LED Lights

Ian

Ian

Notorious member
I have mixed feelings about LED replacements for incandescent fixtures. We have high failure rates among all our fixtures and table lamps regardless of type. We tried Philips, GE, and Ecotech and they're all a crap shoot. Three months to two years is about the average, so we just buy the cheapest on sale (usially Ecotech at the Homestore, $27/case for the 60-watt equivalents) and replace as needed.

I do like that with LEDs I can put a 60-watt bulb in a 15-watt fixture such as a grinder light and it not Chernobyl on me if I leave it on for an hour.
 
Rick

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
That's pretty odd, it's been what 5 years now since they became widely available. Every single bulb in my house is LED, interior and exterior since then and I've had exactly one go bad. Master bath has a three bulb fixture and one of the bulbs started flickering, thought it might loose so I grabbed it to give it a twist, bad plan cause it was hotter %^&*. Not good, LED's do get warm but never hot. Replaced it and all has been good in the 2-3 years since.
 
P

popper

Well-Known Member
LED lites use a down converter to get DC from 120 AC. That is usually the part that goes bad, just like the 'solid state' converters in FL replacements. Can't take the heat or line surges.. As well as being made who-knows-where in asia. Ones with the LEDs on a filament wire inside the bulb don't take vibration or shock well either. I replaced 4 FL tubes in the kitchen with LED strips, 2 still work, one flickers and one is off - converter problem.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
We have pretty clean power but do have occasional blips and probably some spikes during frequent thunderstorms. Our LED failure rate is probably 50% over 3-4 years. CFLs usually lasted at least the seven years as advertised, most are going on ten years of long use per day or even 15 or more short cycles per day with good results. I'm slow to replace them all just yet.
 
Bret4207

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I do like LEDs as far as light quality in the shop or barn, usually. Maybe it's a personal thing, but I don't like LED for reading, too "white" IMO. I prefer the warmer "yellow" light from incandescent lamps for reading. I also like that they come on in the cold. Nothing like having a light that refuses to work at 40 below when you need it most. Some CFLs did that, others didn't. Didn't like the curly-que CFLs at all. I also still use a lot of fairly low watt incandescents, 25 and 40 or 60 watt. The 25's sit in a fixture in a dead freezer to keep rust away from my moulds and the others are used to keep water drops (faucets) from freezing up. A simple 3 sided wood box type affair with an old coat hung over it keeps them working. LED's don't produce enough heat for that job.
 
RicinYakima

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
Well, you guys jinxed me! The first LED I bought for the house, 60 watt flood over the kitchen sink, burned out yesterday.
 
KeithB

KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
I've noticed that I get some "dazzle" from using an LED flashlight to read my Starret satin finished scales. Hard to describe - I like using incandescent flashlights just for this purpose. Doesn't seem to be a problem with overall LED lighting, just beam type lights on a particular metal finish.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
There is such thing as "too much light". Many of the LED pen lights have an extremely notchy spectrum that is heavy on the blue and my theory is it overloads the retina in a narrow spectrum...also the instant-on from a dim background catches our pupils while they are dilated.
 
462

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
Seems to me that conventional flashlights throw their beams much further.
 
smokeywolf

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
Bret4207 said:
Maybe it's a personal thing, but I don't like LED for reading, too "white" IMO. I prefer the warmer "yellow" light from incandescent lamps for reading.
Click to expand...
Bret, the "too white" that you speak of is produced by the higher Kelvin temperature (color temperature) bulbs; usually 4,000 to 5,000 degrees Kelvin. Just shop for the 2,700 to 3,000 degree Kelvin bulbs. 3,000 degree Kelvin is considered "soft white" and 2,700*K is considered as "warm white". Those should mimic your incandescent bulbs.

I started working with LEDs in the late '90s as a light source for transferring images from film to film and film to the digital environment.
 
smokeywolf

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
462 said:
Seems to me that conventional flashlights throw their beams much further.
Click to expand...
462, I think I agree with you for the most part. While my best flashlight is halogen (not at all a blue-white light) and uses the little cr123 batteries, a bluer light seems to reveal more detail. I'll bet the other gents who spent some time in law enforcement remember the "Blue Eye Beam" spotlights that were on our patrol cars.
 
Bret4207

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I'll tell you this much as far as flashlights go- LED kicks butt in that area! I carried a 7 "D" cell Mag Lite (affectionately known as "Thumper") for most of 22 years as a Trooper. I paid big $ for it back then and it went through bulbs like crazy. OTOH, a couple years back I picked up a right angle, military looking lite at Tractor Supply for $14.00. That little sucker is at least 10X brighter than any Mag Lite type from back in the day and the bean shines much, much farther. I truly wish I'd had such a light when I was working instead of the relatively dim, battery and bulb eating Mag Lite for 99% of the stuff I needed a light for. The other 1% was using the Mag Lite as a baton and in that job it certainly excelled, hence, "Thumper". I've since picked up 2 more of the right angle LED jobs and use them for just about anything that requires a light. They're just superb flashlights IMO.
 
Gary

Gary

SE Kansas
Gotta tell ya, for over the bench lighting, the $29.99 shop light sold by HF far exceeds my expectations. I now have one hanging over my Lathe and it's fantastic for what I need. I usually buy one or two when they are on sale for the price of $19.99 .
 
smokeywolf

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
Been there and done that Bret. Carried a 3 cell Mag Lite in the sap pocket of my uniform pants. Always made sure I had a spare bulb in the tail-cap and spare batteries in my Halliburton case.
 
wquiles

wquiles

Well-Known Member
Oh man, one of my favorite subjects: LED's. I have been modifying and hot-roding flashlights with LED's since about 2005. Being that I am a EE, the electronics part was not that bad, but it was modding the flashlights that got me into home machining:
LED modding guide from 2009

I also wrote guides on how to help others machine the 1xD LED lights:
Making a 1xD

Even submitted a patent for an LED variable-speed dimming system (I still have the ONE working prototype!):
MagnetoDrive

So as you can imagine, I have also been replacing most everything with LED's over the years, and I am almost exclusively LED everywhere in the house, garage, etc.. Switching to LED's can't happen fast enough ;)

Will
 
smokeywolf

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
Will, what type of LED lamps are you using in your machine shop (tubes? floods? arrays?)? We just moved and I have to re-light a 500 sq. ft. machine shop and a 300 sq. ft. reloading room (former garage bay).
 
Bret4207

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
For anyone interested, Harbor Freight has their LED lights, 4 footer IIRC, on sale for $19.99 right now. Good units.
 
wquiles

wquiles

Well-Known Member
smokeywolf said:
Will, what type of LED lamps are you using in your machine shop (tubes? floods? arrays?)? We just moved and I have to re-light a 500 sq. ft. machine shop and a 300 sq. ft. reloading room (former garage bay).
Click to expand...

I have been using these from Sams:
Honeywell LED 4' Linkable Shop Light

The last one I got was a dimmable version of the same, where each time you pull the string it changes: Off -> Max -> Med -> Low -> back to be ing Off, etc.. They all work great, but to be honest, I like the plain ON/OFF since on the dimmable version, to turn OFF I have to do more "work" to get to the darn OFF state ;)
 
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