40W LED bulbs 2 for $7 at Staples

The savings in labor, as you and Pat point out, can be substantial. I know that I will be using them anywhere I need a ladder or where bulb changing is difficult for any reason. One spill off a ladder will really raise the cost of using older, incandescent bulbs.

I was at first reluctant to install CFL floodlights outside when they were $20 each in case someone decided to swipe them. In NYC, a long time ago, they had to use special left-hand thread bulbs and sockets on the subways because so many people would steal them to use at home. Since they are often on all night I would really like to replace them with LED bulbs, especially now that they are taking a long, long time to warm up to full intensity.

One reason I still use an incandescent on the porch is that they are much better at illuminating the porch for the CCTV cameras (which are infrared sensitive). CFLs were extremely deficient in that end of the spectrum and the low light performance of the cameras really suffered even though the light ouput looked the same to the naked eye. I suspect that the LED bulb will have the same problem since I assume their IR output is low compared to tungsten bulbs. So there's still a minor advantage to using tungsten bulbs for me in at least one application. Since that bulbs on an X-10 dimmer and runs dimmed all the time, it lasts far longer than an undimmed tungsten filament bulb. The CFL's did not run well on the X-10 circuit. They would turn on remotely but never turn off.

Oddly enough one of the articles I read about blue LEDs was complaining that their wide-spread adoption would actually raise the use of fossil fuels throughout the world (someone's always bitching!). However a more sensible comment following the article pointed out that LEDs consume so little power that it makes it practical for small, remote villages all over the world to power them at night with a fairly small solar array and rechargeable battery.

I'm going to get some more 40W LEDs from Staples and be on the lookout for a sweet deal like the one that Mike got at Home Depot (four dimmable ones for $5.05). I tried to dim the Staples bulbs but they just flickered. )-:

Reply to
Robert Green
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Good points, but not every bulb in my house is used much. There are rooms and closets I hardly ever enter. I'll be darned if I am changing those bulbs. Payback for those might be measured in decades.

Reply to
Pico Rico

news:m2qklt$n08$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

house-full of

KwH to 1.56 KwH, a

"$.50-1.00 more per month".

Yes, I think Mayana's calculations are a little bit off unless there's only one bulb on at any one time. (-:

incandescents with CFLs

I noticed a similar, but even steeper drop when I changed over. I noticed another even more profound drop when I finally stopped nursing my 30+ year old Westinghouse refrigerator and replaced it with a new one. The new GE, which I doubt will EVER last 30 years - but that's another story - uses about 1/3 the juice the old unit did. It's a wonderful feeling to pay the electric company less each month (although the keep raising the rates to compensate for their lost revenue, it seems).

Reply to
Robert Green

Correction. Just checked the receipt and they were two for $5. Such a deal!

Reply to
Robert Green

As with CFLs, I'll bet that the lights themselves last a long time, but the electronics that drive them may vary widely in quality and longevity.

Reply to
larrymoencurly

| Do the math. It's costing you a *lot* more than a dollar a month to use a house-full of | incandescents. | | Consider just *one* 60W incandescent that's used an average of 4 hours per day. That's | 120 hours per month, times 60 watts, equals 7200 watt-hours or 7.2 KwH per month. |

I don't remember what our bill is offhand. I think it's about $40-$50 per month, so I'm certainly not going to see $25 savings by changing lightbulbs. (Some of that cost is trumped up service fees. I expect computers and may workshop are by far the most expensive costs.)

CFLs are for areas where they stay on for long periods. The reason they burn out so quickly is because they were never designed for general use. In many of the places I might use them they often wouldn't even get fully lit before I turn them off. (Hallway, bathroom, cellar, etc.) And I find them just too ugly to use.

LEDs might eventually be very good, but right now they're still new. It's fad appeal. People talk about how much money they're saving, which makes sense for an always-on nightlight, but in most other uses it just isn't significant.

I also wonder about the logic of so many people who say they're going to such great lengths to save money. Do those people *really* try to save money sensibly? Do you keep your thermostat down to 60F and skip using AC unless you live in the deep south or southwest? Do you avoid unnecessary, high demand appliances like dishwashers, garbage disposals and hair dryers? Do you turn off the TV when you're not watching it and turn off lights when you leave the room? And that's not even getting into the really dumb money wasters, like paying Starbucks $4 for one's morning coffee. Anyone who doesn't at least follow simple, sensible guidelines like that is only playing at saving money; or is a symbolic money saver -- one of those people who will spend a dollar to save a dime.

