Thread: Residential LED lighting

Originally Posted by BobH

Nice of you to say so but ya gots to be realistic as there are no guarantees especially after age 50.

Bob

If nothing else the kids might be able to sell the house for a few extra bucks with fancy lighting

Originally Posted by edhewitt

If nothing else the kids might be able to sell the house for a few extra bucks with fancy lighting

What are kids?

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

What are kids?

Bob

Most kids are goats. However if they are grandkids they are small people the wife spends all our money buying things they don't need but only want.

Dave

Originally Posted by rolodave

Most kids are goats. However if they are grandkids they are small people the wife spends all our money buying things they don't need but only want.

Dave

Some old men are goats - they either smell like it or act like it when a young woman is around.

I replaced most of the bulbs in my house with LED - for all the reasons already mentioned - cool running, cheap to run, less maintenance (replacement) and went for wide angle daylight. I was more than happy to spend the money (about 18 months payback) just to get rid of those awful halogen bulbs. I had so many fittings that seized up because of heat i was having to remove and sometimes replace the fittings just to renew a bulb.

Originally Posted by mainaman

I use LED bulbs, initial cost is high but if they last as long a advertised, then it is worth it.

Ah ha. Raleigh and surrounding counties changed lots of the traffic lights from incandescent to LED about five years ago. After two years they started re-replacing them with incandescents. LED bulb failures were "glaringly" obvious.

Headquartered in Durham, NC: Cree Inc. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Originally Posted by Wullie

My thinking is to run the lights on a separate circuit of 12V DC rather than paying through the nose for a light that has its own transformer. A 12V DC set up would also lend itself nicely to a low cost solar application.

When we lived in Tonga, our only power source was a solar array, and the entire house was wired for 12 volts.
The problem with 12v systems is that there can be significant voltage drops on the "ends" of the wiring runs.

This can be overcome somewhat by using heavy gauge wire: the longer the run, the heavier the wire has to be
in order to maintain the voltage necessary to prevent a brown-out at the ends. Furthermore, the higher the
load current is, the heavier the wire has to be. We had to use 8-10ga solid copper wire for runs over about
15 feet from the source (a battery bank).

The problem is that the heavier wire is much more difficult to work with and it's much more expensive.
However, if LED lights are the ONLY load on the 12v system, voltage drop may not be such a big problem,
but it does depend on the total current load.

LED light is great, but there are trade-offs if you have a mixed load system. If. for example, you add a 12v
fan to the run, that increases the current load and you will have to wire the system accordingly. In short,
for a 12v system, the longer the run and/or the higher the load, then the heavier the wire has to be.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by PaulKidd

When we lived in Tonga, our only power source was a solar array,

You had me at: "When we lived in Tonga.."

Updates -
The LED lights arrived.
Timing and elevation are going to make this a Pro-Install rather than DIY.
Very pleased with the kit and I will keep you posted

Originally Posted by MJC

Updates -
The LED lights arrived.
Timing and elevation are going to make this a Pro-Install rather than DIY.
Very pleased with the kit and I will keep you posted

MJC, Looks interesting. I take it from your comment that it looks like a quality built product. Can you tell from the packaging where Pixi is and where they are manufactured? Is that a 2x2? Also did you go with the Residential 2700K color temp or the Commercial 4000K? Also once you get them up I'd love to know how high you have them and what kind of light spread you're seeing. My project is still at the building walls stage but we have to make a decision about what lighting to use soon. Thanks for keeping this going and the update. Will be very helpful for our decision.

Originally Posted by Brenngun

MJC, Looks interesting. I take it from your comment that it looks like a quality built product. Can you tell from the packaging where Pixi is and where they are manufactured? Is that a 2x2? Also did you go with the Residential 2700K color temp or the Commercial 4000K? Also once you get them up I'd love to know how high you have them and what kind of light spread you're seeing. My project is still at the building walls stage but we have to make a decision about what lighting to use soon. Thanks for keeping this going and the update. Will be very helpful for our decision.

I've scanned the instructions and will set up a dropbox site with the pictures and a scanned copy of the instructions shortly. In the interium here is a link - within the page are downloadable PDF files with the rest of the data. (2700K Version)

2700K Warm vs. the 4000K - hoping that it is closer to warm-white than the yellow-weak that I am getting out of the current fixtures. But I also did not want the Operating Room/Jewelry store look.

They are 1 x 1 - the trim, fit and finish is excellent. If this works I'm going to add them to my home-office remodel plans.

Four will go in a living room with 11' - 8" / 3.35M ceilings - I'm thinking these will work well.

The other four go in a smaller Den with vaulted/angled ceilings that meet at a small rectangle. The light fixtures are in the angled vault. Don't like the solution we have now (incandescent 1 x 1 square flush mount can) but my fear is that the room is going to feel like a paint booth at a body shop...But the current system is so bad that I'm willing to try this.