Penners
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But check for lead corrosion first - much cheaper to fix!
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mr-squirrel
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Yep i agree i always fit good brand name bulbs like GE, they can outlast the cheap ones by 4-1. This is especially important with GU10 as they are under so much strain, large inrush current etc. I think that's why the cheapies are often sold in packs of four - you'll need em all. 
I've always found low voltage halogen to last a lot longer than GU10, any electronic transformer these days has a soft start which makes a big difference. Far better colour rendering with low voltage too. It's annoying as there are huge ranges of GU10 fittings but not so many 12v. I remember when the only dichroic halogen on offer was low voltage.
I've always found low voltage halogen to last a lot longer than GU10, any electronic transformer these days has a soft start which makes a big difference. Far better colour rendering with low voltage too. It's annoying as there are huge ranges of GU10 fittings but not so many 12v. I remember when the only dichroic halogen on offer was low voltage.
Keithj
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The transformer is really a "switch mode power supply". They aren't particularly expensive if you buy them from a specialist electrical shop - I paid £7 for one a couple of months ago.
As they ^^^ said: while you can replace low-voltage lights with mains voltage ones, the bulbs probably won't last as long and you're likely to find the colours and appearance don't match.
The problem I have is that the power supplies here were put into the ceiling when the previous repair works were being done, and there's no way to get at them or change them. Meanwhile, the system is misbehaving.
The cunning plan is to hoick the wires to one of them, and use that as the feed to some LED lights - those really are super-efficient, and the latest ones are acceptable in terms of colour temperature. We have some in our new build, and rather like the bathroom light being 3 watts.
As they ^^^ said: while you can replace low-voltage lights with mains voltage ones, the bulbs probably won't last as long and you're likely to find the colours and appearance don't match.
The problem I have is that the power supplies here were put into the ceiling when the previous repair works were being done, and there's no way to get at them or change them. Meanwhile, the system is misbehaving.
The cunning plan is to hoick the wires to one of them, and use that as the feed to some LED lights - those really are super-efficient, and the latest ones are acceptable in terms of colour temperature. We have some in our new build, and rather like the bathroom light being 3 watts.
AMc said:
We have LEDs throughout our kitchen. Given that we had nearly 40 to purchase, I convinced two retailers to send me samples. One was from LEDlights4you.com and the other was an eBay trader based in China. They weren't cheap to buy, but I'm very pleased with the light output and the 'warmth'. The height of the ceiling also meant that halogens were a pain to replace. We are gradually replacing all our halogens around the house as we can and our security lights are also switching to LED
Penners
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I found the light much warmer than I had expected. My previous experience of LED lighting has been that it produces a cold, blue-tinged light. But Pford's have a comfortable warmth to them. Not cheap, though!
Flyfisher
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Yes, I was very pleasantly surprised. I didn't notce any trace of that blue/white clinical lighting at all. I'm also eagerly awaiting the full details.
The purchase price may be high but it will be interesting to learn about the lifetime costs. Tungsten bulbs are not particularly cheap and LEDs should last many, many times longer.
The purchase price may be high but it will be interesting to learn about the lifetime costs. Tungsten bulbs are not particularly cheap and LEDs should last many, many times longer.
I have two different types of LED downlights.
The first are in the higher ceiling part of the kitchen http://www.ledlights4you.co.uk/en/l...d-down-lights/id/5x3w-swivel-ceiling-light-ww. Note that they sell 'cool white' and 'warm white'. I have the warm white ones (3000-3500 kelvin). They are 5 x 3W LEDs with an output of 450 lumens.
At the other end of the kitchen (with a lower ceiling), I have these http://www.downlightsdirect.co.uk/high-output-recessed-led-downlight-white-10w.html. Although I purchased the extra warm white (2700 kelvin). Note although these have a lower 'wattage' (10w) they output more light (550 lumens). Given that I was purchasing a few, I managed to negotiate their web prices down by about 10% and they sent me a free sample. The people at downlightsdirect also did a lighting illustration for me, using the actual dimensions of the room and the spacing of the downlights to show what light levels would be achieved and how many downlights I needed.