Many years ago, when there was a Zayre's store, they had 3rd brake lights on sale. The 3rd-light had just become standard and people thought it was clever to retrofit older cars. I was in Zayre's for something and the man behind me in line was holding 5 lights, which was the limit per customer. He was thrilled that he had managed to get there in time to buy 5 of them; so much so that he started bubbling over about his good fortune to me. I asked whether he had 5 cars to put all those lights in. His face dropped. It clearly had never occurred to him to think whether he could actually use 5 brake lights.

Reply to
Mayayana

I have only one LED light in a lamp over a music stand. It's used every day a couple of hours and has been in there 3 or 4 years now.

It replaced a CFL, and something interesting happened.

The CFL in that fixture made the switch arc and work unreliably. The LED does not have any problem. I assume there is a significant difference in reactance.

Reply to
TimR

My Mom used to know (decades ago, when gas was well under a buck) someone who drove across town to save ten cents on a bag of potato chips.

I found it was cheaper to telephone and ask a question (business line, with per call charges) than to drive some where to check a price.

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

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Reply to
Stormin Mormon

| My Mom used to know (decades ago, when gas was well | under a buck) someone who drove across town to save | ten cents on a bag of potato chips. |

It seems to be especially prevalent with people who lived through the Depression. Saving money on an item often gives them more pleasure than whatever the item is. I suppose maybe it's a way of feeling they have control over unpredictable circumstances.

Reply to
Mayayana

Good observation.

CL's [I believe] require like 200-300 volts to turn on, then once 'fired' they drop to something more reasonable, like 20-100v look up Xenon arc light.

Whereas the LED just put in a down converter to supply fixed current and you're off and running. Except someday pesky pfc requirement demanded by the utilities distribution people will rear its ugly head and it will get more complex, but with the advantage that ALL SMPS's will become cheaper using a standard 'built-in' module.

Reply to
RobertMacy

Hi Mayayana,

I have a customer what will waste billable hours and $$$ on gas to drive across town to save 10 cents on a bag of nails. When pointed out the economics of it, he states that it is the principle that matters.

Then again he has CABDs (Cheap Assed Buzzard Disease) really bad. (The "B" might not stand for "Buzzard".)

I won't sell him any parts. I just tell him to find his best deal. Doesn't save him anything as he does not account for shipping. And if I sell the part and it doesn't work, all the labor and everything else is free to fix the situation. If he buys the part, he is on the clock for EVERYTHING. I make much more money his way. As I said, he has CABDs really bad. It is the "principle" that matters.

He who spends the least, spends the most.

-T

Reply to
Todd

I have a couple of small LED flashlights and the light is bright and clear. Only the batteries are more expensive than cheap D-cells like regular flashlights use, and they also seem to run down a lot quicker.

How much does equivalent LED use vs Compact Fluorescent? And how much doe they cost? CFs seem to have been perfected now and are dirt cheap

-- $1 or less if you shop around.

Reply to
Sasquatch Jones

hmmm... I stocked up on '40W' CFLs last year when my local Costco was selling 4-packs for 49 cents ($4.99 minus $4.50 'instant rebate' from the power company). So it's not quite time for me to buy LEDs just yet.

Reply to
Mike Hartigan

Hi, I am done converting to LED already. All of them except chandeliers. 40 LED bulbs in all. They are all dimmable, works fine with motion sensor switch as well. All Philips.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Reply to
Smarty

Reply to
Smarty

I just bought my first LED bulbs today. Costco had them; a pack of three candelabra base 4.7 watt (40 watt equiv.) for $18.99, but there was a $9 instant rebate paid by Manitoba Hydro, so the bulbs effectively cost about $4 each, or about the same as I'm paying now for candelabra base 9 watt CFL's.

They had the standard Edison medium base bulbs too, but I didn't buy any because those would have worked out to about $11 per bulb, and I have a stock of 13 watt CFL I'd like to go through first.

I was anxious to replace the 9 watt bulbs in the chandelier in my front lobby because those bulbs are a pain to replace. So, I didn't buy the chandelier bulbs to save on my electrical bill; I bought them to largely eliminate the nuisance of having to replace the bulbs in that chandelier.

I haven't installed them yet, but I hope they turn out OK. They're supposed to be good for 25,000 hours, and if I burn them for 10 hours per day, that translates to a life span of about 6 or 7 years.

Reply to
nestork

I am reminded, by looking at my flashlight, that there are also white LEDs. Which came out first, white or blue?

Reply to
micky

IIRC I had a big fight at Pep Boys when I wanted to return something I'd never used that cost under a dollar. (their return policy was hanging from the 20 foot ceiling and I'd never noticed it.) Finally, I asked if I could buy something in exchange. He said yes, as if, Of course you can. But he'd never suggested it.

Reply to
micky

RED

Reply to
mike

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