mentholist Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Seems to be a diverse range of knowledge here. I'm a bit of a late adopter when it comes to new technology. However, I'm getting royally sick of the failure rate on the gu10 50w halogens that the previous owner of my house saw fit to light the place with. Anyone got any experience with the led ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freeholder Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 I use 1.3w LED bulbs in a reading lamp. They are fine for that. As a straight replacement for a 50W halogen they are not bright enough. There are more powerful LEDs but last time I looked they were over £4 each which seems too much to me. On the plus side they run very cool, use hardly any power and I have yet to have one fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19 year mortgage 8itch Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 I found philips branded halogens to last much longer than cheap generic no name bulbs if you can put up with the energy consumption. When I tried a couple of LED bulds they weren't really up to the job of it but it was a couple of years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleepwello'nights Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 I found philips branded halogens to last much longer than cheap generic no name bulbs if you can put up with the energy consumption. When I tried a couple of LED bulds they weren't really up to the job of it but it was a couple of years ago. I purchased a pack of 3 LED bulbs from B&Q two years ago. The light they gave had a noticeable blue tinge and wasn't as bright as the halogen bulbs they replaced. They all failed within 9 months. I'm going to try LEDs again when I next need to replace them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rxe Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Cheap LEDs from B&Q are a waste of money - a blueish, weak light. The main check is who makes the LEDs - if they aren't Cree units, don't bother. Cree make good, consistent LEDs, everyone else is variable. You've got to be careful because everyone uses the same externals, you can get two identical looking bulbs, but one will be crap. We've redone the entire house. With every ceiling light on, the house pulls about 100W. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porca misèria Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 I purchased a pack of 3 LED bulbs from B&Q two years ago. The light they gave had a noticeable blue tinge and wasn't as bright as the halogen bulbs they replaced. They all failed within 9 months. I'm going to try LEDs again when I next need to replace them. The blue tinge seems to be the norm, but I've had LED bike lights for close to ten years now and have yet to see a failure. In recent years I've started seeing a similar bluish tinge in car headlights, and wonder if those are LEDs too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleepwello'nights Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 The blue tinge seems to be the norm, but I've had LED bike lights for close to ten years now and have yet to see a failure. In recent years I've started seeing a similar bluish tinge in car headlights, and wonder if those are LEDs too? The bluish tinge in car headlights is probably Xenon. High Intensity Discharge headlights use that gas to generate the light source. LEDs are being introduced into car headlight systems now. Thanks rxe for the information on LED manufacturers I'll google Cree and see where I can get them from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleepwello'nights Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Cheap LEDs from B&Q are a waste of money - a blueish, weak light. The main check is who makes the LEDs - if they aren't Cree units, don't bother. Cree make good, consistent LEDs, everyone else is variable. You've got to be careful because everyone uses the same externals, you can get two identical looking bulbs, but one will be crap. I've just looked on Cree's website they only supply components to other manufacturers. Can you suggest where I can obtain good LED replacements for Halogen GU10 bulbs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonb Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Seems to be a diverse range of knowledge here. I'm a bit of a late adopter when it comes to new technology. However, I'm getting royally sick of the failure rate on the gu10 50w halogens that the previous owner of my house saw fit to light the place with. Anyone got any experience with the led ones? LEDs give you about the same lumens per watt as CFL bulbs, that is about 3x to 4x more than a traditional bulb. You would need a 13W - 17W LED bulb to replace your current bulbs, and I don't think such a bright bulb exists yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riedquat Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 LEDs look like being the way ahead but they aren't ready yet for most normal room lighting. Try to hang on to your proper light bulbs until they are (but I've run out of proper 100 watt bulbs; surely there must be someone in somewhere like China still making them?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caramba Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 I have now almost replaced all the lights in our house with LED's and as a previous poster says with them all switched on it is probably less than 100 watts. However you need to go for the high brightness ones which don't come cheap.. Most places I use the KOSNIC 4 watt which gives equivlent 35 watt out. It is a white light and very good. You can get these for about £12 In the kitchen I needed something better and use HALERS EVOLED These give out equivlent of 50 watts and run at 4.7 watts but the cheapest I have found them is £42. They have a 7 year warranty. My rough calculation is they will pay for themselves in 2.5 years. My GU type were always going and I reckon because these run cold they will last a lifetime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonb Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 LEDs look like being the way ahead but they aren't ready yet for most normal room lighting. Try to hang on to your proper light bulbs until they are (but I've run out of proper 100 watt bulbs; surely there must be someone in somewhere like China still making them?) A halogen bulb like this http://www.johnlewis.com/151394/Style.aspx should do the trick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pauly_Boy Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 I have now almost replaced all the lights in our house with LED's and as a previous poster says with them all switched on it is probably less than 100 watts. However you need to go for the high brightness ones which don't come cheap.. Most places I use the KOSNIC 4 watt which gives equivlent 35 watt out. It is a white light and very good. You can get these for about £12 In the kitchen I needed something better and use HALERS EVOLED These give out equivlent of 50 watts and run at 4.7 watts but the cheapest I have found them is £42. They have a 7 year warranty. My rough calculation is they will pay for themselves in 2.5 years. My GU type were always going and I reckon because these run cold they will last a lifetime. Where did you buy them from, have you got any links? