Posted on 04/14/2015 8:22:42 AM PDT by Citizen Zed
The least expensive LED light of the bunch at $14.97 per bulb, Cree’s Wi-Fi enabled, soft white 60 watt-replacements cast a good glow over my kitchen table. In fact, when I installed the new web-connected Edison bulbs, they replaced older (by a year), non-Wi-Fi-enabled, 60 watt Cree LED bulbs — and these newer bulbs seemed even brighter, though they boasted the same 815 lumens.
Luckily, I could dial back the Cree’s brightness through the Philips Hue app I used to control them, which is another feature worth mentioning. The Connected Cree bulbs are marketed as being Wink App compatible, which means they require a Wink Hub (a small piece of hardware that starts at $49 and works as a go-between from the bulbs to your Internet router). But that specific piece of hardware isn’t the only bridge that will do the trick, and since I don’t have a Wink Hub, I was able to connect the Cree bulbs to my Philips Hue hardware using these instructions. (Full disclosure: Only two of the three Connected Cree bulbs I tested could be detected by my Philips Hue bridge, but I feel that’s what I get for not going with the recommended Wink hardware.)
Otherwise, the Connected Cree LEDs work great. They are responsive to the inputs I make in the Philips Hue app and never miss a beat on my very regimented IFTTT triggers. I imagine they would only work better with a Wink Hub, so if you’re starting your smart home lighting efforts from scrap, be sure to pick one up.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
Led lights are actually one of the “new and improved” things that make sense.
[[Waiting to see what the savings look like, if any.]]
14 cents per quarter- enjoy the savings
I have a friend who won’t buy anything unless it’s remote control. I said how much effort does it take to turn a fan on or off once or twice a day?
/johnny
The savings depends on the number of lights in your house.... and how often and long they are on. If you can reduce 60 watts to 8 or 9 watts on every light bulb you have.... You gotta figure you have reduced the lighting portion of your electric bill by about 87%. There are web sites that can do the math etc to help determine how much of your current electric bill is attributable to lights.
Well, I haven’t gone LED yet. My youngest son keeps pressuring me. There are only a few places right now where I would like to try the LED’s but those things are expensive! I’m not crazy about the colors of LED’s. Maybe that will keep improving in the future. Our kitchen (large area) has 6 flood lights. It would be a great place to put them - but the LED replacements are about $49 each (ouch!) for dimmables. Two other places (office & dining chandelier) both require a replacement of the dimmers. Not a big deal but, again, something else to buy. Hopefully, prices will come down. Anyway...
For the hard core among us, you might be interested in this site. Especially if you are concerned about longevity and color temp. They get around the Fed. regs. by being a “speciality bulb” (the “special” part is their longevity).
Here’s a section of their blurb:
“...in order to address the demand by the public for the quality of light that an incandescent light bulb produces, the Newcandescent light bulb was created. This modified version of the incandescent light bulb provides the same quality of light most have come to expect, with the added benefit of 5-10 times the amount of hours. The typical incandescent light bulb would last only 1000 to 2000 hours.
The Newcandescent light bulb lasts up to 10,000 hours. This longer lasting light bulb can also be used for “rough use” and is exempt from this recent legislation. Designed with the latest in lighting technology, the Newcandescent light bulb now provides consumers with the same quality of light originally provided by incandescent light bulbs while being more energy efficient and longer lasting.”
This is why Global Warming™ must remain real.
There is lots of money to be made on “green” products.
As long as green products are a billion dollar industry, the global warming alarms will keep coming.
And the ‘studies’ that scream the loudest about global warming are the ones that get the most money.
And they will keep getting money... kinda like giving the bartender a $100 bill and say ‘keep em coming’.
I’ve tried the curly CFL bulbs, but they give awful light and are a constant worry with their mercury content and reports of fires. The LED lights I have tried give feable light and are still quite expensive. I’m sticking with the good old incandescent bulbs, but have been buying the longer life version. The savings in electricity with these bulbs is over blown and simply turning off lights probably works as well.
Remote control is acceptable and almost unavoidable for the TV, and it’s a big positive for a garage door or for RC toy airplanes. Otherwise, it’s hard to find times when it’s useful.
It would be nice if they listed the number of lumens the bulbs produce. Rough service/long life incandescent bulbs usually are built for a higher voltage (130 was mentioned on that site), which means they run cooler, dimmer and less light per watt consumed than regular incandescents in a regular 110 circuit.
I understand. They really impact monthly bills.
They have electronics in the base which cannot tolerate the heat...That is my experience.
Remote control has its place but a lot of the times is ridiculous.
Yes we stocked up also but you can still buy them =
http://www.lightbulbsdirect.com/CTGY/Incandescent.html
I haven’ had an incandescent burn out for a very long time. I do not find it a bother to change one every few years or so.
That’s why I was for LEDs semiconductors which don’t get that hot, encased in thick plastic, don’t have the same toxicity concerns. Plus LEDs are really long lasting. Over time, they can be worth it, the drawback is the current budget, which not everyone has.
The LED itself is pretty reliable. It is usually the Chinese electronics in the bulb that fails.
My church cut their power bill nearly 80% by switching to LED’s. But yes, once everyone catches on the power company will be filing for a rate increase.
Can I add to your comment with a worser case scenario?
“Great. Now home invaders can hack your lights just before kicking in your door, so as to attack you in the dark and when you are disoriented.
And on top of that, the gov’t will be able to turn your lights off, just like they can do with smart meters: from the street.
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