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I have a sensitivity to light. Most of the time I only use offset like for instants I’ll keep a light on in the kitchen while I’m watching television in the living room. But in general I keep it pretty dim. It is very confusing, I buy what I think are low wattage bulbs rather the equivalent to low wattage bulbs. For instance I bought one that I believed was equivalent to a low watt bulb for our outside porch, and it ended up being incredibly bright.
I've been called "Batman" many times in my life, and not for my crime-fighting skills. I like dimmer light, and indirect light, and when my working conditions permit I prefer a dim-to-dark office (which is why I was delighted when backlit keyboards came along...) I wouldn't say I'm sensitive to it, but I do have strong preferences and have usually been able to indulge them.
It's important to understand the difference between watts/lumens/brightness and color temp. Two different axes on the same grid. You can put in a "dimmer" bulb with a higher color temp and find it far too bright and glaring, perceptually.
The usual argument for daylight and natural temp bulbs is that it's somehow "better" than the reddish tone of incandescents. It's not, if you (by conditioning alone) find the light unpleasant.
I've been called "Batman" many times in my life, and not for my crime-fighting skills. I like dimmer light, and indirect light, and when my working conditions permit I prefer a dim-to-dark office (which is why I was delighted when backlit keyboards came along...) I wouldn't say I'm sensitive to it, but I do have strong preferences and have usually been able to indulge them.
It's important to understand the difference between watts/lumens/brightness and color temp. Two different axes on the same grid. You can put in a "dimmer" bulb with a higher color temp and find it far too bright and glaring, perceptually.
The usual argument for daylight and natural temp bulbs is that it's somehow "better" than the reddish tone of incandescents. It's not, if you (by conditioning alone) find the light unpleasant.
It’s funny, but daylight I don’t mind at all. Just bright artificial lighting. It’s very confusing trying to figure out the lumens versus wattage.
It cost me about $225 to replace all the fluorescent tubes in the office with LED tubes.
Direct install with no rewiring, about 48 LED tubes.
I perceive no degradation in serviceable light, see no flicker, and installed only two LED tubes replacing 4 fluorescents in 4 tube troffers.
Pretty good financial payoff for the effort.
If you didn't remove the ballasts, your energy savings probably won't be that great.
It’s funny, but daylight I don’t mind at all. Just bright artificial lighting.
It's a completely subjective thing, based on the way the eye interprets brightness. Brightness you consider normal out in the driveway would make you wonder if an arc furnace was running in your living room. Too-bright lighting in your living room would seem dim out in your driveway, at night.
Quote:
It’s very confusing trying to figure out the lumens versus wattage.
Not really, given that every bulb sold has a lumens figure printed right on it (base of most LEDs) and on the package. Just look up the lumen ratings for standard bulbs and use that to compare each brand and model of LED bulb against. (And remember the incandescents are a specific color range; if you get the same number of lumens in a different color temp, you're going to perceive it as brighter.)
Don't get hung up on CRI (color rendering index), either. Some make a big deal about how "off" some bulbs are, and how wonderful 92-94 CRI bulbs are... but again, we've lived with very "off" bulb color until very recent years. Putting high-CRI bulbs in places you're not used to them can make a room look garishly lit and off-color.
Or to turn the whole thing upside down, if you insist on following tech-is-gooder and arbitrary perfection and put daylight-temp, high-CRI lighting in your house... expect to change everything else including your notions of what's "normal" and "too bright."
It cost me about $225 to replace all the fluorescent tubes in the office with LED tubes.
Direct install with no rewiring, about 48 LED tubes.
I perceive no degradation in serviceable light, see no flicker, and installed only two LED tubes replacing 4 fluorescents in 4 tube troffers.
Pretty good financial payoff for the effort.
Quote:
Originally Posted by djmaxwell
If you didn't remove the ballasts, your energy savings probably won't be that great.
Yeah.. That.. I am replacing them all in our office with LED, but using the Toggled ballast-less bulbs.
If that ballast is still in there, it's still pulling the same basic power, and still creating all that heat, which is a pretty big thing.
The toggled bulbs, I have to do a slight amount of rewiring, but it takes me about 5 minutes to do. Pull the old ballasts out, connect the wiring properly and done.
Works out well, because on the 4 lamp/2 ballast fixtures, I have the extra hot and neutral wire to run directly to the new tombstones. Takes longer to clean out the old wiring and ballasts to be honest. And I cut them down to only 2 bulbs.
I've only done a few areas so far. We did the bathrooms with different temps on the bulbs to determine which we liked best.. We went with the 4000k "Cool White".. The 3500 "natural Light" hurt everyone's eyes and the 5000k was too.. Something.
But, I've replaced all the 'always on' fixtures with LED, salvaged the bulbs from them, and use those to replace the rest of the fixtures until I run out.. Then will swap out another set. Oh, and did the stairwells, too, because those things were a total PITA to reach.
Yeah.. That.. I am replacing them all in our office with LED, but using the Toggled ballast-less bulbs.
If that ballast is still in there, it's still pulling the same basic power, and still creating all that heat, which is a pretty big thing.
The toggled bulbs, I have to do a slight amount of rewiring, but it takes me about 5 minutes to do. Pull the old ballasts out, connect the wiring properly and done.
Works out well, because on the 4 lamp/2 ballast fixtures, I have the extra hot and neutral wire to run directly to the new tombstones. Takes longer to clean out the old wiring and ballasts to be honest. And I cut them down to only 2 bulbs.
I've only done a few areas so far. We did the bathrooms with different temps on the bulbs to determine which we liked best.. We went with the 4000k "Cool White".. The 3500 "natural Light" hurt everyone's eyes and the 5000k was too.. Something.
But, I've replaced all the 'always on' fixtures with LED, salvaged the bulbs from them, and use those to replace the rest of the fixtures until I run out.. Then will swap out another set. Oh, and did the stairwells, too, because those things were a total PITA to reach.
I replaced the tubes in my kitchen with ones from Toggled. I'm very pleased with them. I installed dimmable tubes, but haven't put a dimmer on them yet. I might try this weekend if I have a chance.
I need to use CFL dimmable bulbs in my recessed lights around the house. Now they are nowhere to buy. Everywhere I checked, the LED rules.
The LED doesn't work for me, because even after I turn the lights off, the bulbs still are "on" and glowing.
I need to use CFL dimmable bulbs in my recessed lights around the house. Now they are nowhere to buy. Everywhere I checked, the LED rules.
The LED doesn't work for me, because even after I turn the lights off, the bulbs still are "on" and glowing.
Your dimmer isn't compatible with LED lights. You'll need to change it.
We’re slowly converting everything in the house to LEDs as other bulbs fail. I always hated the compact fluorescence lights, I don’t think any of them ever achieved their stated life, igniters would always fail.
Compact, “tactical” flashlights have benefitted greatly from LED technology.
Now it is pretty easy to see the difference in newer cars vs older models, especially at night. Older models have this yellowish glow to the head lights where newer models with LED lighting have a whiter light.
We use the warm color temperature LED lights at home, which are nice. But I must say that we have been noticing some horribly bright white (bluish-white) headlights when driving at night lately that are almost blinding to oncoming drivers. I'm not a fan of those.
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