 2 main color-temps now seem to be 'warm' (yellowish incandescent equiv ... 2400k ? ) and 'daylight' (white ... around 6400k).

Ed-P

Agreed, LED's can be inefficient at adequately lighting a space larger that 6 x 6 ft.

CashStrapped

ByteZine wrote: »

I'm pro-LED but my only gripe (with CFL as well) is that the lumens in comparison to a 100w incandescent are way overestimated. Everyone who has switched main bulbs is living in near darkness.

To replace a 100w incandescent, I would say you need a 25w LED at least. You can get them on amazon/ebay etc but they are still quite dear.

The 2 main color-temps now seem to be 'warm' (yellowish incandescent equiv ... 2400k ? ) and 'daylight' (white ... around 6400k).

I do agree somewhat with this. Which is why I think the 23w (110W) philips tornado CFLs are some of the best I have used. Especially for rooms with a single light fitting. Light is very bright and good quality.

You do have to ignore their equivalent "claims" and look at the lumens. I always buy a more powerful CFL compared to the incandecent I was using before.

Although I still have 150w ones for the loft and garage!

lstar337

polymaff wrote: »

Which, to a true MSE'er, writes them off.

True, but you said there is 'nothing' to replace them. There is, and it does a whole lot more than any incandescent offers.

Not only can I change the brightness of mine, I can change the colour temperature, I can change the hue, I can make it come on and go off as I enter and exit the room, I can make it simulate a TV while I'm away from the house, I can make it gently increase in brightness like a sunrise for my alarm, I can set timers, I can simulate candle light, I can make it strobe, I can make it visualise my music, I can make it blink a specific colour when I receive a text/email/facebook notification, I can set profiles for any type of light I require, and I can turn it on or off from anywhere in the world. I'm not sure of the usefulness of that last one.

I wouldn't call it MSE, but it is a fun little gadget. :D

CashStrapped

Ahh....but can you fry an egg on it due to all the waste heat energy....nope!!!:D