Author Topic: Improving Home Lighting  (Read 3640 times)

billt

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Improving Home Lighting
« on: June 22, 2016, 06:45:07 AM »
Some years back I replaced most all of our incandescent light bulbs with CFL's. The problem was at the time the only type they had were the "Soft White" color bulbs. These are the ones that give off a yellowish cast of light. They were OK, but never seemed to be bright enough regardless of the wattage.

While I was going to Home Depot during this whole bathroom remodeling project, Mel asked me to pick up some more bulbs because we were out. I found out purely by accident they now come in 3 different shades. "Soft White", "Daylight", and "Bright White". I bought the "Bright White" one's, and what a difference!

They gave off over twice the light, (lumens), in comparison in the same wattage bulb. It made so much of a difference I ended up replacing all of the bulbs in the house with the "Bright White" models, and even went to a higher wattage. It made an unbelievable difference in the whole overall interior lighting of the house. So much so I even replaced my pool lights with them. They're not only brighter, but the quality of light is much better and easier on the eyes.

We also had an old builder grade, canister type fixture over the kitchen sink, that was getting yellow from age, so I replaced it with a nice brushed Stainless and glass globe fixture, and put a bright white CLF in it. It was unbelievable how much it improved the lighting in the whole kitchen. Out here in the Summer it get's so hot in the afternoon, you want to keep Sunlight entering the home to a minimum. Or else it can really raise the temp inside the house, and your A/C will have to work much harder to keep up. So having good interior lighting is all that much more important.

And that brings up another good point with these. These newer model bright white bulbs burn much cooler to the touch after they've been on for a while, than the older soft white bulbs I had. When you figure how many bulbs you have in the entire house, that makes a big difference in helping to keep things cool. No doubt the ballasts in these newer bright white bulbs are much more efficient than they were several years ago when I first bought the soft white bulbs.

Another thing is these type of bulbs are getting cheap as hell now. While the LED bulbs are still quite pricey. Most of the LED's they had on display were nowhere near as bright, and had that yellowish cast like my old CFL's did. So until they get cheaper and brighter, I took a pass on them. I do have one LED in a 3-Way lamp I have, but that's it. This whole deal didn't cost much at all. Even with the new kitchen fixture it was just over $100.00 for everything. And as my eyes get worse with age, it has made a huge difference! Do it and you'll see things in your house you probably never noticed before.

PegLeg45

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Re: Improving Home Lighting
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2016, 09:47:16 AM »
I'm systematically switching over to LEDs as they get cheaper.
Better color, lower energy consumption, and practically no heat.
"I expect perdition, I always have. I keep this building at my back, and several guns handy, in case perdition arrives in a form that's susceptible to bullets. I expect it will come in the disease form, though. I'm susceptible to diseases, and you can't shoot a damned disease." ~ Judge Roy Bean, Streets of Laredo

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billt

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Re: Improving Home Lighting
« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2016, 10:11:38 AM »
I'm systematically switching over to LEDs as they get cheaper.
Better color, lower energy consumption, and practically no heat.

The 3-Way LED I have gets REALLY HOT! In fact, on the highest setting, it will burn you to the point of getting a blister, if you touch the base of the bulb, by the ballast. On the first 2 settings it stays a lot cooler, but it doesn't put out much light. I paid $21.00 for it. It was the only 3-Way bulb that Home Depot had in stock at the time. It's a Phillips. The last one I had was a Cree, and it didn't last all of 3 months before it went out.

PegLeg45

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Re: Improving Home Lighting
« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2016, 10:28:05 AM »
I don't use the 3-ways bulbs. In the lamp next to my computer I have a cheap 40w Utilitech LED I got at Lowes back around Christmas. It runs all the time when we are home......we use it as a nite-light for the living room and it burns in the daytime over the computer so I can see the keyboard. It gets warm at the base, but I can hold my fingertips on it at length without discomfort, and there is no radiant heat at all.
"I expect perdition, I always have. I keep this building at my back, and several guns handy, in case perdition arrives in a form that's susceptible to bullets. I expect it will come in the disease form, though. I'm susceptible to diseases, and you can't shoot a damned disease." ~ Judge Roy Bean, Streets of Laredo

For the Patriots of this country, the Constitution is second only to the Bible for most. For those who love this country, but do not share my personal beliefs, it is their Bible. To them nothing comes before the Constitution of these United States of America. For this we are all labeled potential terrorists. ~ Dean Garrison

