3-way LED light bulbs finally

[WestCoastGal]

We were in Home Depot looking for some gardening stuff yesterday and I was mentioning to my husband that it would be nice if there were 3-way LED lightbulbs out there. A HD sales person overheard us talking and said there were. In fact he was just starting to unpack them.

We had installed CREE LED recessed floodlights in our kitchen during our remodel a few years back and love them. These new 3-ways are also from CREE. Bought 2 for our bedside lamps where we love having different light levels available. Not cheap, as expected. Think they were $20 something but came in soft white 30/60/100 replacements, using 3/8/18 watts (brightness in lumens: 320/820/1620). Very little heat generated. These were not dimmable. However while we were there we did see some new, interestingly-shaped LED bulb replacements by Phillips that were dimmable. They were tube-shaped and followed the contour of a regular lightbulb shape. Weird looking, but they had one on display in a lamp and it looked pretty good in color and again liked that it was dimmable.

[_Keith]

I made the switch to CFL early and completely. I did see the result on my electric bill. The savings on LED as compared with the increased cost is tough and probably doesn't make sense economically if already on CFL technology. I am making the change to LED by attrition, because those babies are pricey indeed.

[spockvr6]

I made the switch to CFL early and completely. I did see the result on my electric bill. The savings on LED as compared with the increased cost is tough and probably doesn't make sense economically if already on CFL technology. I am making the change to LED by attrition, because those babies are pricey indeed.

Yes they are pricey Keith.

My house was built in the late 70's, so it is loaded with 4ft 40W T12 fluorescents. Since a number of the ballasts are on the noisy side (and some are burned out), Im going to start converting them all to LED. There are a couple of options for this, but neither is cheap! The way I am leaning is using LED T12 "lookalikes" where the LED lamp plugs into the same lampholders as the old T12 bulbs (but the power wiring is simply removed from the ballast input and wired to the lampholder). The catch is each T12 drop in LED bulb is $40-50. So, the realistic payback on such a project, for the projects sake alone, doesnt make perfect financial sense, but as you say, if attritrion drives a replacement anyway, it creates a convenient opportunity to make the leap.

As with any new technology though.....with time the prices on LED will drop drop drop. But for now, competing with a 50 cent incandescent bulb for a residential application (where run hours are limited) is impossible.

The thing I am having a harder time with is PV (solar panels). I have the perfect scenario (flat roof, southern exposure, no shading), but am choking on the up front costs as I consider the project. Including the Federal tax incentive, the ROI is ~15 years down here.

Edited August 26, 2014 by spockvr6

[Funkthulhu]

I will say I was sold on the LED bulbs when I saw they were small enough to fit in a very tight sided 2-bulb fixture in our foyer. Knowing I'll likely never have to get out a ladder to replace them again is worth paying 4 bucks a bulb! (snagged on clearance)

[WestCoastGal]

We had a perfectly fine incadescent recessed floodlight ceiling in our kitchen a few years back, but when we went to remodel we were required to meet current code on the lighting (even though we originally had no plans to touch the ceiling) so got forced into changing things out then. I have hated CFL or any fluorescent for that matter, sensitive to the light quality, sometimes fluctuations in light. At that point in time a few years ago CREE was "just" starting to sell their residential flood LEDs. CFL are higher wattage in comparison plus still incorporate mercury in them so we decided to go LED and reluctantly bite the bullet cost wise. However cost wasn't the only hurdle.

Back then we found red colored things were a bit off in color with CREEs LEDs, but overall we found the light color quality to be pleasant. We added a few incadescent halogen mini spots for artwork on the side walls where it was important to us but re-did the whole kitchen with CREEs LED floods. Our lighting person who was very much an LED leader among lighting shops around here, mentioned that he had just seen that CREE had also started selling eyeball fixtures as well for the LEDs so we pretty much got a great product comparable to incadescent at that time. We also were able to get compatible dimmers for them which took some research as products were only beginning to get tested for compatibility back then. It was frustrating to be on the cusp of new technology.

Back during our remodel, lighting code only recognized the use of CFLs to save energy, but we were able to get our LEDs with a few halogen fixtures approved because of the wattage savings of the LEDs. There was some formula we had to meet. Of course we knew the prices would come down on the LEDs we bought, which they did, but there wasn't much we could really do about it. Neither one of us regrets using the CREE LEDs at all though. Figure at some point we will replace the rest of the house's recessed floods with LEDs as they burn out in an area so the look is consistent. We've used LED "halogen" bulbs where we felt we could as well. Apart from the electrical cost savings, I really did notice the difference in heat generated in rooms with the floods especially in summer. Sure we saved on a/c as a result.

I saw that CREE also has the tube LED replacements coming out at the residential level. Hadn't seen any pricing on them yet. We only have tubes in our garage so doubt we would replace those. Had we tried to do our remodel a year earlier we would have been stuck with CFLs and hating the money we spent on CFL specific fixtures. We went LED on our BBQ overhead lighting and at other outdoor areas. When we do our landscape lighting it will be LED as well. The 3-way LED lamp bulb though has been something I have wanted for a long time.

[_Keith]

I have not had success with dimable LEDs on our stove hood. After 2 different brands both clearly labeled as "dimmable" I gave up. They flicker on low. Still went with the LED, just only use bright setting now. And its no big deal as they use so little energy.

[WestCoastGal]

Ah yes, that was something we encountered as well on our kitchen LED floods. I think when we were seeking a Lutron dimmer for our kitchen LEDs, we checked out Lutron's spec sheets on dimming different manufacturers bulbs. As I recall there was a varying % range between LED bulbs. The CREE we had could be dimmed to 20% before encountering flickering. We were able to work around the flickering issue with our Lutron wall switches and could program in the lowest point the lights could be dimmed so you never went below that unless you turned them off. Believe the only LED bulb rated to go to all the way down when dimmed and not flicker was for a commercial application. We made our decision on what bulb to buy based on color quality. There was also a minimum/maximum load for the dimmer itself as well that needed to be observed. When you are using just LEDs that minimum can be hard to reach sometimes because the wattage is so low. Although maybe by now they have lower rated dimmer switches out there. We resolved one of our runs by adding the halogen fixtures to the run. Hubby remembers more of this than I do.

I know when we bought our LED BBQ light fixtures and wanted to put them on a dimmer just this past fall, the Leviton dimmer we bought to work with our dimmable LEDs had an adjustment for the minimum as well. Think it was called trim and is adjusted on parts that are behind the plate. Once set, the dimming lever can't force the bulb to dim below that point. You don't want to run your LEDs so low but not "off" that you can't tell if they are still drawing power...shortens the life? So despite the several years between kitchen remodel and the BBQ, the same issues still exist.

Keith I'm assuming your vent hood light is either at off, low or a high setting and not really dimmed per se with a controller. Really more of a two-way bulb when a halogen is used. I still run halogens in our vent hood and the low setting is nice for sort of a nightlight when watching TV across from the kitchen.