[Astraeus]

Hi,

I am in a new build apartment and the standard-fit GU10 halogen spotlights are going at a rate which makes replacement an expensive business indeed - 10 have gone in the first month. I've decided it might well be better to replace the lights with longer-lasting and more efficient LED lights but I understand there is a major hit in terms of luminescence when switching to LEDs.

I have six main spotlights in the kitchen arranged in two rows of three and then the two which need replacing on the underside of a head-height cabinet. These lights are used for lighting up the food preparation surfaces. Beyond that, all three lights in the en-suite bathroom have gone. Furthermore, a single light of the two in the hallway has also gone.

In replacing these halogen lights with LEDs, will they still be workable or will they simply be too dim? I suppose the other alternative is to stock up on halogens and suffer the inconvenience of having to change the bulbs regularly but this is far from ideal.

Thanks.

[xnetco]

I could just be cheap bulbs.

[Astraeus]

They're ~£5.50 each so not cheap for halogen lights!

[Johnny Thunder]

£5.50 each.

Are you buying them from B&Q or somewhere similar?

[Astraeus]

Originally Posted by Johnny Thunder

£5.50 each.

Are you buying them from B&Q or somewhere similar?

That was the price our property management company told us they paid - I didn't incur any of the expenses of replacing them until now. I've not bought them and I've seen them for £3 but I'd need to put delivery on top of that. I just feel like, with one that was replaced only a fortnight ago having gone already, LEDs will be a lot less troublesome. Am I better off just keeping on buying halogen lights and expect to pay up at least £50 by the end of the tenancy?

[Johnny Thunder]

If you have a local Electrical Wholesaler, you should be paying around £1 each for a good quality lamp.

[The Dude]

Ask Stuart Wright.

[Astraeus]

Thanks very much, The Dude. From where did you get your lights and at what price?

[MitsiTurbo]

Do you have any photos of how these LED ones look 'Dude'?

[N42]

Tlc do these, I bought some but yet to fit.

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Ind...Led/index.html

[megabit]

hmmm - dirty mains. Hadn't thought of that one but could explain some issues I've been seeing.

Bulb manufacturer for GU10s does seem to make a huge difference - bought some GE ones that lasted all of a couple of weeks. Bought Osram Halopar next and haven't replaced any since (months!)

Will have to try LED soon

[johntheexpat]

FWIW, there is a thread in the Global warming thread about LEDs that I got from Lidls in France (Those pesky Lidl LEDs).

The light from these, I found, to be 'whiter' but much less intense than normal halogens. Availability is a problem, as Lidls had a stock which sold out quite quickly and hasn't been replaced. Also another DIY chain has come up with a three pack of LEDs (8.90€ for three) which were cheaper than Lidls and had 20 lLEDs per bulb as compared to 18 for Lidls. So the technology is pushing ahead, the price appears to be falling, but availability seems to be a problem.

Lidls did sell 12V versions as well, which were a lot of fun. They use so little power that I could lump 8 AA batteries together and they worked, which made for a very portable little light. (and also gave me a use for all those batteries from my digital camera which were only half used but without enough oomph for the camera)

As for dimmability, I don't have a dimmer to test them with, but the 12V did give different levels of light depending on the voltage. ie when I connected it up to a battery charger, it was brighter than when connected to the rechargeable battery itself. With the AA batteries in series, it worked with 7 in series, was better with 8 and even brighter with 9 or 10.

I love the fact that at 1W you can put these bulbs almost anywhere without having to worry about overheating etc. Even to the extent that we now have a well by the house that is lit from the bottom up by one of the 12V bulbs. (Very pretty, until someone leans over too far and falls in.)

Hope this is of some help

[waxdart]

LED Vs GU10.
Where in the house are you going to use them?

Last year I bought 3x1.4watt LED lights to replace 3x50watt GU10 lamps.

I use them in the hall, which is all they are good for.

The beam of light LED bulbs I have is very narrow (get wide as you can).
It is also very "blue/white" a bit clinical.

I wouldn't want to read using the light. I wouldn't want to sit in the light.
I wouldn't want to do anything in the kitchen using the light.

However, if you need a light thats going to be on most of the time and just shows you where not to put you feet. A hallway for example. They are great.

I bought simple LED lamps from robertdyas. I would recommend looking about for better LED lamps for wider beams and nicer lighting colour.

Hope this helps.

[Astraeus]

All of the fittings are sunken into the ceiling - will that be a problem vis-a-vis the directionality?

[Astraeus]

I'll try and get some plans drawn up over the next week to show you how it looks but I'm just going to opt for LEDs over Christmas, they seem well-recommended enough.

[CO2000]

Originally Posted by Ciarán

They're ~£5.50 each so not cheap for halogen lights!

GU10's - 92p from Asda if you want to give it one last shot....

Co.

[eireann10]

i would advise not ever to use GU10 lamps, IMO they give poor light and as you are experiencing need replacing more often.

not sure if LED would give enough light for what you need. LED is a better and longer lasting light though.

could you replace with Low Voltage lights.

