Light bulbs - how much wattage do you use?

[kenj]

I hate brightly lit rooms it feels as if I am in an interrogation chamber, I like to have subdued background lighting with an angle-poise light to highlight anything that I need to look at closely.

Sexy!!

Ken

[piroska]

I hate brightly lit rooms I like to have subdued background lighting

3 of the 4 living here have crap eyesight and can't see in subdued lighting.

I don't mind personally, I sit in PC room with just the LED keyboard and screen for light.
Actually I do mind one thing, the night light.

Hate having lights on at night but I see their need for it......

[Paul.Cov]

As a general rule I don't like fancy light fittings. They seem to be designed to rob you of light most of the time, I never liked design that puts form over function.

Dugi! An intelligent take on lighting!
I share your frustration re light fittings. There are so many designs that only serve to cut out the light that you are paying to pump into the room.

Light fittings should be designed to do the following: prevent light from the source from glaring directly into the eyes of those in the room, and ideally to do that not with obstructions / baffles / deep tints, but by redirecting the light up in a wide patch onto the ceiling and maybe the walls (which then acts as a far more diffuse light source than that single glary bulb).

I'm notorious for being tight, so the best value for money I've found is those budget paper sphere light shades. Women generally like stuff to be fancy (ie expensive), but the budget paper globe is superior to any fancy #$%^ I've ever seen in the shops.

As for the old, traditional style rice-paddy-worker ^ shaped light shades... flip them upside down (provided the fitting isn't against the ceiling) - cast that light onto the ceiling and let it spread from there, and eliminate a glare source at the same time.

[Agent_24]

75 watt halogen for everything except where the fixture doesn't permit it.

Tried CFL, too long to warm up as they age, but most died before they could get old enough for that to be a problem.

Might try LEDs at some point but the last one I bought burnt out in less than a year and my current halogens are still going after 3 years, so....

Incandescent last for ages if you don't turn them on and off all the time.

And so much less e-waste! Just glass and a bit of metal. I seriously doubt the overall environmentally friendly image of LED bulbs given how many different components and materials are used in them, which all end up in landfill.

[zqwerty]

I have found that LED's bulbs are the best in terms of long-life, none of them has failed so far, in approx 5 years, whereas CFL's last longer than incandescent, but still a high failure rate.

I keep my cockatiel bird warm with an incandescent 25W light bulb on 24 hours a day, they used to last around a month or so but now that they are not available anymore I switched over to Philips Classic Halogen 28W and they are not good performers, supposed to last 2000 hours, with the last box (they come in pairs) I only got to less than a month and one of them didn't work (unfortunately already tossed the receipt which I don't normally do) but the next box I got seems to be lasting longer.

No go with LED bulbs however as they are so low-loss no good for heating birds.

[dugimodo]

I've been using all LED for years now. I have had some failures, usually in the first few months, but the rest have all lasted years. Some of them I'm pretty sure are at least 8 years old now and cost me something like $20 each.
Before that I was using CFL and they also lasted well but I think they were more prone to getting dimmer sooner than LED is.

[Digby]

I've changed just about very light bulb in my house to LED
I have no idea if they save me any power.
But Ive only had to replace One - GE brand.
So there is a big saving in cost eventually, and time and effort (ladder etc)
And the range of wattages is getting bigger

I cannot believe that supermarkets still sell those horrible CFL's
They not only look ugly, but they are not much cheaper and they have mercury in them!

[Lurking]

We must be on the NZ Fire Service computer, they come out and replace smoke alarms and light bulbs free of charge. Why you might ask!!.

Also get the power subsidy from Jacinda's lot.

Are we onto a good thing or what, use plenty wattage no sweat.

Had no house fire either, touch wood.

Shame it can't be allocated to others', but it's too hard to give back tho.

lurking.

ps. that lot are now going to give us all another flipping holiday for Mat ariki.

lurks.

[gary67]

New house and had all wired with LED downlights, no holes around bulbs, insulation can go over the top and super cheap to run as well as being no more expensive to buy than good standard downlights. Went for warm white, I personally hate dim lit rooms.

I mean in a dim room how else can I see the dead rabbit the cat left me on a regular occasion