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Subject: LED Lightbulbs

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ChrisP5
(Missouri)

Posts:61

03/02/2010 5:38 PM
Has anyone began to examine changing to LED bulbs yet? The energy savings appear significant over even CFLs and the life span 30,000-50,000 is incredible. The bulbs are still somewhat expensive but some of our light fixtures are in such ridiculous locations that that we have to rent a scissor lift when the bulbs need to be changed. Even taking into account the cost of the bulbs I can make a financial case when factoring in energy usage, bulb cost, labor, etc that making the change would be worthwhile and there are significant environmental benefits (no mercury) as well. If you have used these in outdoor applications or have even tried them personally I am very curious as to what your thoughts are and particularly the quality of the light output.

RobertR1
(South Carolina)

Posts:5152

03/02/2010 5:51 PM
Chris, Sounds like a good idea and I am sure the price will come down. We (I) changed out a batch of the incandescent to the small fluorescent years ago and at that time you had to have a ballast for each bulb. Was still an improvement but now the ballast is built in and the price has continued to drop. It seems the smart thing to do to change the ones hard to get at and wait a little while and change the others as they burn out.

RickW
(Illinois)

Posts:153

03/02/2010 7:25 PM
LED lighting is still in its infancy. As an architect I'm working on various residential projects of differing sizes. Some of these projects include working with lighting consultants. I'll admit, none of these projects involve street lighting. We have found though, thus far, that LED lighting for interior use just is not there as of yet. The light color is far different from incandescent or even the cfl lamps. We are having some success in using LED for bedside lighting or closet lighting. We've found a product for landscape lighting that appears as if it will give good quality lighting. However, we are looking for "moonlight" effect, not lighting parking lots. We are looking for a soft almost blue light and LED can provide that. Apparently, the real issue at this point is quality of lamps. There is no standard when it comes to LED lighting. There are many manufacturers of LED lighting and it really comes down to the quality of the lamp. I've worked with a ship builder that has outfitted a yacht with only LED lighting. They had to build their own laboratory to test every LED light prior to installing to make sure the output and light quality was up to their standards. One needs to look at each lamp manufacturer differently, what one provides could be far different from what the other provides. It appears as if the lighting industry will end up going the route of retrofit. That is to say, just like cfl lamps now are available with an A lamp screw in base, LED manufacturers will find a way to allow us to retrofit existing light fixtures to accept LED lamps. I would think, given the type of light output LED is presently providing, street or parking lot lighting would be a good fit. I probably can connect you with a few lighting manufacturer reps if you are interested. Lighting reps will not charge for the rime they spend working with you, so it wouldn't cost you a dime to have a conversation. I'm guessing the initial cost to retrofit your present fixtures to LED would be big, but it would be interesting to see the payback value. Rick

RobertR1
(South Carolina)

Posts:5152

03/02/2010 11:37 PM
To all, Wouldn't it be nice to get this kind of information about all HOA problems. Nice to hear opinions that leave little left to wonder about. Now if enough HOA's read this thread, a ton of money would be saved and that means that money could be used by the HOA for, hopefully, constructive improvements. I suppose that conclusion is too idealistic for some tastes, but it's true.

RogerB
(Colorado)

Posts:4351

03/03/2010 8:08 AM
Rick, have you any thoughts on outdoor holiday LED lights? Cost? Life? Cost effective? When trying to remove from trees are as many damaged? etc. etc.

Roger Borcherding Official HOATalk.com Sponsor DARCO Property Management (Colorado) (303) 925-0150 *See legal notice below (end of page) or go to www.hoatalk.com/legal

DonnaS
(Tennessee)

Posts:4644

03/03/2010 10:37 AM
Chris, My Husband is an engineer for a solar outdoor lighting company. They only use LED bulbs in these lights, many of which go to countries where they are the only source of light in hospital and public lots. Several units are in Haiti, performing 24 hours a day. Changing bulbs regularily is not an option for these places due to cost and not having proper equipment to continually replace bulbs. So LED is highly reccomended for their long life span. The new bulbs are as bright or brighter than the old type bulbs but the true benefit is the reduced use of electricity.

DonnaS
(Tennessee)

Posts:4644

03/04/2010 7:37 AM
Chris, After I posted the info about LED's, I also wondered if you mean the new florescent bulbs. Those work well in a situation like you are using and are far less expensive than commercial LEDs.

ChrisP5
(Missouri)

Posts:61

03/04/2010 3:31 PM
I was thinking more along the lines of the retrofit bulbs that were mentioned in one of the posts above. I saw some LED floodlight bulbs on a recent trip to the membership club which sparked my research on the topic. Donna I am not aware of a new type of florescent bulb other than CFLs, is there something I am missing?

DonnaS
(Tennessee)

Posts:4644

03/04/2010 6:28 PM
Chris, Full Spectrum HD's are what they are called. Newer type CFL. I don't know much about them except that they are supposed to be much improved in the light that they cast. But yes, LED bulbs are used in many outdoor lighting applications, especially with solar power fixtures.

RickW
(Illinois)

Posts:153

03/08/2010 6:04 AM
Posted By RogerB on 03/03/2010 8:08 AM Rick, have you any thoughts on outdoor holiday LED lights? Cost? Life? Cost effective? When trying to remove from trees are as many damaged? etc. etc. Hi Roger, I've not had experience with outdoor holiday LED lights. I would think they would be very cost effective. I know I'm now using them inside our house and they seem to be more durable. The initial cost is more, as you probably know, but the lamp life should pay for that over time. I would think changing holiday lighting to LED would be an easy energy saving thing to do.

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