Still getting used to LED lights

[joeekaitis]

Our street was switched to LEDs . . .

 

 

 . . . with a very narrow beam, almost as if it's been aimed and focused to light only the street from curb to curb but no more.  The previous mercury vapor, then sodium vapor streetlights on the pole across the street from us spilled light all the way up the driveway.  Now the front yards, with the exception of those bathed in a homeowner-installed security light, are dark shores flanking a river of light.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Switched from my incandescents that Big Brother is Outlawing to these LED's in the bathroom, said toe the most-used lighting in the house...

So, then, I've traded what I find frequently burning out to a light that I gotta used to the glow of...

Seems as though even the turning the bulbs on is quite different in the way that the light is coming out...

And although the disagreeable hue is still trying to be comparable to those old school incandescents, I somehow still see and feel a slight contrast...

-- Dave

 

[oliger]

I have a big mercury light on the side of my garage. Never knew it was regulated or a rare find. It still works. No idea how old the bulb is, but the fixture is probably at least from the 50's.

 

[cfz2882]

mercury

I have a mercury on the side of my house-illuminating the back yard:1978 Stonco wallpak running 100w bulb-really nice illumination and color.

 

[superocd]

I hate LED

The LED bulbs for light fixtures are OK, but for things like street lamps and especially headlights on cars, they're horrible. Even though I can't stand the effect of really bright white spots where the LED poles are (and dark areas in between) instead of the softer, more even lighting scheme of the older street lamps, I can understand the trend of ripping out the older style bulbs on the street lamps and replacing them with LED--it saves energy which should save taxpayers some money, since the electric bill has to be paid for all those streetlamps--but car headlamps? Why? Those and the xenon headlamps are way too bright to be safe and I am not sure why or how they are even legal and how they managed to pass highway safety standards because they are so blinding to oncoming drivers. LED lightbars on police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, tow trucks and so on are too bright to be safe too.

I almost want to paint "sorry for blinding you" on the side of mine and my wife's vehicles because both of our cars have these stupid headlights, since it is almost impossible to buy a newer vehicle without them. I wouldn't mind if there was a massive recall on bright headlamps, because I think I would be first in line to get them taken off my vehicle. It's not like cars are drawing current from the electric grid to run the headlights. I don't buy the excuse that a car's electrical system cannot support older-style headlamps, because cars have done it pretty well for, I dunno, the past 100 years, so just why exactly are we putting super bright bulbs in the headlights?

 

[fan-of-fans]

LED street lights

I haven't seen any here where they just change only the bulb to LED, they change the fixture to those cheap flat looking things. They look so cheap compared to the old cobra fixtures.

They do this mostly on the highway, they replaced a few mile stretch with all LED fixtures a couple of years ago. And recently I've seen a few LEDs pop up in the midst of the sections lit with HPS fixtures, so I guess as the bulbs go out they've started replacing those with LED too.

They do light up the road better.

But as someone who likes vintage stuff, as I'm sure all of us do. I HATE how LED is replacing all other technologies as if it's the end all be all.
I also am sure that there will come a time where one won't even be able to buy halogen, fluorescent, mercury vapor, metal halide, high pressure sodium or any other lighting technology but just LEDs.

It's almost like say, they came up with some replacement for water and suddenly none of us could use our washing machines anymore because we couldn't get water anymore. I know that's not possible, but that's the only analogy I can think of.

At least the streetlights seem to be working ok, but the fixtures on display at Home Depot surely do not give the impression they are built to last. Since many of them have started flashing on and off. Yet everyone touts how long they are supposed to last. Hmm, ok, maybe.

 

[DADoES]

How many folks are reading from & posting to AW.org using a phone, tablet, or computer that has a screen lit with LED technology?

 

[wayupnorth]

LED traffic lights wont work in a snowstorm as they wont melt the snow off them so nobody knows who has the right of way.

 

[earthling177]

Glenn, it's at times like this that I would have loved if we could award someone a thousand "likes" instead of just one.

