Day 1 experiences with retrofits, wafers, cans, battens and more. Discussion ThreadDay 1 experiences with retrofits, wafers, cans, battens and more. Electrical Advice
Switch by the door, pendant holder and a 100W bulb, some will remember, others weren't born yet when it went out of fashion, but this was the standard lighting for most rooms.
Then the residential energy saving craze began, 2 and 4-pin CFLs, starter vs no starter, 2D, U-shaped, M-shaped, spirals, Circlite and Circline -which despite their similarities, were not the same-, and many more, though this era of oddly shaped lights wouldn't last forever, around 2010 the very first commercially viable LED lighting solutions in a shape that resembled a standard light bulb began to appear, but they didn't make it to most homes until 2015 when mass production made them cheaper and more akin to regular light bulbs using a standard no-frills base, a direct replacement to incandescents without the hassle of rewiring or installing new luminaires.
As a sparky I've dealt with pretty much all lighting technologies, except for the elusive and now rare SLI/H.
But what's actually better? are LEDs miracle bulbs that will make you save hundreds a year and last for decades?
As with everything, I'd say it depends. On what you use, where it's installed, how, and what for.
Now, my experience with LEDs at home was... disappointing, I wouldn't define it with any other way, every time I wanted to "switch to LED and save hundreds a year!!!" I've sighed and felt I wasted my money, first of all 'warm' lighting isn't extremely popular where I live so I had to visit specific stores to get my hands on warm LEDs, bought Osram stuff thinking well it's a known brand and all, installed a few and... it doesn't looks at all like our regular incandescents, the brightness is fine but everything looks opaque or washed out because of the terrible CRI, the advertised 2700K CCT is nowhere near the same colour of an actual incandescent, I've left a few installed outdoors and they all started flickering or simply died less than 2 years after purchasing them.
These were retrofit bulbs, 100W replacements. I...
Read more
Day 1 experiences with retrofits, wafers, cans, battens and more. for the original thread on Electricians Forums
Switch by the door, pendant holder and a 100W bulb, some will remember, others weren't born yet when it went out of fashion, but this was the standard lighting for most rooms.
Then the residential energy saving craze began, 2 and 4-pin CFLs, starter vs no starter, 2D, U-shaped, M-shaped, spirals, Circlite and Circline -which despite their similarities, were not the same-, and many more, though this era of oddly shaped lights wouldn't last forever, around 2010 the very first commercially viable LED lighting solutions in a shape that resembled a standard light bulb began to appear, but they didn't make it to most homes until 2015 when mass production made them cheaper and more akin to regular light bulbs using a standard no-frills base, a direct replacement to incandescents without the hassle of rewiring or installing new luminaires.
As a sparky I've dealt with pretty much all lighting technologies, except for the elusive and now rare SLI/H.
But what's actually better? are LEDs miracle bulbs that will make you save hundreds a year and last for decades?
As with everything, I'd say it depends. On what you use, where it's installed, how, and what for.
Now, my experience with LEDs at home was... disappointing, I wouldn't define it with any other way, every time I wanted to "switch to LED and save hundreds a year!!!" I've sighed and felt I wasted my money, first of all 'warm' lighting isn't extremely popular where I live so I had to visit specific stores to get my hands on warm LEDs, bought Osram stuff thinking well it's a known brand and all, installed a few and... it doesn't looks at all like our regular incandescents, the brightness is fine but everything looks opaque or washed out because of the terrible CRI, the advertised 2700K CCT is nowhere near the same colour of an actual incandescent, I've left a few installed outdoors and they all started flickering or simply died less than 2 years after purchasing them.
These were retrofit bulbs, 100W replacements. I...
Read more
Day 1 experiences with retrofits, wafers, cans, battens and more. for the original thread on Electricians Forums
