Hi all, I have some recessed cans in my one story home. They are the type that has a socket only for a specific type of plug in CFL bulb (which are hard to find, delicate, etc). I want to put retro fit LEDs in. This means I can either a) replace the entire housing or b) rewire the ballast. I've tested it both ways and there are pros and cons. A) Replace entire Housing: Did this on one light so far. Removed wires from original can fixture. Ran new wires to remodel fixture. Put back in ceiling, worked great. BUT, I left the original fixture in the ceiling. It's not wired but it was screwed into the joists so it was really hard to take out (I did not go into the attic..,it's July and I'm in Florida). So I left it. Bad idea? I just kind of cut away as much as I could with tin snips and situated the new fixture out of its way. This worked better for the retrofit led kit bc the remodel housing has the brackets for the "V" tension ears clip into. It's nice and snug. B) keep existing housing This involved pulling the wires out of the junction box, rewiring so that it would accommodate the LED fixture. But the can doesn't have the brackets for the "v" clips to grab on to. It's just smooth on the inside. So it was hard to get the LED retrofit to stay in the can. Are there other options for this? I'd prefer to do option A even though it involved buying the remodel fixtures. BUT, since it's so difficult to get the current fixtures down, can I just leave them up in the attic? They're don't have any power running to them so they're basically just sitting there. (They're really installed well into joists. I could try hitting/destroying them with a hammer I suppose?) (All fixtures are IC rated and I do have blown in insulation which of course rained down the whole time I was working). Thanks.

Hi, We recently switched out the PAR20 50 watt halogens in our track lighting with 7 watt PAR20 LEDs. Everything works fine, except our Lutron dimmers leak just enough electricity to barely light the three LEDs in each track when the dimmer is switched off. It's just enough that the LEDs put off a very faint glow that is really only noticeable when the room is dark. Obviously the dimmers have always leaked a little electricity when switched off, it was just never enough to light a halogen bulb at all. Our house automation is still X-10 based, which the Lutron dimmers support. Nobody seems to make dimmers that support X-10 anymore, especially for LEDs, so replacing the dimmers isn't really an option. The only other solution I can think of is to put one halogen in each track. That resolves the leak in the other two LEDs, but it still puts each track at 64 watts. Obviously much better than 150 watts each, but not as good as 21. I'm fine with leaving them as they are, but I'm wondering if having a small amount of electricity all the time will harm the LEDs, or shorten their lifespan in any significant manner? Thanks for your help!