We’re getting sun today, in fact right now it looks as if the afternoon will be completely clear. The past three days have been heavily overcast so I cut my electricity use back to necessary minimum and that gave me a chance to gauge how much of an improvement those new LED bulbs were over the CFLs. In normal weather it really doesn’t make any difference, but normal weather isn’t what the new gear is for. Today I hope to completely recharge the batteries for the first time in four days, which gives me a good idea just how discharged they really were, and I’m impressed by their condition. I cut back to using the ‘pooter, which is my biggest single draw, only for brief periods and stuck to single bulbs for lighting but don’t go hog-wild and burn kerosene or anything like that. I baby the batteries but they’re still there to be used. But they still weren’t as badly discharged as they would normally be after such a gloomy period. The difference between LED and CFL is significant, if you can stand the difference in initial cost.
I tried LEDs once before, some years ago, but they were a weird corncob design and I was extremely underwhelmed. These that they sell now, while still far too expensive, are a big improvement.
