The Worst Advice We’ve Heard About LED Lighting

By Mabel Lynch

Have you been given terrible LED advice? LED lighting is so commonplace in our lives today, yet bad tips seem unavoidable when it comes to the topic. Let’s take a look at a few common mistakes people make when it comes to LED lighting.

Mistake #1: Mixing LED bulbs with incandescent bulbs is ok.

No, it is not. While transitioning your space from traditional lighting solutions (incandescent light) to an LED solution, it is tempting to replace one or two bulbs at a time, while leaving one or two traditional bulbs in. This is a no no. Mixing LED with incandescent lighting causes poor performance. If using both on the same circuit, your incandescent light will draw more power, causing the LED to flicker. The better advice would be, if you change one, change them all.

Various light bulbs (led, incandescent and more)

If you change one, change them all

Mistake #2: Don’t use LEDs.

The benefits of LED lighting can certainly outweigh other considerations, so understand them before making your decision. LED lighting can save energy, using less than 90% of traditional bulbs. They can last for a very long period of time. They surprisingly don’t produce a lot of heat in comparison to traditional lighting methods. And they can work in extreme temperatures. What this means is if you live in areas with potential for inclement weather, LED lighting can withstand Mother Nature’s wrath, such as storms. Even if being green isn’t your top priority, choosing the LED option helps decrease pollution. This formula easily turns LED lighting into a money saver. If energy efficiency isn’t enough for you to make the switch, what is?

Traditional lighting methods can produce a lot of heat

Mistake #3: One LED fits all LED fixtures.

A big mistake is to assume all fixtures will accept LED bulbs. Another error is to assume all LED fixtures will accept any LED bulb. “One size fits all” does not always apply to LEDs. Using the wrong fixture can decrease the life span of your LED lights and potentially cause malfunction or produce an increased amount of heat. The worst is your mismatched bulb and fixture might not even emit the right amount of light. All this diminishes the benefits of LED lighting. So before you buy any old LED bulb, take a look at your fixtures. Are your fixtures compatible with the LED solution you just chose?

Mistake #4: Buy more LEDs.

More doesn’t necessarily mean better. Depending on your lighting needs, choosing the right amount of lights is important. Adding too much can jeopardize the aesthetics of the room you are lighting, not to mention racking up on costs for installation and energy bills. In some cases, buying more isn’t always better.

Mistake #5: Or buy the brightest LEDs.

Again, depending on the goals of the lighting solution, different LED bulbs produce different color quality. What that means is that a certain LED light bulb can emit different color temperature – from warm to cold tones. This can change the way a room feels. For example, buying the brightest bulbs can lead to a very cool-toned room that can feel washed out. If you want to have a cozy family room in your home, that cool-toned lighting solution may not work. Brightest isn’t necessarily the solution and light temperature does matter!

Mistake #6: LEDs last forever.

While LED lighting solutions are designed to last many years, it is a common mistake to think they do not need replacing. However, LED lighting does last longer than traditional bulbs, so the need to replace them happens later. The average life span of an LED lamp is about 50,000 hours. That is about 2083 days, which is about 5-6 years – on average. To give you a comparison, that is 50 times more than incandescent lights and 8 to 10 times more than compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs).

Aside from end of life, if LEDs are installed in incompatible fixtures (remember Mistake #2 above?), replacement needs may come sooner. And sometimes, you may encounter a poorly manufactured product that just doesn’t work. Either way, LEDs bulbs are as close to forever as you can get, but they will still need replacing.

Mistake #7: I can install it all myself.

Minimizing the importance of proper installation is a common mistake, especially when there are a lot of LEDs to install or if there is a certain aesthetic goal. Putting the lights too close together or not securing LED properly are examples of potential damages to the lights. Poor installation can also create excess light pollution and uneven low-quality lighting. At the end of the day, not installing LED lighting properly can be costly and painful!

Mistake #8: To throw them out in the trash or not?

LED light bulbs do not contain hazardous chemicals unlike the small amount of mercury in CFLs. This makes throwing LEDs out in the trash bin is OK to do. However, if you can recycle them, why not! Most LEDs today are made of material you can recycle.

Recycling posts

No mercury in LED’s, but try to recyle

LED is an energy-saving and cost-efficient lighting solution for all. But often times, bad advice is given when it comes to what they are and the details about how they operate. Hopefully this article helps clarify common mistakes made when it comes to LED lighting.

