• guyrocket@kbin.social
    7·
    6 months ago

    Second this.

    CF bulbs have some mercury in them and need to be disposed of properly. DO NOT put these in the trash!

    I took mine to the collection box in the customer service / returns area at home despot.

    ETA: I think I am now rid of all the compact florescent bulbs in my house. LEDs are now cheap enough that I’ll get rid of good CFs for the energy savings.

    • AWizard_ATrueStar@kbin.social
      1·
      6 months ago

      Only problem I have had with LED lights is they stop working after maybe 6 months whereas the CF bulbs would go for years. I have CF bulbs in fixtures that have been working since before I got my first LED installed. What has your experience been? What brand of bulb are you using? I am willing to pay more for a bulb that will last.

      • cobra89@beehaw.org
        1·
        6 months ago

        We bit the bullet and bought a bunch of Philips hue bulbs about 4 years ago. None of them have failed out of about 18 of them. The only things that have failed are both of the hue motion sensors we bought to automate lights turning on.

      • guyrocket@kbin.social
        1·
        6 months ago

        What has your experience been? What brand of bulb are you using?

        Happy to answer your questions.
        Most of my LEDs were purchased at Costco for dirt cheap prices. Like $1 USD for a 4 pack. They occasionally have special deals where the utility company subsidizes the price so they are ungodly cheap. I’ve mostly stopped looking for bulbs because I have a houseful now. Costco also reduces your risk with their easy returns.
        The brand is Feit electric which seems to be a common bulb brand around here. Nothing special as far as I can tell.
        And I cannot recall an LED bulb failing. My CFs were also not generally failing. You might call an electrician to see what they might suggest. I suppose there are power supply situations that are unfriendly to LEDs.
        The last LEDs I bought are Feit electric Item 1715918. These are 100 watt replacement LEDs with a switch on them to choose the color (temperature) of light between soft white (2700K), bright white (3000K), cool white (4000K), daylight (5000K) and cool daylight (6500K). Seems like a great idea to let you choose your color. I prefer daylight over the harsher whites.

        cobra89 mentions Philips brand and I have heard they sell some of the best bulbs. I don’t think I have any but I may eventually get some for specific applications.

        Tangential, but here’s an interesting video about dim-able LEDs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbvVnOxb1AI

      • The_Sasswagon@beehaw.org
        1·
        6 months ago

        You might have fixtures that overheat the bulbs. LEDs run cool compared to other bulbs but they are very sensitive to heat (that’s why the old ones had fins on them). If your fixture is enclosed, LEDs in there will have a much shorter life span.

        One common fixture in these parts are those silly domes with the screw in the middle, they regularly killed bulbs at my old place. I even had one come out that had discoloration from the heat.

        CFLs and incandescents didn’t like those fixtures or heat either, but I don’t know as much about how their life span was impacted.

        • runner_g@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
          2·
          6 months ago

          One common fixture in these parts are those silly domes with the screw in the middle,

          My wife and I affectionally refer to those as boob lights.