LED lighting
 

LED lighting, whats your opinions on it? Although the initial cost is pretty high, they seem like a no-brainer. They last ~30 times longer than your standard incandescence bulb and use a fraction of the energy.

3 potatos, screws, and pieces of copper can power a LED unit..

i don't think retro fitting to leds would normally pay for itself on most vehicles.

i have however personally used them, for safety reasons, as taillights on my motorcycle because i found ones that were brighter than any incandescents that wouldn't melt the lenses

I didn't say for vehicles...

This IS in the "around the house" section you know..

lol.... sorry i dont pay attention to these things

I really like the LED's we have, the most used is the light that is near the center of the house that is left on for the last person to come home, and is often the last light to get turned off at night, I also have a string of white LED Christmas tree lights in the living room that you can almost read by, but are mostly used to ease the eyes while watching movies on the TV.
The really bright LED's start to drop in efficiency, as their light output per watt seems to be close to that of a compact florescent, but that is mostly for the blinding bright ones that can light up a whole room with a single LED, the string of Christmas tree lights draw about 2.5 watts, compare that to my clock radio at 3 watts 24 hours a day.

Ryland, which LED light are you using. Is it a typical edison screw in type bulb? If so where did you get it from, Im thinking about converting some of my lighting to LED and am looking for opinions and recommendations.

I've gotten alot of LED clusters that are drop in replacement for other bulbs from Superbrightleds.com and have been pleased with all of them, I got the LED Christmas tree lights from a local store right after Christmas.

Apart from a very few minor things like not being dimmer compatible and a little touchy with voltage fluctuations they are a no brainer as you said.

A few places here sell a complete replacement LED bulb for the standard incandescent. A simple screw in replacement at about 1/10 the power consumption and virtually unlimited life.

Pete.

It's the initial cost that is holding me back from LED. I already have a house full of CF (except the fridge and stove). I don't think the amortization of the premium of LED purchase over CF is likely to occur in my lifetime. Had I gone from incandescent to LED I'd have been happy, but will going from CF to LED please me as much as going from incandescent to CF? I don't believe so.
My bicycle has LEDs, and I love them dearly, but the house has a different set of priorities in its illumination requirements, so I'll be staying CF for quite a while.

I'll probably go to LED when they get to under $10 per 60W bulb equivalent @ about 6W consumption. Presuming they have a 10 year life then they'll be worth it. Using CFLs, and they seem to last about 3 years. Which is better than the 6 months or so for regular bulbs in the heavily used areas.

Surprised that LEDs aren't dimmer compatible, thought they would be.