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corevalue Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Best source for GOOD LEDs Deal extreme in HK. Free delivery worldwide. I have bought excellent 3W MR16 replacements from them, which outshine by far the 20W halogens they replaced, and refitted florescent lighting with raw LEDs on a boat, with excellent results. I will only buy Cree LEDs, currently they are around 110 Lumens/Watt for the best grades. Other manufacturers, aside from Seoul Semiconductor and some Nichia, just don't come close. The Cree LED's are "binned" i.e. sorted by colour and efficiciency grades. Look for the highest letter on the end of the part number, e.g. XRE-LED -P4 is pretty much the lowest grade available, going up through Q and onto R. If you search Cree's website you can find the binning information, and also the colour charts. As for your immediate requirement, I think you are looking for something like this: GU10 360 Lumens 80-265V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikhail Liebenstein Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 I bought EXERGI HyperBrightLED MR16 3.6W 50,000h Cool White wide flood XM4W-E bulbs about 18 moths ago and did the whole house. Cost a small fortune as at the time they were about £18 each and I had to cover 3 large bathrooms, 2 toilets and a kitchen (about 36 units in total) I think the ones I bogut have now be replaced by a 4W version: http://www.exergi.co.uk/led-mr16/led-mr16-light-bulbs.aspx My summary is halogen replacements are excellent, a much whiter light than from halogens, and they are also direct replacement for the halogens, so no need to change the low voltage driver. They also produce little heat, which was useful, as the master on-suite bathroom is over a garage and uses the garage roof space, so there was extra insulation in the roof to make up for the lack of loft, this had meant the plastic on the driver units had been melted by heat escaping from the halogens (obviously a bad fitting job by the builder). But the new bulbs remove this issue, None of the bulbs have failed and the response time is instantaneous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libspero Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 I'm going to try LEDs again when I next need to replace them. I'd try and get by with regular bulbs for about another two/three years if you can.. Linky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caramba Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 Where did you buy them from, have you got any links? Just do a search http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kosnic-GU10-Warm-White-Equivalent/dp/B003MA3714 http://www.directtradesupplies.co.uk/lighting-products/led-lighting/halers.html?gclid=CPW1y626gKgCFcoa4QodR32nqw etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 Just go to bed when it gets dark, and avoid this expense! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mentholist Posted April 3, 2011 Author Share Posted April 3, 2011 Thanks to all for the suggestions I'll give it a go. I have to say I reckon Halogen manufacturers are now taking the piss. The failure rate is much higher than it used to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daft Boy Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 well worth a punt on ebay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
count_of_tripoli Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 I bought one of these as a test to see what they'd be like in my kitchen: LED GR10 The light is identical to the halogen that it replaced, comes on immediately with no warm up time and requires only 5W to run. Quite expensive though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tboy Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 All great info, I thought I was the only one not understanding it...sadly it would cost me about a grand to replace all the bulbs in my flat so reckon i'll leave it for now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drainman Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Seems to be a diverse range of knowledge here. I'm a bit of a late adopter when it comes to new technology. However, I'm getting royally sick of the failure rate on the gu10 50w halogens that the previous owner of my house saw fit to light the place with. Anyone got any experience with the led ones? dont look straight at em , fookin blindin ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pauly_Boy Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Well since this I've bought a load of bulbs, including ... http://www.downlightsdirect.co.uk/LED-Bulbs/Mains-Voltage-Power-LED-Bulbs-GU10-230V-Non-Dimmable/Power-LED-Bulb-5W-50W-GU10-240V-Warm-White-3000K-Kosnic/prod_218.html http://www.wickes.co.uk/philips-9w-gu10-cfl-bulb/invt/218883/ Kosnic LEDs lights are very good and a 5w one is brighter than a 50 halgen! I also bought the CFL style downlight bulbs from wickes, as a cheap alternative for rooms I don't really use. They're also very bright and also have a massive angle of light meaning they flood the room with light, not just 'spot'. I'd really reccomend downlightsdirect.co.uk, i've ordered 3 times from there and got it all the next day and they even answer the phone when you call them! Plus the site a really informative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riedquat Posted May 4, 2011 Share Posted May 4, 2011 Saw some normal 100W bulbs in a Co-Op at the weekend, but £1.20 each Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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