Light Bulbs - real world experience

[manuellynch]

My wife and I moved into a new place in Las Vegas and I decided to be "Mr Lighting" and what an interesting experience I had being hands on.

First - Outdoor Landscape Lighting

Halogen rocks...and I have plenty of it. When you can buy 4 fixtures for $20 and fixture that looks like a rock for $14 - why would anyone consider the $75 LED fixtures. Plus the color rendering of halogen makes the low CRI of the LED look pretty horrible - the greens and flowers outside seem to get very muted in cool bluish white LED. Even the LED MR16 bulbs that saw that they are warm white are about 3500Kelvin - and compared to halogen as 2650 Kelvin it looks different. But alas - you know me - I have to drop in our Nichia based Warm White 2700 Kelvin Bulbs with CRI of 86 and they do look good. Not as bright, but bright enough for landscape lighting. Our LED bulb is only $7.50 and can fit into any MR16 based fixture so I think the best thing to do is to buy an inexpensive 12 VAC transformer (no expensive LED power supply) and use our bulbs. But I still have a few halogens - I like halogen.

Second - Kitchen Lighting

The house we purchased had lovely 4000 Kelvin T12 fluorescents. At first I wasn't sure if I was buzzed from the Martini I had made and then I realized the buzzing was the annoying ballast....but....but... when I pulled it out it had a Date Code of manufacturing from 25 years ago! So I will give old magnetic ballast that - they lasted! At first I decided to try out some funky new LED I had but then I thought - it would be more expensive to retrofit the whole ceiling to accommodate the lighting so I just found a beautifully modern and inexpensive halogen fixture...gets hot and the transformer buzzes on cold mornings before it heats up - but it has the right light levels and just looks awesome. So what if I have to change halogen bulbs that cost $3-4 down the road - maybe I won't drive through Starbucks that morning. I did however decide to put in one our new LED recessed PAR30 down lights in the 6" fixture - just swapped out the bulb and it works with the existing dimmer without a problem. The other day I had a top exec over from Nichia of Japan and he didn't even notice that it was an LED bulb. At $15.00 we think our part is a pretty good value. Over the kitchen table I made a new fixture taking some planters from West Elm furniture and converted them into a light fixture... trained as a lighting and stage designer, I could not resist. I didn't realize at the time that the fixture coupling I used was for a mini base light bulb so I had to go shopping for available options. Fluorescent didn't come in mini base options so I ruled that out. LED bulbs available would not put out enough light to eat dinner by...and so I went with a pack of incandescent bulbs that I paid $4 for.... I really bought 4 packs!

Hallway Lighting

So the house we moved into had some hideous old fixtures - not my modern taste. So I found a great fixture at Lowes and installed it. Was a T5 Fluorescent round tube - I had to give it a try because it is the true enemy of an LED system! And wow am I thoroughly unimpressed! The T5 lamp put out very little light, has a ballast that constantly buzzes and what they call "Warm White" looks like the color of the cool white LED modules we sell for signage. I thought "oh well - I only turn these on for a few minutes each day and they look good when off" - so I let it be....but now that it is cold in Las Vegas and daylight savings hit...they have to be on longer and damn are they loud! I will have to figure out something on this.... I need a small low profile (1/2" tall) LED power supply to really make this work as the fixture is only 2" deep! So congrats to T5 for slim fixtures...and that is about it!

Indirect Ambient Light

Ok - I decided to have fun with this. I bought some fixtures for indirect uplighting in various places throughout the home and I learned that the only way to go was with a big name brand like Philips, Sylvania...those FEIT bulbs don't last but a couple of weeks and the color is horrible. So yes - I went with fluorescent - you never see the bulb and you can get 2700Kelvin if you look hard. But where I had the most fun was with a new LED system we have created called our AXLE9 Series. We have not introduced this product yet but all I can say is...WOW!. This product is 2X brighter than any LED module we have created before and will cost less! This new Nichia LED delivers true 2680 Kelvin color and a CRI of 90! At $5.00 a linear foot I can put this pretty much anywhere. I put it on the backside of a chair that was offset from a wall and attached the power supply to a ambient light sensor I bought off the shelf at Home Depot. At night the chair glows and you never see a bulb!

So I have to say - Halogen in some locations, fluorescent has its spot, incandescent will never go away, and LEDs can help recreate a space. Now for neon... I do a lot of work at YESCO in Las Vegas so I think I am going to get the industry icon to design me some art made of neon!!!

So no matter what shape, size, power, chemistry, technology... we can all work together!

[imanut]

Well, congrats on your new home! Enjoy.

gn

Edited November 6, 2011 by Gary Nutting

[TelfordDorr]

Seems strange that your T5 ballasts are noisy, as everything sold these days is solid state, which don't make a peep. I have some 15" T5 under cabinet fixtures in the kitchen and they crank out the light. Trick seems to be the brand of lamp used. Have had excellent results with Sylvania. Philips is good also, but only start reliably on SS ballasts due to low mercury. Hate them when used with magnetic ballasts. Did the entire kitchen in Philips 3500K white CFLs in can fixtures with electronic ballasts. They've been up for what? 10 years, and no lamp failure yet (with heavy use). I personally like 3500K better in kitchens than either 2800K or 4100K. The off-brands and Chinese tubes are crap - awful color and lifespan. Avoid at all costs.

Have had miserable luck with CFL floods in general - awful color and low light output. Have one PAR-38 flood in a ceiling can with dimmer which I would like to try LED on, but haven't because of the cost. I think LED could own the dimmable flood lamp market if the costs can be moderated somehow, as their natural directionality is an advantage in this application - puts the light where it is needed.

Tried to buy a replacement ballast for a standard dual T12F96 fluorescent fixture at the in-laws last weekend. Nothing available but solid state ballasts. Bought a GE made in China ballast at the local hardware and installed. Dead out of the box - obviously never tested, just built and shipped. Hunted around and finally found an Advance (made in Mexico) ballast at a distant Home Depot. Came with full length leads. Worked perfectly.

Starting to hate China....

TD

Edited November 6, 2011 by TelfordDorr