Replaced 8 halogens with LED bulbs in the house, while the savings are good I really recommend getting quality units. The ones I have contain cheap internals so there's a very noticable flicker with fast moving objects and I'm not really a fan of the colour outputs. "Warm white" is warm but makes white objects look very yellowey and the cool whites just appeared too clinical, going to try mixing the colours if I buy more. 12w of spots (3x 4w units) feels like somewhere between 40-60w of normal bulbs in a room. I'll try and get some photos up at some point.
Replacing halogen bulbs with LEDs...
- Thread starter OCdude
- Start date
99p??? Where from?
You forgot to mention the £2 delivery!
True but still cracking value.
The beam is not as focused as a halogen as they seem to spread the light a lot more, but swapping 2 out of the 4 i would say gives around 95% of the light from having 4 halogens running. And saves 91 watts/hour per room with them in.
There's a utility on the Halers sight (via the link I provided 'cost saving') which will work out the cost of both halogen & LED bulbs based on the amount of units, hours used per day and cost of elec. The savings equate to 90% on bills, just the initial outlay for LED is quite substancial.
- Joined
- 30 Jul 2006
- Posts
- 12,130
To anyone who has experience of both:
On another front, the Megaman PAR 16 LED Reflector bulbs seem to have a completely different shape when compared with a standard Halogen GU10, I take it that they will not fit into many GU10 fittings?
How do the "Cool White" and the "Warm White" LED bulbs compare?
I am reluctant to shell out for a couple of each in order to make a judgement.On another front, the Megaman PAR 16 LED Reflector bulbs seem to have a completely different shape when compared with a standard Halogen GU10, I take it that they will not fit into many GU10 fittings?
Soldato
- Joined
- 24 Nov 2002
- Posts
- 16,378
- Location
- 38.744281°N 104.846806°W
When I lived in my flat there were about 25x Halogen GU10s. They blew all the time and were probably costing a fortune. I replaced them all with bog standard (Tesco) LEDs - bar a few from the bay which were more expensive and brighter (Kitchen, study etc).
I've got Kosnic 4w LED's in various GU10 fittings about the house. The colour difference is similar to car headlights. The 'warm' light is the same as a normal halogen, slightly yellow. Cool light is slightly more 'blue', a bit like the Audi day running headlights. We use the cool lights in our bathroom and kitchen, and the warm in bedrooms/living room.
Page 12 & 13 of this PDF highlights the difference in colour temperature quite nicely:
http://www.collingwoodvideo.com/Halers website/Catalogue PDF/HL_Catalogue 2011_UK.pdf
Warm white is closer to that of a regular light bulb where as cool white tends to be closer to white, a slightly colder light.
Last edited:
I swapped out my GU10 halogens for some LEDs that I bought from B&Q (Alpha brand) which are good, I also bought another 3 from the Internet(the store that cannot be named) which are even brighter but a little blue. You can get with either single LED or multiple LEDs
I've got some LED down lighters going in to my house in the next few weeks. I say a few it's more like 60
I was looking at these:
http://www.halers.com/warm_white_ww/dl_sil_f_ww__evoled/24294_p.html
Which come in around £40 non dimmable and nearer to £50 dimmable from memory. I got a bulk quote for dimmable ones of £42.90 per unit. They come with a 7 year guarantee, are all IP65 rated and have pretty decent Philips bulbs in them. Having said that they're bloody expensive!
Since then by chance I happen to have made contact/friends with an industrial supplier who deals with manufacturers directly and can get me something very similar basically for free due to the sheer size of his bulk orders it's peanuts to him
holy **** those are expensive. you know that the "Sold individually at MASSIVE profit" price on those LED's is less than £3 EACH? if you buy them direct from Philips on the reel they're probably a tenth of that!
Last edited:
- Joined
- 30 Jul 2006
- Posts
- 12,130
There is a site HERE that seems to offer LED GU10 replacements from as little as £4.50
Shurely shome mishtake
Shurely shome mishtake
There is a site HERE that seems to offer LED GU10 replacements from as little as £4.50
Shurely shome mishtake
not all LEDs are created Equal.
Those £4.49 units have roughly a tenth of the output of a single Cree XM-L LED emitter.
you'd need about 20 to 30 of them to light up a room sufficiently.
Last edited:
I bought some EXERGI Bulbs a few years ago and were a little whiter than the halogens but went in with zero fuss and have been working ever since. The room they are in is used a lot so the savings come in after about 2-3 years. None broken so far, seems like the future to me.
Last edited:
- Joined
- 30 Jul 2006
- Posts
- 12,130
I've just had a look at some £11 '5w Cree LED GU10 High Power Cool White LEDs' at the Rainforest place. The reviews aren't exactly great and I very much doubt that I could adequately light my kitchen with two or three of them as you seem to imply
The site I mentioned above also offer 4W 24 x SMD High Power wide angle lights for £13 which they claim give an output equivalent to a 60W Halogen GU10.
The search continues!
Cree as a company make many many many Different LEDs, the best* of which is the XM-L.I've just had a look at some £11 '5w Cree LED GU10 High Power Cool White LEDs' at the Rainforest place. The reviews aren't exactly great and I very much doubt that I could adequately light my kitchen with two or three of them as you seem to imply
The site I mentioned above also offer 4W 24 x SMD High Power wide angle lights for £13 which they claim give an output equivalent to a 60W Halogen GU10.
The search continues!
those bulbs probably use much cheaper and thus less bright LEDs
*best as in highest lumen-per-watt efficiency at maximum output of 1000 Lumens at 10 watts.
- Joined
- 30 Jul 2006
- Posts
- 12,130
Are you able to post links to any specific sources for Cree GU10 style LEDs, they do seem a bit rare?
Which bulbs
The 4W 24 x SMD High Power wide angle lights seem pretty good / reasonable to me
ps - Do you by any chance happen to have any sort of financial relationship with Cree?
