LED light bulbs

[Dotch]

How is everyone else getting along with these things? My experience thus far has been disappointing. Replaced the last 150W incandescents in the barn a couple years ago hoping it would be the last time I'd have to climb a ladder to change any of the 8 bulbs. Wrong. Bought Satco 100W equivalent bulbs at FF. Rated 15,000 hr., 3 yr. warranty, made for wet location & fully enclosed fixtures. Says should be good down to -13 F and up to 113 F. Have already replaced 3 of them and most of the others are flickering and dicking around from time to time, same as the ones I replaced did before they eventually took a chit. Have some others, same brand, differing wattages and locations, indoors and out, same problems. Haven't looked for a while but are there better brands for the money and performance that exceeds the specs listed? Climbing ladders to change bulbs is overrated at my age. I'm not a big fan of ordering stuff from Amazon, etc., but if I must...    

[Scenic]

I have had the same experiences you are it sound like with the bulbs.  Not a fan of them at all.   We all LED in the tube style in the shop and they seen to be ok so far. 

[glenn57]

i've had a few go bad but generally like them. had them at the cabin and so far so good. i generally stick to name brand like sylvannia!!!

when things slow down, and since i really dont spend alot of time in the garage, i'm putting one of them LED's scenic talks about over my workbench.

[tangle tooth]

      No experience with higher lumen bulbs, only bulbs around the house.
      As I understand things, because LED lamps burn much cooler, you will see more flickering. Incandescent bulbs burn hot enough that you won't see flickering due to poor power quality or bad wiring.

[roony]

I've only used them for interior lighting and have had good luck.

[Steve-o]

Tinfoil Hat/Conspiracy Theory Warning
Either A) LED bulbs were never as good as they said they were or B) they WERE great and bulb makers figured out unless they started cutting corners, they'd never need to be replaced.

Sad thing is, now we're all used to spending 10X on bulbs that don't last that much longer than incandescent and don't have any alternatives.   

[HD]

I put these out in the barn, and I love them. Like night and day.

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[mike89]

I have the 4 foot ones in the laundry room and like them!!!  no out side yet...  got them from runnings, and you can string several together...

[Jerkbiat]

I put the ones like HD in the small garage and like he says. Night and day. Had them about a year now. Also put 2 in the woodshed. Huge difference. Otherwise with the other style I have had the same experience as you Dotch.

[fishwidow]

I’ve got the same style as HD in both my garages. 8,000 lumens. Got them at Costco probably 3-4 years ago. Really nice compared to incandescent.
Having said that I remember problems with the normal Edison based LED bulbs when they first came out, but the newer ones seem ok.

[Dotch]

Haven't looked closely at those panel-type LED's like HD pictured yet but know people who put them in recently. Positive feedback so far. Might try them in the garage 1st. If I put them in all 7 sockets it could be like Kramer when Kenny Rogers chicken opened up! 12' sidewalls on our barn so they should be up out of the way for most operations. Only possible negative I can see in the barn is potential for barn swallow nests. I guess as long as the swallows don't mess up the lights themselves, should be no problem. Otherwise, I agree with Steve-O. Like those frickin' gas cans, it's a conspiracy!     

[Steve-o]

I had a bunch of 4 foot 4 bulb florescent tube fixtures that i replaced with LED panels.  They say they will last 50 years and i hope they're right, cause replacing the fixture aint the same as changing a bulb, and i dont want to mess around with that.

[LPS]

I have fluorescents in the garage and switched two of them out with LED ones that have a speaker in them.  I can just use my phone to listen to them and it is really nice too.  They are brighter too.  I need to change more of them.  I have 3 regular bulbs that are LED but not bright enough.  May have to try HD's type

[Rodwork]

Contact your electrical company when upgrading to LED light bulbs. They have rebates. They paid me to replace all the ones in my home when I moved in. I only made $0.25 per bulb. But the bulbs were free. I got the money back in the form of a credit to my bill.

[Iowaboy1]

4 years ago when I opened my shop I replaced over thirty 8 foot ballast powered bulbs, it only took three months for the LED lights to pay for themselves, I spent 640 bucks on Barrina LED 4 footers.
I did not apply for rebates although I should have.

[Gunner55]

We put 8-8' fixtures & 2-4' up in the new shed at the lake & they are all LEDs. Been gradually replacing all the ballast powered flourescents in the garage up there too.

[markn]

I put up 12 four foot highbay fixtures (6 lamps each) in the garage, added a LED security light to it and replaced my old security light by the house with LED and our light bill went down. I’m 100% sold on them.

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