How many GU10 LED bulbs for bedroom?
- Thread starter FerretBoy
- Start date
Practical problems:
Drilling big holes in the ceiling trashes its fire integrity, you have to add little fire tents above each one or you run the risk of setting light to the attic.
Then there's the problem of 240v or 12v, in which case where to site the Tx and is this easy to access if it fails.
Does any of this need to be dim-able.
Aesthetic problems:
Downlights are more for task situations, like kitchens, bedrooms normally require more ambient lighting, like shade lamps below eye level.
You know those horrible millionaire American houses that all look more like a hotel than a home? They look that way because they all use downlighters everywhere, it's just not homely.
tl:dr - it will look like crap, nobody does this
Drilling big holes in the ceiling trashes its fire integrity, you have to add little fire tents above each one or you run the risk of setting light to the attic.
Then there's the problem of 240v or 12v, in which case where to site the Tx and is this easy to access if it fails.
Does any of this need to be dim-able.
Aesthetic problems:
Downlights are more for task situations, like kitchens, bedrooms normally require more ambient lighting, like shade lamps below eye level.
You know those horrible millionaire American houses that all look more like a hotel than a home? They look that way because they all use downlighters everywhere, it's just not homely.
tl:dr - it will look like crap, nobody does this
Well I have fire rated 240v fittings and just in case hoods to keep the insulation off them, I image over kill for LED heat, but we had a house fire once and we prefer to be safe.
We plan a very modern decor with a white and black gloss colour scheme. We don't want it offset with yellow lights.
I was more interested in what watt bulbs to get, as we don't need to mega bright.
Guess I'll just have to see for myself. Cheers for your time.
We plan a very modern decor with a white and black gloss colour scheme. We don't want it offset with yellow lights.
I was more interested in what watt bulbs to get, as we don't need to mega bright.
Guess I'll just have to see for myself. Cheers for your time.
Heh, I was just quickly checking on the fire hood thing as it occurred to me that LEDs don't produce much heat, but I guess they help seal up the hole. (not a spark, not qualified to comment)
Gah, you really want to do this?
LEDs are a bit pants at the moment, google the GD forum as this topic has come up before, so you will find some suggestions on what brand (Phillips I think were good?)
They tend to suffer from poor output and narrow beam angle and I doubt bedroom lights would be run long enough to make any savings (kitchen lights, different story), I get the impression that even high output LEDs don't get near halogen.
I've got a XML torch, it is blinding on a 10deg beam (@9watts), but take the top off and it looks like a 40 watt bulb. Impressive that a torch can fill a room, but pretty poor as a room light.
That's my impression of current led room lights, wrong technology for the job.
Have you seen one of these lights for real? Normally with lighting you wander around with a lamp until your partner says that looks OK. My idea of bright may not be your idea of bright.
5x50w of halogen was great in the kitchen, I don't personally believe that a 5w led is as bright as a 50w gu10 (not after that BS that said 8w ccfl was the same as tungsten)
Before you do this, have a read up on lighting theory. I also loved the idea of a minimalist house until I stayed at a relatives place, awful experience. Doubly so for a bedroom.
I know it's boring and black/white always sounds super cool, but there are solid reasons why say Georgian houses are visually pleasing and why people use certain colours to decorate certain rooms.
Edit
6500K is pretty much at the blue end, it is a really harsh light.
If buying Chinese, check they have UV glass fitted.
Sorry for being hard on your taste here, but really, if this was likely to look good in a bedroom then other people would be doing it. It is going to be really hard to reconsider this after you've just dropped £300 on hardware (I've got black tiles in my bathroom, it's taken me years to accept that actually they look awful but it's too expensive to change now
)
Gah, you really want to do this?
LEDs are a bit pants at the moment, google the GD forum as this topic has come up before, so you will find some suggestions on what brand (Phillips I think were good?)
They tend to suffer from poor output and narrow beam angle and I doubt bedroom lights would be run long enough to make any savings (kitchen lights, different story), I get the impression that even high output LEDs don't get near halogen.
