Another one in praise of LED lights.

[Dave7]

My lounge was not light enough near the perimeters even though I put a bigger/brighter bulb in. I looked at replacing the shade but found it was cheaper to switch to an LED light (they dont need shades.
So... 3000 lumens or 4500 ?? Google told me 3000.
WoW, what an improvement!!
So, the garage was next. I had a long flourescent tube in there but it didn't throw enough light to all areas.
So......2 x 2' LED tubes @,£18.00 each (one each end). A BIG improvement.
If you need more light then imo LEDs are the way to go.

 

[fossyant]

We're LED all over the house, except my garage. I've got the fluorescent and two LED flood lights. Need to get rid of the main light

 

[si_c]

We're LED all over the house, except my garage. I've got the fluorescent and two LED flood lights. Need to get rid of the main light

Same, we have smart bulbs for the most part as we can set the colour temperature and brightness.

I prefer incandescent lightbulbs for the light they give out though, but it's hard to find them now at a reasonable price (I wanted to hoard some, but Mrs C vetoed that idea).

 

[oxoman]

As an electrician ive been installing LED lights since there introduction and tbh im not that enamoured with them. They don't last as long as the older types of lamps, especially strip lights and industrial lights. Unfortunately they aren't repairable like the older ones either. However the good things are they use less power, better colour rendering, weigh less, more design choice, dont get as hot. One major caveat is you pay for what you get, the cheaper ones dont last long and when they fail it tends to be more spectacular. The more expensive ones tend to last and dont fail so spectacularly. The Led tubes that go into old strip lights seem paticularly good, certainly the ones I've used. Domestic lamps expect 2yrs ish and industrial ones were seeing 3 to 4yrs life for the better quality ones. Cheap ones 1yr if unlucky.

 

[slowmotion]

We have a whole load of ceiling downlighters which we changed from using halogen to LED bulbs a few years ago. Shortly after we changed, my wife got a phone call from London Electricity asking why our electricity consumption had slumped. A 7 watt LED bulb gives out roughly the same amount of light as a 50 watt halogen.

The only downside is that its very hard to get LED lamps with a sufficiently low colour temperature that seems "warm". I complained to our kitchen designer that our kitchen looked like an autopsy room because of the harsh lighting she had specified. The comment didn't go down too well.

 

[classic33]

As an electrician ive been installing LED lights since there introduction and tbh im not that enamoured with them. They don't last as long as the older types of lamps, especially strip lights and industrial lights. Unfortunately they aren't repairable like the older ones either. However the good things are they use less power, better colour rendering, weigh less, more design choice, dont get as hot. One major caveat is you pay for what you get, the cheaper ones dont last long and when they fail it tends to be more spectacular. The more expensive ones tend to last and dont fail so spectacularly. The Led tubes that go into old strip lights seem paticularly good, certainly the ones I've used. Domestic lamps expect 2yrs ish and industrial ones were seeing 3 to 4yrs life for the better quality ones. Cheap ones 1yr if unlucky.

Any idea of the flash rate of a "steady" tube/strip light compared to the fluorescent tubes they're replacing?

 

[Dave7]

We have a whole load of ceiling downlighters which we changed from using halogen to LED bulbs a few years ago. Shortly after we changed, my wife got a phone call from London Electricity asking why our electricity consumption had slumped. A 7 watt LED bulb gives out roughly the same amount of light as a 50 watt halogen.

The only downside is that its very hard to get LED lamps with a sufficiently low colour temperature that seems "warm". I complained to our kitchen designer that our kitchen looked like an autopsy room because of the harsh lighting she had specified. The comment didn't go down too well.

That is true. As I mentioned, Mr Google warned me that 4500 lumens would be too clinical. Having got the 3000 lumens I can understand what you & they mean.
The garage is a big improvement as it simply needs to be light but the lounge is more critical and needs the right balance.

 

[Dave7]

@oxoman is there any way of determining which ones are "better quality" ie i could pay double what i have paid but personally would be none the wiser

 

[roubaixtuesday]

They don't last as long as the older types of lamps,

IME for domestic lights they last way longer than any kind of incandescent.

Changing bulbs used to be a regular occurrence, now it's unusual.

 

[fossyant]

That is true. As I mentioned, Mr Google warned me that 4500 lumens would be too clinical. Having got the 3000 lumens I can understand what you & they mean.
The garage is a big improvement as it simply needs to be light but the lounge is more critical and needs the right balance.

It's not lumens, it's the colour temperature (Kelvin). 3000 is warm white, 4500 'cool' white. Lumen is the light level

 

[fossyant]

IME for domestic lights they last way longer than any kind of incandescent.

Changing bulbs used to be a regular occurrence, now it's unusual.

We find that with our candle bulbs' in the lounge - never replaced a LED, but the old bulbs would blow at least monthly. One thing we have had is failure of the light fittings. We've bought a fair few from BIL/SIL as they run a lighting shop, mainly to help them out. These weren't cheap, but everyone has failed in the space of a few years - e.g. in-built LED's burning out, light unit power flickering, and one just not working as intended (craft light - BIL specced up drivers/dimmer etc and it never worked properly. I ended up replacing stuff via B&Q or Amazon, for far less money, and probably came from the same factory.

 

[Dave7]

It's not lumens, it's the colour temperature (Kelvin). 3000 is warm white, 4500 'cool' white. Lumen is the light level

So.....if I have this right.......
Although lumens are the light level, if I opted for 4500 then it gives me 'cool white' ?
Therefore I can't have brighter/lighter without it being cool/clinical.
In which case, it's the same result.
If, as I say, I have it right.

 

[fossyant]

The Led tubes that go into old strip lights seem paticularly good, certainly the ones I've used.

Any recommendations ? I replaced the whole unit in the kitchen as it was ugly - the LED one is very neat. This isn't needed in the garage. I assume the new tubes are a straight fit - do you leave the starter in ?

Edit, for older fittings, there is a replacement starter/ballast that you insert instead.

 

[oxoman]

@oxoman is there any way of determining which ones are "better quality" ie i could pay double what i have paid but personally would be none the wiser

Trial and error tbh. Older manufacturers like Osram, Phillips are OK, some of the ones pushed by diy giants aren't the best. I've found Aurora strip lights to be very good compared to others. The cheaper ones soon develop dark or dead spots. The aurora ones you can adjust various settings to give warmth and brightness.

 

[oxoman]

So.....if I have this right.......
Although lumens are the light level, if I opted for 4500 then it gives me 'cool white' ?
Therefore I can't have brighter/lighter without it being cool/clinical.
In which case, it's the same result.
If, as I say, I have it right.

You can get strip / batten fittings that are adjustable on the internal driver, thats the bit that controls the leds. Spotlight type GU10 lamps come in different colours from 2700k to 6000k which is basically a warm light to a harsh intense white light.