The irony is palpable. I remember that up to the early 90's or so, only people in universities and rich companies could even pay for the internet, and even at that, not everyone was allowed to have email access.

Now nearly everyone has a higher bandwidth than big universities used to have for the entire campus back then to share with thousands of users at the same time.

Progress is not always bad.

 

[tolivac]

In a section of Greenville BLVD there is a stretch of the road lit by LEDS and another lit by HPS--The HPS is MUCH BETTER esp during rain or fog.I would rip out those new LED lights and put the old HPS back.At least with HID fixtures there are ANSI standars for the ballasts and bulbs,sockets.Not so with LED most it is difficult to replace parts like the LED driver-ballast or the LED elements.So the WHOLE fixture has to be replaced and the old one trashed.Is this REALLY better for the environment?The lower light levels from the LED-and most are GLARE bombs.For home use and portable lights-LEDS are great.For large outdoor lighting HID is still best-and beware most LED lights do not have the lumen per watt values that HPS and ceramic metal halide have.As far as the LED and HID headlights go-try dring with them and you will see-they light up road lines better,road signs,and fluoresce deer and animal eyes better-you can see those more cleary and from further away-for the driver these newer lights are an IMPROVEMENT over the older lights.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Where these new-fangled LED’s DO have their place:

The heavy, bulky, obsolete mercury vapors in the parking lot at the Walmart I used to work at were falling apart, fragments and pieces were falling down, almost on people and cars, so here’s where smaller, lighter LED’s were just the thing...

When I started working there, and I was sitting in my car on a break during a rain shower, I saw a huge ball of orangish-yellowish light in the airacross the roadway, just for a day later to see a broken street light with a huge black mark on the concrete at the foot of it, and a few broken pieces of what would be from the fixture and glass lens from overhead—a lightning bolt probably lit it up, and then blew it out...

— Dave

 

[tolivac]

The mercury lights here at the worksite parking lot have been replaced by LED-215W the mercury lights were 250 and 400W.The fixtures here were in great shape when replaced.When the LEDs came in I was able to take some of the old mercury lights home and light them just for fun sometimes.Mercury does have an advantage in that the lamps and ballasts can run for YEARS without degrading or color change.Already the few year old GE Evolve LED lights at the WalMart here have changed in color-from blue-white to Green-white.Some of the lights strobe.The neighboring Food Lion MH lights run steady and constant.The Food Lion did replace the inside 400W MH lights with LED-these are doing very well.With LEd you can get the bad or the good.Now if fixtures are coming apart-yes,they should be replaced.For overall life we really don't know how long the LEDs will last.It still is infant technology-HID has been around for many decades.So the HID is proven technology.I wouldn't be so fast in replacements just yet.

 

[lordkenmore]

>How many folks are reading from & posting to AW.org using a phone, tablet, or computer that has a screen lit with LED technology?

Good point. Although it's entirely possible LED detractors here are using older LCD or even CRT screens! One day, there may even be a post about how much better CRT computer screens are.

 

[lordkenmore]

>The irony is palpable. I remember that up to the early 90's or so, only people in universities and rich companies could even pay for the internet, and even at that, not everyone was allowed to have email access.

I remember working for one place around 2001, and, back then, people had to have a position above a certain level to get an e-mail address. I can't remember the exact position one had to be at (or above), but I'm thinking that most employees did not have e-mail, even though most positions required at least some light computer use.

I no longer work there, but based on what people whom I knew back then say, I think today everyone has an e-mail address, regardless of position. Times change.

As for universities... I recall one local university doing some building in the 80s, and I seem to recall hearing about wiring for the future (computers). I've sometimes wondered if that wiring was ever used--by the time it was probably needed, the technology was probably outdated.

 

[DADoES]

 
<blockquote>LordKenmore: Although it's entirely possible LED detractors here are using older LCD or even CRT screens! One day, there may even be a post about how much better CRT computer screens are.</blockquote> I don't know the curve for when the balance tipped to LCD and/or LED computer monitors over CRT but I can say I got my first LCD (two, both of which I'm still using) in May 2009. No need to replace for an LED until they go kablooey.

