"Incandescents vs fluorescents vs LED bulbs" Topic

Now that the ol fashioned ones are increasingly difficult to get these days, what have you moved on to?

Luckily(?), I've been on a painting hiatus for almost 6 months and I still have a small stash of daylight bulbs.

But, I'm hearing good things about LEDs and I've continued to stay away from the fluorescents (CFLs) as they can really put the fade on some colors.

What are you using?

How are the LEDs for painting? No heat – that's got to be a boon.

I love LEDs for painting.

I'll try an LED once they get cheap enough to experiment with. Until then I have sunlight, and a large stockpile of regular 'candies…. ;-)

I'll try an LED once they get cheap enough to experiment with.

How cheap do you want? LED bulbs can now be had in LKEA for as little as £7.00 GBP

I picked up a 10-watt LED (equiv 60-Watt candie) at Ikea last weekend for $7.49 USD.

I'm not actually using it as a painting bulb, but in a stairwell wall sconce that burns through candies like, well, a kid through candy.

One potential drawback I've noticed— the shape of the LED "bulb" requires a large plastic "collar" around what would be the lower half of the bulb. This collar blocks the light, creating a larger "shadow cone" than a normal incandescent does. That's okay in a ceiling fixture, or a fixture where the bulb hangs down or protrudes horizontally from the wall, but in a typical up-right lamp such as on an end table, etc., you would wind up not having the full pool of light under the lamp which you expect. So when purchasing, do consider the position the bulb will be installed.

CFL's contain mercury, which requires special disposal (they're treated as "hazardous waste", and it cost more…); they take longer than 30-seconds, to come on fully; they emit UV, which will fade most things; they tend to be larger, especially when you get the high-Lumen output units; their lifespan is around 10,000 hours only; they just plain suck rotten eggs!

LED's have come down in price, dramatically; they have a lifespan of 50,000+ hours of continuous usage, which translates into around 20 years(!) of normal use; they come in different temperature ranges (3,000 K -- incandescent; 5,000-6000 K -- daylight); they come fully on, instantly; they burn a fraction of the power of an incandescent for the Lumen output; replacing your incandescent bulbs with LED's will cut the lighting portion of your electrical bill to 1/6 of what it was; they're rather amazing, actually.

Currently, there are no 3-way LED's made -- yet. They're coming, but nobody knows when, yet. You can buy dimmable LED's, but they cost more, and availability is limited. LED's are da' bomb, IMO. YMMV. Cheers!

LEDs all the way. As Sgt Slag wrote, you can get daylight ones that are as good as old incandescent bulbs for painting.

Sgt Slag quotes the "50000 hours" and "20 years life span" figures. These are simply untrue in real life situations. I replaced many of my 50W halogens with LEDs in December 2012. I have already had two of the LEDs fail. I understand that they have some sort of electronic " starter" and these are prone to fail, causing the whole expensive bulb to pop. As for the cheapos from IKEA- you are better off with candle! They are so dim as to be useless.
I did buy one 7W LED from Amazon that I use as a painting light. It gives a clean white light and, so far, has not blown up. The ones I put into my kitchen have a slightly green cast to the light and certainly alter colour perception. If they can get the build quality right, then LEDs may be the light of the future

As for the cheapos from IKEA- you are better off with candle! They are so dim as to be useless.

Do you mean that they do not actually deliver the lumens stated on the packaging?

Difficult to get? How about illegal thanks to the envirokook "green" movement who now mandate bulbs filled with mercury.

I stocked up on 100W bulbs a year or so ago. I guess I looked like a kook with a shopping cart full of them….

But who's laughing now, yeeeeessssss, who?

DM

Old fashion bulbs or real daylight when I move to my non heated shop, I detest fluorescents.

I made the change to LEDs last year, haven't looked back since. If you are in the UK try LED hut and they often have discounts of 10-25% on link and they give a 5-year warranty on all LEDs. You can choose what colour or hue that you want, what shape & what fitting.

Lighting is such a teeny tiny percentage of my electric bill that I laugh when people tell me how much I will save over normal bulbs. I can't believe people buy that line of bunk. My AC unit sucks big power, followed by water heater and the big appliances. Light bulbs? Don't make me laugh.

I stockpiled bulbs. Here in the US, three way bulbs are exempt so you can still use them and buy them.

Actually, you can buy incandescents in the US in any wattage— but they have to be rated for "rough usage" (not sure what the actual term is). This simply means that they have to be either designed to withstand the sort of constant motion and jerks of, say, a lighting socket in a subway car or on a boat, or be up to industrial applications and environments, or simply be able to withstand voltage spikes up to 130v. Typically these aren't carried in department stores, but any good electrical supply shop should be able to get them. In our case, I might be well-served to hunt a few out, as we're on TVA power (Tennessee Valley Authority, a federally-run power system), which has a notoriously inadequate grid subject to frequent spikes— blows out ordinary bulbs all the time.

If you do have incandescents and a dimmer switch, you can also fend off the affects of power spikes by setting your dimmer just a little below full power. Makes the bulbs last longer, too. I do this in my home office, which has a candelabra chandelier that uses the "candle" style mini-socket bulbs. They used to pop every month or so till I learned to set the dimmer switch lower.

With LEDS as with all lamps, quality is everything. Buy some cheap rubbish from China & it won't work well or last.
Good ones are not cheap but will do the job they say they will.

What ochoin said. I have a stash of incandescent "daylight" bulbs that do the job for me but once they are gone I am going to have to seitch.

>>>> I stockpiled bulbs. Here in the US, three way bulbs are exempt so you can still use them and buy them.

Shhhhh. Congress may be listening.

I've seen the rough use bulbs occasionally. They're pretty expensive. $10 USD ieach n some cases. May have no choice if my stockpile runs out…..I've already said too much.

DM