LED light bulbs.

[UrbanPoet]

Anyone use LED light bulbs?
aRe there any LED bulbs out there that can actually light up a room?

Right now i have one in my upstairs hallway. We leave it on 24/7 since the bulb only uses 1 watt of energy!

[corrupt123]

How's it work?

There is/was a GU10 LED bulb, it was pretty good for directional lighting, lit up within about 8-10 feet. Thing is, it cost like $25 and didn't put out nearly as much light as a regular GU10 - so it's not good as primary lighting.

The only other LED lighting I've seen is under cabinet stuff, where it works pretty good.

[st7860]

this led bulb replaces a 70 watt regular bulb

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/02/led_bulb_replac.php

[jbad]

this led bulb replaces a 70 watt regular bulb

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/02/led_bulb_replac.php


They are a little confused on the numbers though.. a 70 watt bulb would output between 700 - 750 lumens easy.. the bulb on treehugger says 590 lumens.. which is roughly a 60 watt bulb..

not sure how much that is.. ive seen some bulbs on earthled.com which is their 10 watt par20 lamp for as high as $90 US .. the same ones are on http://www.insaini.com for $60 CDN .. and they are located in the GTA ..

i replied on another post but ive replaced all the GU10 pots in our house with the bulbs from insaini.com .. the SS33 GU10.. we paid $25 each which was quantity discounted and apparently now they are on clearance for $20 each.. they arent as bright as their XE33 but they are decent and do light our halls and living rooms nicely.. great for evening lighting.. they use 3 watts but output as much as a 20 watt halogen.

[bluebye]

Is this thread dead? I would like to hear some more experiences with LED light conversions and get some more info as well

[Icedawn]

did a huge whack of research on this topic last month. Ultimately decided to wait until the technology improves. Found that the light emitted still just doesn't cut it for day to day use. Hoping within the next year or so I'll meet my standards.

[brunes]

did a huge whack of research on this topic last month. Ultimately decided to wait until the technology improves. Found that the light emitted still just doesn't cut it for day to day use. Hoping within the next year or so I'll meet my standards.

I would have to agree. Paying $60 for a 9W LED bulb vs. $2 for a 13W CFL with equivalent lumen output? I will take the CFL, thanks.

My $58 saved allows me to invest my money in other green initiatives that likely benefit far more than a measly 4W savings over CFL.

[Icedawn]

I would have to agree. Paying $60 for a 9W LED bulb vs. $2 for a 13W CFL with equivalent lumen output? I will take the CFL, thanks.

My $58 saved allows me to invest my money in other green initiatives that likely benefit far more than a measly 4W savings over CFL.

I wish I could switch to CFL alas... stuck with all these 50 watt mr 16 halogen pot lights that I want to replace. Just my main living areas (living/dining) uses up 950 watts!

[champlinD]

I wish I could switch to CFL alas... stuck with all these 50 watt mr 16 halogen pot lights that I want to replace. Just my main living areas (living/dining) uses up 950 watts!

Let me guess, you are not paying for electricity.

[UrbanPoet]

I find that the $10 1watt LED warm white from homedepot works well.
I use it in my upstairs hallway. Its actually good enough to light up the hall way with a dim warm light.

Let me guess, you are not paying for electricity.

some fancy condos/houses have those type of recessed lighting...

[UrbanPoet]

I wish I could switch to CFL alas... stuck with all these 50 watt mr 16 halogen pot lights that I want to replace. Just my main living areas (living/dining) uses up 950 watts!

theres MR16 CFLs

[Icedawn]

Let me guess, you are not paying for electricity.

no.. I am, that's why it kills me... and also why I put so much effort into finding LED replacements.

theres MR16 CFLs

!?!?!?! this I have never heard of? interesting... off to google about. thanks! I just hope its not something that will protrude from the socket, I really liked the LED mr16s primarily since they had the same form factor as regular halogen bulbs.

(EDIT - Any chance you know where to buy them from Canada? Browsing around and its hard to find a good Cdn site)
(EDIT 2 - nevermind, found http://ask.metafilter.com/56681/Where-to-find-energy-efficient-GU10-bulbs-in-Canada)
(EDIT 3 - nevermind, none of them sell mr 16 bulbs). Back to asking for help?

