LED Bulb Recommendation

[Gary]

Hi,

As mentioned in a previous post, we will replace some of the 85 halogen bulbs (50W) in our house with LEDs. Despite all those bulbs the house is seriously underlit. The standard 50W equivalent LEDs (4W) will not likely cut it. We want to go to higher wattage or higher efficiency bulbs. Electricity is very expensive here (Costa Rica) so the extra cost of higher wattage or high efficiency bulbs will pay off. The bulbs will need to survive the frequent power surges and the daily lightening storms.

Can some suggest some brands and specific bulbs that my wife can bring back from the U.S.?

Thanks, Gary

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, We have some 60W rated Phillips LED day light bulbs. This bulbs replaced

5 x 75W flood lamps in our kitchen counter top area. If electricity is expensive(I pay 7.9 cents per KWh) for long term, considered PV solar panel arrays?

[gregz]

Deja vu

You have 4200 watts of lamps. Outrageous. I would add new circuits. A room does not have to be lit up, only the area you need to see. What kind of socket ?

Greg

[mike]

I think you'd do well to install surge protectors. I live in an electrically quiet neighborhood. Had a bunch of CFL's fail over the years. As far as I can tell, it's always the electronics that goes. Bulb is fine. Same problem is gonna happen with LED.

That must be some huge house. I light mine with three, count 'em three, 3W LED lights that run 24/7. Turn on 13W where I am if I need to read something in small print.

[G. Morgan]

4250, but who's counting?

Indeed. How the hell would anyone need 85 lamps? I guess it's not too "out there" if you consider a ceiling fan has 4-5 lamps. Each bathroom probably has 4-8 lamps above the sinks. I just counted the bulbs in the room I'm in now and there are 11 bulbs, eight of them are for two ceiling fans.

Does not need new circuits if he's going with LED's for replacements.

Good question, likely many types for multiple fixtures.

[trader_4]

Since lightning is a concern and he has all those LED lights, I'd put a good whole house surge protector on the panel.

Instead of adding more lights, how about just upping the 50W equivalent ones? I've had recessed lights in several homes over the years. I've always used bigger than 50W, typically

90W. And I have most of them, the ones in the most used areas, on dimmers. So, while I may have 4 x 90W in a room, it's only turned up as much as needed and can be changed.

[clare]

He said 85 50 watt Halogen fixtures. My bet is they are aither GU10 or MR16. I have replaced a couple hundred of them with (12 volt) chinese LEDs purchaced off e-bay with mixed results. It seams certain bulbs are failing on a fairly accellerated basis - could be transformer related or heat related. Putting in ceiling fans - might help.

Also 8 in my home office (120 volt I had a high failure rate - switched to COB style instead of 3 and 4 LED Crees. So far so good.

[Stormin Mormon]

the only LED bulbs I got, were off Ebay, and disappointing. The 2 watt bulb I use as a night light, in the bathroom. The five watt "corn cob" light wasn't bright enough to really be useful, gave it away to a friend who uses it as a light over his computer. Whatever you buy, please buy one to test, before you get several.

[Frank]

Guy that built my house tried to screw me on that one. He used the most expensive bulbs available at the time and did not fill the fixtures but tried to bill me as if he had.

For op, I would go to cfl's as leds are still expensive. In replacing

60 watt incandescents I use the 75 watt equivalent to get more light still using one third the power.

Avoid cfl's that don't give light at a similar spectra to incandescents and some brands are noisier than others.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi,

4200W is still not enough OP says. He said seriously underlit. Maybe he lives in a 10,000 sq. ft mansion?

[Don Wiss]

My guess is he has high ceilings (common in hot climates, so the hot air can rise) and these are high hats. Hence little light is left by the time it gets down to the floor. That is why I like pendant lighting.

Don.

(e-mail link at home page bottom).

[Edward Reid]

Use what you like, avoid what you don't like. I like daylight and one thing I love about CFLs is that I can get daylight spectrum. If you like the yellow light of incandescents, you can get that too.

Personal choice.

Edward