led vs cfl light output

SDE

Well-known Member
I replaced two regular bulbs with CFL type of bulbs. They were on sale and rated to replace 60 watt bulbs. I should have gotten higher rated bulbs. I see that the LED lights are $5.88 apiece. Are they brighter that CFLs and do they diffuse the light or are they like a spot light? I want to use them for my garage ceiling lights.
Thank you
SDE
 
I think I would try them out before I bought them. I use quite a few CFLs and changing over to LEDs as funds become available. The efficiency of LEDs is higher than CFLs.
 
I have one cfl and one led.
I wont buy another cfl. They take too long to come on and produce a sickly light.
I like the led. Nice bright, white light and comes on instantly.
It's just a 5 watt though that I use as a night light. I haven't tried one like in the kitchen - but will.
 

I have 2 LEDs and 2 incandescents in a 4 light ceiling fan. The LEDs are rated at 60 watts and very bright. They create the same kind of light as the incandescents. I will be buying more.
 
Cfl bulbs are just aweful. They don't last, they aren't as bright as rated, they contain mercury. Of course they were pushed by the govt....

Led are actually good. Bright, instant on, use less juice, seem more rugged and long lasting.

Paul
 
For an unheated garage, LED would be the way to go. Not only do they start good when cold, you'll never have to drag out your stepladder to change them again.
 
I only go in WAL-MART when I am with my girlfriend. I don't know how much higher they will be in other stores, but I did not want to spend $5.88 on bulbs that I would not be happy with. Your advise sounds with they are a good product.
Thank you
SDE
 
As long as CFL are avaible I will never go to LED. The light from the flashlights that I have is tearable and also the tail and headlight wrap around on cars is also tearable.
 

The must have got better, because the ones I have were awful on light output. The cfls were 10 times brighter.. But I like lots of light in my rooms.
 
I tried two LED bulbs in the recessed lighting array in my living room. They are very bright and put out a warm light just like the incandescents do. The light is nothing like flashlight leds or car headlights. They are also somewhat dim-able. They don't flicker like the CFLs do. I am quite happy with them. I have also put LED bulbs in the kid's lamps for night light use. They also make a nice quality light and only use a couple watts.

On the box there is a "temperature scale" for the light output. These are on the left end of that scale, something like "2700k". I don't pretend to understand why they used that for rating bulbs or what it all means but the ones on the low end of the scale make light that more resembles incandescent bulbs.

I hate CFL bulbs; warm up time, flicker, harsh light quality, don't work well in cold and don't last as long as regular bulbs. The LEDs on the other hand have a future and use even less electricity than CFLs.
 
Although we usually base relate light output to watts, light output from a light source is measured in LUMENS. Try comparing bulbs based on the LUMEN rating. GOOGLE "lumen".
 
I totally agree with Paul. LED's are the thing ! Could last rest of your life.
Prices are coming down. Can get them from 1000bulbs dot com. for less then $5.
 
LED's are here to stay, all vehicle's will/should have LED tailights and marker lights. very low power drain. I think of all the stoplights in this country. high wattage ? ? Leds could cut the power use by 80% ?? Only issue I have is there has to be a power reducing circuit in the base of LED's, convert 110 ac to ~5 vdc. If your house was wired for DC, the bulbs would cost $.50. I can hear Thomas Edsion now. "told ya so!" haha
 

For cfl, I always choose the "Daylight" bulbs and use 100 watt (Equivalent) , to replace 60 or 75 W Incandescent bulbs..

"Daylight" is a much better, Brighter light...

Ron.
 
It makes a difference what kind of light you want. We removed the incandescent bulbs that the builder out in the recessed fixtures in our new house. We put in CFL's that were good general lighting but the ceilings were brighter than the floor.

We replaced the CFL's with LED FOCUSED BULBS that light the floor area instead of the ceiling area. As the wife says, I need to see the floor more than I need to see the ceiling.

So pay attention when you look for LED bulbs. Check the Lumens and see if the bulbs are general diffused light or focused light and decide which one is best for you.
 
I have slowly been replacing cfl's with LED bulbs and some fixtures. The LED lights give of more light at less wattage demand. The bulbs run cooler than CFL's . We have had several cfl's go up in smoke when they burned out. You can touch an LED bulb when it"s on and not get burnt. Electrical suppliers around here are saying that CFL's and Halogen light is going to be fased out over the next ten years.
 
You have to compare apples to apples you know, here are a few basics:

LUMENS is how much light the device produces regardless of the source.

Lumens per Watt is a measure of the electrical efficiency of the device again regardless of the source. CFL is more efficient then Incandescent but LED
is more efficient (more lumens per watt) then CFL

Color rendition: Terms such as cool white or warm white or deluxe warm white etc relate to Degrees of Kelvin temperature.

As far as light pattern or distribution that can be changed by the reflector or housing design like if you wanted a spot light or a flood light etc.

Looks like LED is the future, its all I have in the RV now. I chose 3000 degree Kelvin in some locations (less harsh) but the brighter whiter 6000 degree kelvin in other places.

John T
 
CFLs have one other non-endearing characteristic. They produce radio frequency noise (static) which drowns out radio receivers. We had CFL's on a radio tower for all of about 30 seconds. (At 120 feet - that was an expensive test gone wrong!) Completely destroyed the receiver's ability to receive all but the strongest signals. Have a friend (ham radio) operator who has had to remove all CFLs on his premises. I've not been there yet, but may be going there soon. Have not yet tested the LED bulbs for RF emissions, but have heard of troubles as well. So far, LEDs are very expensive. Experience is that fade out over time. Still think Thomas had more right than wrong.

As far as CFLs, they sure haven't met expectations for life, light output, cold performance... Not a happy customer.
 
Yep.

I am all for LED's but have issues with four 100 Watt floods I have interfering with wireless security cameras.

The lamps have 36 Volt DC switching power supplies to run the COB LED's and they make lots of electrical noise.

Which brings up the point of the screw-in LED lamps... they also contain miniaturized power supplies to make DC for the chips, and I am willing to bet that as they age that will be the failure point, rather than the actual light-emitting element.
 
I also saw some in an auto parts store for a 1157 style bulb which my lawn tractor used for headlights. WOW what a difference! And no filament to break. Kinda expensive, but only 1/6 the wattage.
 
Interesting that you should mention light pattern. I recently purchased a small handheld flashlight (uses 4 AAA batteries) that has Off, High Beam, 1/2 power Low Beam, & Strobe positions on the push-button switch; and variable focus on the nose cap.

The thing that is interesting is that in the "FLOOD" position the light beam in all modes is ROUND; but in the "SPOT" position the light beam in all modes is SQUARE, because the LED is square. Only flashlight I've ever owned where the Spot Beam is SQUARE. WEIRD. LOL


:>)
 

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