It's worth noting that we were unable to confirm if the ledlights4you ones were fire rated (they had only just started importing them), so we decided to play safe and fitted intumescent hoods on each one. We've also got one of their LED floodlights http://www.ledlights4you.co.uk/en/l...-floodlights/id/72w-led-flood-light-ip65-240v which we have been pleased with.
One of the websites now includes a cost saving calculator (haven't used it myself, so don't know how accurate it is) which claims to calculate the saving from switching to LED from halogen. http://www.downlightsdirect.co.uk/energy-calculator.html. This also doesn't include any saving from not having to replace GU10's (which seemed to go with alarming regularity). Another big attraction for us was not having to change the bulbs (which on our floodlights is a major job and even internally was a difficult and tiresome exercise due to ceiling heights).
Obviously, none of these lights are cheap to purchase but I believe over their lifetime I will certainly be better off than with halogens.
Dimmable LEDs seem even more expensive - so we have mixed our downlights with dimmable pendants on regular bulbs for that 'mood' lighting effect.
The first are in the higher ceiling part of the kitchen http://www.ledlights4you.co.uk/en/l...d-down-lights/id/5x3w-swivel-ceiling-light-ww. Note that they sell 'cool white' and 'warm white'. I have the warm white ones (3000-3500 kelvin). They are 5 x 3W LEDs with an output of 450 lumens.
At the other end of the kitchen (with a lower ceiling), I have these http://www.downlightsdirect.co.uk/high-output-recessed-led-downlight-white-10w.html. Although I purchased the extra warm white (2700 kelvin). Note although these have a lower 'wattage' (10w) they output more light (550 lumens). Given that I was purchasing a few, I managed to negotiate their web prices down by about 10% and they sent me a free sample. The people at downlightsdirect also did a lighting illustration for me, using the actual dimensions of the room and the spacing of the downlights to show what light levels would be achieved and how many downlights I needed.
It's worth noting that we were unable to confirm if the ledlights4you ones were fire rated (they had only just started importing them), so we decided to play safe and fitted intumescent hoods on each one. We've also got one of their LED floodlights http://www.ledlights4you.co.uk/en/l...-floodlights/id/72w-led-flood-light-ip65-240v which we have been pleased with.
One of the websites now includes a cost saving calculator (haven't used it myself, so don't know how accurate it is) which claims to calculate the saving from switching to LED from halogen. http://www.downlightsdirect.co.uk/energy-calculator.html. This also doesn't include any saving from not having to replace GU10's (which seemed to go with alarming regularity). Another big attraction for us was not having to change the bulbs (which on our floodlights is a major job and even internally was a difficult and tiresome exercise due to ceiling heights).
Obviously, none of these lights are cheap to purchase but I believe over their lifetime I will certainly be better off than with halogens.
Dimmable LEDs seem even more expensive - so we have mixed our downlights with dimmable pendants on regular bulbs for that 'mood' lighting effect.
Penners
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Once again, that's a surprise. 3500 kelvin is generally regarded as the temperature of fluorescent light, whereas incandescent light normally comes in around 2700 kelvin. Subjectively speaking, I felt that the light from your LEDs was much more like incandescent than fluorescent.Pford75 said:
Feltwell
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It will be interesting to see how much the price of LED lights falls over the next few years. At the moment, it seems too expensive for most domestic consumers to consider.
Much more basic I know, but for battery torches LED's are taking off fast and becoming very cheap. I was given one a while ago as a company freebie and it really is excellent - very small, very bright, battery life is fine and it's survived being dropped several times. It's so good I bought another similar one today when I was in Screwfix, to keep in the car - £5 including the batteries. It's brighter than the little Maglite torches I've always had (which were always considered to be amongst the best) and a lot cheaper.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/ring-automotive-9-led-aluminium-torch/24274
Don't take the above as an advert for Screwfix by the way - half an hour in Shrewsbury today to buy 1 roll of electrical cable - and it wasn't even that busy! They seemed to have 3 staff on duty, 1 woman who to be fair to her was behind the counter working as fast as she could and apologising to everyone for the wait, and 2 useless muppets - 1 young lad working at a snails pace (I've seen more life in a tramp's vest) and 1 person doing something in the warehouse, who knows what because it certainly wasn't serving customers. Apparently they had 1 person who had phoned in sick but that was still no excuse for the dreadfully slow service.
