LED Bulb??

[Northwoods]

I have a crap load of recessed lighting fixtures in my house.  Kitchen/family room/hallways/bedrooms/etc. must add up to 40-50.  I have a couple dozen incandecents, but want to try an LED in one fixrure to see how we like it.  They take BR30 bulbs.

What would my best value for that application?  Best if it can either be found at Home Depot  types of stores.  Or online.

[Marnoot]

I used these in the 26 recessed lights in my house:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/EcoSmart-6-in-9-5-Watt-65W-Soft-White-2700K-LED-Downlight-E-ECO-575L/202240932#.UghJIJKQKrk

Since they're technically retrofit kits for the fixtures instead of "just" bulbs, the power company offers a $20 rebate per fixture, making it $15/light after rebate. They're super easy to install, maybe 2 minutes/light at most after you've done a couple, and I couldn't be happier with the light they produce.

Be worth checking to see if your power utility offers any energy-efficiency rebates like that.

[Brad Johnson]

Take a look at the units Marnoot suggested. They're made by Cree and sold under the EcoSmart brand. We've tested some and the results are impressive. They can be picky about dimmers, but most LEDs are.

Phillips also makes a drop-in can retrofit, but they aren't quite as physically robust. Performance-wise they are about the same as the Cree units.

Brad

[BlueStarLizzard]

Dad has a metel task lamp beside his bed. It gets knocked over by dogs fairly often, which has broken more then a few bulbs. But the real issue was Southwest knocked it down and it didn't break and landed with the bulb resting on Dads phone.
Melted touchscreens don't work so great.

So, me and Eric got a Zenaro 12 watt bulb in Cold White for that lamp.
I'm a convert. It's not hot to the touch and provides more light. Dad will switch it around to other fixtures when he needs better lighting. I'm planning on replaceing as many fixtures as possible as finaces allow, starting with the rest of his room, although I'm going to get the "warm" filter for the living room and my room.

[Brad Johnson]

Dad has a metel task lamp beside his bed. It gets knocked over by dogs fairly often, which has broken more then a few bulbs. But the real issue was Southwest knocked it down and it didn't break and landed with the bulb resting on Dads phone.
Melted touchscreens don't work so great.

So, me and Eric got a Zenaro 12 watt bulb in Cold White for that lamp.
I'm a convert. It's not hot to the touch and provides more light. Dad will switch it around to other fixtures when he needs better lighting. I'm planning on replaceing as many fixtures as possible as finaces allow, starting with the rest of his room, although I'm going to get the "warm" filter for the living room and my room.

Don't bother with filters.  Get a decent bulb with a 2700k color temp.  Both the Philips and the new Cree A19 units come in 2700k (as to some of the cheapo store brands, but we haven't had good luck with them either in durability or in actual color temp vs claimed).  The Philips is much more rugged, but looks a little strange when turned off.  The Cree has more of an old-fashioned light bulb appearance but is far more fragile due to the glass globe.  There's not diff between them in illumination quality, so choose according to your pocketbook and/or aesthetic.

Brad

[Marnoot]

Yeah, I've been happy with the Cree A19 bulbs as well as the aforementioned can retrofits. Have a couple in a downstairs bedroom ceiling fixture. As it's a ceiling fixture I'm not worried about fragility so much as brightness and color temperature, both of which I'm happy with.

[RocketMan]

We picked up a four-pack of the EcoSmart 40 watt equivalent LED bulbs at Home Depot today.  $20 for the four pack.  Dirt cheap.
They are a 3000k color temp, so they might be a little white for some uses.
Home Despot also had two-packs of the EcoSmart 40 watt equivalent in a slightly cooler 2700k color temp.  They were $16 for the pack.  Still a pretty good deal for the softer color bulb.

[Brad Johnson]

They are a 3000k color temp, so they might be a little white for some uses.
Home Despot also had two-packs of the EcoSmart 40 watt equivalent in a slightly cooler 2700k color temp.

Jeez, the prices are starting to change so fast I can't keep up.  It's a good thing, though....

FYI - Color temp descriptions are inverse to the numeric rating.  Numerically higher color temps are described as cooler (light perceived as more blue or blue-white).

Brad

[K Frame]

Now that the price of 75s is coming down, the next time my CFL burns out in the post lamp out front I think I might take the plunge and switch it for an LED.

When the price of the 100s comes down to a sane level I'll probably start switching out the bulbs in the bathroom.

[RocketMan]

Jeez, the prices are starting to change so fast I can't keep up.  It's a good thing, though....

FYI - Color temp descriptions are inverse to the numeric rating.  Numerically higher color temps are described as cooler (light perceived as more blue or blue-white).

Brad

Huh, you're right.  Put the thing in the porch light and it looks more like an incandescent.  Cool.  (no pun intended)

[Sindawe]

I like the idea of LEDs.  I have a low wattage one on my porch light (still too bright IMAO) and put a 30 inch FugeRay over my 29 gallon tropical tank a few months ago and everything is growing like mad.

But I still like the warmth of incandecents on a low dimmer for evening hours.  I've not seen that yet in LEDs.

[Regolith]

I like the idea of LEDs.  I have a low wattage one on my porch light (still too bright IMAO) and put a 30 inch FugeRay over my 29 gallon tropical tank a few months ago and everything is growing like mad.

But I still like the warmth of incandecents on a low dimmer for evening hours.  I've not seen that yet in LEDs.

They have dimmable LED's, and as per above they have LED's that closely mimic incandescents. Unless the LED's change color when they dim, I don't see how they wouldn't look pretty much the same.

[Sindawe]

I'm picky when it comes to light.  At full power I like the light at around 6500 K (matches whats going into the aquaria in the home), but for low light I'd rather have it at 2200 K or less.



But then maybe I've just not looked hard enough.

[zahc]

Cree are the best. And made in USA!

[Brad Johnson]

I like the idea of LEDs.  I have a low wattage one on my porch light (still too bright IMAO) and put a 30 inch FugeRay over my 29 gallon tropical tank a few months ago and everything is growing like mad.

But I still like the warmth of incandecents on a low dimmer for evening hours.  I've not seen that yet in LEDs.

Most current generation A19 format LEDS from reputable mfgs will reliably dim to 15-20%, and Philips recently introduced a bulb that actually warms the color temp as it dims just like a dimmed incandescent.  LEDS can be dimmer-sensitive, especially if the LED lamp is the only load on the circuit.  Dimmer technology is quickly catching up though.

Brad

[Balog]

I think a big advantage is being able to get brighter bulbs into lower rated fixtures. I have several multi-lamp overhead fixtures rated for max 60w bulbs that I'd like to use 100w lamps in, so I should be able to safely duplicate that level of light output with LED (or CFL I suppose) bulbs. They're all on dimmers though so finding ones that play nice with dimmers is important.

[Brad Johnson]

There should be enough draw using 100w equivalents to keep the dimmers happy. Take a look at the Philips 19w. Sucker is BRIGHT.

Brad