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LED Lighting 101

Mike

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977
Location
Kentucky
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6b
I have one "traditional" MagLite and two LED MagLites. I've toyed with getting a replacement LED for the "traditional" bulb.

I have a traditional MagLite and also thought about doing a replacement but have read the MagLite replacements are not as good so never made the switch. I did however, based on several recommendations, was picked up a SolarForce LED flashlight. A lot of people call these flashlights the lego version of flashlights as you can build them with a large number of combinations. From different LEDs, switches, modes, bodies, lenses, etc.

My solarforce l2p is a 3-way and is incredibly bright and I think I paid $20-30 for it.
 
M

Mr_Yan

Guest
For some reason there seems to be a bit of a flash light fettish on the internet right now. Most guys like the expensive small lamps but I still like the 2 or 3 D cell maglite - baton size. Anyway I have the standard factory installed LED maglites not a replacement bulb. I was looking at the replacements and, from price, it looked like there were three or four quality levels. I'll bet most of it is based on heat sinking - as @w_r_ranch pointed out if you don't properly cool the PN junction of the diode it will quickly fail. Getting the heat out of the semi conductors is a major design point in making IC's.

Anyway I've been happy with my LED maglites. The batter life is significantly longer than traditional lites. The only other difference I notice is the lamp is much bluer / colder. Now if your kid does turn on the flashlight next to your bed and puts it back down still on it will kill the battery. I just found this tonight.
 

w_r_ranch

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South Central Texas
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8b
Mrs. Ranch has been after me to change out all the vanity light fixtures so I finally got around to doing that... She found the fixtures on-line & they arrive the other day, as did the 20 Cree 75W LED bulbs.

I install 2 of the 4 new fixtures yesterday (Mrs. Ranch's bathroom & the guest house) & today & installed the last 2 in the master bath. The old fixtures each had (6) 65W bulbs, while the new fixtures have only 5 bulbs (I decided to use the Cree bulbs, which has a rated 75W equivalency). These bulbs uses 13W of electricity & produce 1100 lumens, so each fixture will now use 65W & produce 5500 lumens verse the old fixture's 390W & 3150 lumens.

Doing the math, we will save 83.33% on electricity while producing 74.61% more usable light per fixture.

New_Vanity_Light_Off.jpg

New_Vanity_Light_On.jpg
The picture really doesn't portray the amount of light very well... It is actually very bright in there.
 

RLwhaler

Well-Known Member
Messages
488
Location
Cypress,Texas
Planting Zone
8b
I might just regret doing this but I was at Costco the other day and seen these lights and thinking about giving them a try.



All aluminum design, 2,100 lumens, and 5 year warranty for less than $40 or just over $45 at Amazon.

I certainly agree you get what you pay for but I'm thinking something like this might work just fine to cover the shed.


Mike,
A couple of years ago Cosco had the one housing lights.I bought 6. There's a significant dark area in the back of my property.My son and a few of his buddies put them up directly 30 ft. on the trees.They bought a few rolls of wires to splice into the existing wires that connected charging panels.All panels were moved into an area that will have efficient sunlight to charged.It's been a little over two years..and they are still kicking like chicken.I just bought 6 more of the new 2 housing lights above,just in case,you know how Cosco will carry a product and never bring it back.
I think I'd paid 24.99(each) for the first set.Considering I had a quote from a license electrician to come out.Materials,labor, 1,100 bucks.
 

Mike

Might know the answer
Messages
977
Location
Kentucky
Planting Zone
6b
@RLwhaler so far I've been very happy with these lights as well. I still only have one and it's setup in the back yard and while I'd like to have another the backyard and pretty much covered.

I did read somewhere online where some people had issues with water getting in the lenses so before I hung my light up I went around both lights and really any seam and sealed it with clear silicon. I still want to pick up a few more, another for the other side of the house to face the back yard and shed as well as the front of the house as well and I believe costco has them on sale now for $34 each.
 

RLwhaler

Well-Known Member
Messages
488
Location
Cypress,Texas
Planting Zone
8b
That's a great idea , Mike! I'll do the same( sealed it with silicone) Yes, the new one's, with 2 light housing are 34.00 bucks.
The first set that Cosco sold a couple of years ago only had one square housing was only 24.99 :)
The problem that i'am having now is...I really want to hang the new ones! LOL! :D

As for the rest of the LED's..I'll just follow Ranch's footsteps as usual. Over the years, when Ranch (Sam) takes on ANY project, he a perfectionist! There are detailed drawings, pro's and con's... its pretty darn hard not to give Ranch "two thumbs up" LOL!!
 

w_r_ranch

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South Central Texas
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Let me give you guys some additional incentive to convert ASAP... Mrs. Ranch just showed me our electric bill...WOW!!!! Bear in mind, there was a very slight rate decrease...

