Wednesday, July 9, 2014

LED Lighting

Look, I'm not exactly a fan of LED lights, especially no at Christmas. LED Christmas lights give me the sensation that I'm about to have a seizure (they blink you know). I'd actually be interested to see the research on that. Anyway, I read that LED lights for recessed lighting is a good alternative because they don't produce heat. Currently I have 8 can lights that reach at least 215 degrees each. I notice the heat, because dugong the day I don't have any lights on and the temp at 72 (that's warm for me) the house feels nice and cool. When it gets dark I switch on the lights in the kitchen which is 4 can lights. I begin to notice that it's feeling warm in the house and turn down the temp. Our house was rewired by the previous occupant without a permit, they seemed to have done it up to code, but the lighting and outlet situation is still a little weird. You choice is either all the lights on or none. It would be nice if the 4 lights where divided into two. I also need to install a dimmer. I don't need these things on full blast all the time.
I've been given the opportunity to try out some LED lights for free and thought why not? Have you noticed how expensive these things are?! I chose a generic brand to get more lights. They received good reviews. I also chose them in a daylight 5000K spectrum, because I already know how cold and interrogating the regular LED lights can be. So I'm trying to avoid this.
I'm waiting for the products to arrive so I can see if it's worth making the switch.
They try to boast a $600 savings over 18 years with 3 daily use. Who only has their lights on for 3 hours? Some of the lights are for my all night porch light. Plus $600/18 = $33 a year if you only have them on for 3 hours. I guess if you run them longer you save more? The whole point of this experiment is to determine:
1. Are the new LED lights comparable to incandescent
2. Will they hum with a dimmer switch?
3. Will I see a noticeable difference in my electric bill?
4. Will it lower the temperature in the rooms with can lighting?

You might be asking, why not just get lamps? Well, I hate lamps, but more than that, our house is small, so I don't want lamps. Also, I'm in practice for one day switching over to solar. So it's good to test the more energy friendly lighting out beforehand. It's going to be a long time, if ever before I can do solar. I'm planning on either converting the large shed into another livable unit, or building a tiny house with solar, ect. These lights will find a home somewhere. Even if it's the garage.

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