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Anyone using screw in LED spotlight bulbs?

14K views 25 replies 12 participants last post by  SeattleFishGuy 
#1 ·
I have been wandering around Lowes quite frequently and I keep seeing LED spotlight bulbs. The come in many styles, from what looks to be 1 powerful LED to having 7 or more LED's. Wattage is in the 9-25 watt range.

I guess my first questions would be are they useful? I am looking into a simple and somewhat cost effective way to try LED's before I build a fixture from scratch. However, they range from about $30-60 per bulb so it's not cheap enough for me to just try them out and see what works, like CFL's. I really like CFL's, even though they are not the most cost effective way to go as you can change out the bulbs if they are too dim/bright without buying a whole new fixture. They are cheap, they just aren't cheap when you experiment, but the bulbs can go into lamps, etc.


Secondly, if the do in fact work, I would like to give them a try. I was wondering if one design is better than another, as said, some have many LED's, some have one or 3. I would be using this on my 6 gallon nano which I don't know the dimentions for off the top of my head. I am currently using two 15 watt CFL bulbs, mounted horizontally with no real reflectors to speak off. I want to use one bulb in a reptile/clip on light type DIY fixture. I don't think the reflector will really do anything, it is more just a stylistic thing.

Just wondering if this is a viable option. If so, how similar is the output to CFL's. What I mean by this is if I buy a 50 watt equivalent, would that be similar to a 50 watt equivalent CFL?

Hopefully the link works. It doesn't seem to work for individual products:

http://www.lowes.com/Search=led+spo...51&N=0&newSearch=true&Ntt=led+spotlight+bulb#!
 
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#2 ·
They could work. Probably not worth the money, and they don't seem terribly efficient for an LED, at least one of the 20w I clicked on was rated at 1000 lumens, which isn't very good. I have 2 from ebay, ones a 3x 3w, and ones a 4x3watt, they are very bright and i think the 9 cost around 5 bucks and the 12 around 12 bucks because its straight up blue light. They have an optic on each led that focuses the beam which is nice. Look for "e27 LED spotlight" the ones with multiple 3w leds are pretty good.
 
#3 ·
Good to know. I did see that most bulbs had only marginally better lumens per wattage compared to CFL's. I was thinking that it would still save some power, and get me started on LED's. I can mess this up once as I do have two incandescent spotlights in my garage that I would like to get rid of but it may just be better to use CFL's which are much cheaper and do a true LED build later with all the fancy stuff.
 
#10 ·
#5 ·
Yep i have 2 Home Depot floods at 5k cool white rated at 1200 lumens and 110 watts comparable.
The lights are over my 13 Gallon shallow and have proven to be WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY TTTOOOOOOOO bright, I have been slowly raising the lights over the past few months and have now maxed out at above 3ft over substrate.

The vertict is still out but im now considering buying a Finnex Ray 2. The lights do grow plants well, im growing UG, HC, Glosso and Even L. Shaeracarpa is doing well but i regret buying the higher lumens after realizing that for the cost at $39.00 each plus 2 pendents (From Ikea) totaling $95.00 i could have just bought a Ray 2 or competitor light and maybe had a bit more control over the light range. but overall this is a considerable option..

here is a pix of my setup.



more pix


 
#9 ·
Yep i have 2 Home Depot floods at 5k cool white rated at 1200 lumens and 110 watts comparable.
The lights are over my 13 Gallon shallow and have proven to be WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY TTTOOOOOOOO bright, I have been slowly raising the lights over the past few months and have now maxed out at above 3ft over substrate.

The vertict is still out but im now considering buying a Finnex Ray 2. The lights do grow plants well, im growing UG, HC, Glosso and Even L. Shaeracarpa is doing well but i regret buying the higher lumens after realizing that for the cost at $39.00 each plus 2 pendents (From Ikea) totaling $95.00 i could have just bought a Ray 2 or competitor light and maybe had a bit more control over the light range. but overall this is a considerable option..

here is a pix of my setup.



more pix



Wow how nice. Reminds me of the Amano type tanks in TFH.
 
#23 ·
BUMP: anyone else have any luck?

I'm looking at some LED bulbs that are Corn Cob shape, look them up by searching Corn LED. Funny name but that's what they look like.

I need something to fit into my 2 e27 sockets on my old Metaframe tank. Sure I can rewire the whole thing and I still might but if i could find two nice LED bulbs that fit the spot that would be great. Currently running two 15w/6,400k CFL's.
 
#25 ·
BUMP: anyone else have any luck?

I'm looking at some LED bulbs that are Corn Cob shape, look them up by searching Corn LED. Funny name but that's what they look like.

I need something to fit into my 2 e27 sockets on my old Metaframe tank. Sure I can rewire the whole thing and I still might but if i could find two nice LED bulbs that fit the spot that would be great. Currently running two 15w/6,400k CFL's.

Are these what you are looking at?

http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/juda13wledsc.html

My friend ordered two few days ago for her terrarium.
 
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