LED Replacement Christmas Bulbs

[Ultramatic]

 

 

C9 specifically. The Christmas season is around the corner and I'm finally replacing all of my exterior lights with LED C9 bulbs. Lighting gurus, just how bright are SMD 3 diode LED C9 bulbs compared to the traditional 5 diode LED bulbs? I need to make a decision soon so I can place an order.

 

Reg 5 diode C9:



 

SMD 3 diode C9:



 

Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[mattl]

The LED C9 string sets I've seen are very reminiscent of dim C7's, and I HATE the spacing.  I use 200-300 C7's on my big indoor tree, really want to switch to LED C7's, but I want the screw in type as I can use my older strings with 12"+ spacing, I've bought a few LED C7's and they are bright enough, some brighter than the std. C7s.  I like the old colored bulbs vs. the clear colored lights,  they are harder to find and still $$$$.  I do a mix, 75% coated and 25% clear, like the look.

 

I'd opt for the screw in C9's if you want something closer to the brightness of the old style bulbs.

 

[jmm63]

Just say NO to LED Christmas lights...... I can't stand them, the color, the brightness, the spacing, the cost, etc etc.  Just give me the good old fashioned ones for the few weeks they are up.  The electric saving vs the cost of new isn't worth it.  

 

[Ultramatic]

 

 

I MUST switch to LED's for the terrace. I don't have the amps. Otherwise, I'd stay with incandescents. And these are retrofit bulbs, not whole sets. The quality is far superior to what you'd find in the stores. The wires that I use have 6" spacing, not the typical 12". 

 

[panthera]

There is a good video on this

over on bigclive.com. He does commercial/civic Christmas lighting and goes into detail on the various LED solutions. Some are quite good, some suck the big one.

I'd not reject LED lamps today based on the rather horrid ones we looked at a few years back - the technology has improved a lot.

 

[vacerator]

If they can make bright

interior LED lighting, why not brighter outdoor Christmas Led's? Cars also have it.
Ah? Planned obsolecense?

 

[jakins]

have used led c7 lights for years

And was on the look out for newer bulbs this year. these are the best I found so far. the pics do not do them justice. I was not a fan of switching to plastic bulbs as the older ones I have are painted glass like the incandescent bulbs. these bulbs are from wintergreen lighting they are called opticore. They are very bright much brighter than the bulbs I had before, and the colors are fantastic. One of the pet peeves I had with a lot of the led bulbs is that you can see the leds I prefer the ceramic or opaque look these you cant see into the bulb. they also make c9 bulbs and also come in transparent colors.

http://https//www.christmaslightsetc.com/opticore-led-christmas-bulbs.htm

 

[Ultramatic]

 

 

Wow. Those do look nice. Hard pressed to tell the difference between them and incandescent ceramic bulbs. 

 

[gusherb]

I hate LED christmas lights. The flickering from the shitty power supplies they all use hurts my eyes, really ruins the enjoyment of Christmas light viewing. My eyes are much happier whenever they land on a house still using incandescent lights. 

 

[speedqueen]

I cannot stand LEDs, that blasted blueish hue they all have is the problem for me. My house is the last holdout on the street with all incandescent other than a strand I run up the flag pole, I use LED for that because I figure I'll have less problems with it repeatedly smashing against the pole in the wind. Having a mini light strand fail in the winter is something that cannot be accepted with the arrangement. It is really hard to set it up and take it down as I have a secondary strand that runs across from the top of the flag pole to the television antenna mast that also has a home made star suspended in the center. It would all have to be disconnected. I already have enough times that I have to repair the star arrangement in the middle of December to have the flag pole strand fail which feeds the suspended one and the star.

Everything else is incandescent including the suspended strand and the star itself. Later this year I'll post pictures.

 

[vacerator]

We've upgraded

all of our bath and kitchen lighting to LED. I see no blueish cast from it. Not even in the bathroom, and the paint color is a very light blue called drizzle by Behr. The shower tile is white Capua Blanco by Pamesa, the mosaic Iceland Stria, and the floor tile is Dicape' wood grain in a light country blueish white washed barn wood. Maybe the dark cherry cabinetry tones it down, but the quartz counter top is a white blanco maple by Cosentino Silestone. Basins and fixtures cashmere grey.

