LED in the house

Jay Barracato

Jay Barracato

Graduate Student
Jan 11, 2011
1,528
5
38
Solomons MD
I had already converted most of my house over from incandescent bulbs to mini flourescents. The only remaining bulbs were the little 25 watt bulbs in the vanity lights in the bathrooms. So today a bought a set of mini LED's to fit them. The light quality looks fine to me (They are only for looking at myself in the mirror, no light source other than darkness is going to help that).

They have a five year warranty for replacement unpon presenting proof of purchase.

Are they for real? I recently had an extended search for a title to my truck (replaced at dmv) and the warranty for my ac system in the house (fortunately the installer had the records) and I am susposed to keep track of the receipt for a lightbulb? And even if I did keep track of it, what receipt printed on thermal paper is still going to be legible after 5 years?

On the other hand, the throwaway nature of our consumer products hit home when I took an entire load of obsolete/unworking/unfixable computer gear/dvd/vcr players etc.to the dump.
 
Re: LED in the house

Jay Barracato said:
I had already converted most of my house over from incandescent bulbs to mini flourescents. The only remaining bulbs were the little 25 watt bulbs in the vanity lights in the bathrooms. So today a bought a set of mini LED's to fit them. The light quality looks fine to me (They are only for looking at myself in the mirror, no light source other than darkness is going to help that).

They have a five year warranty for replacement unpon presenting proof of purchase.

Are they for real? I recently had an extended search for a title to my truck (replaced at dmv) and the warranty for my ac system in the house (fortunately the installer had the records) and I am susposed to keep track of the receipt for a lightbulb? And even if I did keep track of it, what receipt printed on thermal paper is still going to be legible after 5 years?
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and I doubt they are serial numbered.. if they don't change their design in 5 years you could just go buy more and return the old ones indefinitely. they're clearly counting on everyone losing the receipt.

Jason
 
Re: LED in the house

I've changed out some of the higher wattage bulbs that are on timer or stay on more often with LED bulbs. They seem to be doing alright and the color is ok, in fact it is far better than the awful CFL types we have had to choose from during the past eight years or so.

We have some designer globe lights around the house that don't have appropriate LED bulbs available yet, in some cases the LED bulbs are too large to fit into the globe. Maybe in the future they will come out with "soft white" LED globe bulbs which aren't ugly and could be substituted for the original white translucent globes. In this day with the lack of style and cheap crap, I won't be holding my breath. So right now my goal isn't to replace everything, but just the higher wattage and most used lights, as is practical.

So far not too bad. I am not certain about LED longevity though, as this is a somewhat recent change for me and still an experiment in the works. I don't care how long they last under laboratory conditions, I care about how they last in my house under my conditions. If the LEDs burn out sooner than indicated, then for my patience and my money I wouldn't hesitate to go back to using all incandescent bulbs.

Florescent (CFL) is a no-go for me. The marginal savings are not that important to me, compared to the poor quality of light they put out.
 
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Re: LED in the house

My complaint with the LEDs still is polar pattern.

The CFLs I agree are horrible, the "daylight" ones are blue and the normal ones are yellow. I have some hope having just seen that GE is now offering Reveal brand CFLs, but since the damn things last so long I may not find out if they are any good until 2020. I have compromised with conventional bulbs in my "office" and CFLs most everywhere else.
 
I guess I mind ugly light less then I mind having to remember to buy and then change lightbulbs.

I did have a job in college where I worked for a general contractor who had a maintenance contract with one of the sorority houses and part of my duties included checking all of the bulbs once a week.
 
Re: LED in the house

Jay Barracato said:
I had already converted most of my house over from incandescent bulbs to mini flourescents. The only remaining bulbs were the little 25 watt bulbs in the vanity lights in the bathrooms. So today a bought a set of mini LED's to fit them. The light quality looks fine to me (They are only for looking at myself in the mirror, no light source other than darkness is going to help that).

They have a five year warranty for replacement unpon presenting proof of purchase.

Are they for real? I recently had an extended search for a title to my truck (replaced at dmv) and the warranty for my ac system in the house (fortunately the installer had the records) and I am susposed to keep track of the receipt for a lightbulb? And even if I did keep track of it, what receipt printed on thermal paper is still going to be legible after 5 years?

On the other hand, the throwaway nature of our consumer products hit home when I took an entire load of obsolete/unworking/unfixable computer gear/dvd/vcr players etc.to the dump.
Click to expand...

Last time I bought lightbulbs for my home I got the "energy save kind" and I decided to spring for the expensive ones from Osram. They had a 5 year warranty.

When they started dying after 1,5 years I decided to try out the warranty. I actually had the receipt for a couple of them, and they don't have a serial number.

Turns out, the exact kind I bought is no longer available, and the "replacement" has some limitations on the box: Maximum number of operationg hours per day, etc, etc. And I have to prove how I used them!
No new lightbulbs for me and just a waste of extra money. I just decided to never buy anything from Osram again unless I really have to.
 
Re: LED in the house

Jay Barracato said:
I guess I mind ugly light less then I mind having to remember to buy and then change lightbulbs.

I did have a job in college where I worked for a general contractor who had a maintenance contract with one of the sorority houses and part of my duties included checking all of the bulbs once a week.
Click to expand...

How many electricians does it take to change a light bulb in a sorority house? All of them.
 
Re: LED in the house

Jay Barracato said:
I guess I mind ugly light less then I mind having to remember to buy and then change lightbulbs.

I did have a job in college where I worked for a general contractor who had a maintenance contract with one of the sorority houses and part of my duties included checking all of the bulbs once a week.[/QUOTE ]

I guess, given the customer, no one gave a second thought to group re-lamping. Normally, that can save a ton of money, but sometimes it just isn't about the money.
Click to expand...
 
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