# How many folks use the energy saving bulbs?



## sheikhmohammed

I like the idea of if I leave a light on overnight they also stay cooler than the regular bulbs.

I have no spotlights on the exterior, I suppose this may create an issue for some.


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## Bret86844

Definitely use an LED if you are going to be leaving a light on for extended periods of time. 

Is the exterior spotlight the light that are leaving on? Have you considered a motion sensor light?


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## Scout10

recently did a overhaul of my condo, changed ALL fixtures, went to 
majority led, just a few cfl. got all of them in the 5k to 6k "daylight" 
spectrum. . . .nice! Then swapped out all the exterior bulbs also.
no more yellowish light ! electric bill did go down!


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## jimn

Almost all my lamps have been CFL or LED for 20 years. At 15 to 18 cents a kilowatt hour you learn to save wherever you can


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## Master Brian

I've slowly been converting our house to LED and I'd say I'm about 90% there. It's hard to tell how much the bill went down, because the electric company keeps raising rates it seems, but that math works and I should be saving. 

I actually just went back and looked over the last 6 years and it's stayed pretty much the same, BUT the tough thing to figure is my kids are getting older, thus probably using more electricity, I installed a submersible pump for yard, one of the new digital electric meters(which I think are way better at detecting phantom power items), etc...

The thing that sold me is our dining room is smack in the middle of the living space and thus it is the one room that someone is almost always in or around. The light in this room is almost always the first on and last off during the day. Add to the fact I work out of the house, I figure it's on from about 7am to 11pm. It's a 10 bulb 40w per bulb chandelier. With traditional bulbs that's 400w burning for 16 hours per day. A quick figure shows just changing those to LED converted that light from 400w to 48w, which should be a savings of about $15-17 per month. 

For the most part very few other lights are on that much, but it would stand to reason I should be saving about $20-$40 per month. 

Most of our bulbs are candelabra base and visible, so it's generally been hard for me to find ones that look nice and last. I spent the better part of a year to year and half slowly buying bulbs for the dining room. At $15 a pop, I wasn't going all in, so I'd buy some as incandescent bulbs burnt out. The brand I started buying didn't last, but were under 5yr warranty, so I'd return and replace return and replace. I've luckily found other brands and have been having better luck. Not sure if it is my dimmers or what but they were supposedly dimable. problem is I have old house so when I had it rewired I went back with a lot of push button (old school style) switches and those in a dimmer style are $50-75 each so I wasn't replacing them!

My suggestion is learn to keep receipts. I scan them to a folder on PC and have started taking a small sharpy and dating and location of purchase on the bulb along with years of warranty. 

It's an interesting battle, but I'm not too worried if the kids leave a light on any longer!!!


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## ddawg16

There is one incandescent bulb in my house.....the oven. Everything else is CFL or LED.

My house is now twice the size it was 6 years ago and my electric bill is no more now than then. And this is with 3 TV's, 4 Kindles, two home computers...and a lot more lights.


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## dsec123

there are constantly LED sales at the box stores in canada where you can pick up bulbs for $1-$2, so it's not super expensive to swap out all the incandescent bulbs. we've kept three - one in the oven, and the two in our night table lamps. i just kind of prefer the warm yellow color and the way they gradually turn on/turn off. i got some warm LED bulbs but they don't cut it in my opinion.


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## AmyHufston

We changed all our bulbs to energy efficient ones a couple of years ago, and our electricity bill dropped a lot after that.


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## speedtechlights

I use only LED bulbs, and for the exterior I put in place some motion sensors.


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## crackedactor

Master Brian said:


