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elhigh · 01-02-13, 09:50 PM

A generous donor supplied the homeless shelter where I work with a rather large gift of lighting products, mostly lamps but also a few 4-to-2 troffer converter kits (we have some overlit hallways, I'm paring back our usage where I can), and part of the donation was some brand-new LED flood and spot bulbs.

The chapel in our mission is 35' high at the peak. The pendant fixtures I can juuussst reach with the longest extension pole I have, but I had to carefully knock out the little louvered dealie at the bottom of the fixture. I committed to never putting those back, some years ago. But way up in the peak, far beyond my reach even with the extension pole, is where the floods are that hit the stage and podium.

Well. The longest life bulb I ever put there lasted about 6 months. So while I had a boom lift in the chapel (it was there for a contractor, and while they were breaking for lunch I asked to borrow it. Have you ever gotten a 5'10"-wide boom lift through a 6'0" doorway? It's tricky) resetting some acoustic panels, I also replaced all those spots in the peak with the LED spots.

That was two years ago. So far, they've beaten my previous recordholders by over a year. And I used to have to rent that boom lift on the Ministry's dime, which was at least $200 including delivery. So looked at just by avoided equipment costs, the LED floods are a huge improvement over the old lamps. I know LEDs aren't up to the level of CFL yet, but I tried CFL in that peak a few years ago, and they didn't quite make it a full year. For extremely difficult fixtures, the LED wins my vote.

01-02-13, 09:50 PM	#22
elhigh Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Tennessee Posts: 41 Thanks: 3 Thanked 5 Times in 4 Posts	Don't forget the estimated lamp life A generous donor supplied the homeless shelter where I work with a rather large gift of lighting products, mostly lamps but also a few 4-to-2 troffer converter kits (we have some overlit hallways, I'm paring back our usage where I can), and part of the donation was some brand-new LED flood and spot bulbs. The chapel in our mission is 35' high at the peak. The pendant fixtures I can juuussst reach with the longest extension pole I have, but I had to carefully knock out the little louvered dealie at the bottom of the fixture. I committed to never putting those back, some years ago. But way up in the peak, far beyond my reach even with the extension pole, is where the floods are that hit the stage and podium. Well. The longest life bulb I ever put there lasted about 6 months. So while I had a boom lift in the chapel (it was there for a contractor, and while they were breaking for lunch I asked to borrow it. Have you ever gotten a 5'10"-wide boom lift through a 6'0" doorway? It's tricky) resetting some acoustic panels, I also replaced all those spots in the peak with the LED spots. That was two years ago. So far, they've beaten my previous recordholders by over a year. And I used to have to rent that boom lift on the Ministry's dime, which was at least $200 including delivery. So looked at just by avoided equipment costs, the LED floods are a huge improvement over the old lamps. I know LEDs aren't up to the level of CFL yet, but I tried CFL in that peak a few years ago, and they didn't quite make it a full year. For extremely difficult fixtures, the LED wins my vote.