We had six overhead R30 track lights in the kitchen that we had converted from incandescents to CFLs sometime back. The CFLs worked out pretty well, but they did have a shorter life than you would expect from a CFL. This is probably because the lights are turned off and on a lot, and that is not good for CFL life. The lights are also very awkward to replace as the ceiling is 13 ft high, and its hard to get a ladder in the right place. These are also the most used lights in the house, so that seemed like a good place to start.
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| Our new R20 track mounted LED lights. |
We found that getting the right LED is a bit more complicated that just buying a bulb used to be. The LEDs are expensive (as in $20 to $40 ish each), the quality is not yet consistent for all manufacturers (perhaps an understatement), and there are light quality and color issues that need to be understood. And, given that the lights may last the rest of your life, you will live with any mistakes for quite a while.
The link below goes over all the details, but after some homework we were able to find a good LED for our situation, and we are very happy with the result. The LED we selected is an R20 (instead of the R30's we had). The new LED uses only 8 watts as compared to the 15 watt CFLs we had, which replaced the orginal 65 watt incandescents. We also found that we could eliminate one of the lights. So, we went from the original 390 watts in incandescents down to 90 watts of CFLS, and now 40 watts of LED lights -- quite a saving -- about 500 KWH a year and over 800 lbs of CO2 compared to the original incandescent lights.
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| The R20, 8 watt LEDs we chose -- $22 each. |
And, the lighting is very nice. A definite improvement over the CFLs inspite of the fact that on paper the LEDs have substaintially less total lumen. In addition, the LEDs come on instantly, and I will never have to go up that ladder again!
The link below goes into some of the issues involved in finding the right LED and in deciding which of your current lights might be good candidates for replacement, and figuring out the dollar and carbon saving. But, in a nutshell, it looks to us like at the current prices and performance the LEDs pay very well compared to incandescents, and also make sense as CFL replacements in some cases.
All the details on our first LED project...
Anyone have any interesting/helpful experiences in LEDs to pass on?
Light trivia -- did you know that the "R" in R20 means its a reflector light, and that the "20" means that the light diameter is 20 eighths of an inch (2.5 inches)?
An PAR38 is Parabolic Aluminized Reflector light that is 38*1/8 = 4.75 inches in diameter.
An A19 is the traditional Edison household light bulb shape that is 19*1/8 = 2.4 inches in diameter.
Gary