LED Light Bulbs....

[Clarence Martin]

Ok, kind of a dumb question, but seeing as I have never bought or used those new shaped LED lightbulbs, will a regular lamp shade fit over the light bulb or do I have to buy some sort of special frame to fit around the new LED bulb ?? Also , I have heard something about " Cans" for light fixtures, does those LED bulbs burn hotter than the regular incandescent bulbs ?


I wish they still made regular 75 watt bulbs that used 75 watts of electric!!!!

[Bill Orbine]

I have the LED work light that replaced the halogen ones I tossed out. The LED generate very little heat and I can touch the fixture after having them lit all day. You should not be needing to modify your lamp shades to slip over the LED. There has been several LED's that looks like the old bulbs.

[Matt Meiser]

Our new house had incandescent bulbs in nearly every fixture so we bought some LEDs, then more, and more. We're switching completely. We've bought all but some small base bulbs at Costco. Right now they have 60W replacements for $3.99 after instant rebate, limit 10. But the cashier said my wife should check out separate so we can get 20 a trip. I haven't seen any fit issues.

The only thing I may be noticing about them is that the light is a little less difused than a "soft white" bulb of the past making for a bit more shadows in some places.

[Steve Baumgartner]

Yes, the newer LEDs are sufficiently close to the size and shape of traditional incandescents that they will fit older lamps and shades.

Regarding use in "cans", LEDs do generate heat and it has to be carefully dissipated to prevent "thermal runaway" (a hot LED passes more current, which causes it to get hotter, which causes it to pass still more current - until it blows out). Some LEDs are designed with the assumption that there will be air flow around them to dissipate the heat. A "can" *may* block airflow and cause the LED to get hotter than it should, leading to early failure. I have LEDs in the cans in my kitchen, and so far (about a year) they have not burned out.

Why on earth would you want a 75W bulb that consumes 75W instead of one that consumes 12W??

[Brian Elfert]

Why on earth would you want a 75W bulb that consumes 75W instead of one that consumes 12W??

The main objection from most people is the cost of the bulbs. If a 75 watt LED bulb costs $15 you can run a 75 watt bulb for about 1,800 hours for that same $15.

I used a lot of CFLs in my previous house and will probably install mostly LED bulbs in the house I just bought since all the fixtures are getting replaced.

[David Weaver]

We've been using some cree LED bulbs (the ones that *were* expensive but seem to be coming down) and like them. They look like a regular light bulb and the light (in the 2700k version) is nice.

We haven't had the bad luck that others have had with CFLs, though, so they'll be replaced slowly with LEDs. None of our fixtures vibrate and none retain heat, so CFLs have lasted well. Best I can figure, the outside fixture for us has lasted almost double what the CFL ratings say, but it will also get an LED bulb the next time it burns out since they're slightly less wattage.

Anyway, we haven't had any places where the LED bulbs (the cree type) have trouble fitting. I'm glad to see that the prices are really dropping, as we've been getting GE CFLs at sams for 20 cents each, and it didn't make sense to go to LEDs when they were $13.

I noticed visiting my dad last weekend that he has *zero* of anything other than incandescent lights. I have no idea why, but he really hates CFLs! I think juts because he feels like he's being forced to change and he doesn't like government mandate type stuff.

[ken masoumi]

There's still a different glow to LED lights that takes some getting used to specially after having an incandescent light in a heavily trafficked area like in a living room,study room,for a long time,my wife still refuses to to change the light in our living room to LED,she says the led has a "cold glow"!but the rest of the house is already switched to either CFL or LED.

I bought Costco brand (Luminus?") and they only lasted 2 years,then bought Chinese from Ebay at much lower price ,so far they have been excellent.

[Curt Harms]

We've been using some cree LED bulbs (the ones that *were* expensive but seem to be coming down) and like them. They look like a regular light bulb and the light (in the 2700k version) is nice.

