Building New Home - Need Help With Lighting

I know the main forum is for flashlights but hopefully I put this in the proper place. If not I apologize.

As the title states I’m building new home and will be needing light bulbs in about 2-4 weeks. Based on all the fixtures purchased this is what I’ve come up with for my requirements.

Type Count
BR30 (Can Light) 29
E26 (Standard USA A19) 59
E12 Non Dimmable (Candelabra) 21
E12 Non Dimmable (Candelabra) 21

I don’t live where there is any subsidies or near a state. Out of luck there.

On the can lighting I decided to go with a traditional can so I can replace bulbs when they die instead of worrying with fixture.

My wife wants something similar to incandescent lighting. Looking for some tips as to specific bulbs to choose. I’m fine ordering from Asia sites but the number of options is somewhat daunting for me.

This guy has already been there and done it.

His post is old and there have been improvements but it’s a start.

No doubt he will see your post and chime in.

+1 to the link above.

Since you’re building, I’d strongly suggest you let the electrician buy your lights for you.

The, ahem, variability in quality of everything from cheap asian sources is considerable. If you have a professional electrician scratching his (insert reference to body part here) while you figure out why they didn’t include all the necessary parts, or any of a million other screwups, it’ll cost you.

If you spec the light and your electrician buys it, then he’s on the hook for DOA and near-term failures (or his mistakes that end in a puff of smoke).

If you see the unit before it’s installed and don’t like it, it’s likely returnable (minus a restock fee, perhaps).

It will look like you’re spending more at the outset. However (and this is over 10 years as a professional carpenter speaking), I think you’ll save money in the end because you’ll manage your schedule better and minimize return visits.

And if your electrician suggests an alternative that meets your spec, give it some consideration. He might be suggesting it for the right reasons (known quality, easy to install which saves you money) or the wrong reasons (he’s too lazy to go across town to the place that has the ones you want).

Welcome to the forum, btw. Keep us posted as everything unfolds.

Thanks for the replies. I’ve ordered my bulbs from US based sellers on eBay that way if I’m not satisfied I’ll have a better chance of getting my money back. For reference I’ve ordered the following.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331315790985
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271702969699

I also have 10 x of A19 & BR30 Brighton brand from a staples sale that was pretty good set aside.

As it stands now my plan is to test the bulbs when they arrive to verify function and lighting then put them back in their original packaging until its time for the permanent home. Hopefully all will turn out well.

D’oh! Should’ve read better — I didn’t realize you were talking only about bulbs. As you can imagine, my advice only relates to installed fixtures.

My advice: if you buy bulbs, go for bulbs of main brands, with high CRI. I say this because unlike incandescent bulbs and CFL-bulbs, led-bulbs are going to last forever, so if the light they put out is low quality and will annoy you eventually, it will annoy you forever. I have mainly 80CRI Philips bulbs in my house now and I am already unsatisfied with the light quality, I want 90CRI with good red-reproduction now.

BTW, IKEA (are they in the US?) has some great and cheap 87CRI led-bulbs at the moment.

Thanks for the tip about the Ikea bulbs but unfortunately the nearest one to me is ~300miles.

Home Depot has some Cree retrofits that have a great CRI and should last pretty long, they are cheap too. I think they also have them availablie online.

I would get those insted of unbranded crap for the reasons djozz mentioned.

Avoid no name, asian, etc bulbs like the plague that they are.

Only buy bulbs from name brands that do lighting as their main business. I am using only Sylvania and Philips bulbs. Cree has some decent bulbs for fairly cheap (at Home Depot). If you want to match halogen bulbs buy ones with 3000K color temperature. 2700K matches standard incandescent bulbs. 5000K is a more sterile, daylight white. Tends to work well for things like garages and laundry rooms. Try to buy bulbs with the highest CRI (color rendering index). Avoid anything under 80. The 90-95 range is the best you are likely to find.

those exactly what you should avoid buying: no-brand bulbs of unknown quality (I have a suspicion though...)

There’s so much crap out there.
Life is too short for stuff you can’t modify or recycle at little pain.

Sometimes the best approach is to listen carefully to the crap merchants.
Then do exactly the opposite of what they recommend.

So how did it work out for you?

Thanks for suggesting. Hopefully it will work out for me. I am an interior designer and looking for some great lightings for my client’s home and kitchen. I want my interior to come out like this http://www.houzz.com/pro/yoni-atar/omicron-granite-and-tile.

I’m looking for flat panel/surface mount LEDs (architect wanted to specify recessed ceiling canister lights but I am sure that, as fast as LEDs are changing, those would be a mistake — hard to replace and hard to insulate properly around them.

For the moment I’d be happy with something like these, if I could figure out whether they’ll run off 110v in US circuitry:

(Not because I expect them to be good — but because I expect I can stick the driver in the ceiling junction box and the flat panel on the ceiling and it’ll pass inspection.

then as better flat panels are available it’ll be easy to swap these out.

Does anyone know where to look for them in the US? I’m in a built up area, we gots Ikea, we gots Home Depot, we gots lots of official lighting type stores.
Just don’t want to go wandering through the maze without some idea what ’s available.