> I've slowly been converting our house to LED and I'd say I'm about 90% there. It's hard to tell how much the bill went down, because the electric company keeps raising rates it seems, but that math works and I should be saving.
> 
> I actually just went back and looked over the last 6 years and it's stayed pretty much the same, BUT the tough thing to figure is my kids beds are getting older, thus probably using more electricity, I installed a submersible pump for yard, one of the new digital electric meters(which I think are way better at detecting phantom power items), etc...
> 
> The thing that sold me is our dining room is smack in the middle of the living space and thus it is the one room that someone is almost always in or around. The light in this room is almost always the first on and last off during the day. Add to the fact I work out of the house, I figure it's on from about 7am to 11pm. It's a 10 bulb 40w per bulb chandelier. With traditional bulbs that's 400w burning for 16 hours per day. A quick figure shows just changing those to LED converted that light from 400w to 48w, which should be a savings of about $15-17 per month.
> 
> For the most part very few other lights are on that much, but it would stand to reason I should be saving about $20-$40 per month.
> 
> Most of our bulbs are candelabra base and visible, so it's generally been hard for me to find ones that look nice and last. I spent the better part of a year to year and half slowly buying bulbs for the dining room. At $15 a pop, I wasn't going all in, so I'd buy some as incandescent bulbs burnt out. The brand I started buying didn't last, but were under 5yr warranty, so I'd return and replace return and replace. I've luckily found other brands and have been having better luck. Not sure if it is my dimmers or what but they were supposedly dimable. problem is I have old house so when I had it rewired I went back with a lot of push button (old school style) switches and those in a dimmer style are $50-75 each so I wasn't replacing them!
> 
> My suggestion is learn to keep receipts. I scan them to a folder on PC and have started taking a small sharpy and dating and location of purchase on the bulb along with years of warranty.
> 
> It's an interesting battle, but I'm not too worried if the kids leave a light on any longer!!!


Made a similar switch to LEDS - all smart bulbs in our house, Do not regret it.


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## Bob Sanders

My house is all LED now except for the outdoor parking light which is sodium halide. I'm still not satisfied with the (high) price of good quality outdoor LED parking lights. The sodium halide bulbs (150 watt) throw an awful lot of light and to match that with LED I'd probably have to spend about $500 bucks.... the price is still too high


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## ZZZZZ

I have been changing out the old bulbs whenever they burn out.

Just be aware that if you have a light in a closet or a lamp or whatever that you use very sparingly, you'll never get your "investment" in LEDs back for those fixtures. My local Wal-DOH!-Mart still sells incandescent bulbs 4/88 cents.


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## NickTheGreat

I have always hated CFL's, but have a couple. Most the others are LED, and I'm switching over when the incandescent burns out, a LED goes in. There are a few specialty bulbs that I still have in stock.

I also have a few smart bulbs, but don't really like paying that much for a bulb.


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## RustNeverSleeps

We mostly use LED bulbs now. Especially since Dollar Tree offered a mix of 60/40 Watt equivalent bulbs for $1. And the local Habitat for Humanity ReStores have a nice selection of LEDs to retrofit almost any light including canisters and floods for a nominal price.


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## 95025

Master Brian said:


> I've slowly been converting our house to LED and I'd say I'm about 90% there. It's hard to tell how much the bill went down, because the electric company keeps raising rates it seems, but that math works and I should be saving.


That's exactly where I'm at. About 90% LED. My electricity bill is no higher than it was 10 years ago, and I am contemplating installing a gas water heater. That would lower my bill significantly.

I like the light of the LEDs far more than CFLs.


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## YerDugliness

My electric cooperative gives me a price break for being all-electric, but every penny saved is welcome, so I am in the process of replacing all of my incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs. I love their cool nature, wish they were more amenable to dimmers (I know, they say "dimmable", but the bulbs also say they may respond differently to dimming and I cannot get them to dim down "low" enough for my tastes), and hope to use them much more.

I prefer the light from LED's also…not much of a fluorescent fan, they turn on and off 60 times per second and that "flutter" is visible to some (me included).

Cheers!

Dugly


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## Colbyt

I've just started the LED conversion in the high usage areas. Other than the garage I never brought those mercury suckers into my home.

When I was younger if someone had told me I would be paying almost $6 for a BR30 bulb, I would have told them they were crazy.

The math does work out. 8 LED bulbs in the kitchen, 6 of which are on most of the day in the winter months use less juice than than 1 - 65 watt bulb. The half bath went from 180 watts to 18 and is brighter and lighter (2750K candelabra base). 

For our tastes we found that a true 3000K was the best choice for the kitchen and general usage. The 4000Ks were just a little too much. They seem to be perfect for the basement.

One product that surprised me was the GE bright stik (10W, 760L, 2850K, 60W equivalent). It is a nice white light and good for lamps or enclosed fixtures though not quite efficient as the BR30s (10W versus 9W). Six of them for $15 at SamsClub makes them inexpensive for an LED general purpose bulb. 

