LED Bulbs
Thinking of converting interior bulbs to LED's. Any recommendations?
Forum Discussion
Okay, I completed my LED conversion over the weekend. Here it is in a nutshell.
The original florescent light fixture with everything florescent removed. It all pretty much just snapped out.
The LED strips installed. I selected the angled surfaces for they had a flat surface to bond to, and to direct the light outward
Note the 3-way switch in the center/off position. Also note the tiny 3-LED circuit. The main circuit has 66 LEDS, 33 per strip.
Note the other long surfaces had raised lettering which did not offer a flat surface to bond the strips to.
I sure hope the strong adhesive backing will permanently hold them in place.
Here the light is turned on. The camera adjusted the exposure. It shows how the light gets dispersed.
Here is a picture I had taken for comparison. A florescent light is forward and a completed LED light farther back.
The blue tone florescent appears to be just as bright, but it really is a little less.
Here, all fixtures have the main 66 LED lights on.
The room is actually a lot brighter. The camera adjusted the exposure.
Here, only the 3 LED night lights are on.
The camera adjusted the lighting. It actually has a nice soft glow throughout
I am disappointed in that the camera could not capture "True" lighting. Full-On appears much darker than actuality. Night-Light shows it much brighter than actuality. Sorry about that.
Here is the sealed LED porch light. I made a reflector from some industrial aluminum foil, not for food handling, very very stiff. I cut and shaped it to fit behind the bulb and around the sides of the fixture. You can see how the light bulb has a larger illumination. It seems to be a softer light, I think because the LED bulb is frosted and sealed.
Cost as follows.
- $12.05 on Ebay for a 5 meter length of LEDs in a reel. Because I made the strips as long as possible and having the night lights too, I was one strip short. I bought a second reel to have enough. Only one reel is required if having 27 LEDs per strip, assuming 9 fixtures.
- $8.42 for 20 3-way switches purchased off Ebay, though I only needed 9
So theoretically one can convert 10 fixtures for $12, straight & simple florescent to LED. That is a real bargain. I tripled the investment to just over $30 to have a little extra light and to have the night-light feature. I do have a lot of leftover material on-hand in case something fails later. You do need to have fairly good soldering skills and a lot of patience. It took me an entire day to convert 9 fixtures with the night-light option added.
- $30 per pair of sealed & frosted LED bulbs. I used 5 in our rig.... Shower, Closet, Outdoor Storage, Porch, & Sanicon.
One final project is my range hood light. I could use some left-over strips up inside the hood cavity, but favor changing the socket and use that 6th spare sealed bulb. I could mount that bulb directionally downward toward the stove to be more effective.
The original florescent light fixture with everything florescent removed. It all pretty much just snapped out.
The LED strips installed. I selected the angled surfaces for they had a flat surface to bond to, and to direct the light outward
Note the 3-way switch in the center/off position. Also note the tiny 3-LED circuit. The main circuit has 66 LEDS, 33 per strip.
Note the other long surfaces had raised lettering which did not offer a flat surface to bond the strips to.
I sure hope the strong adhesive backing will permanently hold them in place.
Here the light is turned on. The camera adjusted the exposure. It shows how the light gets dispersed.
Here is a picture I had taken for comparison. A florescent light is forward and a completed LED light farther back.
The blue tone florescent appears to be just as bright, but it really is a little less.
Here, all fixtures have the main 66 LED lights on.
The room is actually a lot brighter. The camera adjusted the exposure.
Here, only the 3 LED night lights are on.
The camera adjusted the lighting. It actually has a nice soft glow throughout
I am disappointed in that the camera could not capture "True" lighting. Full-On appears much darker than actuality. Night-Light shows it much brighter than actuality. Sorry about that.
Here is the sealed LED porch light. I made a reflector from some industrial aluminum foil, not for food handling, very very stiff. I cut and shaped it to fit behind the bulb and around the sides of the fixture. You can see how the light bulb has a larger illumination. It seems to be a softer light, I think because the LED bulb is frosted and sealed.
Cost as follows.
- $12.05 on Ebay for a 5 meter length of LEDs in a reel. Because I made the strips as long as possible and having the night lights too, I was one strip short. I bought a second reel to have enough. Only one reel is required if having 27 LEDs per strip, assuming 9 fixtures.
- $8.42 for 20 3-way switches purchased off Ebay, though I only needed 9
So theoretically one can convert 10 fixtures for $12, straight & simple florescent to LED. That is a real bargain. I tripled the investment to just over $30 to have a little extra light and to have the night-light feature. I do have a lot of leftover material on-hand in case something fails later. You do need to have fairly good soldering skills and a lot of patience. It took me an entire day to convert 9 fixtures with the night-light option added.
- $30 per pair of sealed & frosted LED bulbs. I used 5 in our rig.... Shower, Closet, Outdoor Storage, Porch, & Sanicon.
One final project is my range hood light. I could use some left-over strips up inside the hood cavity, but favor changing the socket and use that 6th spare sealed bulb. I could mount that bulb directionally downward toward the stove to be more effective.