02/23/15 - 03/23/15
3150KWH @ 0.103383 = $343.66


02/23/16 - 03/23/16
1584KWH @ 0.101383 = $178.59
<<<<<

That is $165.07 in actual savings!!!! I can't wait to see next month's comparison... I like saving $$$!!! (y)
 
M

Mr_Yan

Guest
I am amazed at the savings but started thinking about it and $175 a month is still more than we've ever paid for both natural gas and electric together in a month,. You must be running a heck of a shop or ranch down there.

April and October are, historically, our lowest months for electric use here.
This month our electric bill is $51.37. Breaks down as $23.26 for supply (7.37 cents per kWh), $2.80 for taxes, and $25.21 for grid delivery.
 

w_r_ranch

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The point of the post was to demonstrate the reduction in kilowatt hours used & the corresponding dollars spent on the electrical bill.

Obviously our situations are very different ,,, For instance, we have more square footage, we have a heated greenhouse & 3.5 car garage, we have 2 relatively large HVAC systems, we live in very different climates & we are 'all electric' (no gas/propane). The only change here has been the conversion to LED bulbs & that 'change' has resulted in a sizeable decease in the number of kilowatts used here (close to 50%) & the corresponding dollars spent for our household/ranch.

The bottom line is that proportional reductions in kilowatt usage can be realized elsewhere in the country by converting from incandescent to LED, allowing the money saved to be utilized elsewhere... should one choose to do so.
 

w_r_ranch

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Yesterday we received the 16 LED light tubes to replace all the florescent tubes in the closets & laundry room. I removed the ballasts & rewired the 4 fixtures (which took about 15 minutes each). After installing the new tubes, I can say that these 'bulbs' outshine our old F40T12 fluorescent lamps by an order of magnitude. The light is fantastic, way better than fluorescent. They come on instantly and are nice & bright!!!

 

Mike

Might know the answer
Messages
977
Location
Kentucky
Planting Zone
6b
Funny you mention those lights. I was just thinking light night that I need to do something different in the closets as most of them have an old school single socket bulb on one end. Which not only makes the light uneven but not all that helpful.

I was thinking about getting something like an LED light tube to remedy the issue.
 

Mike

Might know the answer
Messages
977
Location
Kentucky
Planting Zone
6b
The G25 CFL bulbs in our bathroom are starting to fail. 2 of the 6 are already out and the bulbs where less then 3 years old. I really thought these would have lasted longer so now I'm going to be making the switch to LED's as well.
 

w_r_ranch

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South Central Texas
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Good for you. I ordered the 8' tubes for the garage earlier today... after that, all that is left is the under-cabinet lighting & we will be 100% LED. It took about 1 1/2 years to make the transition but it's almost complete.
 
M

Mr_Yan

Guest
Back in August I replaced the bulbs in my kitchen ceiling fan with the Home Depot house brand ecosmart LEDs. This was a three pack of 60 W equivalent 500 lumen daylight spectrum candelabra base bulbs. Just before Thanksgiving one was going in and out and then after we returned from Thanksgiving weekend away it just stopped working.

Knowing the bulbs I bought had 5 year warranties I kept the boxes and receipt stapled together in a spot with documentation for other things from the house.

I took all three bulbs back to Home Depot in the box with the original receipt yesterday. The dead bulb was clearly labeled as dead with marker.

When I told the lady at customer service that one bulb was dead she sent me over to grab a new pack of bulbs. When I returned to the desk she pulled a new bulb out of the box from the shelf and swapped out the dead bulb from my old box. No questions, no scanning of the receipt or box, no money changed hands.

=====

At the same time I bought the ecosmart bulbs I bought a 4 pack of Phillips bulbs. These came with a 5 year warranty that needed registering. When it was registered I got a confirmation number and the pop up window said the warranty is extended with registration to 10 years.
 

w_r_ranch

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6,449
Location
South Central Texas
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Received the GU-10 LED light bulbs for the new range hood & installed them. More lumens (better light) & only 9.6 watts instead of 100 watts. These are floodlights (120 degrees) I purchased to replace the 30 degree halogen spotlights that came with the hood. They illuminate the entire cook-top much better so I can see what I'm doing. Compare these to the original halogen - big difference.

LED_Range_Hood_Lights.jpg

hero-led-gu10.jpg
 
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arthurjsmith48

Guest
you are right about "Do it yourself" So here I want to show you how to Change my room lighting with the help of residential lighting fixtures I have enjoyed this lighting at my room hope you guys like it.
 

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dkerry5900

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I recently got some really good LED motion sensor lights on amazon. Not flood lights but they're pretty bright. I believe the brand was Aootek, defintely a chinese brand but they've been working great and they had several thousand postitive reviews. I think it was like thirty bucks or so for four so super cheap as well.
 
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