[champlinD]

no.. I am, that's why it kills me... and also why I put so much effort into finding LED replacements.
...
...


Let me guess, you like to waste energy and MONEY. call +1 416-736-0447.

[Yumeji]

!?!?!?! this I have never heard of? interesting... off to google about. thanks! I just hope its not something that will protrude from the socket, I really liked the LED mr16s primarily since they had the same form factor as regular halogen bulbs.

(EDIT - Any chance you know where to buy them from Canada? Browsing around and its hard to find a good Cdn site)
(EDIT 2 - nevermind, found http://ask.metafilter.com/56681/Where-to-find-energy-efficient-GU10-bulbs-in-Canada)
(EDIT 3 - nevermind, none of them sell mr 16 bulbs). Back to asking for help?
Depends which MR16...

I found some CFL GU10's at Rona that were energy saving (doesn't have the funnel shape like the halogen GU10s, more cylindrical). They were about $5-6 a pop.

I also found a website for 5W CFL GU5.3's in the US that can ship to Canada: [link] (http://www.energyfederation.org/consumer/default.php/cPath/25_173_2325_2341) These are about $8.25 US a pop.

I e-mailed a lighting store in Richmond and they said there was only one store they could order from that were about 3.6W GU5.3 bulbs for $60 each (perhaps they were LED).

[Icedawn]

Let me guess, you like to waste energy and MONEY. call +1 416-736-0447.

hey, if you have any idea where to get equivalently bright CFL or LED lighting that can repay itself within 5 years to generic 50W MR 16 halogens, I'm all ears...

Depends which MR16...

I found some CFL GU10's at Rona that were energy saving (doesn't have the funnel shape like the halogen GU10s, more cylindrical). They were about $5-6 a pop.

I also found a website for 5W CFL GU5.3's in the US that can ship to Canada: [link] (http://www.energyfederation.org/consumer/default.php/cPath/25_173_2325_2341) These are about $8.25 US a pop.

I e-mailed a lighting store in Richmond and they said there was only one store they could order from that were about 3.6W GU5.3 bulbs for $60 each (perhaps they were LED).

Thanks for the help eh? I'm referring to the bipin, GU5.3's I think.

a) The GU10's from Rona would be amazing... but unfortunately I can't use that plug.
b) The 3.6W for $60 is almost certainly LED based on my research. Probably at most 15-20W equivalent.
c) And the energyfederation? Great find, but alas... only the equivalent of a 20W halogen.http://www.feitelectric.com/parreflector/parreflectors.html

[robertalan]

I hate the light from those CFL fluorescent bulbs! I refuse to use them, and have continued to use good old incandescent bulbs.

Luckily, LED technology is almost ready for prime time in home lighting applications. Actually, you can already buy LED bulbs that replace 40w bulbs in standard sockets, but they're still way too expensive - - here's a write-up on the Lemnis Pharox LED Bulb (http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/002704.php) - - but economies of scale will soon bring this technology down to a cost effective price (after all, they last 50 times as long as a standard incandescent bulb).

Skip the evil fluorescent technology, save all that mercury from ending up in our landfills and water table, and make the leap directly to LED technology!

Lemnis Pharox LED Bulb
Warm, white, longlasting 40w replacement

http://www.kk.org/cooltools/lemnis-led-sm.jpg

I have been dutifully buying the various LED bulbs being marketed as home incandescent replacements for a year or two. Up until now, all have had that weird, blue flickery LED light, and all have been expensive. The Lemnis Pharox is the first one that actually delivers as a home bulb replacement. It sips electricity pulling down a mere 4 watts, will last for 35 years, and replaces the light of a 40 watt incandescent. I installed one in our recessed home lighting adjacent to normal bulbs, and asked my wife to pick out which one was the LED and she couldn't tell which one it was. The only thing I am disappointed about is that they don't have higher output ones yet available (such as a 60 or 75 watt replacement). I can only assume they are in the works. While you pay an early adopter premium on these ($50-60), they are excellent for places where it's too much trouble to replace bulbs, or if you have a solar system on your roof and you want those watts to go further.

