Comments on: LED bulbs are ready to light your home – 7 tips you should know

By: eccles11

eccles11 — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 01:28:00 +0000

If you are concerned about vitamin D levels, go outside in the sun for 15 minutes, or eat some fish, or if you live somewhere where they put vitamin d in the milk. Drink milk. Unless you are a vegan living in Iceland, there are plenty of opportunities to get enough vitamin D.

By: Brittany Davis

Brittany Davis — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 19:12:00 +0000

aren’t uvb rays what your body uses to produce vitamin d?

By: Greg Seaman

Greg Seaman — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 01:57:00 +0000

Larry, you have touched on one of the unresolved issues with LEDs. The dirver determines the degree and frequency of any flicker, and higher quality bulbs have better drivers, although this is an oversimplification. Dimmer circuits are another cause of flicker, with some LEDs working just fine on a dimmer while others produce a marked flicker.
Here is an article that explains this in detail and offers some suggestions.
http://www.digikey.com/us/en/techzone/lighting/resources/articles/characterizing-and-minimizing-led-flicker.html

By: Harsha Murthy

Harsha Murthy — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 07:14:00 +0000

I agree with you, the LED lighting will be the future for the lighting, and they are economical and eco friendly. Thanks for sharing

By: LC

LC — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 15:14:00 +0000

Interesting article, not complete though. As most of you know LED light bulbs and tubes are made by a mass multitude of companies. Some claim 25,000 hours of life, to as high as 50,000 hour. Make sure that what you are buying has a .ies files showing that independent testing certifies the LED light source is tested to reach this kind of light life. Basically you’ll want to see a LM-79 and LM 80 report on the LED. Well engineered lighting will have consistent color, and a CRI (Color Rendering Index) of 85 or better. High CRI number to a max of 100 will dictate the colors you see are all there. Most CFL can’t get there. And a lot of LED’s sold barely reach 80. Lumen efficiency has reached the 200 lumens per watt already. This is not seen in LED lighting commercially as of yet, and if you check your local store for LED bulbs, most barely go over 60 lumens per watt. The life of a LED is directly related to operating temperatures of the LED PN junction, most 25, 000 hour bulbs are driven hard to achieve their light output. You’ll see they run hot, 120 degrees F or higher. Put them into an enclosed fixture and life will be diminished. It would be nice to test bulbs before you buy them to see if they would last.
From my own testing over the last 3 years, There is a lot of inferior products being sold to the customer that will disappoint them. Do your research, ask a professional who knows about LED lighting before buying. Safety certification is done independently by the companies who make the LED light sources. Always check the websites to see that the product you are buying is listed on the certifications companies website. If it says UL, go to the UL site. Other safety certification companies include, CSA, ETL, TUV, MET, and CE.

By: Shar Hunter

Shar Hunter — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 21:24:00 +0000

You should try the new free app called LightSmart. It helps you calculate the savings of switching from incandescent to HID or CFL or LED. It’s free for the iPad and iPhone from the iTunes store. It also has a cool function that lets you take a pic of a room in your home and change the lighting to see how it would look with a different light source.

By: Ruby

Ruby — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:32:00 +0000

are LED bulbs also full spectrum? I recently came across these types of lightbulbs….finding good lighting seems to get more complicated.

By: George Pepper

George Pepper — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:14:00 +0000

I take using LED bulbs for granted now, which is a good thing. You can install them and forget about them knowing you will not have to change them for a long time. UPVC Windows can also save you a lot of $$$$

By: David

David — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 02:05:54 +0000

Thanks for the info … i love how simple it can be to make a difference

By: roland hayden

roland hayden — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 07:11:00 +0000

Thanks for the info, it will save energy and help the climate.

By: Gary Marshall

Gary Marshall — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 02:10:33 +0000

LEDs are going to turn out to be one the the biggest longterm difference makers when it comes to climate change.

By: Mike Ding

Mike Ding — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:49:42 +0000

I agree with you,the LED lighting will be the future for the lighting,and the technology will be better,and solve the present questions of the LED bulb,like the heat dissipation of the led lamp,it is may shorten the life span of the leds,but it is better now.

By: john niles

john niles — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 17:19:00 +0000

I’m ready to take the plunge to LED after reading this. Entire home now CFL and the savings are clear. But LED sounds like the best move all around.

By: Morris

Morris — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 10:02:00 +0000

Now I am thinking seriously about the cost effectiveness and safety of these LEDs that are not that expensive to buy but can save a lot of money and won’t contribute to global affect that conventional bulbs and energy savers does. Thanks a lot.

By: frugalinterior

frugalinterior — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 13:08:25 +0000

I recently wrote a small bit about bulbs and switching from CFL's on my website so was thrilled to see this article. Lots of great info here. I think the standardized packaging is good news however listing "lumens" only will be confusing to folks at first. I liked the chart above showing the equivalence between watts and lumens. If the price-point goes down, I could see more people switching over. I'm anxious to get all my lighting to LED as others are replaced. There are special dimmers created specifically for LED and Halogens which many people may not be aware of and which was briefly pointed out here. From what I've read, current dimmers will work but there may be noise or interference in the lighting or switch (which is always a concern). I would definitely switch mine just for peace of mind. I'm always weary of unfamiliar name-brand bulbs too. In this case, with LED's being "new" to many, I'd definitely urge them to go with a name you know and trust.