We haven't had the bad luck that others have had with CFLs, though, so they'll be replaced slowly with LEDs. None of our fixtures vibrate and none retain heat, so CFLs have lasted well. Best I can figure, the outside fixture for us has lasted almost double what the CFL ratings say, but it will also get an LED bulb the next time it burns out since they're slightly less wattage.

Anyway, we haven't had any places where the LED bulbs (the cree type) have trouble fitting. I'm glad to see that the prices are really dropping, as we've been getting GE CFLs at sams for 20 cents each, and it didn't make sense to go to LEDs when they were $13.

I noticed visiting my dad last weekend that he has *zero* of anything other than incandescent lights. I have no idea why, but he really hates CFLs! I think juts because he feels like he's being forced to change and he doesn't like government mandate type stuff.

Our experience mirrors David's. I prefer the light from LED bulbs to the CFLs we have. We did have one problem though. The Cree bulbs appear to be plastic or a glass/plastic sandwich like safety glass. I grasped one Cree bulb as I'd grasped the others - not hard and it just 'spider webbed' like safety glass will when hit. Didn't shed anything, just many cracks. We returned it to home depot, got a replacement and no problem with any others. That experience does make me wonder how they'd stand up to lamp shades that use two spring loaded round wire hoops on the bulb to hold themselves on, or are those not made anymore?

[mike holden]

Being old, and liking to read; I use mostly 250 watt three way bulbs around the house. Is there anything available yet with over a 100 watt rating in LED bulbs?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I got tired of replacing incandescent bulbs in our porch light so I replaced it with a 40 watt equivalent LED. Just 2 weeks ago we bought a box of 40 watt replacement (8 watt useage IIRC) LEDs that are the decorative globe style for our master bath. We have replaced one and WOW! It is much brighter. My wife can't wait until the others burn out and can be replaced.

I like the LEDs much better than the CFLs! Here's hoping they last much longer! I haven't had much luck with the life span of the CFLs and in cold weather the less than instant illumination when first turned on, even in the house, was a pain and in one case could present some safety issues.

We have been buying ours at Costco.

[Dan Hintz]

Regarding use in "cans", LEDs do generate heat and it has to be carefully dissipated to prevent "thermal runaway" (a hot LED passes more current, which causes it to get hotter, which causes it to pass still more current - until it blows out).

Thermal runaway is only an issue with LEDs that aren't current controlled, which does not describe any design you should find in a home bulb.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I have now switched every bulb in the house to LED and saw a savings of over $100/month, but I live where electricity is $0.55/kWh, so I see the savings a lot quicker than most. I only get the warm white, which is very natural. I hate the bright white. I also added strip lights to my shop, but BEWARE! Don't buy the cheap ones on eBay. They overheat and burn out. The expensive ones are expensive for a reason!

The he newer bulbs mimick the shape of an incandescent, and lamp shades work fine. The newer LED's also put out a lot less heat, which is good if you live in a warm climate.

[Larry Frank]

I have slowly replaced bulbs in my house with the LEDs. I have started on the bulbs that are on the most. I have noticed that some of them seem a lot brighter than the old bulbs. One place I really like them is the garage as they come on even when it is cold as compared to the CFL which at times would not come on. As I run out of bulbs in other places in the house I gradually will replace everything with LED but just to costly to replace everything at once.

[Curt Harms]

Being old, and liking to read; I use mostly 250 watt three way bulbs around the house. Is there anything available yet with over a 100 watt rating in LED bulbs?

I saw one or two at Home Depot recently. I also saw a 3 way LED. I'm feeling (hoping) that dimmer equipped lamps might replace the 3 way bulbs. We haven't had much luck keeping all 3 'speeds' working. I did put one of the dimmable LED floods in a lamp that has the common sliding on/off/dimmer control. It works perfectly.

[julian abram]

I like the LEDs, and have started replacing the CFLs slowly. Always aggravated with the short life span of CFLS. CFLs are advertised to last 5 years, I don't think we ever had a CFL last a full year. Some of that PC mumbo jumbo the politicians fed us to change from incandescent.