"When it comes to the enemy, just because they ain't pullin' a trigger, doesn't mean they ain't totin' ammo for those that are."~PegLeg

Big Frank

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Re: Improving Home Lighting
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2016, 02:00:52 PM »
Some people complain about the bright white CFLs being artificially white while soft whites are supposed to be closer to the color of sunlight but not as good as daylight bulbs. I don't know for sure as I've never used any of the bright white bulbs. There are a couple places in my house they would probably work well but those still have incandescents.
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Re: Improving Home Lighting
« Reply #5 on: Today at 10:53:44 PM »

alfsauve

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Re: Improving Home Lighting
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2016, 08:30:07 PM »
Working in theater supply for a while, we carried 17 different color correcting tubes for florescent lamps.   17 different shades.   Now that probably didn't cover the "party" lamps.

Generally florescent tubes have slight green shift.  I've never liked them and especially don't like the CFLs. 

Like others have been converting to LEDs as I find them on sale.  Cree's tend to fail often and early.   So I try to stick with Philips.   You can get them in a number of color temps.  3,000 - 3,700K for that "warm" Marshellete feel.  Or 5,600K for the stark white, 3rd degree, Marshal, "what are you doing with my woman" feeling.

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Rastus

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Re: Improving Home Lighting
« Reply #6 on: June 23, 2016, 06:21:36 AM »
I have never liked the fluorescent lights.  Like Alf said there are different color temps for bulbs.  I like the LED's to be  around 3,500-3,800k which is much like the incandescent light bulbs we all grew up with.  Those higher ones over 4,000 get a bluish tinge and get harsher as they go up. 

I have never had a CFL last as long as it was supposed to.  I have also had issues with LED life in earlier generations.  They do better now though and I've switched to LED's to keep down the usage and my old self from changing bulbs on a incandescent regular basis. 

Still some work to be done on LED's and I think there is potential to achieve better.  Keep some incandescent bulbs around if you have a generator and are thinking EMP may be in our future some day......   
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billt

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Re: Improving Home Lighting
« Reply #7 on: June 23, 2016, 07:09:45 AM »
I have never had a CFL last as long as it was supposed to.  I have also had issues with LED life in earlier generations......  Still some work to be done on LED's and I think there is potential to achieve better....

When I first switched to CFL's I had a lot of bad one's. I took them back at the time because they were expensive. ($15.00 @ 4 pack). Now they're much cheaper and last far longer. With that said, I still save all my receipts in case they prematurely fail. I only had one of the bright white CFL's fail, and that was in the first 5 minutes. I took it back and got a new one, and have not had any issues since. Even in my garage door opener that cycles on and off every 5 minutes when the door is raised or lowered.

The new bright white one's I installed I let "burn in" for a few hours after first installing them. I think that helps with any ballast driven fluorescent bulb. As I said, for me it really helped improve the overall lighting in the whole house. Those "soft white" CFL's were just too yellow. They made everything look "dingy". Also, the bright white CFL's are much better to work in the kitchen, or read by.

LED's will get better. Just look at the brightness level they've achieved in weapons lighting. But the cost is still much too high, and the light output in relationship to the cost for many of the home bulbs just isn't there yet. In time it will be. I would guess in another 10 years or so, with all the technology they're investing, LED's will overtake the market just as soon as they get cheap and bright enough.

When I replaced my 3-Way LED after the first one took a dump, the guy at Home Depot told me not to run it for long at the highest setting. He said it will last far longer. So far he's been right. But it's silly to have to pay over $20.00 for a damn light bulb, then not be able to use it the way it's supposedly designed. Again, all of this will improve as the technology gets better.

billt

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Re: Improving Home Lighting
« Reply #8 on: June 23, 2016, 07:32:39 AM »
Some people complain about the bright white CFLs being artificially white while soft whites are supposed to be closer to the color of sunlight but not as good as daylight bulbs. I don't know for sure as I've never used any of the bright white bulbs. There are a couple places in my house they would probably work well but those still have incandescents.

What I've found is the "Soft White" bulbs are actually the least comparable to bright afternoon Arizona sunlight. The are way too yellow. The "Daylight" version of the same is somewhat better, and pretty close to the "Bright White" bulbs, that I've found are the closest to having all of your drapes and blinds wide open.

Now, I will say if you happen to live in the Midwest, where on a lot of days you have Sunlight filtered through light overcast, then perhaps the "Soft White" CFL's are a better match to outdoor light. We rarely see overcast here in Arizona.

 

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