-- Alexander Rose

Lemnis Pharox LED Bulb
$59
Available from Upscale Lighting (http://www.upscalelighting.com/show.php?pid=4523)

Manufactured by Lemnis Lighting (http://www.lemnislighting.com/)


(The Lemnis Lighting (http://www.lemnislighting.com/) website has more info and a news video clip...)

[UrbanPoet]

:arrowu:

wow that is cool!
but damn... $59.... after tax/shippingit'll be @ $80...

[robertalan]

:arrowu:

wow that is cool!
but damn... $59.... after tax/shippingit'll be @ $80...

Watch the price plummet over the next two years.

[marbss]

i'll try reviving this thread. I'm looking to replace my GU10 halogen bulbs with GU10 LED lights.

Has anyone had any experience on ebay (http://shop.ebay.ca/?_from=R40&_trksid=m38&_nkw=gu10+LED&_sacat=See-All-Categories)?

Or are there any stores in the GTA you would recommend?

found a guy in Richmond Hill.... http://shop.ebay.ca/merchant/everbrightleds

http://www.everbrightlights.com/contact.html

[ZenOps]

Why not have some fun with the lights...

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.18744

5 watts 280 psychodelic purple lumens.

[_Allan_]

See LEDLights.ca (http://www.ledlights.ca/moreLED.php) for buying LED lights in Canada.

[ZenOps]

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5353

Still early in technology - so buyer beware. Personally I'd wait another year or so before jumping in on it.

For about $4 Cdn - 12 leds alone are not bright enough to read by comfortably, its more like a nightlight.

[nfnx]

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5353

Still early in technology - so buyer beware. Personally I'd wait another year or so before jumping in on it.

For about $4 Cdn - 12 leds alone are not bright enough to read by comfortably, its more like a nightlight.

i was actually looking at something similar... LED's will be the lighting of the future, but i agree with you, give it some time.

for me, the light is too dull right now to be useful daily.

[UrbanPoet]

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5353

Still early in technology - so buyer beware. Personally I'd wait another year or so before jumping in on it.

For about $4 Cdn - 12 leds alone are not bright enough to read by comfortably, its more like a nightlight.

Tried it... It sucks.
I used it as a hall way night light. It has a very blueish spot light (even shows up in the pics).

[majesus]

LED technology are great, but they doesn't have a high lumen output capacity and are unidirectional sources. For lighting up a room, they just don't fit that application. So if you want to use them for that, they need to be heavily moded and that's why they are expensive.

[Heynow999]

I have bought some bulbs from the guy in Richmond hill. His name is Gary. He has some MR16's that are really good. They are bright enough to do area lighting and the color is really good. I was most impressed by those. 6 watts. I bought a dozen. I have some track lights and I am going to buy new bases that will fit the MR16's. He has some gu10's that are good, but not as nice as the mr16'2, I thought.

We have to buy these things to create demand. I don't look at it for payback, because at $25 a bulb, thats a long payback. I look at it more as a hobby. My hobby is to try and get my hydro bill as low as possible.

But it really is much more than that. In Ontario, they are going to build a new nuclear plant. How much is that going to cost? The estimate for Pickering was $2 billion, it ended up costing $13 billion. Forty years later, we are still paying for it on our hydro bill as "debt reduction". If we all conserved, maybe they wouldn't need to build a new plant. I have heard stories about childhood leukemia being more common around that plant. Is it worth the risk? Ask one of the parents who's child is laying in a hospital bed

[Heynow999]

I was in Home Depot today and they were having a clearance on MR16 fixtures that would fit in the track light I have. They are going for $6! So I can now use the MR16 LEDs I have. I had a track light with 4 fifty watt gu10's in it. I replaced 3 of them with the 6 watt LEDs. I have to admit it is dimmer, but I am ok with it. I will go from 200 watts of gu10's to 24 watts of LEDs.

[tomw]

There isn't going to be much demand until places like Home Depot start selling more LED light bulbs. That's when prices will come down drastically. So far I've only seen one LED light bulb at Home Depot.

[blainehamilton]

The problem is stores here aren't stocking them yet. Could be they want to unload the CFL stocks on unsuspecting Canadian consumers, or CSA is dragging their feet approving the LED products in Canada.

