Seems a bit ironic. Incandescent bulbs are still here.

Went to several Big box stores looking for 13w curly bulbs. Our bathroom fixtures use several and I had used the last one. The LED bulb I had on hand was much brighter and looked out of place with the curly bulbs.
There were No Curly bulbs only LEDs and wait for it.

Incandescent bulbs. The ones that were going to be off the shelves years ago.

So it seems the curly bulbs have come and gone.

David

Curly bulbs were full of mercury. I had 2 that caught fire when they burnt out. Cleaning up was messy as you are supposed to use hepa filters and air the house because of the mercury. Made in China is a problem. Switched to LEDs but stay at 2700k as anything brighter is not good for the eyes.

Actually makes sense, LEDs are better in every way compared to the curly ones, so anyone interested in longer life, lower cost and (perhaps) saving the planet are going to buy LED instead of CFL.
And the others still buy incandescent because they hate anything they didn't grow up with.

There are some led’s that you can dim and change the frequency
i have a couple they are very nice
12 each but you need a home hub to change the frequency

LarryK said:

but stay at 2700k as anything brighter is not good for the eyes.

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I'm not understanding that. 2700K refers to the color of the light, 2700K being a warm light. Incandescent bulbs are usually 3200K regardless of wattage (but will get warmer if you dim them( lower K number)). The average camera flash is much cooler at 5600K ish and maintains that throughout the power settings.

Following the EPA cleanup for a broken CFL could be challenging. Never had one catch fire but did have several with a life span measured in minutes. We have a couple of CFL that are encased in an outer bulb like layer. Some of them have a habit of taking a few seconds to come on.

Originally the LED bulb packages had all kinds of warnings about electrical interference and where they could not be used. Along with their insane price. The prices have come way down now.
Of course the Rare Earth used in the manufacture of LEDs comes almost 100% from China.

I was just amazed how quickly the CFL disappeared from store shelves.

David

Hard to make a choice. They are all toxic in some way, even the processes used to make and provide them cause pollution. Led's contain elements known to injure our environment and health as well. Nickel, copper, and lead [amongst others] in addition to various plastic products are included... all of which are inexorably polluting the planet. Led's are but the latest stopgap in a long line of laddering solutions. I am presently awaiting daylight [which is also toxic]. If I survive the day the sun will set and the blessed dark will appear. Then I will light the torch, grab my pitchfork and head up toward the castle to catch the sky on fire.

We live in an era of rapid change. Soon the led's we grow familiar with will fade from the shelves as rapidly as their predecessors. We are lucky to live in such a fertile time. We too shall fade from view shortly.

"We too shall fade from view shortly."

I didn't know you were a philosopher.

Incandescent bulbs are still around as long as the new ones aren't 40W, 60W, 75W or 100W. The old ones are allowed as long as they were manufactured before their cut-off date. New ones I have I've seen are something something like 32W, 47W, 59W or 79W, respectively. Of course, DW needs at least 150W equivalent for a reading light.

One thing I'm glad to see are ratings in lumens now.

My whole house is LED. Warm color 2700K and below. The only fluorescents I have are the four footers in the garage and basement. My electric bill dropped significantly after installing them.

I think we should go back to oil lamps and carbide headlights!

PAUL161 said:

I think we should go back to oil lamps and carbide headlights!

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Now you're talking!

Basil said:

Now you're talking!

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I have oil lamps. One above the RCA vacuum tube radio. Something odd about oil lamps?

Do the 4 foot florescent ones contain mercury? If they do there should probable be the same clean up procedure if they are broken.

It seems hard to determine the W ratings of the LEDs Sometimes it seems to refer to power consumed and others it is the light output. 10W 60W equivalent on one lot I have now.

David

Yes, although some of them contain much less than others. All fluorescent lamps have mercury in them (the arc is in the mercury vapor).

Usually there is enough difference in the LED ratings to make it reasonably clear what they mean. But I don't trust either the "watt equivalent" or watts to tell the story on how bright they actually are. Have to look at the lumens. (Another problem is that LED lamps have a power supply in them, which is not 100% efficient. So there is both watts input from the wall, and watts input to the actual LEDs, which are different.)

And it seems to me that none of them make clear that LEDs lose brightness and change color temperature as they age. Once in awhile, it will say "initial" lumens, but usually not.

BTW, watts doesn't tell the entire story even on the old incandescent bulbs. Although household bulbs are pretty well standardized, there are lots of potential variations in efficiency vs lifetime and so on. You can squeeze out 10 or 20% more light, if you don't mind a much shorter lifetime. Or multiply the lifetime if you're willing to settle for less light.

Reading the blurb on one LED package. It said "If this bulb does not last 5 years return to GE with proof of purchase for a refund" That is 5 years @3 hours per day.
Need to keep those receipts. I do make a habit of putting the date installed on CFL and LEDs to see how long they last.

David

DavidApp said:

Reading the blurb on one LED package. It said "If this bulb does not last 5 years return to GE with proof of purchase for a refund" That is 5 years @3 hours per day.

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Which of course is absurdly low, less than 2000 hours. Even a regular incandescent bulb should last over 1000. And I've got a CFL that has run over 30,000 hours and is still going.
Cheap LED night lights have got over 10,000 hours and still going. Light output has tapered off and yellowed some, but still enough to see by.