It seems that when you try to find a 100W equivalent they all get pricey but I had to bite that bullet to finish the basement where had A style bulbs.


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## craig11152

I have converted just about everything to LED but the lamps with 3 way bulbs. Those are still a little too pricey for me. :vs_bulb:

I still have 4 t-12 48" florescent tubes in the basement laundery room. But I am either going to switch those to LED's minus ballest or just switch to regular screw in LED's.


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## Erico

Colbyt said:


> I've just started the LED conversion in the high usage areas. Other than the garage I never brought those mercury suckers into my home.
> 
> When I was younger if someone had told me I would be paying almost $6 for a BR30 bulb, I would have told them they were crazy.
> 
> The math does work out. 8 LED bulbs in the kitchen, 6 of which are on most of the day in the winter months use less juice than than 1 - 65 watt bulb. The half bath went from 180 watts to 18 and is brighter and lighter (2750K candelabra base).
> 
> For our tastes we found that a true 3000K was the best choice for the kitchen and general usage. The 4000Ks were just a little too much. They seem to be perfect for the basement.
> 
> One product that surprised me was the GE bright stik (10W, 760L, 2850K, 60W equivalent). It is a nice white light and good for lamps or enclosed fixtures though not quite efficient as the BR30s (10W versus 9W). Six of them for $15 at SamsClub makes them inexpensive for an LED general purpose bulb.
> 
> It seems that when you try to find a 100W equivalent they all get pricey but I had to bite that bullet to finish the basement where had A style bulbs.


We went all LED a couple years ago. We went from about 2400 watts to under 400 watts in lighting.

I'm not usually an early adopter but we picked up 25 of those Cree 6 inch can retrofits. They were 40 bucks at the time. Now they are 13 bucks. Doh! 

The good news is most of the cans were purchased as a thank you gift from a friend we had live here for a year and a half while he was unemployed and back to school. (The wife wanted a computer but I vetoed)

We also did all the spot/display lights, lamps and under cabinet lights. I know we spent a small fortune over the years on those little halogens. 

Glad to be rid of those little halogens. They're an accident waiting to happen. My neighbor inadvertently flipped one of her over-cabinet halogens. The thing burned a hole through her cabinet top.

We buy those A 100s for the outside building spotlights. Not sure what we pay but the condo pays and my wife picks them up.


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## jazzycatdances

All LEDs now. Still have the incandescent/cfl bulbs that work, but they're no longer in any lighting fixtures.

One really strange thing I've noticed, I have one LED bulb that's about 7 years old, and it's starting to go bad (or whatever, not sure what to call it, it's losing it's lightfastness?), when I turn the light on, it comes on, but slowly fades to a lower light, and after I turn the switch off, the bulb stays lit for several minutes even though it's not getting any power. Weird. Anyone know what that is?


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## PoleCat

The way prices are coming down on LED lamps I am suspicious that the surgeon general is about to announce any day now that monochromatic light is bad for your eyes. In the mean time I have been switching over our house. I never was all that keen on CFL as being a "green" contender. They use mercury and take too long to reach full brightness.


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## 95025

I've pretty much switched completely over to LEDs in both my house and office now. The price of LED lighting has come own so much that it makes no sense not too. Plus, the lights are SO much better than those nasty old CFL bulbs.

Now I just need to decide whether or not I'm willing to bite the bullet and plumb in a natural gas water heater to replace my electric...


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## Yorkranger84

Currently I am about 85% switched to a mix of CFL and LED in the 3000k range. Just doing a little fine tuning and switching to omni-directional bulbs in a few select areas and dimmable in a few others. Next will be the T12 -> Led tube conversion on the basement lights. Still waiting on the led filament decorative bulbs to drop in price. 1000bulbs has been a good cource


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## Colbyt

Yorkranger84 said:


> .........Next will be the T12 -> Led tube conversion on the basement lights. .........



I'm unable to see the $, lumens, life span, payback in converting fluorescent to LED tubes. The math just not seem to work out for me.

Do you see something I don't?


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## YerDugliness

Colbyt said:


> I'm unable to see the $, lumens, life span, payback in converting fluorescent to LED tubes. The math just not seem to work out for me.
> 
> Do you see something I don't?


