home elec. outlets

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bdmicarta

Joined
Feb 16, 2012
Messages
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(this is sort of a gadget...)
On the net I stumbled across electric outlets that have USB chargers built-in, then I stumbled across electric outlet cover plates that have LED nightlights built in. So I can really upgrade my wife's bathroom vanity.

I've seen 48" LED shop lights so I need to upgrade my garage and workbench. To some extent I think fluorescent and LED replacement bulbs are a scam foisted on the public, but the one part I like is that I can put a bulb with a lot of output into a fixture without worrying about the maximum wattage capacity of the fixture so I put the biggest I could find into my desk lights.
 
Increasing the lumens/watt with new technology does not a scam make. You are saving money and reducing safety concerns. Sounds like a win win to me. i just installed an LED bulb over my kitchen table. Its 11 watts puts out the same amount of light as a 100 W incandescent bulb. What is not to like?
 
tiguy7 said:
Increasing the lumens/watt with new technology does not a scam make
Click to expand...

The scam part is that they convince the public to buy more expensive bulbs because they are supposed to last 7 years or more. But the ones that I have bought have not lasted any longer than regular incandescent bulbs that I used to buy. I moved into a new house 3 years ago. I installed new fluorescent bulbs into many of our fixtures. I've had to replace about half of them since then. The incandescent bulbs that were in the other fixtures are still working without needing replacement.

I think the bulb manufacturers convinced the government to outlaw incandescent bulbs saying that the new bulbs would last much longer and so the public wouldn't have to spend a lot of money, the government passes the laws, without knowing that the public is now spending a lot more money for bulbs and the bulbs do not last any longer than before. I have had to switch some of my fluorescent bulbs to LED, and even greater cost. An incandescent bulb is less than $1, the fluorescent that I bought cost about $7, the LED bulbs that I bought cost closer to $20. They will not last 20 times as long. Now before you say "well LEDs last 100,000 hours..." I'll say that I already know that, but they run on very low voltage so there are electronic circuits that lower the 100v AC to maybe 5v DC. I think it is those circuits that fail. You can't buy a $20 LED bulb that has more stuff in it than my $50 Fenix EDC flashlight, and expect it to be made to standards of high reliability.

I do like the higher light output for low wattage, not for the cost savings but for the HEAT savings.
 
tiguy7 said:
Increasing the lumens/watt with new technology does not a scam make. You are saving money and reducing safety concerns. Sounds like a win win to me. i just installed an LED bulb over my kitchen table. Its 11 watts puts out the same amount of light as a 100 W incandescent bulb. What is not to like?
Click to expand...
I concur.

Not to mention the heat generated even by the CFLs. It's insane. "CFLs don't put out heat" is what I've heard. Really? Put one in a box and check the temp. :)

I can feel the temp rise in a room from two CFLs in my ceiling fixture. So not only do the LEDs save huge in power usage, they stop my AC from kickin on as much (more savings).

I just got a small box of free LEDs for sending in a form in pennsylvania. They sent me a shower head, too...and some friggin whistle for my HVAC filters.

BDmicarta, if you're lookin to upgrade the wife's vanity then I suggest lookin a lil further into the wonderful world of LEDs - the DIY custom lightbars and things you can create completely blow incandescent/CFL out of the water.
 
Hmmm. I switched my kitchen out to LED and went from 420 watts in the soffits down to a total of 63 watts. From 200 watts in the ceiling fan down to 27.
In my garage I went from 600 down to 60.
Two bulbs for a buck.
A scam I can deal with!
 
Main thing I'd be looking at is if you are installing anything behind the wall, make sure its got a legit UL cert. Lots of poorly made electronics out there, and it would suck to have a fire start inside the wall. At least with a bulb and fixture you have some shielding, but depending on your wall insulation and construction, a small burn back there might not go noticed until its too late. You want scary, look up whats inside the knock-off ipad chargers.
 
I'm currently changing all the outlets and light switches in my house from 90's off white to white. I'm also installing an outlet with built in USB outlets in the kitchen, kind of the hub of the house. Seems like there is always a charger plugged in there. The outlet will be here tomorrow.

Also, I love my LED light bulbs. I'm also in the processing of replacing all standard bulbs with LEDs as they burn out. So far I've had great success. Less heat generated by a more efficient product. I waited for the prices to come down but you can get good LED bulbs, 6-8 packs on Amazon for around $16-$18. It's worth it to me.
 
A-MAC said:
I waited for the prices to come down but you can get good LED bulbs, 6-8 packs on Amazon for around $16-$18.
Click to expand...

What brand is that? As I mentioned before the LED lasts a long time but the cheap electronics are suspect. The fluorescent bulbs I've had the most problems with were cheaper brands from Home Depot, so recently when I bought bulbs I bought what I thought was a better brand (Cree). On the HD website today the same bulb I bought a few months ago is listed for $12.97 for a single bulb!

