I had a reliable electrician in to replace several incandescent light fixtures with dimmable LED fixtures (purchased from Amazon). All a friendly 3000K warm white. New dimmers, suitable for LEDs, too.

The bulbs in my high kitchen ceiling light and my two vanity lights were a PITA to replace. Very happy that I won’t have to do that anymore!

I recently replaced all of my florescent lights with LED. It made a world of difference.

Better light, the price of LED's has come down a lot, and a much lower power bill.
What's not to like?

In addition to replacing all of my incandescent lights with LED lights, I replaced the switches on about half of them with Z-Wave switches that I can control with Smartthings. That allows me to turn on/off and dim with my iPhone, Harmony Remote or iPad. Great technology. Inexpensive Z-Wave motion detectors can control lights to automatically come on in a room at night and turn off at a certain interval. My living room can lights also come on at 1/2 hour before sunset. No limit to technology.

They will save you a pretty penny on electricity.

Though, I note you saying 'I won’t have to do that anymore!' and I should advise that they don't all last anywhere near the claims. You may ask how I know.

I've replaced all the ceiling bulbs in two houses with LED floodlights and have had maybe 5% of them fail within the first year. Not subtle failures, either - either stopped working altogether or started going intermittent. Replaced under warranty for the first year. Failures have continued after the warranty period, but at a lower rate.

Bottom line: save your receipts so that this happens to you in the warranty period, you can get them replaced.

RE: PITA to replace. With two houses having lots of ceiling floodlights, I invested in two things that make the tall-ceiling light replacements (whether LED or standard) easier: bulb grease that gets applied to the threads before installation (makes the bulbs easier to remove when it's time), and a long-handled bulb changer.

One thing I’ve learned about LED’s - a big power surge will take them out. New home, all LED lights. Lightening strike to transformer feeding house. About eight overhead lights failed right away, another half dozen died within a day or so. I had procrastinated about a whole home surge protector. A good one is installed now, hopefully will prevent this happening again.
And, BTW, they are a PITA to replace.

Upgrading everything in the new (to us) house. Incandescent and flourescent (with a couple of exceptions) are or will be replaced with LED fixtures or bulbs and all of the switches are being replaced with Lutron Caseta, which I'm extremely happy with so far.

-Rob

I had a broken dimmer switch in the foyer and just replaced it with a Lutron CL dimmer and new LED bulbs. It's great!

Provides best dimming performance for LED bulbs
Toggle switch to turn lights on/off; discreet slider to dim
Installs in 15 minutes or less (which was 2 days for me... LOL)

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:
I invested in two things that make the tall-ceiling light replacements (whether LED or standard) easier: bulb grease that gets applied to the threads before installation (makes the bulbs easier to remove when it's time), and a long-handled bulb changer.

I never thought of bulb grease. I recently replaced 3 conventional spots in my closet. I could remove 2 with the long handled bulb thingy. The third was stuck. I ended up removing the fixture and actually breaking the bulb so I could get a pair of pliers on the base to rotate it out. PIA on top of an extension ladder.

My home was built in 2016, and the builder installed several dozen can lights. The builder grade flourescent bulbs began burning out at the 6 month mark, and I've been replacing them with LEDs. Every room that I use the can lights (e.g. kitchen, hallway, home office, etc) is now 100% LED, and the flourescent are mainly in rooms with both can lights and ceiling fan light (mainly use this or lamps).

I've been buying 90+ CRI, 2700k LEDs from Costco. It's a really nice light color, and I like that there is instant light unlike the flourescents they replaced. It seems to be a truer color light than the warm white flourescents they replaced so perhaps this is the 90+ CRI.

I bought into the hype that bathrooms benefit from 5000k. They're the the 90+ CRI Cree bulbs from HD. I hate these bulbs so I'm betting my issue is the 5000k color not the CRI.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:
<snip>
RE: PITA to replace. With two houses having lots of ceiling floodlights, I invested in two things that make the tall-ceiling light replacements (whether LED or standard) easier: bulb grease that gets applied to the threads before installation (makes the bulbs easier to remove when it's time), and a long-handled bulb changer.

I keep silicone faucet grease on hand for various purposes. I put that on screw-in incandescent bulb threads.

It looks like Vaseline, except it’s perfectly clear, and doesn’t get runny when warm.

When we moved into our current house, we had surface mount LED's put in ceiling in various rooms-a fantastically right decision. Compared with old can lights, these require no cutting into insulation, are only about an inch tall.

Gradually replacing older switches and dimmers with new Levitron switches and dimmers compatible with Apple HomeKit, so I can control with the iPhone. So far working well.

I use dielectric grease on all of my lights now.

I used to only use it in automotive and bathrooms, but with LED bulbs lasting longer, I just use it every time to combat any oxidation or corrosion that might build up.

I’ve finally installed all the extra CFL bulbs we had on hand. As those go out, I’m replacing with LED. I’d love to know what the electric bill difference will be with all LED. I’d need to replace close to 100 bulbs for the whole house.

Did the same thing at the CSM Compound recently, except went with 2700K light temp. the 3000K was way too white for our taste.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:
Though, I note you saying 'I won’t have to do that anymore!' and I should advise that they don't all last anywhere near the claims. You may ask how I know.

I've replaced all the ceiling bulbs in two houses with LED floodlights and have had maybe 5% of them fail within the first year. Not subtle failures, either - either stopped working altogether or started going intermittent.

Yep. While the LED emitters themselves have ridiculously long lifespans, the internal circuitry in the bulb can still fail well before the emitters go out.

My 6 month old house has all LED bulbs, and I've already had to replace 3 LED bulbs that went bad. Usually starts with flickering upon startup, followed shortly by total failure.

3000K is my preferred color temp. 2700 is too soft for me.

Can be hard to find in stores cause its mostly 2700 or 5000.

2700 is good for stuff like bedrooms. Personally, I dislike brighter bluish white lighting in bedrooms. Having a warmer yellowish light makes the jarring transition from dark to light a little less so.

But in kitchens, bathrooms, garages, basements, and workspaces, the 3000k-5000k lights are a big help in seeing detail, reading, etc.

My living room has both, on separate switches. 2700k lighting on the fan for when I want it warmer and cozier, and 5000k cans in the ceiling for when I need to really see what I'm doing.

LED’s are great and should last a good long time. Really my only issue with them is if you have a bunch of can lights in the same area and need to replace one. Not all manufactures temp ratings look the same as each other. It’s especially frustrating when they all match when on full blast but don’t match at other dimmer settings. My suggestion is to take a picture of the box or buy plenty of backups.

I've had both ceiling fixtures in the kitchen and one in the bathroom replaced with LED ones and am very satisfied with the change. A few old bulbs in various places have been replaced with LED ones, but one has stopped working. It's a ceiling light above the stairway and very difficult to replace. My Handyman will have to do it (I don't "do" ladders).

Thinking about getting one of those screw-in replacements to use LEDs in the garage (there are several different ones adverdised on late-night TV).

flashguy