For me it's as much an issue of comfort as cost. CFL bulbs turn on and off in concert with our 60Hz electrical transmission system, and some people are sensitive to that fast flicker, including me.

I don't seem to experience that with LED...but do not know if they function like an incandescent bulb (which glows rather than flickers, eliminating the issue of sensitivity) or if they function more like a flourescent bulb. If I had to guess, I'd speculate that the LED bulbs, which have pretty quick response times, flicker, but I have no "proof" of that.

Cheers!

Dugly :vs_cool:


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## Yorkranger84

Colbyt said:


> I'm unable to see the $, lumens, life span, payback in converting fluorescent to LED tubes. The math just not seem to work out for me.
> 
> Do you see something I don't?


We do group buys at work and split a case of 16. More personal preference. Roughly $8.50 a bulb. We have been switching T12 bulbs out at work with LED retrofits and bypassing the ballast. It probably make more financial sense for them since we have to pay for the bulb which is being phased out, the elec., loss through the ballast and then pay to dispose of them. But a 4000k bulb lights nice. But yes questionable financially.


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## 95025

Yorkranger84 said:


> We do group buys at work and split a case of 16. More personal preference. Roughly $8.50 a bulb. We have been switching T12 bulbs out at work with LED retrofits and bypassing the ballast. It probably make more financial sense for them since we have to pay for the bulb which is being phased out, the elec., loss through the ballast and then pay to dispose of them. But a 4000k bulb lights nice. But yes questionable financially.


We've been doing that as well. It's only a matter of time until T8 fluorescents are unavailable, so we're replacing the T12s as they go out. Bypass the ballast and replace them with LEDs.

The light is MUCH better.


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## intelpcguy

I am 95% LED, even my outdoor garage and entry sconces ( GU24 fixture which I originally could only find CFL ) , have been converted to LED. Though I am not much of a fan of LED bulbs as I am of LED fixtures, simply because the bulbs tend to fail at much higher rate. Where as my fixtures will probably make it to the 50k hour mark ( @70% intensity ). Only my T8 florescents the garage remain, and I am going to swap those out for LED surface wrap fixtures from Metalux. All inside fixtures are Elite lighting 5" 3000k downlights on 5" remodel IC AT remodel cans. I have a few specialty 3" LED running of a small remote dimmable ELV driver, installed over a cabinet and closet and some RAB outdoor flood light that I got from a project that was being remodeled.


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## msjs91011

I talked my wife into switching from incandescent to daylight cfl several years ago and we enjoyed the drop in energy usage as well as the end of the ugly yellow lighting, and she just convinced me to invest in converting our whole house (that we just bought in July) over to LED daylight bulbs. I absolutely love the instant on of LED over the warm up of inca lights, and the fact that they have already outlasted my cfl bulbs is pleasing. 

One minor stink about LED over CFL is that there really wasnt any additional energy saving for the conversion. A 13W bulb in both CFL and LED put out light comparable to a 60W inca.


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## Colbyt

msjs91011 said:


> One minor stink about LED over CFL is that there really wasnt any additional energy saving for the conversion. A 13W bulb in both CFL and LED put out light comparable to a 60W inca.



Perhaps that was true when you made the switch but the newest ones will give more light for less watts. It is still true for some of the A style bulbs.

A GE LED Bright Stik™ uses 80% less energy than incandescent and 20% less energy than CFL. A BR30 uses 9-10 watts (65 WATT EG) for up to 690Lm. IMO, the light from the LED is far whiter and stronger than the CFL.


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## viveksuthar

I only use LED bulb...because it is energy saving bulb and long-lasting


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## anony

I just use the cellphone LED for all my lighting needs.


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## dgghostkilla

I replaced all my bulbs in my house with energy efficiency type


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## MTN REMODEL LLC

I have also been changing over gradually.... but I also have alot of indirect florescent lighting in one housse... and have to figure out the best /smartest cost-efficient way to do it.

They are all the old ballast system.... anybody have some advice.

(I did not clean up the room:vs_worry:... and my garage is full of them also (6).....and I don't think the T8's or over kitchen cabinets under cabinet lighting is showing either.

TIA


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## gapotts

We were 100% CFL and switched to LED. So much better lighting. You can get the decorative candelabra ones for chandeliers which are closer to incandescent than CFL without the long warm up time. In MI I purchased Meijer branded LEDs. They've been solid for the past 6 months and DTE discounts them (the local electric company).