LED Lighting

Tired of the Myths, Get the Facts About LED Lights

Families and businesses alike are looking for ways to keep their homes and workspaces as efficient as possible. As technology changes conversations like this happen more and more often.

Person A: Do you know LED lights save power?

Person B: Yeah, but they’re expensive.

Person A: Well, they do last longer and save power, after all.

Person B: I know, but they’re not good for your eyes.

Person A: That’s not true. They don’t contain any hazardous substances either.

Person B: Fine, but I think I’ll wait a bit more until I get one.

Person A: Why?

Person B: I don’t know. I guess I’m waiting for them to get better.

Person A: Let’s bust some of those myths

Myth 1: LED lights are expensive

Yes. LED lights are more expensive than traditional light bulbs and no one is going to argue that. A cost analysis by the Consumer Federation of America, found that a typical American family uses between 20 and 40 indoor light bulbs. Rough cost of an LED bulb is about $5 (compared to $1 for a regular light bulb) and replacing them all would come up to at least $100-200, depending on the number of bulbs. By switching to LED lights, you can save up to $3,600.00 in energy bills for a period of 25,000 working hours (and most LED lights these days come with a 50,000 hrs. warranty which is 13.7 years if you keep your lights on for 10 hours a day).

Cost-effectiveness analysis

	Fluorescent	Incandescent	LED
Projected life span of a light bulb	10,000 hrs.	1,200 hrs.	25,000 hrs.
Cost per bulb	$2	$1	$5
Bulbs needed for 25,000 hours of use	2.5	21	1
Total cost for 25,000 .	$40	$171	$26

*Source: https://learn.eartheasy.com/guides/led-light-bulbs-comparison-charts/

Power savings for a household with 25 bulbs (period of 25,000 hours)

	Fluorescent	Incandescent	LED
Total cost for 25 bulbs	$1,000	$4,275	$656
Total savings by switching to LEDs from incandescent lights	$3,275	$0	$3,619.

*Source: https://learn.eartheasy.com/guides/led-light-bulbs-comparison-charts/

Myth 2: LEDs don’t save energy

As we’ve mentioned in the previous myth, energy is one of the things LEDs do save. They last up to 15x longer than standard light bulbs and use 90% less energy. If that doesn’t count as saving, we don’t know what does. And how do they do that? Well, LEDs are designed to emit small amounts of heat while producing the brightest light of them all. That’s the secret, they take up small amounts of power to produce light and not don’t waste it to generate unnecessary heat.

Myth 3: It’s just another light bulb, who cares

We care. And here’s why:

LEDs save power
LEDs shine brighter
LEDs are not harmful to your vision
LEDs don’t contain hazardous substances
LEDs save money
LEDs can be dimmed and controlled
LEDs work in extreme environments
LEDs produce small amounts of heat
LEDs are highly efficient

Myth 4: LED bulbs don’t last long

Imagine a researcher watching an LED bulb for more than five years. Why five years? Manufacturers nowadays claim that an LED bulb can last for more than 50,000 hours. Thankfully, there are empirical data which support the claims and it’s been over 50 years since the early LEDs and that’s way more than the warrantied life span!

Myth 5: LED lights aren’t efficient

This is just another in a line of myths surrounding LED lighting. The answer here is straightforward and all we need is a bit of math. Formula is based on the amount of light different kinds of bulbs produce per watt of energy. The same amount of light is produced by a 100-watt incandescent bulb, 15-watt fluorescent bulb and 8-watt LED bulb. The difference is obvious. LEDs are 12x more efficient than incandescent lights and 2x more efficient than fluorescent bulbs.

Myth 6: LEDs contain hazardous substances

LED bulbs do NOT contain mercury or any other toxic substances like fluorescent lights do (and mercury leaks if a fluorescent tube is broken). Standard LEDs are made of variety of inorganic materials. Phosphorus used in LED lights is bound in semiconductor material.

Myth 7: LED bulbs need time to warm up

One more myth busted. LEDs shine bright like a diamond the moment you turn them on! Unlike the widespread-power-saving-bulbs or fluorescent lamps, they don’t flicker or take time to turn on. Even if you switch them on and off continuously, it won’t affect their life span.

Myth 8: LED light can’t be dimmed or controlled

This is partially true but only because there are two types of LED light bulbs: dimmable and non-dimmable. So, if you’re looking for the one that can be dimmed, please check out the packaging to find out if there is a dimming feature. One crucial thing to keep in mind is that you need a good LED dimmer, one that can exploit full potential of an LED bulb.