I'm all for reducing heat output to the air in my house but the biggest problem I have are the fixtures themselves. We have 2 outside light fixtures that are sealed. There isn't much space in there and the heat buildup eventually breaks the lenses over the fixtures. I had to search the net to find clear glass disks to repair the fixture, then I put LED bulbs in there to cut the heat way down. I haven't noticed problems with lamps but small lamps sometimes are limited to 40W bulbs. I can put a 75W or 100W equivalent LED bulb in one of those fixtures to get lots of light on my workbench and put less heat and current through the fixture than the 40W incandescent that it is designed for.
 
Actually, after typing that I ordered a 16 pack of Phillips bulbs for $24 on Amazon. We like "daylight", this was a deal.
 
I've had great results from LED bulbs so far. The bulb around my house that stays on the longest is my front porch light as we turn it on every night and turn it off in the morning.

I used to have to change that bulb about every 6 weeks when I used incandescent bulbs but this LED bulb has been going strong since late January. About 7 months so far and it burns all night every night.

I'm hoping to get a couple years use out of that one bulb but time will tell.
 
With the LED bulbs, there are only a few companies that make the actual LED, but many more who wire and package them into fixture bulbs. Cree is one of the LED makers. Its best to stick to reputable brands, yes you pay more but you should be getting more reliability in the control chip, better color output and cleaner light. But just because a company claims they are using Cree LED chips, doesn't mean their end of things is any good. Cheap LEDs are worse than flouros for flicker in some cases.
 
Railsplitter said:
I'm hoping to get a couple years use out of that one bulb but time will tell.
Click to expand...

From reading about LED flashlights I seem to remember the LEDs themselves rated for 50,000 to 100,000 hours. That could be 15 years for a bulb left on overnight. After I wrote posts above I started to think I couldn't infer that cheap LED bulbs would fail quickly like cheap fluorescent bulbs.

Another consideration for bulbs that fail quickly, and this may not apply to LED bulbs, is the bulb color. The LED bulbs vary a lot in color so it is hard to buy replacements that match. Some of our bathroom fixtures have 4 bulbs so when one burns out I've had to replace all 4 just to get them to match. I had the idea that I should buy name brand bulbs for that so I could possibly buy identical replacements later. If the LED bulbs will last as long as they are supposed to then this wouldn't be a problem.
 
I switched out all of my motion-activated outdoor flood lights to LED and I've noticed a marked decrease in insects being attracted to them. I also don't have the porcupine and skunk problems that are common in my neck of the woods.
 
I have replaced regular incandescent bulbs in high use areas like bathrooms especially. Been a bit frustrated with LEDs in desk lights as they are supposed to last a long time.... I get a few months out of them. As a result, I dumped the one desk lamp in favor of another design with a handier switch. The last was on the cord and a bit of a pain to use. Been pleased with little $20 light so far.

The heat and light output issues are the dominant reasons I have switched to LED bulbs in certain areas. I like a very bright bathroom and office space. Have a three bulb ceiling fixture in my office in addition to desk lights. I initially installed 100 watt bulbs in the ceiling and learned that this is way too bright. Went with 60's and pleased now. Probably will switch it over to LEDs are some point.

I think the coiled florescent ones are a bit of a joke. Most are simply not strong enough in light output.

I like a little light in my bathrooms all night long and of course night lights are made for such. Handy for navigating for bathroom trips at night. You have the ones that turn on automatically with low light which in my house means they're on most of the time. Tried them. They're gone. Noticed a small motion detector (battery operated) LED light at ACE about a week ago. It was like $8.00... Brighter than your typical night light. Anyway parked it in a hall bathroom that I commonly use at night and it's great. Love this thing... I walk in and boom... the light pops on for 30 seconds. Perfect. I have since purchased two more; one for a bedroom and one for my office space. I can walk into the rooms in total darkness and the light pops on and I don't stumble over anything and still don't have an over powering regular light on for short term need. The trick is to point them so that all motion does not trigger them unless of course you want that. Here's a link to these lights.... just the first one I found online. Not pushing the retailer. https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/3...MRB777dash777MB723&site=www.bing_shopping.com

Intend to replace all of the electrical outlets in my house over the next year or so. They do get old.
 
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Sounds like many of you are confusing Compact Florescent Lights [,CFL] with Light Emitting Diodes [LED ]
The CFL was always a SCAM and I for one knew it . It was just a way for a few people to make lots of money !!
LED on the other hand is legitimate light . Look at the growing usage of LED lights for many applications ! Of course there are good ones and poor ones . Stay away from high power LEDs with plastic housings . Heat damages LEDs and plastic doesn't conduct heat !
 