My TVs are a 42" plasma panel (Sept 2002) in the living room and a 27" CRT (Oct 1987) in the bedroom. The plasma will stay until it goes kablooey. The CRT is used ~daily for General Hospital, *rarely* for anything else.  Also have a 24" CRT (2005) inherited from the grandmother 5 years ago (have not used it), and a 20" CRT (1986) that needs to be trashed (picture is bad last time I tried it).

 

[lordkenmore]

>I don't know the curve for when the balance tipped to LCD and/or LED computer monitors over CRT but I can say I got my first LCD (two, both of which I'm still using) in May 2009.

I'm pretty sure I heard some people in one computer Facebook group talk about preferring CRT since 2009. BUT they had specialized needs. Graphics IIRC.

I have to say, though, I was really happy to make the transition to LCD monitors. My first LCD monitor was old, and didn't have good picture quality--it was easily bettered by a CRT monitor--but the text clarity was so good compared to all the CRT monitors I had experience with. I really missed the text clarity when that monitor died, and I had to go back to a CRT for a period, even though that CRT was a pretty good CRT. Eventually, I was able to find a good, used LCD monitor, and that was it for my use of CRT monitors, at least on a day-to-day basis.

I have no idea LCD computer monitors improved to a tipping point for me...but I definitely used (but didn't own) a monitor made no later than 2007 that was good enough that I doubt I'd have ever missed CRT. I have, as a toy, a 1996 or so Apple PowerBook 1400CS. Based on limited experience, I could not live with that PowerBook's monitor as my one and only...and I'm not sure I could live it as a secondary screen. Color isn't good, but the big thing is that when typing fast it takes too long for letters to appear, and there is too much "ghosting" with the mouse pointer. BUT the screen technology wasn't optimal, even by 1996 standards--it was the "cheap" approach. I remember reading of people who bought high end PowerBooks just to get a better screen. But I've also read people who had that level of screen technology in some PowerBook, and were happy at the time. "Your mileage may vary" and all that.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Here is my bathroom light fixture showing a fluorescent lighting-like "afterglow" when it's turned off:

Quite jarringly stark just as when these bulbs go on, to see this happen for a bit, a split-second after they're turned off...

-- Dave

 

[tolivac]

I have some Lowes utility workshop LED lights that give the same afterglow.Figure it must be charges left in capacitors after the light was turned off and bleeding down thru the LEDS.

 

[sudsmaster]

I replaced all my incandescent bulbs (other than in appliances) with CFL's back in the 2000's. In the past five years I've replaced the CFL's with LED's. The Circline fluorescent ceiling fixtures will take longer.

Where LED's make great sense is inside fridges and freezers; that's a no brainer, and who cares about CRI in that capacity?

Speaking of CRI, I am a fan of Feit's "Tru Color" series with CRI's above 90. Very nice, and you can generally get them in warm white, bright white, or daylight. In the past couple of years the high CRI 100 watt equivalent bulbs have become available, and they are nice.

One drawback of LED's (as well as older CFL's) is the radio static they can cause. Oh well.

Early LED bulbs did have atrocious color rendition. Think: gray light. But with the new high CRI bulbs, much better. I find I really like the "bright white", 3000 K lamps.

The street light in the cul-de-sac here was converted to LED a couple years ago. At the time, I noticed it has horrible color balance. That "gray light". It burnt out a few weeks ago, and the replacement seems better.

As for melting snow off traffic lights... I suppose signal light fixtures could have thermostatically controlled snow melting heaters built in... but it's not a problem in this part of California.

 

[iowabear]

I just have two LED bulbs that I specifically bought for a hard-to-reach fixture. 

 

The rest of my bulbs are CFLs and this batch really seems to be holding out a long time.

 

Electricity here is expensive but I live alone and only keep the lights on in the room I'm occupying.  It doesn't make any financial sense to change the CFLs until they burn out.