6Kw going in soon in Aliso Viejo

[sensij]

I've been buying Cree LED's from Home Depot whenever they are on sale. I'm really liking Cree's 4Flow design for standard incandescent replacement. I've got an odd size for my ceiling fans that isn't carried in stores that I haven't tried to track down online yet.

[Alisobob]

Cree also makes a cool LED "3 Way" now as well...

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Cree-30-60-100W-Equivalent-Soft-White-2700K-A21-3-Way-LED-Light-Bulb-BA21-16027OMF-12WE26-1U100/205226208

[russ]

Standard bulbs are usually measured is watts. This is power consumption, and has little to do with brightness.

LEDs are measured in lumens which is actual brightness, with a side note to watts, and a cross reference to what it would compare to in watts with a standard bulb.

Power consumption of all lights are given in watts and the amount of light provided for all is given in lumens.

[Alisobob]

Pull a standard bulb out of a existing fixture, and show me where the bulb lists the lumens.

[mcollins]

Ok.. heres the deal...

It took me about a month to get my LED situation figured out.

My wife is REAL picky....

Standard bulbs are usually measured is watts. This is power consumption, and has little to do with brightness.

LEDs are measured in lumens which is actual brightness, with a side note to watts, and a cross reference to what it would compare to in watts with a standard bulb.

Toss in color spectrum choices , and its real hit and miss to replace a standard bulb with a LED counterpart.

"Soft White" bulbs are about 2700 k in color. "Daylight" bulbs are around 5000k. Again, your mileage may vary.

I probably made 20 trips to the local H/D , Lowes.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5537[/ATTACH]

This little chart is a ball park.... my wife got real picky on brightness, So I bought brighter bulbs than needed, and put everything on dimmers to fine tune everything. Most LEDs dont change color with a dimmer like standard bulbs do ( Standard bulbs shift more towards yellow light with a dimmer). Some people saw this as a flaw with LEDS, so now, some LEDS DO SHIFT color with the use of a dimmer.

Appearance: Some LEDS look weird

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5538[/ATTACH]

Some look normal
[ATTACH=CONFIG]5539[/ATTACH]

Some are spotlight, some are flood..... some marked flood are really spotlight and vise versa....

All LEDS are " Instant On".... meaning that they come on with full brightness.... however, "Instant On" does not mean they come on instantly when you flick the switch. Some do, but some dont and have a slight delay... maybe a second or so.

It can be a real crapshoot until you get it all figured out.... but when you do... it will be worth it... trust me!!

I hope this helped, and didnt confuse you more. Both H/D and Lowes never had any issue with returned bulbs.

The big players are CREE, Sylvania, Phillips, and Feit. I would stay from any off brand stuff.

At one point, I had the whole house converted with the exception of one 9 bulb chandelier.

When that one chandlier was on, it consumed more power than ALL the rest of the house lights combined!

I have since found bulbs for it , that are acceptable.

Good luck with this. It can be kinda' fun, like a scavenger hunt, to find exactly what your looking for.

Thanks Bob,

Great info. I will take you advise and go buy a bunch from HD or Lowes and see what works/looks best in the house. I will most likely over buy as returns as you stated are easy at these stores.

[russ]

Pull a standard bulb out of a existing fixture, and show me where the bulb lists the lumens.

Go to the suppliers web site - you can find it. People using the old incandescent types don't even know that word.

The lumens are only part - directionality and other factors come in as well.

[mcollins]

Cree also makes a cool LED "3 Way" now as well...

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Cree-30-6...U100/205226208

Hey Bob and all,

I just picked these up at Costco for $20. It is a 3 pack soft white 2700k - 810 lumens (low so only works some places) , 9.5 watts. The color is good compared to other more blue led light. I will mainly use them under yellow tinted shades in desk lamps.
144799b.jpg

Will be going back today to pick up more. They also had globe lights for the vanity in our bathrooms but the light is to harsh and blue, returning these. I will possibly build yellow tinted shades for the bathroom mirror vanities (Lampshop.com) because I have not found any LED's that don't turn the viewer into an anemic zombie.

[mcollins]

Cree also makes a cool LED "3 Way" now as well...

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Cree-30-6...U100/205226208

Looks great. Only concern is lots of customers on home depot site sighting failures.

[Alisobob]

I've had my 3 ways for a while... no complains.

Even if they do fail in 5 years or so... just buy new ones, and return the broken ones.

Home Depot will take nearly everything back.

[Alisobob]

Hey Bob and all,

I just picked these up at Costco for $20. It is a 3 pack soft white 2700k -

Sweet!

( I prefer buying at Lowes or H/D for their return / exchange ease...)

[mcollins]

Sweet!

( I prefer buying at Lowes or H/D for their return / exchange ease...)

Good point. I will pick some up to try.

Hey Bob any chance you would consider a visit from other enthusiasts to see the system you installed?

[J.P.M.]

Glad to hear that on the solar companies - when they are charging almost 3 times the cost of the system installed, keeping the 30% tax credit, and allowed to write off the depreciation = 20 years of monthly profit from each lease customer.

Put up $1500-$2500 (depending on system size) up front and get that up front money back (maybe even more)in the next 5 years and collect that same $1500+ every year for the next 20 years. What a scheme! Yes, investigating needs to be done when tax dollars are involved. The shame is that the consumer doesn't get the cost benefit of going solar.

Welcome to the lease vs. purchase discussion.

[Alisobob]

Good point. I will pick some up to try.

Hey Bob any chance you would consider a visit from other enthusiasts to see the system you installed?

Anytime.... check your messages.

[lkstaack]

This may be a help to others thinking of going solar.... I typically get a tax refund, so last week i went and changed my W4 from 1 (myself) to 9 (i am still single), this way i am sure to owe and will be able to take full advantage of the 30%. If you never have to pay taxes at the end of the year, you will not be able to benefit from the 30% federal tax credit. I believe you the tax credit rolls over for 5 years and is lost after the the 5th year.

I'm pretty sure that is incorrect. If you paid more taxes than you owe, you will get a refund. It doesn't matter if you paid in more than you needed to. That is how I read my 1040.

[lkstaack]

As tax season is just about here i will verify with my tax guy, but one of the solar companies verified. If you normally get a refund, you will not get any kind of extra refund by going solar - Going solar gives a 30% Tax Credit and not a refund, so if you don't owe anything to the IRS at the end of the year- the 30% Tax Credit doesn't help you.

Actually this can help those who have already gone solar - If you find that having gone solar doesn't get you back any extra than before going solar, reduce you 2015 witholdings so that you can use the tax credit on your 2015 Taxes next year - everyone is free to chime in.

Look at line 52 of Form 1040. It is the Residential Energy Credit (your solar cost from Form 5695 goes here). Line 55 is the sum of taxes you owe minus credits (sum of lines 47-53, includes solar cost). Line 72 is the sum of all payments. Line 73 is the amount you overpaid and your refund. You don't have to owe taxes in order to get a tax refund.