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## Bob Sanders

MTN REMODEL LLC said:


> I have also been changing over gradually.... but I also have alot of indirect florescent lighting in one housse... and have to figure out the best /smartest cost-efficient way to do it.
> 
> They are all the old ballast system.... anybody have some advice.
> 
> (I did not clean up the room:vs_worry:... and my garage is full of them also (6).....and I don't think the T8's or over kitchen cabinets under cabinet lighting is showing either.
> 
> TIA


I have a lot of 4 foot direct and indirect fluorescent lighting as well (T8 and T12). They do sell direct plug in led replacement T8 and T12's but you're still running the ballasts for no real reason at all because led don't need ballast so I elected just to clean out the entire guts of each fluorescent fixture and install regular bulb sockets (3 for each 4 foot fixture) and led bulbs.... it works and looks fine.

Not sure your average electrical inspector would be too impressed but it saved a lot of hassle having to re-fixture (and in some cases re paint) everything.


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## gapotts

The ballasts are the inefficient part of the fluorescent light. http://www.hoveyelectric.com/hovey-...otal-Fixture-Wattage-for-Fluorescent-Lighting


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## Windows on Wash

MTN REMODEL LLC said:


> I have also been changing over gradually.... but I also have alot of indirect florescent lighting in one housse... and have to figure out the best /smartest cost-efficient way to do it.
> 
> They are all the old ballast system.... anybody have some advice.
> 
> (I did not clean up the room:vs_worry:... and my garage is full of them also (6).....and I don't think the T8's or over kitchen cabinets under cabinet lighting is showing either.
> 
> TIA



Pretty family room/home.


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## ddawg16

MTN REMODEL LLC said:


> I have also been changing over gradually.... but I also have alot of indirect florescent lighting in one housse... and have to figure out the best /smartest cost-efficient way to do it.
> 
> They are all the old ballast system.... anybody have some advice.
> 
> (I did not clean up the room:vs_worry:... and my garage is full of them also (6).....and I don't think the T8's or over kitchen cabinets under cabinet lighting is showing either.
> 
> TIA


Yea...really nice.

Outstanding use of indirect lighting


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## Mike Milam

Admittedly, I'm one of those old farts who thinks lots of times 'don't make them like they used to', BUT....... when I started using CFL's and discovered they often last 5 years or more, I warmed up to them. I have now started replacing with LED's since they now look like the old bulbs (fooled myself into thinking they were the ones I could no longer get, lol).


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## Red Squirrel

Most of my house is CFLs. I have a few spots that are halogen (not really much more efficient than incandescent). I have a LED in the shower, as anything else I put in there would burn all the time. It comes on with the fan, so between showers and #2s it would get lot of mileage. :vs_bulb:

LED bulbs are getting better now and they even make ones that are unidirectional, as most of the ones that came out at first were only really good for spots. So as the CFLs burn I'll probably replace with LED. 

I also have some T8 fixtures in garage and basement. Those will probably stay, I like the light they produce for those areas and they are relatively efficient.


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## user_12345a

There's a lot of junk out there.

the trick is to use name brand lamps rated for 25000 hours or more. philips makes good stuff.

their cfls last forever, others die in as little as 2 years. still have ones working fine after 5 to 10 years.


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## Two Knots

We replaced all our light bulbs and high hats with LED bulbs.
The dollar tree had 60 watt bulbs ( that use 9 watts) for a dollar each.
We bought enough for the whole house and extras.

Then our son came over he bought us enough to do all the high hats
in the kitchen and family room.
Costco had them 2 in a box for 10.00 after the instant rebate. 
again...they're 60 watts and use 9 watts. They are so bright that
only the one in the middle lights up everything.

I guess we're saving a bunch of KWH's :biggrin2:


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## stevewilson

Hi,

I started using LED bulbs in all of my house one year ago and I have seen a real drop in my energy bills and also I like the warm light from these LED's.


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## Goodguyq

All my bulbs are the same, GE Link Smart bulbs. All are controllable via Amazon Echo and Hue Bridge. Even my outside flood lights. Went down a few $$ a month. But after having done it, I don't suggest it. Get normal LED bulbs and then get smart light switches instead. I also did the presence sensors for bathrooms.


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