So an outdoor wall light fixture by our side door broke. There is all kinds of choices to replace it with. Should I buy an LED specific outdoor wall light fixture (expensive: the one the wife likes are $120 each) based on the fact that incandescent bulbs are on the way out, or buy a regular incandescent fixture and eventually put an LED bulb in it?
I have used CFL's outdoors for years here and they work great too and are inexpensive.. LED's are fairly new and still very expensive.. I will wait until they flood the market and the price drops.. We have replaced many smaller indicating 757 incandescent lamps with LED's and find they have been failing and they are 10-20X more expensive so hardly a bargain if they croak so soon! Ray
Our porch light has had a CFL in it for over a year. In the cold, slow to come up to full brightness......and it finally died a couple weeks ago. I put in one of the LED bulbs I got for about 7 bucks. Lights right up, and should last a long time. Time will tell. It's not an LED specific fixture.
I am not sure what style fixture you are looking to get and retrofit with a led bulb. Many led bulbs can't be in enclosed fixtures due to heat affecting the electronics from what I am told. The bulb boxes even have a warning on them. The good news is that more led bulbs are multidirectional illumination instead of a spotlight beam.
Ah, good point Jon..... had forgotten about that with the LEDs. Hope mine doesn't spontaneously combust.
Heat may not be an issue in a semi-open outdoor fixture. CFLs work well in a dusk-dawn type situation but are lousy if you want/need instant on.
I'd get a cheap fixture that looks like it vents heat well and try a LED lamp in it. ( the electronics controlling the actual LED are often at or over recommended heat levels shortening life ) however, every time the wife walks by the light by the door she'll be reminded what a nice guy you are for installing the light her eye prefers. $120 is a pretty cheap bunch of flowers considering how long it should last.
I have 4 LEDs outside in regular fixtures. The fixtures are open in one spot or another. Their light is bright and hasn't had any failures. CFL are more fussy to moisture. I had t change them about every year, but these leds are fantastic. I have replace all my dimmable inside lights with LEDs and am very happy with them. My light bill has gone down. The outside lights are all dusk to dawn.
