I
found the above
bulb
at Home Depot, and it cost $12.97. I did not
expect it to work with the conventional X-10 wall switch, and on my way
home from the Depot, I was thinking I would probably need to add a
neutral wire to the wall switch
to it to allow it get power. Being a diode at heart, I did
not
expect the LED bulb to conduct very much with the wall switch in series
in OFF conditions. So when I came home and simply installed
it
into the holder, and it actually worked, I was quite amazed and
pleased. I am able to run the bulb as a normal incandescent.
Being an LED, it does not take time to warm up, and it can be
easily dimmed.
The
power consumption is 9.5 Watts, and we
normally run the bulb about 8 hours a day since it is the only light in
our
rather dark back yard. At $0.1/kWhr, the savings are
$14.75/year.
One more thing to note is that this bulb is covered by a thin
layer of silicone, which I scratched when using a razor to open the
package. So be careful with it.
If
you have found other LED bulbs that work with the conventional/basic
(no
neutral wire) wall switch, please let me know, and I will include it on
this page. Final note. The standard light bulb base
is known as "A19".
Other bulbs
- I tried a 60W-equivalent Philips 'SlimStyle'
bulb,
which looks like a flattened bulb (Model 9290002707). It does
not
work as well as the CREE. X-10 commands work with wall
switch,
but OFF is not completely dark. The local pushbutton switch
does
not work to control the bulb. Thus this bulb is not
complatible
with the X-10 wall switch.
- The
Sylvania LED bulb (40W equivalent), Model LED6A19/F, aka A-line Lamp is
shaped like a regular bulb with no visible heat sink fins. The
packaging states not dimmable, and indeed with the X-10 wall switch
will flash at a low rate. This bulb is also not compatible
with
the X-10 wall switch.
- The
OSRAM "Ultra LED" 60 W equiv bulb (8.5W actual 2700K color) is also not
X-10 compatible (lamp does not shut off and prevents comm with wall
switch). It also does not dim correctly. The lamp
just
turns on suddenly during the ramp up.