RANCH REMODEL

Call us hippies, call us morons, call us what you will, but we’re lighting the entire house with LED technology.  I researched, contemplated, slept on, and went on walks with the idea and decided to go for it.  The technology is finally making strides and coming down in price so I figured it was a great time to jump on board.  Needless to say, it’s also cool to be able to tell people, “Yeah man, my entire pad is lit with LEDs.  What have you done for the environment today, hmmm?”

While our plan is to stay in the house for only 3-5 years, I do want to make the house as energy efficient as possible to make way for alternative power, whether I install the system or the next owner does.  That involves doing everything I can outside of re-insulating the walls.

Most, if not all, home improvement stores don’t carry LED lighting except for under-cabinet lighting (that sucks).  I don’t blame them.  It’s still a little expensive (but doing the math, it’s not) and there are not a lot of good options.  Don’t let that deter you, though.  There are plenty of places online that carry quality products and I recommend some at the end of the post.

LED technology has intrigued me for a few years and I’ve followed most of what’s happening in that area.  One of the companies that continues to make headlines is Cree.  They have become one of the leaders in the LED race and are constantly making LEDs better, brighter, and cheaper.

One of Cree’s LED products for residential lighting is a fixture called the LR6 (pictured).  It is made to retrofit into existing 6″ recessed cans, just like a big light bulb.  It comes in the standard screw-in Edison base and also the GU24 base (2-pin system used with CFL bulbs).

As shown by the picture, the LR6 is a beast and is not meant to come down for a long time.  This light means business, 50,000 hours of business, to be precise.  Now, LEDs don’t burn like incandescents so they don’t just burn out suddenly.  They slowly fade out, and I mean slowly.  The rating for the LR6 is 50,000 until the LEDs reach 70% brightness.  That’s 17 years and 43 days of operation at 8 hours per day.  If you really wanted to do the math, which I did, the light would finally burn out after 166,667 hours of operation (as long as it continued to burn out like the first 30%).  If you installed the light the day your child was born and kept the light on 8 hours a day, your son or daughter would be 57 by the time the LEDs burned out.  Crazy cool.

Speaking of cool, these lights produce little to no heat, also.  That helps with cooling during the Summer.

Now, onto our encounter with these lights.

I went back and forth between these lights and 3″ halogen fixtures (with LED replacement bulbs) for the bedroom.  I came to the conclusion that the bedroom needs a consistent and natural light.  The halogen fixtures, while trendy, tend to make rooms splotchy and create harsh shadows.  LED replacement bulbs would just make it worse.  LEDs are naturally very directional, which is why they’re great for flashlights.  With halogen fixtures, it would take 8-12 lights to light a 15′x12′ bedroom.  That seemed overkill to me, after all I don’t want the starship Enterprise hovering over my head.  However, you will see that I use halogen fixtures in many other places of the house, just not for general lighting in a bedroom.

So, I decided to use the Cree LR6 fixtures in Halo H27RT recessed housings.  I purchased the LR6 fixtures at WAM Home Center for $89 each.  That may sound like a lot, but it’s actually a lot of savings in the long run.  The Cree lighting website has a calculator that is detailed in the savings specific to your situation.

The Halo fixtures are remodel housings made to go in insulated ceilings and are better for energy efficiency due to their “air-tight” construction.  I used 4 fixtures, 1 in each corner of the bedroom.

Master bedroom with four Cree LR6 fixtures

I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive about purchasing these lights without seeing them in person.  It was worth the risk.  They put out a great, natural light that blows incandescents and CFLs away.  No more orange glow of incandescents or having to dispose of CFLs in a special drop-box.  It might take some getting used to, but the light just feels better with these lights.

Here’s some things I’ve observed about the lights, good and bad:

• The lights are bright, comparable to a 65 watt incandescent bulb
• The light is very natural, not like the blue tint you think of when you hear LED
• Excellent color reproduction (reds look red, blues blue, and my skin looks heavenly)
• The LR6 is dimmable, unlike most LED fixtures and bulbs, but only to about 30% and then they shut off
• For the reason above, do not use a digital dimmer with these fixtures, use a dimmer with an on/off switch
• Make sure you get the right base, I ordered the standard LR6 and got the GU24 base (no big deal, but required some wiring)
• No need to buy trim, the LR6 comes complete with a white trim kit (other trim kits are available)
• Our savings with the LR6 fixtures instead of 65 watt incandescents is $1701.76, not mentioning the hassle of changing bulbs
• 12 watts each (48 watts total for the bedroom)

If you’re in the market for LED residential lighting, find bulbs and fixtures with Cree bulbs.  They’re excellent quality and the brightest on the market.

Recommended links for LED lighting and the Cree LR6:

• Cree
• LR6
• WAM Home Center
• LED Waves
• Lighting Universe