Six years ago I replaced the lamps in over 150 2'x4' fluorescent fixtures in a facility. These were 4 lamp 40W fluorescents. I gutted the fixture housing, rewired and replaced broken holders. I was able to get equal light output out of two replacement led lamps.
Went from 24000W to 5400W. I haven't had a single lamp failure yet, maintenance free for six years. These fixtures are on 14+ hours per day, 7 days a week. Some are 24/7 because they are night lights.
LEDs have become so cheap and efficient it's a no brainer and definitely not a scam. I replace everything with LED now.
I am currently switching 29 parking lot light poles from 400W metal halides to LED. I can buy a direct/line wire LED cheaper than a new bulb and ballast kit for this fixture. I'll never have to take the fixture apart again to replace the ballast kit. In seven to ten years I'll just have to go up and change the lamp.
Good LEDs don't produce much heat. Heat in anything electrical represents an inefficiency. The more heat the higher the inefficiency. It also leads to more frequent failures.
 
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Phixt said:
I concur.

Not to mention the heat generated even by the CFLs. It's insane. "CFLs don't put out heat" is what I've heard. Really? Put one in a box and check the temp. :)

I can feel the temp rise in a room from two CFLs in my ceiling fixture. So not only do the LEDs save huge in power usage, they stop my AC from kickin on as much (more savings).

I just got a small box of free LEDs for sending in a form in pennsylvania. They sent me a shower head, too...and some friggin whistle for my HVAC filters.

BDmicarta, if you're lookin to upgrade the wife's vanity then I suggest lookin a lil further into the wonderful world of LEDs - the DIY custom lightbars and things you can create completely blow incandescent/CFL out of the water.
Click to expand...
CFLs put out heat and anyone who thought otherwise, was confusing them with LEDs. Good LEDs put out minimal heat compared to all other available lamps. Some LED lamps get hot due to their associated electronics (especially older ones). Those should be avoided. A good online source is the green light Depot. I've had good results with their products and their prices are fair. For commercial fluorescent tube lamp replacement I prefer the direct/line wire lamps.
 
The other great thing about LEDs is that by the time the LEDs die, the tech likely has moved enough to make upgrading worth while. Most of the time at least.
 
gadgetgeek said:
The other great thing about LEDs is that by the time the LEDs die, the tech likely has moved enough to make upgrading worth while. Most of the time at least.
Click to expand...
This is true unless the LED's don't last years instead of months.

I'm still tickled with the bathroom motion detecting portable LED light. May in fact buy two or three more and scatter them around the house. My wife as usual just laughs when I get these "toys" to try out.
 
bdmicarta said:
The scam part is that they convince the public to buy more expensive bulbs because they are supposed to last 7 years or more. But the ones that I have bought have not lasted any longer than regular incandescent bulbs that I used to buy. I moved into a new house 3 years ago. I installed new fluorescent bulbs into many of our fixtures. I've had to replace about half of them since then. The incandescent bulbs that were in the other fixtures are still working without needing replacement.

I think the bulb manufacturers convinced the government to outlaw incandescent bulbs saying that the new bulbs would last much longer and so the public wouldn't have to spend a lot of money, the government passes the laws, without knowing that the public is now spending a lot more money for bulbs and the bulbs do not last any longer than before. I have had to switch some of my fluorescent bulbs to LED, and even greater cost. An incandescent bulb is less than $1, the fluorescent that I bought cost about $7, the LED bulbs that I bought cost closer to $20. They will not last 20 times as long. Now before you say "well LEDs last 100,000 hours..." I'll say that I already know that, but they run on very low voltage so there are electronic circuits that lower the 100v AC to maybe 5v DC. I think it is those circuits that fail. You can't buy a $20 LED bulb that has more stuff in it than my $50 Fenix EDC flashlight, and expect it to be made to standards of high reliability.

I do like the higher light output for low wattage, not for the cost savings but for the HEAT savings.
Click to expand...
Your first mistake was buying fluorescent. That is a Scam. The reason the lighting industry and the government and the big box stores made the overnight change from incandescent to fluorescent, compact fluorescent lamps was to buy time until they could get the LED industry more time to get the products reliable and cost effective. The fluorescent lamps are more of a pollution hazard than any incandescent lamp. Fluorescent has mercury in the tube as well as gasses that are very harmfull. They leave a footprint in manufacturing and the disposal of.
Fluorescent lamps will give you a longer life than incandescent when you use the tubes and not the coil type. Especially when in an industrial or commercial application using 277 volts.
The whole push of CFL 's just before LED 's hit the market was a way to get the public to make a change before having to really make a change, cost wise of going LED. Also, there were only a couple companies producing
LED 's for general usage, Philips being one of the original patent holders.
I personally cannot stand the light that fluorescent lamps throw. I've been an electrician for almost 30 years and installed probably thousands of fluorescent fixtures in office buildings, hospitals, malls, etc...and it is so nice to have LED 's on the market. You have a color spectrum (in Kelvin) to work with from white white to a blue white on the other end of the scale. They can be daylight or soft like an incandescent, besides RBG that can be blended or controlled by a computer program or software to create pictures, graphics, in any color. Plus, you get any where from guaranteed 10-15 years and up to 30 years of life from
LED 's. Well worth the money, besides they cost a couple of penny's a day to run.
 
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