Indoor Lighting...LED suggestions or incandescent

August 07, 2023, 06:19 PM

P250UA5

quote:
Originally posted by RobLew:
quote:
Originally posted by P250UA5:
Our whole house is LED, updated by the prior owners. No screw-in socket to change the bulbs, mostly can lights.

Wife wants a warmer tone, as ours are nearly clinical white. Not looking forward to the cost of replacing whole units. May see if they're dimmable & if a dimmer switch takes some of the harshness off the lights.

You might want to check your existing lights power converter. A lot of the newer recessed LEDs come standard with a switch to change color temp. Might be as easy as crawling around attic or popping off a light and flipping a switch.

Will look into that, that would be awesome

August 07, 2023, 07:05 PM

P250UA5

RobLew is the man! Looks like the majority of my cans are traditional bulb socket conversion units by Commercial Electric & had a temp switch on the unit. 5 options & they were all on the coldest temps. Bumped them down to the middle & it was too warm. I think we settled on something in the 4k range.

The rest are a different style & are only about 1/2 inch thick.
Have to find the power box[es] in the attic to adjust the color temp on those.

Saved me some real $, thanks.

August 07, 2023, 07:12 PM

snidera

I'm probably in the minority, but 5000K is where I like it. I don't consider that 'daylight' - 6-6500k is the 'harsh, blue' point & I have a few of those to brighten up the basement/garage/shop where there's not enough coverage. 5000K everywhere else (including florescent).

2700k is pink. 3500k is yellow. For me, your perception might be different.

August 07, 2023, 11:11 PM

KBobAries

Get the highest CRI you can find in whichever level of warmth you like. Especially for the guest bath. I picked up some 90 CRI bulbs at Costco but they're 5K. Great specifically for the kitchen but I wouldn't use them elsewhere in the house.

VictimNoMore's post has good advice.

Dan

August 08, 2023, 08:07 AM

tsmccull

Have over 20 recessed ceiling light fixtures that took 60W PAR30 bulbs. Switched to 2700k LEDs years ago, same brightness but 11W each. That’s 1000w of heat and far fewer bulb burnouts than we had previously. None were on dimmers, so really no downside to the switch other than the fact that LED bulbs tend to stay in their sockets so long that thread galling can occur. Put some anti-seize lubricant on the bulb’s threads when you first install them.

August 21, 2023, 09:53 PM

RobLew

quote:
Originally posted by P250UA5:
RobLew is the man! Looks like the majority of my cans are traditional bulb socket conversion units by Commercial Electric & had a temp switch on the unit. 5 options & they were all on the coldest temps. Bumped them down to the middle & it was too warm. I think we settled on something in the 4k range.

The rest are a different style & are only about 1/2 inch thick.
Have to find the power box[es] in the attic to adjust the color temp on those.

Saved me some real $, thanks.

That's awesome! Glad I could help.

August 21, 2023, 10:55 PM

Gustofer

quote:
Originally posted by Expert308:
I've got a table lamp in the living room that takes a 3-way bulb. The previous bulb burned out and I replaced it with an LED 3-way. I also have an indoor OTA TV antenna. I discovered that the new LED bulb in the lamp was emitting some kind of RF that completely messed up the TV signal. Turn the lamp off and the TV clears right up. I went to replace the LED 3-way with an incandescent one, but couldn't find any around town. I finally found them on Amazon and bought enough to keep that lamp running for about 10 years.

I've got LED grow lights that I use for my starts in the spring. When those lights are on, my ham radio is un-listen-to-able. Big time RF emitters.

August 21, 2023, 11:11 PM

erj_pilot

I replaced the bulbs today. I had some clear, “normal”, 60W incandescent bulbs in the closet. With as heavily frosted as the globes are, the brightness is actually spot on even with the clear bulbs.

"If you’re a leader, you lead the way. Not just on the easy ones; you take the tough ones too…” – MAJ Richard D. Winters (1918-2011), E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil... Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." - Isaiah 5:20,24