 

[Ultramatic]

Sigh.

 

 

All I wanted was some insight on LED Christmas replacement C9 bulbs. How the 5 diode bulbs stack up against the SMD 3 diode bulb.

 

[kb0nes]

In the eye of the beholder

I can't stand looking at awful old incandescent Xmas lights anymore. They are so yellow and drab, the color just isn't pure. It is like you take a good light and soak it in a tobacco tar film for years. But like anything that is visually appealing, we all likes what we likes.

The cheap LED strings, especially the older ones were horrible. Now they are bright and you won't see any flicker from them anymore provided they aren't the cheapest no-name China brand lights.

As someone that believes in not wasting resources, I am an evangelist LED proponent I can't in good conscious use an incandescent bulb anywhere. Only one left in my house is in the self cleaning oven.

 

[tolivac]

I have NO problems with the newer LED Christmas lights-Like KBONES-don't like the FADED colors of the older lights.Heat and age has faded their colors even if the lamps still work.I have some LED varicolor lights that are nice-they run from a FILTERED power supply so there is no flickering.The color changes are neat to watch.They come with a controller so you can set them at any color you like.Can't do that with older Christmas lights.But respect folks that like and use the older lamps.Heck they are only used for a few weeks!I do miss the older "Bubble Lamps" those were neat to watch.Don't know if the bubble lights are still made.Will have to look when Halloween is over and the Christmas lighting equipment is set out at Lowes!

 

[liberatordeluxe]

I swapped to led fairy lights ready for this Christmas because I couldn't get the spare bulbs for my Noma set. Do you find there is much difference in filament and led warm white tones? From a distance I personally can't tell any difference. Here in the UK you will be hard pressed to find filament fairy lights in the shops. I have a set of sunflower warm white led lights and they are getting on 5 years old.

 

[liberatordeluxe]

Regarding brands is there really any difference say between Noma or Premier and Homebase or B & Q led lighting? They all look the same cable and are all made in China whatever make you buy.

 

[artcurus]

Yeah, don't get me started on pink 1950's C7 :-/

I can't stand purple/blue LED Christmas lights. They literally give me headaches. To me, they appear to have a purplish halo around them, and it doesn't matter the brand.

C7 replacements ARE readily available online, and if they are faded out, can be replaced. The boxes come in 25 and are about $4-5 a box.

@Kbones, my kitchen light looks about like this

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mid-centur...784086?hash=item1c8ca62956:g:E54AAOSwSn5ZegSD

The energy efficiency audit people literally had a heart attack when they saw it. It uses a 300 watt silver bowl bulb. I wouldn't give it up for the world. The light is so easy on the eyes and comforting. It reflects off the ceiling.

 

[panthera]

Here's the deal.

Because of their nature, there are several ways to get light out of LEDs. One can, quite literally, just string them together and plug them into the 60Hz outlet. They'll flicker at just the right rate to cause headaches and nausea, and that's how a lot of the cheapest lights are done.

One can also build a super-cheap power supply for them which eliminates the flicker entirely and produces a very clean and pretty light.

Just, the super-cheap power supply still adds a few pennies to the cost - and the lowest price brands aren't into spending one-hundredth of one percent more than they absolutely must.

 

Every time, every single time a new technology comes along, somebody is going to latch on to the worst, most primitive aspects of it and decide that that's the way it was, is, and ever shall be. We had this same discussion back in the early 2000s about CFLs. This.Exact.Same.Discussion.

 

Look - if you're using a smartphone or a tablet, monitor or laptop built after 2015, you ARE looking at LED lighting. And it's not giving you a headache and, no, you can't tell'.

 

Goodness.

 

[lordkenmore]

Look - if you're using a smartphone or a tablet, monitor or laptop built after 2015, you ARE looking at LED lighting. And it's not giving you a headache

 

Well, that depends... Reading a post by that twit Lord Kenmore might give one a really bad headache...

 

LOL