Myth 9: LED bulbs can’t handle extremely cold environments

When used in cold temperatures, LED lights are actually more efficient and their life span is extended. Only extremely high temperatures can cause malfunctions (because they impact electrical and electronic parts). Therefore, an LED bulb working in coldest climates still gives its best.

Myth 10:There is little value now, waiting until they get better seems reasonable

There’s really no need to wait any longer. General LED light bulb life expectancy is 50,000 hours. If you keep your light on for about 10 hrs. a day, your life bulb won’t fail you for at least 13 years. Add 90% in energy savings to that. No one can or will deny that the LED technology will keep evolving, but why wait? The figures above show that the investment of $5 can return much more overall.

LED Lighting

LED Lighting 101

Development of LED Lighting

Over a hundred years ago, in 1907, an English engineer Henry J. Round noticed that when a 10V potential is applied to silicon carbide crystal, it emits yellowish light. Twenty years later, Oleg Vladimirovich Losev was first to further investigate the phenomenon and published a paper “Luminous carborundum detector and detection effect and oscillations with crystals“. After that, there was no real progress for almost half a century. The first light emitting diode was developed by Nick Holonyak Jr., from GE. It was about the size of a piece of pepper. His invention became the red LED that was used for indicator lights. The final part of RGB LED development that occurred in 1993, was creating blue light, resulting in the ability to produce any color of the LED light. The inventor Shuji Nakamura enabled the development of white LED lights that are now installed in commercial and manufacturing spaces all over the world. At first, LEDs were highly expensive and were only used in laboratory equipment but over time, as technology evolved, prices dropped and the application of LED lighting has widely spread.

LED Lighting Basics

LED lighting is solid state lighting (SSL) and that is the main differentiation point between LEDs and other forms of lightings such as incandescent and fluorescent. SSL means that semiconductor light-emitting diodes are the source of illumination as opposed to gas or electrical filaments found in standard lighting. LED is a p-n junction that emits light when activated. Electrons recombine with electron holes in a device and release photons once current is applied. This is called electroluminescence. Similar to incandescent lamps, LEDs achieve full brightness without warm-up and frequent turning on and off doesn’t affect their productivity. LEDs emit light in one direction and thus exclude the need for reflectors or diffusers. Another great feature of LED lights is that they produce an insignificant amount of heat. Other than that, LED sources are dimmable and can be integrated with various sensors and controls. This enables additional power savings because they can operate depending on occupancy of a room and with use of daylight saving.

LED Bulbs

After years of development, LED companies have finally introduced a replacement for wide-spread 60 watt light bulb in 2009. Traditional incandescent bulbs measure brightness in watts, meaning you had to buy a bulb with higher wattage in order to get more light. LED bulbs measure brightness in lumens which is a more precise measure. The difference in energy consumption is radical. For example, LED equivalent of a 60-watt bulb consumes between 9 and 12 watts while providing the same brightness and a 40-watt equivalent LED bulb consumes only 6 to 8.5 watts. That is roughly 5 times less energy needed for the same effect. Furthermore, LED bulbs have an almost unlimited lifespan and they will continue to light up even after the estimated lifespan expires but the brightness may drop. They sometimes have lifetime expectation up to 100,000 hours of operation, meaning, if you leave your LED bulb on for 8 hours a day, twenty years will pass before you have to replace it. One of the important features of LED lighting is that they’re eco-friendly. LEDs don’t contain toxic materials and they’re recyclable.

Compared to standard light bulbs, LEDs:

Emit more lumens,
Do not emit UV lights,
Are more durable,
Have a longer lifespan,
Are smaller in size,
Consume less energy,
Do not contain Mercury or any other toxic gases.

LED Products

As we already know, there are many LED products and the number continues to grow. Continuous improvement of LED lighting products leads to lower prices and wider adaptation of the technology. Most common LEDs include:

Industrial and commercial lighting – found in parking lots, garage lighting, street lights, outdoor lighting, refrigerator lighting, etc.
Kitchen lighting – used under cabinets for lighting kitchen countertops,
Recessed lighting – commonly used in households and offices,
Replacement lights – for replacing old incandescent light bulbs,
Holiday lights – much cheaper and easier to use than standard holiday fixtures.