Will LED Lighting Finally Go Mainstream?

Yes.

However, there could be room for oil lanterns? The economic landscape is present.

Here we go with oil again.

I've installed LED lights (GU-10) throughout the house and have seen a dramatic drop in my electricity bill. The earlier recessed 50W halogens ran very hot and burned out far too frequently. Since installing the LED's in September 2015, none have failed. They give MORE light and consume only 5W each. It's win-win. I'm convinced.

I did the same thing, and I too started with my 50W GU-10 bulbs (12 of them). I was tired of breaking out a ladder every 2-3 weeks and replacing bulbs. My electric bill dropped $7.00/month.

Seeing that, I now have only LED bulbs inside and outside the house.

The other advantage is that I don't worry about leaving lights on anymore.

I also noticed that when changing the burned out 50W halogen bulbs, a handful of dead flies would fall out! Obviously they enter the attic and are attracted to the heat of the bulbs only to get incinerated by them. Serves them right.

"Obviously they enter the attic and are attracted to the heat"

It's not obvious to me! I get the insects too, but there is a foot of insulation above the lamps in my ceiling; I seriously doubt if many of them get there via the attic.

I see many insects, including flies, apparently attracted to light. Perhaps I've been making an erroneous assumption that they were attracted to (or guided by) the light, rather than the heat.

If you are correct, then we should see a reduction in the number of carcasses found when replacing lamps, after switching to LEDs. On the other hand, since it will presumably be a long time before these lamps need replacing, then maybe when we do replace them there will have been a much longer accumulation time...

Maybe the light is the attraction. We have about 6" of fiberglass insulation but I assure you that flies can get through it easily. Don't ask me how - but they do. How else can they accumulate around the new fittings?

I find lots of tiny carcasses inside light fixtures that have no connection to an attic or similar space. They can get in through very small orifices/cracks. ...and I think "dehydrated" bould be more accurate than "incinerated".

Since you brought it to my attention, I just checked: It has only been a few months since I replaced the CFL in my kitchen hood with an LED lamp; so far, I don't see any bugs in there. Maybe it was the heat after all...?

Prices are dropping while reliability is increasing, both factors (price and reliability) are key disadvantages LED lights have over existing lights.

We are seeing more use in both the industrial and hazardous area sectors, so the answer is yes. You would see more around but it is not really economical to replace many existing lights (if it ain't broke don't fix it), and many new projects are still base price driven ignoring lifetime cost and energy usage (buy the cheapest light fittings you can).

Hasn't it already? ...as I write this I am staring at my recent acquisition of an OLED desk lamp with adjustable heatcolor and intensity, with a timer of all things...

I did not know they were making OLED lamps.

http://www.oled-info.com/oled_devices/oled_lighting_device

WOW! the prices. I saw an OLED TV at best buy and the picture was incredible. Guess i will wait for the light to come down in price.

I now buy a pack of 4 LEDs bulbs every time I hit Home Depot. Cheap, and I like the light. My entire dog kennel now has LEDs...much nicer than the CFL in the winter!

The city I live/work in is moving to all LED outdoor lighting. The parking garages are switching over at a much slower pace.

The jury's still out for office use and I know my office is married to 4 foot fluorescent tubes forever.

We don't have any in either house, but I've about exhausted my stash if incands and CFLs so I will be switching over.

The first spot will be on the light by the couch where I recline when I use my laptop and am not sitting at the bar. (In the kitchen)

The case for switching outdoor lighting from low pressure sodium or high pressure sodium to LED seems to be driven by fad rather that anything to do with money or energy savings. It is difficult to compete on a lumen per watt basis with sodium bulbs.

Yes, but mainly? When will it dim fully?

-in the dark

Oh and CFL dimmers are soooo wonderful at this function right.

CFL were never a serious replacement.

You could be right. I think it's too early to tell.

My lights in recessed cans in the ceiling seem to last 6-9 months. Yes, Florida is pretty warm but at $10 - $15 each I'm paying about $20/year per light socket for bulbs in that room. Ouch.

As near as I can tell the actual LED component probably has the advertised 7 year life span. The power supply circuits inside the bulb seem to be traditional cheap #@$%.

Bulbs fully exposed inside an air conditioned space last much longer but I'm not sure that I'm on board with the 7 year life.

If they would make the bulbs last then southern buildings would actually get a little more payback than "expected". All heat "wasted" by other light bulbs is heat that must be removed by a less than 100% efficient air conditioner. Thus, when the air conditioner is running the efficiency of the LED pays back a little extra (until the bulb needs replaced).

I experienced the same thing with the cheap off-brand LEDs (bought online - guess where). Then I tried some of the name brands (Phillips, Sylvania...) from one of the big box stores. Big difference! They are both made in the same country, but the name brands have QC departments.

For the life span it is also advisable to read between the lines:

7 years - a ratio 3 hours per day?

Perhaps one needs to make love in the dark?

The cooler the led the longer it may last. Just like meat. I do not recommend salt.

Only 7 years? I'm nearly finished converting to LED lighting, and I think all of them I've purchased within the last year specify 22 or more years*. The screw base units I purchased just last week specify a *lifetime of 25,000 hours, and the dual 4 footers say 50,000 hours.

