I was going to change my reef over to LED's this past summer. I read on the stuff till I was about ready to go mental.
I ultimately decided to wait for 2 more years until the pricepoint comes down and the technology gets worked out on someone else's dime.
LED's cast a very directional, focused beam compared to regular lighting. I'm not sure how they disperse the beam(s) in home ligthing, but I did look at some of the bulbs at Lowe's. Just looking at the bulbs there made me decide to wait. Soon there will be options everywhere and there will be something that's appealing.
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The comment on the "focused beam" has me thinking, and wondering.

I currently use track lighting with a variety of spotlight fixtures to highlight the various paintings on the walls. All but a few are originals, and the remaining are very limited artist proofs. I'm thinking the focused beam of the LEDs might be great, especially if they provide a clean, white light. I would not consider CFLs, because I know what that kind of light can do to colors over time. I'm now wondering if there have been any long-term studies (or experiences of members herein) with the LEDs in terms of their possible fading effects on colors? I'd hate to damage artwork on un-tested lighting!
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Couldn't agree more, but then again I am biased. I make em...

The biggest problem with LEDs out there is all the crap that give the technology a bad name. LEDs can look great, have excellent CRI, the correct color temp, exceptional lifetimes, fully dimmable, etc. Just have to buy the right brands.
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Just wondering, since you are involved in the LED field, do you have any data on my question posed in the post before yours? If I was sure there would be no damage to the artwork, I could see me replacing my spots with the LEDs. The halogen and the incandescent bulbs I currently use do not have great lifespans, and they are not really that cheap ($3-$6 each). With close to a dozen spots, it might make sense to replace these with LEDs. But only if they won't leach out the colors!
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I doubt that the LED emitters would cause any harm. One advantage to LEDs is the lack of UV or IR, as compared to std bulbs, reducing fading and food spoiling. Additionally, with high CRI, you get true color representations.

Let me double check with the applications team on the artwork question to be sure.
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Found this article from LSI about using our LRP-38 PAR lamps in museum applications and color fading. You should be good to go.

http://blog.lightingservicesinc.com/...tional-Sources
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Thanks for the article. Looks like it is being studied indepth, but it's probably still highly dependent on the quality of the bulb. Hopefully the LEDs will turn out to be color-safe. Think I'd better wait for a bit, but keep an eye on the development of these!
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Vic,

I noticed there are many options on dealextreme.com (same site has awesome cheap lighters). Quality might be a little up and down, but the price definitely makes up for it.

http://www.dealextreme.com/c/led-light-bulbs-907
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I have very mixed feelings about LED lighting in my apartment. Currently, to sum it in an easy phrase, putting LEDs in my place would be about like buying a new truck to squeeze that extra 3-4 miles of fuel economy: it won't pay off well enough.

I've done the math numerous times, and everything I can calculate mostly suggests that the real long-term savings is more closely related to the ever-rising price of energy rather than the efficiency and life expectancy of the lighting. Not even going as far as to mention the fact that most people's power bills are largely made up of appliances, heating, and cooling; not lighting.

If and when the price drops, like it did for CFLs, I will further investigate the possibility of upgrading.
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Really depends on your usage and electrical costs. Where I live, electricity is cheap- $.08 /kwh. On any given night, I have one 13w CFL on for the entire house. In other words, if I'm not in the room, it's not lit. If I'm reading, I sit closer to the light. I've changed one light bulb in the 4+ years I've been here, so given my usage, it would take what, 40 years to pay back? IMO the average family would do much better by exercising energy conservation rather than swtiching to LED- or you could do both but there's no sense in throwing out a perfectly working bulb.
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For those that have been using the LED's what brands are you recommending? I saw someone mentioned cree bulbs, but I'm guessing just like flashlights that some are still better than others.

Also can LED be used in three way lamps?
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I have CFLs in every socket in the house and really, my electricity (when we're not running the AC) isn't high enough to justify the massive expense to convert over to LEDs throughout the house. I don't really want to wait a couple decades to recoup my cost.
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