So we've gone from hot wires to compact fluorescent to LEDs, what's our next new lighting source?
Paint it on and stimulate it somehow?
So we've gone from hot wires to compact fluorescent to LEDs, what's our next new lighting source?
Paint it on and stimulate it somehow?
That would be electroluminescent paint.
LEDs are really dang good. They're cheap (now) and convert something like 99% of the electricity to light, very little waste heat.
In reply to Knurled:
But they don't make the cool "pew pew pew" noise that lasers do.
We are going to see many generations of LEDs.. We've come a long way from the simple red/orange LEDS that where common in the 80s.
Knurled wrote: LEDs are really dang good. They're cheap (now) and convert something like 99% of the electricity to light, very little waste heat.
This.
Seems like the new trend is "smart" LED lights. Turn it on and off with your phone! No need to manually flip the light switch! Change colors! Spend $11.95 per bulb!
shakes fist at cloud
It's LEDs all the way down for the foreseeable future, just new more efficient formulations of them.
I wonder if Audi will make their CEL with a laser too? ducks and runs
j/k 
all the cool kids are doing LED's 
RossD wrote: I wonder if Audi will make their CEL with a laser too? *ducks and runs* j/k
I would duck too!
In reply to ProDarwin:
Careful if that cloud goes down you'll have to reconfigure you home lighting and thermostat settings.
WonkoTheSane wrote: In reply to Knurled: But they don't make the cool "pew pew pew" noise that lasers do.
If your laser is making those noises, that's a sign the blower bearings need to be replaced.
I think we need to perfect their suckers before forcing them upon consumers. Every "new technology" light bulb that I have purchased for 100 times more cost lasted exactly ¼ of the time. I laugh out loud at these claims that CFL last hundreds of thousands of hours. Under lab conditions perhaps, but in the real world of my hot, steamy bathroom or cold, wet garage, they don't hold a candle to an incandescent. In fact, I have candles that last longer! LEDs are doing better, but they have issues with dimming and being to bright and the cost is just crazy.
In reply to MadScientistMatt:
pinchvalve wrote: I think we need to perfect their suckers before forcing them upon consumers. Every "new technology" light bulb that I have purchased for 100 times more cost lasted exactly ¼ of the time. I laugh out loud at these claims that CFL last hundreds of thousands of hours. Under lab conditions perhaps, but in the real world of my hot, steamy bathroom or cold, wet garage, they don't hold a candle to an incandescent. In fact, I have candles that last longer! LEDs are doing better, but they have issues with dimming and being to bright and the cost is just crazy.
What are you doing to them???
For us, the CFL's have lasted a lot longer than incandescent lights. Especially in a vibration prone spot- we have a light under the room that has the washer/dryer. Used to go through light really fast, until I replaced the light with a CF, and now they last a much longer time.
But I'm going to slowly change over to LEDs, as they are really great. I just made two small growing systems, and it was easy to get a 6000k light for cheap, and it generates no heat. They are great.
In reply to alfadriver:
Hmm, one of law enforcements' tools for years was to watch electric usage and IR signatures of houses to spot the places growing pot under grow lights. I wonder if there will be a (already occurred? I don't keep up) growth in residential "agriculture".
Grtechguy wrote: We are going to see many generations of LEDs.. We've come a long way from the simple red/orange LEDS that where common in the 80s.
I remember in the '90s when someone figured out how to finally make blue LEDs. It was a huge deal, because then you could theoretically make RGB (Red/green/blue) triplets and then get all the other colors from that. (Think LED TV.)
Now, we have highly-efficient white LEDs that put out the same amount of light as an incandescent bulb but at around 15% of the power draw (and an order of magnitude greater longevity!)
alfadriver wrote:pinchvalve wrote: I think we need to perfect their suckers before forcing them upon consumers. Every "new technology" light bulb that I have purchased for 100 times more cost lasted exactly ¼ of the time. I laugh out loud at these claims that CFL last hundreds of thousands of hours. Under lab conditions perhaps, but in the real world of my hot, steamy bathroom or cold, wet garage, they don't hold a candle to an incandescent. In fact, I have candles that last longer! LEDs are doing better, but they have issues with dimming and being to bright and the cost is just crazy.What are you doing to them??? For us, the CFL's have lasted a lot longer than incandescent lights. Especially in a vibration prone spot- we have a light under the room that has the washer/dryer. Used to go through light really fast, until I replaced the light with a CF, and now they last a much longer time. But I'm going to slowly change over to LEDs, as they are really great. I just made two small growing systems, and it was easy to get a 6000k light for cheap, and it generates no heat. They are great.
