|
Thread Number: 36673
/ Tag: Other Home Products or Autos
warm or cool white |
[Down to Last] |  |
| Post# 392453 , Reply# 1 5/28/2018 at 21:24 (2,152 days old) by Dustin (Jackson, MI) | ||
 | ||
| Post# 392456 , Reply# 2 5/28/2018 at 21:55 (2,152 days old) by MadMan (Chicago, IL, USA) | ||
WARM WHITE.
I mean, yeah, technically it's just personal preference. But let's face it. The so-called 'daylight' bulbs are nearly all better described as 'cool white,' 5000k or higher. 5000k is not daylight, it's blue. It's friggin' blue. It's a cold, lifeless, depressing blue, that looks nothing at all like warm, natural daylight. I'll grant, I have experienced some 'daylight' LEDs that do their name justice (they're usually around 4500k) and actually output pure white light, that's actually a strong balanced white, and not blue. My new porch light is like that. If you open it up and look at it, you'll find it has half cool white and half warm white LEDs. But in general, LED lighting tends to fall to either cool or warm. Also, what makes colors look better under the light has little to do with the color temperature, and everything to do with the color rendering index - CRI, which is usually listed on the box. Basically the higher the CRI, the more actual colors of the rainbow exist in the white light. So I'll take the warm white. It's usually much more pleasing to the eye, it feels much more comfortable and inviting than a cold harsh cool white, especially for around the home. However, I will say one thing for cool white. I did a major remodel on my friend's living room, and he prefers cool white lights. While working I had incandescents lighting the room. He had me paint the walls this god-awful mustard yellow. It looked horrible. But when we put in the cool white LEDs, the blue muted the yellow so much that it was actually bearable and kind of balanced everything out. So that's something to consider. I personally really like incandescent lights, but hey, the cost difference and longevity of LEDs is just too much incentive. In my kitchen, I have FOURTEEN recessed lights. At ll watts apiece, it takes only 154 watts to set the room ablaze with light. That's legit just 2 and a half 60 watts, which would pale in comparison. Speaking of longevity, it really depends on the quality of the product, but I feel like they are getting better. LEDs do generate a lot of heat, for such a small source anyhow. Not to mention that they're usually up in the ceiling, the hottest part of the room already. And they have a pcb with capacitors and transistors and stuff that also don't like heat very much. Some of the older lights didn't have very good heat sinks to get rid of the heat, and they failed. My kitchen lights are the recessed retrofit type, and they keep going out. But the identical ones in my bathroom have survived the 5 or so years. I'd say the kitchen is too hot for them, but then the warranty replacements have shown me several different design changes, so I know the company has been improving them. Likely because of failures. | ||
Post# 392466 , Reply# 4 5/29/2018 at 01:05 (2,152 days old) by tolivac  (Greenville,NC) |
||
|
For light color I am a warm white sort of guy.Sometimes I will fire up one of my Daylight blue HID lights for fun. | ||
| Post# 392474 , Reply# 5 5/29/2018 at 08:32 (2,152 days old) by suckolux (Yuba City, CA) | ||
I changed all a couple years ago, pretty much same placement as Dustin, warm white inside, unless its garage or kitchen or outdoors, though they do not seem to throw the light a far as the cfl, my two cents. not sure with my memory but I seem to recall some issue of sleep rhythms with the blue colors????
| ||
| Post# 392504 , Reply# 6 5/29/2018 at 23:05 (2,151 days old) by MadMan (Chicago, IL, USA) | ||
|
tolivac - True, but to be totally fair, incandescents have a VERY good CRI.
suckolux - I haven't heard that but I'd believe it. It again has a little more to do with the CRI. Most diurnal animals are 'tuned' to be in 'awake mode' when a certain wavelength of light is seen. As cool white LEDs often have a crappy CRI (meaning they don't contain all the different colors that make true white), that could be a problem. Although I feel like that would just make you tired when you have the lights on, as opposed to making you feel more awake. Meh. Also blue blue is really harmful to your eyes. Like led cop car lights, yeah those are very bad for you. | ||
| Post# 392901 , Reply# 9 6/6/2018 at 13:16 (2,144 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
LED porch light
So I was in Costco Sunday and they were really pimpin' the LED lights at cheap prices. I got some LED tubes for the fluorescent fixtures in my kitchen and an LED porch light for my front door. I put the LED tubes in as soon as I got home--very easy--but I waited until today, when I was off from teaching, to put the porch light up. After the usual trials and tribulations getting the mounting screws adjusted, I turned on the switch and....nothing. It wouldn't come on. It has a photocell to turn it off and on automatically at dawn and dusk, so I tried covering it with my hand, but still nothing. Eventually, I encapsulated the photocell with black electrical tape and the light came on. The light is a very stark, bluish white color. I would have preferred a warmer, more natural tone. I'm hoping it'll get dark enough on my porch tonight to allow it to turn on as it's supposed to; otherwise, I'm going to have to bypass the sensor so I can turn it on and off manually.
This is actually the second LED fixture I've had on the front porch. I'd put one up a couple of years ago but was never very happy with the way it looked, so I've now moved it to the back door, where it makes a much better statement than the old fixture, which looked like it belonged on an old mobile home. | ||
| Post# 392924 , Reply# 10 6/6/2018 at 20:47 (2,143 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
|
UPDATE--
Well, it's dark out now and the porch light is on, so all is well. It came on a little later than I would ideally have preferred, but I guess I can live with it. But I'd still like to have a manual override switch to be able to turn it on at will. Oh well, I guess electrical tape will have to do for that.
| ||
| Post# 392932 , Reply# 11 6/7/2018 at 00:10 (2,143 days old) by MadMan (Chicago, IL, USA) | ||
|
Typically fixtures like that will have a sensitivity adjustment for the photocell, like an adjustment pot. They also usually have some manner of override, like a 'test' button, and some others are programmed to operate in manual override mode if there's a power loss (ie, you turned the switch off then back on again).
| ||
| Post# 392959 , Reply# 12 6/7/2018 at 16:11 (2,143 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
|
| ||
|
Post# 392998 , Reply# 13 6/8/2018 at 11:30 (2,142 days old) by gottahaveahoove (Pittston, Pennsylvania, 18640) |
||
I like warm, myself. | ||
| Post# 393016 , Reply# 14 6/8/2018 at 20:13 (2,141 days old) by MadMan (Chicago, IL, USA) | ||
|
| ||
|
Post# 393071 , Reply# 15 6/10/2018 at 09:08 (2,140 days old) by n0oxy (Saint Louis Missouri, United States) |
||
|
flicker and bringing out colors Supposedly the electronic ballasts eliminate a lot of the flicker that is caused by magnetic ballasts. I was reading some articles on this topic, some think that a cool white or daylight bulb, 5000 k or higher actually brings out the color of objects better, but I guess this is subjective. Mike | ||
| Forum Index: | 
| Other Forums: |
|
|
|
|
|
Comes to the Rescue!