I walked into Screwfix in a good mood, walked out (eventually!) in a thoroughly bad mood, then went round the corner to buy some items at Toolstation. They had just 2 staff on duty and a similar number of customers - and I was in and out within 5 minutes, no hassles at all. Not only that but I've noticed they are markedly cheaper than Screwfix these days, even if their range isn't quite as good - yet.
Much more basic I know, but for battery torches LED's are taking off fast and becoming very cheap. I was given one a while ago as a company freebie and it really is excellent - very small, very bright, battery life is fine and it's survived being dropped several times. It's so good I bought another similar one today when I was in Screwfix, to keep in the car - £5 including the batteries. It's brighter than the little Maglite torches I've always had (which were always considered to be amongst the best) and a lot cheaper.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/ring-automotive-9-led-aluminium-torch/24274
Don't take the above as an advert for Screwfix by the way - half an hour in Shrewsbury today to buy 1 roll of electrical cable - and it wasn't even that busy! They seemed to have 3 staff on duty, 1 woman who to be fair to her was behind the counter working as fast as she could and apologising to everyone for the wait, and 2 useless muppets - 1 young lad working at a snails pace (I've seen more life in a tramp's vest) and 1 person doing something in the warehouse, who knows what because it certainly wasn't serving customers. Apparently they had 1 person who had phoned in sick but that was still no excuse for the dreadfully slow service.
I walked into Screwfix in a good mood, walked out (eventually!) in a thoroughly bad mood, then went round the corner to buy some items at Toolstation. They had just 2 staff on duty and a similar number of customers - and I was in and out within 5 minutes, no hassles at all. Not only that but I've noticed they are markedly cheaper than Screwfix these days, even if their range isn't quite as good - yet.
Flyfisher
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I'm not too sure about the numbers but I definitely agree with your subjective assessement of the lights in question looking closer to incandescent than fluorescent.Penners said:
Do you think we may have been slightly fooled by viewing them in daylight?
I don't think so.
I was interested in your subjective assessments, since one can become biased into thinking that the chosen lights are perfect. However, I do genuinely believe that they are as close to incandescent as makes no difference. The floodlights are certainly a 'whiter' light...but that is really what is required.
Anyway, the 'heat' rating was 3000-3500 which is a fairly large range. So perhaps they are at the 3000 end and therefore any difference to incandecents is unnoticeable?
I was interested in your subjective assessments, since one can become biased into thinking that the chosen lights are perfect. However, I do genuinely believe that they are as close to incandescent as makes no difference. The floodlights are certainly a 'whiter' light...but that is really what is required.
Anyway, the 'heat' rating was 3000-3500 which is a fairly large range. So perhaps they are at the 3000 end and therefore any difference to incandecents is unnoticeable?
Flyfisher
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Yes, I agree they certainly had that incandescent look. You may well be right about them being closer to the 3000 'end' of the specification, though in the final analysis the actual appearance is more important than the datasheet and I think they looked great.
In fact, I've already mentioned them to Mrs FF who is currently working on the design of our new kitchen. :wink:
In fact, I've already mentioned them to Mrs FF who is currently working on the design of our new kitchen. :wink:
Penners
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Absolutely. "Perception is reality" as my friend James is so fond of saying (ad nauseam!).Flyfisher said:
Unfortunately I need to replace GU10 bulbs (or lamps as my electrician insists I call them) with LEDs at some point in what was the kitchen and is now the dining room - I can't face new fittings nor the price to do all the ones I'd need to!Pford75 said:
In the renovated part of the house we fitted building regs approved low energy GU10 fittings with Megaman 11W bulbs sorry lamps in 2010.
I don't recommend the Megaman lamps as they have a warm up time like the 1st generation of CFLs - they're fine after a couple of minutes but it really is pretty shabby having to wait that long when most of my CLFs in bayonet fittings elsewhere are full brightness in a couple of seconds.
Thanks for the links anyway!