I've got a XML torch, it is blinding on a 10deg beam (@9watts), but take the top off and it looks like a 40 watt bulb. Impressive that a torch can fill a room, but pretty poor as a room light.
That's my impression of current led room lights, wrong technology for the job.
Have you seen one of these lights for real? Normally with lighting you wander around with a lamp until your partner says that looks OK. My idea of bright may not be your idea of bright.
5x50w of halogen was great in the kitchen, I don't personally believe that a 5w led is as bright as a 50w gu10 (not after that BS that said 8w ccfl was the same as tungsten)
Before you do this, have a read up on lighting theory. I also loved the idea of a minimalist house until I stayed at a relatives place, awful experience. Doubly so for a bedroom.
I know it's boring and black/white always sounds super cool, but there are solid reasons why say Georgian houses are visually pleasing and why people use certain colours to decorate certain rooms.
Edit
6500K is pretty much at the blue end, it is a really harsh light.
If buying Chinese, check they have UV glass fitted.
Sorry for being hard on your taste here, but really, if this was likely to look good in a bedroom then other people would be doing it. It is going to be really hard to reconsider this after you've just dropped £300 on hardware (I've got black tiles in my bathroom, it's taken me years to accept that actually they look awful but it's too expensive to change now
)
Last edited:
Yeah I understand your concerns but I reckon I have to see it for myself. It is not such a big investment:
15º tilting fire rated fittings are costing us £4 each, additional covers £5, LED Bulbs £10 each (with 60º spread). So with some 1mm T+E it's coming to around £100. the Tilt, positioning and size of the room means none will be aimed directly at the bed.
We also have bedside halogen wall lights that are dimmable for when in bed etc.
The only pain will be to fill the holes if we don't like it, the fittings can be re-used downstairs.
15º tilting fire rated fittings are costing us £4 each, additional covers £5, LED Bulbs £10 each (with 60º spread). So with some 1mm T+E it's coming to around £100. the Tilt, positioning and size of the room means none will be aimed directly at the bed.
We also have bedside halogen wall lights that are dimmable for when in bed etc.
The only pain will be to fill the holes if we don't like it, the fittings can be re-used downstairs.
Soldato
- Joined
- 30 Sep 2005
- Posts
- 16,714
I put GU10s in the kitchen
Halogens cost a fortune to run, CFL are rubbish, LED are fantastic but cost a fortune to buy LOL
If you want LED, forget all the rest and buy Philips. They aren't cheap at around £15 EACH but worth it!
Halogens cost a fortune to run, CFL are rubbish, LED are fantastic but cost a fortune to buy LOL
If you want LED, forget all the rest and buy Philips. They aren't cheap at around £15 EACH but worth it!
I have Philips LED GU10 in my bedroom which are equivalent to 35w halogen lamp and have no complaints.
I put these in my parents kitchen, again work very well.
http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Lig...p+GU10+38+Warm+White+320lm/d220/sd3276/p39218
I put these in my parents kitchen, again work very well.
http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Lig...p+GU10+38+Warm+White+320lm/d220/sd3276/p39218
Have you ever seen 6500k light? You're probably going to regret putting that in your bedroom.
Also, just to echo a few comments here. Don't cheap out on the LED bulbs, Phillips are your best bet and avoid unbranded Chinese ones. Their spec sheets are usually exaggerated and they won't last anywhere near as long as claimed.
Also, just to echo a few comments here. Don't cheap out on the LED bulbs, Phillips are your best bet and avoid unbranded Chinese ones. Their spec sheets are usually exaggerated and they won't last anywhere near as long as claimed.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 38,367
After trying out lots of different led/cfl gu10 bulbs I eventually got me 10 megaman modo 4.5w LEDs in 4000k and they are superb for the money.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Megaman-M...31?pt=UK_Light_Bulbs&var=&hash=item2ec6f7f717
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Megaman-M...31?pt=UK_Light_Bulbs&var=&hash=item2ec6f7f717
Soldato
And these Megaman Modo 6W DIMMING LED are apparently very good
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Megaman-M...22?pt=UK_Light_Bulbs&var=&hash=item2ec6f7f70e