[roydonaldson]

Hi there,

Had much the same problem as you upon moving into a new house. The previous owners had had downlights fitted in all the ground floor rooms, and the electricians put in GU10's. The previous owners after the electricians were obviously fitting the cheapest GU10's they could buy.

There is a difference usually in cheap GU10's in that they do not have a filter in them and so blow quite easily. I ended up just watching out for when people were doing offers on GE, Osram or Phillips GU10's and stocking up on them. They lasted a lot longer.

I've now replaced about 3/4 of the GU10's with the MegaMan LED's, 11W vs. 50W. I tried a few and found that they gave the closest to a white light (some others were very blue) and with a bit of adjustment fitted into the existing ceiling fittings. I think you can get the MegaMan's at tlc.

Roy.

[ARoss]

The LEDs I have tried just do not have the light output or beam width to do things like kitchens at this point in time. Maybe, as the manufacturers continue development this will change in the next few years, but right now they are only really useful in some applications, definitely not for overall room lighting.

The CF 11w or above from good manufacturers are now getting good light outputs but not as much as a 50w halogen, and the beam width is wider than a halogen. This is good enough for me, however, the bulbs are a different physical size (longer) to halogen gu10 so a new fitting is needed (if they can be fiited at all.

Maybe when the suppliers to the car makers increase the LED light output then this will become available for domestic lighting, but right now today, prepare to be disapppointed with LEDs.

[loz]

Originally Posted by roydonaldson

I've now replaced about 3/4 of the GU10's with the MegaMan LED's, 11W vs. 50W. I tried a few and found that they gave the closest to a white light (some others were very blue) and with a bit of adjustment fitted into the existing ceiling fittings. I think you can get the MegaMan's at tlc.

Do you mean LED's or CFL?

I thought the megaman bulbs were CFL not LED.
Or do they have an LED range too?

[roydonaldson]

Yes, sorry. CFL:

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Ind...amp/index.html

All I was worried about was the lower power consumption rather than technology.

Roy.

[Jobjohn]

Hello...

I tried some LED lamps in our new house and they have a narrow dispersion and a noticeable blue colour, as others have previously said. I found this not to be acceptable... well the wife said!

I swapped one out with a energy saving GU10 that I got from B&Q, worked a treat for me. The colour was much better after a minute of warming up and the dispersion with the reflector worked for me too.

They not the cheapest lamps but, get one everytime your down at B&Q and spread the cost... Or a job lot from the 'tinterweb...

Cheers, JD.

[moley_bub]

I have some very good LED GU10s in my kitchen.

They are wide angle (about 135deg) and the brightness is about the same as a 35W halogen for about 3.7W of power so about 10 x as efficient as the halogens. The ones we have are "warm white" ones with a slightly yellowish appearance. "Daylight white" has a harsher appearance, maybe a bit more blue in it.

Because brightness of the light output is accumulative it would be possible to use 3 of these for every 2 x 50W halogens for the same brightness but we just used a 1 for 1 replacement and although we could tell the difference we soon got used to it.

We've had them about a year & a half now AND NO MORE BULBS TO CHANGE !! The quoted average life was about 10 years.

We recently fitted one of a newer model from the same company which is nearer to a 50W although perhaps about 5% less bright than the halogen it's hard to tell. Definately brighter than the older model 'though.

They are different from any other LED GU10 we've seen as they use multi chip, surface mount technology which is supposed to be very efficient (like 3 x as efficient as a power LED bulb and much brighter (maybe 10 - 20 times)than the ones we see in the DIY store with lots of ordinary white LEDs sticking out of the bulb body).

Supplier is The Optoelectronic Manufacturing Corporation (OMC (UK) LTD)

There is a website www.omc-uk.com with information but there isn't an on line sales shop

[habrown]

GU10's have a notoious lamp life, and they also nicely take out your fuse/breaker when they blow! ever felt the heat off a GU10?! 240V in a small housing is never really a great option. the heat will rapidly reduce the lamp life, and because of this, energy into heat instead of light. Stay away!!

12V Halogen is the way to go for quality of light, lifespan, and they are not bad on energy efficiency. the 35W IRC bulbs are very good as they output the same lumens as a 50W unit. Dim them down a bit to save energy and also inprove lamp life significantly.

LED's are fine to add a bit of light, but should never be used as a sole source of light in a room, as they don't have the power, nor the quality of light.

[silver12]

Do not buy lamps from a supermarket, you're asking for trouble.
Buy from a local electrical wholesaler, such as CEF or Edmunson's.
Buy brands like GE or Osram.

If you're still having persistent and repeating lamp blowing then it could well be a wiring fault, which is most likely a loose connection somewhere along the circuit on the live or neutral. If you keep having problems then I'd get someone in and ask them to check every connection from the distribution board onwards. Expect to pay about £150.

[101music]

I have a friend who's 12v halogens kept popping to the point that he brought an electrician in to look at the wiring...they found out that the mains supply was up at 250 volts, in all the flats in his block.