Bathroom lighting

[Moonshine]

No, not what you had in mind. Don't even go there.

OK, here's the deal. In my master bath I have a 10'6" wide double vanity with a mirror above it, topped by 3 "hollywood light" fixtures holding a total of 20 bulbs. Makes it nice and bright in the bathroom, but with 20 incandescent bulbs going it generates some heat. Nice in winter, but an unpleasant amount of heat in warmer months. So, a few years ago I replaced all the incandescents with CFL's. Not cheap, but I figured over time the CFL's would pay for themselves in reduced energy consumption and longer life. Not so. The CFL's don't last very long at all. And they have an annoyingly long warm up time, particularly in winter. A little internet research indicates that the claimed life for CFL's is based on an average runtime per cycle of 3 hours, and that the real killer is the number of on/off cycles. Hmmmm.

OK, CFL's aren't the ticket. Long tube flourescents with external ballasts last longer, but is there any way to do them that wouldn't look industrial? I'm a huge fan of LED's for portable lighting (flashlights), but a recent price check indicates I'd spend nearly $500 to buy LED's for the bathroom. Yick. But I'd really like to find a way to address the heat issues while maintaining the level of brightness.

Any thoughts, ideas, or wisdom from the greater TALONhood would be appreciated.

[98Cobra]

So far in my experience the CFLs have actually lasted the duration. It might be the brand you are using, or the application. I dont think for instance that they are supposed to be used in recessed lighting unless it is a flood style bulb, like I have in the kitchen. Those are the bulbs I hate, because they have a loooong warmup time.

One of my friends just went all LED everywhere in the house. No warmup, even less energy consumption, etc. You know. I will ask where he got his bulbs, he must have gotten them for cheaper somewhere I am thinking.

[Moonshine]

I've had good luck with the squiggly CFL's that replace a regular incan bulb in a light with some sort of shade. The ones that haven't lasted for diddly are the round hollywood CFL bulbs.

Yeah, if he found a deal on LED's I'd be interested to know where. At Home Depot they're $21 each. :eek2:

[PUMP]

When we remodeled the bathrooms a few years ago, I went with a combination of:
Recessed ceiling fixtures with halogen PAR-30 lamps &
T-8 Flouroescent lamps with electrocic ballasts mounted vertically along the side of the mirrors.
Hard to describe, so I'll post a picture of the installation latter today.

[98Cobra]

Well, I checked with my friend. I will say he is the type that really does the research, and buys quality stuff. Here is what he told me:


I got my LED bulbs from Polar Ray. I have the Cree LR6-DR1000 modules mostly. They are pricey, but much brighter than anything else you will find, which is what I need with the high ceilings here. Whatever they pick, you can't go wrong with Polar Ray. EXTREMELY good service. I had a few that had bezel scratches, and they advance shipped me replacements, along with a shipping label to send the others back! I have 12 of these Cree's (I think 2 had the scratches). The warranty is also great, and you can't find a bigger known supplier of LEDs than Cree!

http://www.polar-ray.com/Cree-LR6-DR1000_p_195.html (http://www.polar-ray.com/Cree-LR6-DR1000_p_195.html)

I have also tried this one (I have one of them), and they are quite good, but not so pretty by themselves! Contrary to how they look when not lit, they look light/have the color temperature of a normal incandescent when lit up.
http://www.polar-ray.com/Philips-AmbientLED-Dimmable-A19-LED-Bulb--60W-Equivalent-_p_235.html (http://www.polar-ray.com/Philips-AmbientLED-Dimmable-A19-LED-Bulb--60W-Equivalent-_p_235.html)

So, his application was a little different (high ceilings). That site does have some normal LED bulbs that look like they will fit the bill for around $16 each. If thats still too pricey (and I wouldn't blame you) best bet may be to wait on LED.

[L8 APEX]

That is a tough one especially if you consider that you want a certain color of light for makeup etc..

An 8ft shop light would surely git'er done!

[PUMP]

Pics do not really show up well. Anyway the fluorescent fixtures were made by Robern. They have a good line of bathroom fluorescent lighting that does not look "industrial". Check out the Robern site at:
http://www.robern.com/product/category/index.rbn?category=Lighting

If you need help, give me a holler.

[Moonshine]

Garett, Bob, both good leads. Thanks. :tu:

[mikelemoine]

I put LED floods in my 6 living room skylights for night use. They were the $20 something dollar ones from Lowes. They look nice enough, a little whitish compared to incandescants but not as white as some CFL bulbs.

They use about 8 watts and are almost as bright as the 40 watt incandescants they replaced. Surprisingly, for the light output they probably aren't as efficient as an 8 watt CFL. I mainly chose them because they last longer and I hate standing on the top rung of a 12' ladder inside a 90+ degree to change bulbs. They are a bit more directional and while often brighter up close to things, they are more directional and do not project as far as incandescants. I suspect you might not have good luck with LEDs in a vanity light, unless the Polar Rays are REALLY good.

I've had varying luck with CFL bulbs, the Home Depot ones have some bad reviews online. I've seen some advertising instant on/no warm up. I'd suspect a good quality CFL would work well and be reliable. One thing you might try is to find a good set of CFL bulbs and maybe add a small halogen or incandescant can lights over each "station" at the sink area. That will shine down on you to supplement the CFLs, without adding too much heat.

Good luck finding a good solution.