I don't regret buying the first pair of 4 foot (actually 3.8 foot) LED shop lights for $40, even though I just saw them for around $25 last week. I hope to live long enough to see their light output begin to drop, although it will be difficult to tell, as my eyes continue to age and the newer lamps put out more and better light...

Admittedly, it may not be a fair comparison, but my TI calculator I bought around 1978 has at least 232 LEDs, and I just checked: every single one still works. When used as designed, the limitations are definitely in the driver circuitry and connections, not in the LEDs themselves.

I replaced all of mine except the FLs more than two years ago. Used to lose the one over my front door due to vibration every two weeks or so. Haven't lost one to vibration since. (I live in a townhouse and the parking lot in front of my house sees a LOT of traffic).

I also saw a drastic drop in my electric bill, and in the cooling bill in summer (I live in Northern VA, USA, around 38 degrees north lat, near the Washington, DC swamp, so it gets pretty warm and very wet here in summer).

I don't know if it is in fact true, though I've read some test protocols from the US B. Standards which seem to bear it out, but the attempt to test to destruction by standard usage (i.e., burn them out in normal use) failed to fry the LEDs under test, testing the standard screw-in base bulbs we see on the store shelves, as long as they were not deliberately over-heated and were supplied with "normal" line voltages for North America (which the electronics in them were designed to cope with), so the governing bodies said the manufacturers could claim any hours they wanted. I know when I worked at the Big Orange Big Box Store (I LIKE them, still, so don't take any of that as pejorative), the early models said things like NEVER BURN OUT, but the take-away was that customers didn't believe it so they wouldn't purchase them. When they went to less unbelievable numbers like 27,000 hours, I found that customers were still a little skeptical, but much less so. NONE, EVER, brought back a burned out bulb while I worked there.

OTOH, my wife DID accidentally destroy one, when she hit the globe with the broom handle while cleaning out cobwebs. I glued the globe back in place (it was an outdoor lamp), and the LED failed when the glue leaked and rain got in.

Can't win the all, I guess, but I've already, in just three years, and without counting the actual cost of cooling energy and watt-hours not spent, made up more than the initial investment for ~20 lamps at an average price of $14USD per lamp, just in NOT replacing incandescent and florescent lamps.

I have been switching gradually to LEDs for something like 6 years. I did have a couple of the early ones fail, but I simply took that as opportunities to cut them open to see what was inside. I still have one outdoor light where half of the ≈80 individual LEDs inside went out, but it still provides adequate light, so I'll just leave it 'till it fails completely.

LED lamps have improved an amazing amount in that short time. I only hope they have made as many advances in the driver circuitry and in soldering techniques ans they have in the LED devices themselves.

I wonder how many died from those pesky little whiskers.

From here.

Right! When combined with the reduced wetting and higher temperatures/stresses of the lead-free solders, it is a definite problem.

I've been frequently (and still do) holding 60/40 solder in my mouth since at least 1951, while building/repairing stuff, and I'm still here and alert! I've squirreled away enough lead-based solder to continue using it the rest of my life. I know that year '51; I got a 250W Wen soldering gun for Christmas, and I still use it for my heavier work. Originally Had the "Wards" brand name, but the case got replaced with one from the manufacturer, somewhere in the '60s or '70s.

I'm pretty sure LED lighting is already here. Even us prairie dwellers have had them out here in the middle of nowhere for a few years now.

The other week I converted my yard light over to use seven Zilotek 8 watt 800 lumen LED bulbs (three 3000k and four 5000K bulbs) instead of a 85 watt CFL and I am really impressed with it all the way around.

The color and coverage are very close match to a 200 watt 4000K metal Halide bulb but uses about 1/4 the power.

BTW the Zilotek bulbs come in a two pack at local building supply center for $3.48! Can't beat that price for a all around nice looking LED bulb that actually still looks like a old style frosted incandescent!

I've bought about 40 packs so far and the whole house has been switched over from CFL. I'm gradually stocking up to convert my whole shop over from having 20 200 watt metal halides inside and out but I will need a another 100 more bulbs to do it.

Wow, how big is your shop, sounds like it must be huge....I thought I was livin' the dream with a 2 car garage.....when I had one....now I just have a single....sniff

32' x 64' with 14' ceilings. I have it set up with four sets of four metal halides inside plus four outside as flood lights of sorts.

The cluster of seven 8 watt LEDs I put together for my yard light experiment worked so well that I am planning to use a similar configuration for the inside of the shop.

They now have 4ft LEDs too!

http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/electrical/bulbs/led-bulbs/led-tube-light-snt08g1201630c-t8-4ft-18w?infoParam.campaignId=T9F&gclid=Cj0KEQiAxMG1BRDFmu3P3qjwmeMBEiQAEzSDLhq8YgoR8ZSZd4IFCAuhyHsxAPDNDujglSs0djR_WykaAiDp8P8HAQ

The main impediment is that LED alternatives are not always compatible with the large installed base of existing light fittings. I still cannot get a LED equivalent to replace the halogen tubes in my outdoor lights or equivalent LED bulbs for my car lights. People are reluctant to change to new bulbs if that also means changing to new light fittings. Solve that problem and most other forms of bulb will be obsolete in five years.