My anecdotal experience with CFL's is the same as Pinchy's
My dining room light fixture (rarely used lighting. Perhaps an hour a month) used the same 60W incandescent bulbs for 10 years. When one burnt out I bought 2 CFL's and they started flickering, took much longer time to warm up and needed to be replaced every 6 months. I gave that 3 years. Last weekend I replaced them with some shockingly inexpensive ($1.67 each) 4W LED bulbs. I like the instant brightness and hope they last longer than 6 months. As cheap as they are I don't care.
I do miss that comforting glow of incandescents. LED's seem "harsh" to my eyes and CFL's seem too "soft"
Jumper K. Balls wrote: I do miss that comforting glow of incandescents. LED's seem "harsh" to my eyes and CFL's seem too "soft"
LED bulbs come in different color temperatures. Get a more "yellow" light (lower color temperature value).
My wife and I are weird and like the pure white light. I think it depends on what you grew up around.
I too have had mixed results with CFL's. Given the increased cost, I'm not a fan. The last bunch of bulbs I bought were LED's, which I was pleased to find have come down drastically in price. I'm hoping these last longer than the bulbs in my earlier foray into LED's, which lasted only a few months. The technology certainly has the capability to last, but the cheesy Chinese manufacturing is the weak link.
10 years ago, my aunt replaced every lightbulb in her house with an LED. She has replaced 0 light bulbs since then.
I have replaced almost every lighbulb in my house with LED. I've had mixed results with CFL; I did find that you got what you paid for.
Every single lightbulb inside and outside my house got changed to a LED this winter when they went on at the local hardware store for a .80 cents to a dollar. They're fantastic. I do need new dimmers though. The GE bulbs in my fans flicker noticeably from time to time.
Keith Tanner said: That would be electroluminescent paint. https://www.lumilor.com
I can't wait for that to develop further. It's been the stuff of sci-fi for decades.
Jumper K. Balls: Did you look at what the coloring was on them? I use 2700k ones in pretty much everything. The over 3000k bothers my eyes too.
Also, the super cheap ones like those found in cheap strings of Christmas tree lights give me a migraine due to the subtle strobe effect they create. All the bulbs I buy I turn on one at a time at night and wave my hand around looking for the effect. If it exists the bulb goes back. Sounds anal but migraines are no joke.
CFL's contain mercury and take time to warm up.
The EPA actually has a cleanup procedure for broken CFLs.
So no thanks. I'll drop my used up LEDs off at Best Buy or IKEAs recycling bins in 10 years.
I've slowly been replacing all my light bulbs with LEDs as they burn out. However, I have had zero luck with dimmers and LEDs. So I've also had to do a little wiring to replace dimmer switches with standard light switches.
However, in the master bedroom, we like our dimmer switch. I do not have LED or CF bulbs in there; rather, I have the other replacement for incandescent bulbs--halogen.
Yes, if you look inside the light bulb, instead of seeing a long filament, you see what appears to be an H3 headlight bulb off of a car! They use about 55% of the energy of a standard incandescent for the same light output.
CFL depends on the application. They're fluorescents, so they work best where you'd use a fluorescent. They love to run more than they like to start. We used to use them on our motion-activated outside lights and they had trouble with that. But put them in a place where they come on and stay on, they last really well. I replaced all the motion-activated CFLs with LEDs about 6 years ago and they've been flawless.
Given the price of LEDs now, it's hard to make a case for CFLs. I tend to find a manufacturer I like and stick with it, there's a lot of variance with LEDs. Those CREE ones that Home Depot was pimping hard last year just didn't cut it for me, but Ikea actually has some really good ones.
I just put a bunch of LED lights in my music studio, supplementing some halogens. I tend to run the LEDs instead of the halogens now just to keep the temperature down a bit. Man, it gets hot in there otherwise. The tube amp doesn't help.
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