When I was in Phoenix in February, Costco, Home Depot, Lowes, even Wal Mart had huge selections of LED lights of all shapes and types. Prices were ok, about on par with DX, but with a much better return policy of course.

My guess is the LED mainstream stock will move north in about a year or so...

[voodoo401]

Watch out with the cheap LED light, most will never hit the advertised usage.

Check out http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/
It's mostly about LED flashlight but they have a form for fixed lighting products.

[Heynow999]

I saw a new LED bulb at home depot.

http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CatalogSearchResultView?D=901630&Ntt=901630&catalogId=10051&langId=-15&storeId=10051&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntx=mode+matchall&recN=0&N=0&Ntk=P_PartNumber



Anyways, not cheap at $30, narrow beam, they claim equal to a 20 watt bulb. They still have some way to go before the general public will buy them.

[pshch]

Anyways, not cheap at $30, narrow beam, they claim equal to a 20 watt bulb. They still have some way to go before the general public will buy them.

They always can legislate CFL out of market :D

[messerchmidt]

check ebay.

Some walmarts in the US have led bulbs made by lighting of America. They work, but are not bright; ideal for small lamps and outside fixtures though.

I ordered a bunch from china by pretending to be an interested supplier, he sold me the 80x 7w LED mr16s I needed for my house as I promised to order more (which I am not going too)

good luck

[semiman]

The problem is stores here aren't stocking them yet. Could be they want to unload the CFL stocks on unsuspecting Canadian consumers, or CSA is dragging their feet approving the LED products in Canada.

When I was in Phoenix in February, Costco, Home Depot, Lowes, even Wal Mart had huge selections of LED lights of all shapes and types. Prices were ok, about on par with DX, but with a much better return policy of course.

My guess is the LED mainstream stock will move north in about a year or so...

What do you mean CSA is dragging their feet? Is that from knowledge or are you talking from the top of your head? The CSA approves what manufacturers ask them to approve. Technically a lot of LED stuff should be DOC approved to as they can radiate RF. Again, whatever is requested to be approved, is approved.... period.

The reason you are not seeing stuff is the Canadian market is 1/10th the size and suppliers can not necessarily justify the cost when the sales are going to be low.

For the most part, most of the LED products on the market are not that bright. Expect that all to change in the next 6-24 months as many many more LED products come out. Philips will have reasonable output edison base (standard) lamps coming out this year. Expect to see many many more.

The other issue with a lot of the products linked to, i.e. one of the first shown on tree-hugger is that the bulb will last about 1/4 as long effectively as a CFL bulb. That is not to say that you can not make an LED bulb last 50,000 or even 100,000 hours, just that there is a lot of crap out there made with LEDS that will never ever last that long....well light may still come out of them, but they will be so dim to be useless.

You will start seeing a lot more products when truly good products start to come onto the market. The retailers have also been reluctant to put products on the shelf as the quality is poor and they do not want the hassle of returns.

[stevek]

So,

after all this discussion is there a replacement for a 50W GU10 halogen out there?

would love to have one.

S

[st7860]

there are already plenty of edison base and gu10 LED lamps out there.

[j8lam]

I've noticed Costco has started carrying about 5 types of LED bulbs. Sorry, but I wasn't specifically looking to buy any, so I don't know what types they have. I do remember the brand Lighting of America.

[gregorychu]

just because it is more efficient doesnt mean you still shouldnt conserve...how much are these bulbs regular at retail locations?

[mangoman]

yup - Lights of America (made in China)
I bought a pack of the chandelier type bulbs (which also come with base adapters so they could be used in a regular lamp fixture upto 75W) - they use 1.5W and they give no equivalency in terms of incandescent bulbs but they list the output at only 86 Lumens.

The 3-pack was $15 I think. They had some other larger types as well (I think they were replacements for floods) but I didn't look into it.

I've noticed Costco has started carrying about 5 types of LED bulbs. Sorry, but I wasn't specifically looking to buy any, so I don't know what types they have. I do remember the brand Lighting of America.

[ricsad]

They're not bright and not diffused. Doesn't look as nice as 6500k bulbs. I'd say using a CFL while waiting for new LED products come out is a better choice. If you're just using it as decoration lighting and don't care about the light output, then LED is fine. For most situations, it's a waste of gas to drive back and forth to exchange products.