I went to the store and bought a 4 pack of LED bulbs. I got the cheapest ones I could find.

They're bright white and my wife said it looks like a grocery store in here now.

I like the amount of light they give off and I'll get some more subdued ones for the little woman.

I've been following LEDs and CFLs and wonder why that old obsolete incand is really going away.There ARE uses for it, which absolutely no LED can replace. One of them is the light in YOUR OVEN ! I say this bcuz I found my oven light BURNED OUT today.Does your wife ever turn on that light to see something in it ? Why do they even put a bulb in the oven ? Just like why do they bother putting a spare tire in your car ? To the point of some new cars today don't even have a spare.
LEDs just won't survive the heat for 2 reasons.One is the PLASTIC encapsulation around the chip - will melt. Granted, there are plastics being, or to be developed which can handle the heat.Another is the CHIP itself. As the junction temperature rises, whether it's from self heating or ambient temperature, the LED puts out less light and becomes irreparably damaged.I know all this from having worked in and around around the semiconductor field for almost 40 years.Progress is good but some things never change and the need for light in some HOT areas is one.

Nothing works everywhere.

LED oven lights are readily available everywhere.

Oven light bulbs in incandescent form will also be available due to exemptions for some time.

"LED oven lights are readily available everywhere."

Then why have I never seen one? I HAVE been looking, although I don't really expect to see one at a competitive price. A search brought up several places, starting with Amazon, indicating they had them, but in all of the cases I checked, when I got down to the details and specs, not one of them specified a maximum temperature permissible.

For a self-cleaning oven, it needs to withstand over 900°F for several hours at a time.

Several of the ones I saw in the search were listed as "appliance bulbs"; upon further checking, they turned out to be refrigerator bulbs.

A link, Please! (It's gotta say it will withstand 1000°F, before I'll buy one...)

OK, so maybe not readily available.

Maybe nothing at all to meet your criteria.

Hey, when it comes time to self-clean the oven unscrew the light bulb and take it out?

$35.25$15.00

Lse Lighting LED Replacement for Stove-Oven-Range WB08X10028

Thanks for trying. That heading sure sounds like an oven light, but when you read the details, it is for range hoods, not the oven itself.

Your last point is well taken, but sooner or later, someone will forget.

We just bought a new built-in wall oven a bit less than a year ago, and have already had to replace the original incandescent lamp. It was after 6 months, so they wouldn't give me a free one, but I believe it failed before we did our first self-clean cycle. It was under $3, including tax.

I've never used my oven light. It back lights my food so I cannot see through the window what is happening anyway with the food. The only thing it can be good for is making sure the oven is empty for preheating and how hard is it to open the door and look.

You must have better eyes than I do! Even with the door open, I can't see the contents of the oven without the light. (I know that as a result of the original burning out a month or so ago.) It's definitely true that the location of the lamp at the rear is hardly ergonomic (and I don't remember ever seeing an oven with a light at the top).

I just checked: on this oven there is no way to have the light off with the door open, other than removing the cover and unscrewing it. There is a light switch, but it only turns the light on with the door closed, clearly connected in parallel with the door microswitch.

Pricing has been coming down, and I see it dropping even further as techologies improve and volumes increase. I have converted most everything in my shop except the HID metal halide units. Haven't really found anything that doesn't require fixture replacement yet, but I am sure it is coming. Biggest draw to LED for me was the decreased amount of time for maintenance - I.E. changing bulbs.

I forgot to tear it out or bring it home, but I'm pretty sure I saw an advertisement for a screw-in LED replacement for 277V HID lamps in the back half of the January Spirit magazine (Southwest Airlines). I'll be flying again next Tuesday. I'll try to remember to get the details and post them here.

As promised, from near the back of the current Spirit Magazine:

OEO.com EZ LED

They come in 145, 180, and 230 W sizes. It is not clear whether those values are of the power of the LED units, or of the HID's they replace. The ad does not specify 277V; I assumed that value, since all the warehouse type HID's I've dealt with worked on that voltage.

To me, the other big deal is that (I presume) you don't have to wait 15 or 20 minutes after they have been turned off, before turning them on again.

I am NOT saying these are good or bad, compared to other possible LED replacements; I'm only saying they are available.

Here's another: http://lighting.cree.com/products/indoor/high-bay-low-bay/cxb-series

I still don't understand why I have to spend 10 bucks for a light bulb that will outlive me!

you don't have to! Either you choose to, or you choose not to. If you choose to, then it's an investment to share with your heirs, and perhaps a tiny contribution to a better environment (also to benefit your heirs, and theirs).

In our area, the prices vary immensely, as some utilities subsidize energy-saving devices, including LED Lamps. If I buy them locally, the price is roughly triple that which I pay 25 miles away. ...bad news for the local stores!

Look at it this way, once you replace it, you'll never have to do it again, so it's one less thing you'll have to do and one less thing to worry about.