Replace light bulbs with LED cost calculator

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Replace light bulbs with LED cost calculator

1 | 2

Technofreak

6530 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1237678 13-Feb-2015 23:15

mattwnz:
Technofreak: We recently replaced a G9 light array with one with GU10 LED's. The LED's are so much better, pricey sure, but better light and much more reliable. The G9's didn't last long or else always needs a tweak before they'd go.

As for CFL's I wouldn't waste my money. They can be unreliable and take time light up fully. In our last place we had E27 downlights and never had a CFL last more than a few weeks and we were using name brands.

If I'm replacing incandescent or halogen fittings I'll put in LED's from now on.

I think the quality of your power supply makes a difference. In one house I was in, the power was dirty and fluctuated a lot, and halogen bulbs were always blowing. The pin connectors on those halogen though are really poor, and often need resitting , as often the bulb hasn't blown, just needs reseating.

I agree re the power fluctuations. In our case it was only the G9 fittings that we had trouble. The other halogens were fine.

You're also right regarding the crappy connections in the fittings. That was half of the problem and what I was referring to when I said "tweak". I think the heat produced by the halogens is the root cause of the contact issues.

Sony Xperia XA2 running Sailfish OS. https://sailfishos.org The true independent open source mobile OS
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
Dell Inspiron 14z i5

linw

2849 posts

Uber Geek

#1237769 14-Feb-2015 09:25

I agree with the negative comments about CFLs. I decided to keep all the ones that just failed and I have quite a pile. Name brands as well. The claims for longevity and cost saving are rubbish, at least in my experience.

Interesting thread.

k1w1k1d

1519 posts

Uber Geek

#1237795 14-Feb-2015 10:27

Our kitchen has triple and single ES spot lights. The rest of the house is all triple B22 pendant light fittings and single B22 wall lights. CORA from Lighting Direct.

The kitchen and conservatory bulbs are 20W Phillips Tornado CFL's which probably last for 1 -2 years each. We keep a spare.

The dining/living triples have 15W mini ECObulb or Phillips CFL's. Initially we had a bad run with CFL's in these lights and tried just about every brand on the market. I started writing the installation date on each bulb. Some were only lasting a few weeks and others a few months.
Things have improved since we first tried CFL's.
I just checked and most are dated 2010 - 2012. The oldest April 2009. There are none from 2013. One is dated March 2014. We don't even keep a spare now.

We have one ORBIT A60 E27 10W 2700K in a desk lamp that I am impressed with, so might try one when a CFL dies. It also looks better than the curly CFL's.

Niel

3267 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1238973 14-Feb-2015 16:30

LED vs incandescent saves you roughly $40 per year when compared with the same light output and used 5h per day. That's what I calculated when I started changing over to E27 LED bulbs. Since then, I've decided to go with dedicated LED fittings as they resolve the #1 killer of LED replacement bulbs - heat in a tight space. Sure the ceiling cavity is also warm, but the heat sink is much larger so the peak temperature at the LED is reduced.

You can never have enough Volvos!

Glassboy

850 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#1239361 15-Feb-2015 13:36

I don't know about anyone else's experience with CFLs but I started to get headaches when in a room lit with them for any length of time (unless they are behind a glass light shade). I swapped the bulbs in the rooms were you can see naked bulbs with halogens and the headaches went away.

kiwifidget

"Cookie"
3413 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1239370 15-Feb-2015 14:02

We replaced 80 halogens and 40 normal lightbulbs with LED, and we have seen no noticeable difference in our power bill. No lights have blown but one driver has stopped working.
The halogens were mostly in the lounge, kitchen, dining rooms, so they were on a lot.

Delete cookies?! Are you insane?!

Niel

3267 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1239479 15-Feb-2015 17:40

Each 100W bulb used 1h per day consumes 3 units per month. An LED equivalent would be 14W to get the same light output, and each one used 1h per day consumes 0.4 units per month. These are small numbers compared to a household consumption of 500 - 1000 units per month. Even with 10 bulbs used 3h per night, you are still talking of 90 vs 13 units on a 500 - 1000 units usage. But it will add up over the months and in the long run it is cheaper. There is also a bigger difference in Winter when you need to run lights longer due to less sunlight.

You can never have enough Volvos!

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

tchart

2379 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#1239674 16-Feb-2015 08:01

A couple of things (or my 2c)

1) CFL's are designed for pendant type lights. Putting them in table lamps will make them fail faster since the heat is travelling over the bulb.
2) After tying several cheaper brands of CFL's (back when they were new) I stuck with Philips and only ever buy those (24W Tornado FTW!)
3) I have replaced several bulbs in my house with Limitless LED lights (7.5W) and find them very very good.
4) Thanks for the the calculator, it inspired me to go get some more "normal" LED's this weekend.
5) I found the 10W Orbit LED lights from Mitre 10 to be a bit dark. Replaced 3 CFL's in the lounge with these and the wife commented "why is it so dark?". Promptly swapped them back to 24W Philips CFL's.
6) I found the 10W Orbit LED lights get rather hot (hotter than the 24W CFL's). Compared this to my Philips 5W LED which puts off almost no heat.
7) I also purchased some 6W Click LED bulbs from Bunnings. These are actually rather good and at $12.97 for 2 they aren't a bad buy. The are a bit dimmer than the Orbit 10W but not by much (fine for the garage, toilet, laundry etc)
8) Best buy of the weekend was a 10W Click LED R80 bulb for the spot light in the kitchen. At $20 they are a bit pricey but man they put out some good light. So much better than the CFL's we currently have. I was almost blinded this morning when I turned them on (I'm used the the CFL's taking a while to warm up).

BTW how about adding a pay back period to your calculator? I worked out swapping all of my CFL's in the kitchen will only save me $4 a year. So at $20 a pop I would recoup my money in 10 years time (given I've already bought 1).

Niel

3267 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1240177 16-Feb-2015 16:51

That reminds me, the Click GU10 works well in my bathroom. Think it is 7W, got a nice wide angle. It is not a spot, so light the whole bathroom.

You can never have enough Volvos!

billbennett

66 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#1240216 16-Feb-2015 17:18

Glassboy: The lifetime of any bulb is vague because the number of times they're turned on and off makes a significant difference.

I saw someone test that idea, sadly I can't remember where or I would link to it, apparently it isn't true.

Bill Bennett www.billbennett.co.nz @billbennettnz

3g

341 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1240227 16-Feb-2015 17:32

tchart: A couple of things (or my 2c)

5) I found the 10W Orbit LED lights from Mitre 10 to be a bit dark. Replaced 3 CFL's in the lounge with these and the wife commented "why is it so dark?". Promptly swapped them back to 24W Philips CFL's.
6) I found the 10W Orbit LED lights get rather hot (hotter than the 24W CFL's). Compared this to my Philips 5W LED which puts off almost no heat.

Not sure if it's the difference between the 7W and 10W, but:

(1) Had the exact opposite experience - swapped 2 7W Orbit LED's for 2 CFL's and wife said the LED's were noticeably brighter (hence why we did the swap for the entire house).
(2) 7W LED's left on all night in the hallway are cool (bordering on cold) to the touch (versus any other bulb that I've had).
This was another of the tests that I did, and hence why I swapped to them.

1 | 2