more light changes

[songbird]

the light in Ma's room started to flicker last week and after 20yrs it was time to replace the el cheapo florescent shop light with LED 4ft versions.

4500 lumens, 42watts, rated to 50,000hrs, warrantee for 5yrs, but i'm guessing they'll last a bit longer than that.

we use the lights for indirect lighting (pointing them up at the white ceiling). as she works in her room on sewing projects in the winter she wanted to replace the one light with two of the new ones. ok. (but i told her i didn't think she needed that much light).

it's so bright in there (turned them on last night to see how they looked under battlefield conditions) that i'm not sure i would like it.

we also replaced the two we used for the indirect kitchen lighting. this place is lit up like the Taj Mahal if we have all four of those on at once (not very common we'd do that).

all that light for 168 watts (less than three incandescent 60watters). i say, gotta love this new technology!

songbird

[Stormin Mormon]

Some people are less sensetive to light as they age. My one grand mother insisted that I read with no less than

100 watts of incandescent light. I told her that was overly blinding. She'd come along and turn on the light while I was reading in daylight next to a window. We went around and around about that.

I've found fluorescent tubes come in different colors.

4100k is slightly blue. 3000k is yellow. 3500k is some where in the middle.

[songbird]

Stormin Mormon wrote: ...

same here. i've always gone outside with UV protection on my eyes (glasses :) ) and she has not. i think that makes a lot of difference over time.

i can read in pretty dim light without any fatigue or hassle, after some 45+yrs or so i've not gone blind, you'd think that would give a clue eh? :) still get grief from Ma or anyone else who comes along and thinks it is a problem. hahaha...

at night i like to keep it dim as i think having bright light at night does things to your sleep cycle/body rhythms.

5000K light, bright white, much nicer than the bluish or purplish light the fl bulbs put out.

songbird

[Stormin Mormon]

When one uncle was working (long ago retired) his study was sunlight damage to eyes. Much as you note, going out in the sun damages eyes. Sunglasses are a good thing.

I've never tried or use 5000k lights. May do that some day, Thanks.

[Scott Lurndal]

5000k (Chroma 50 is the GE brand) provide the best color rendition, so they're perfect in workshops, finishing/paint rooms.

[Frank]

I have AMD. It is not advanced yet and may or may not get worse but a yellowish pigmentation, drusen, starts in the center of the retina and can harm vision if it builds up too much. There is no cure but eye doctors recommend eye vitamins and recommend looking at Amsler grid as there is possibility of wet type macular degeneration which can be stopped.

I see slight darkening in the center of the right eye and it would slightly interfere with reading and more light makes it easier. I suspect this is why older people need more light.

Different light sources put out different spectra. I got some CFL's that are so bright white that wife and I found them only suitable for outside lights.

[gfretwell]

I don't mind the LED strip lights in my shop (I am getting rid of the F40s as they go bad) but I certainly do not want a hot white one in the kitchen. I use natural light bulbs in there. (sold as kitchen and bath)

[Tekkie®]

songbird posted for all of us...

You gonna apply for the Obama energy saving grant? Let us know when he comes to your Mothers house. It'll make the news.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

My grandmother was always wanting to have more light (at least before her cataract surgery), and seemed to think "more is ALWAYS better". I remember working on something on the back of the big (27-inch console) TV. There was enough light. Then she turned on a wall lamp next to me and everything behind the TV went completely black. More light in the wrong direction is NOT better.

[snip]

[Mark Lloyd]

[sip]

My mother complained about me watching TV in a dark room, and my grandmother would often turn on extra lamps when I was reading (making it excessively bright, and harder to see the words).

For a long time, I've preferred to sleep in a completely dark and quiet room. A couple of the first things I did when I bought this house were to get a couple of dark towels to hang over the windows, and get a remote control to turn the light off from bed.

BTW, "Night Light" sounds like a dirty word.

Also, I never wanted to listen to music when going to sleep. It either made it hard to get to sleep because it was too loud, of it made it hard to get to sleep because to was too much work trying to hear it.

[snip]

[Mark Lloyd]

And I find that light much preferable to the "soft white" 2700K (which is more like "dirty yellow").

[Robert Green]

I couldn't get to sleep without listening to music. I set up my HomeVision controller to turn down the sound on the stereo incrementally while I am falling asleep. It goes from whatever volume I start out down to 0 in 30 minutes.

The stereo is a Sony car unit w/IR control that takes USB sticks so I have a little library of USB sticks with classic, soft rock, etc. next to the bed. It was a great way to use up all the 4GB and smaller sticks that aren't much use anymore.

[songbird]

that is funny, the first comment this morning when she turned on the lights to get going on her quilting was that she was seeing colors she didn't know she had! :)

songbird