LED/Low Energy Downlighters?

[ILoveLamp]

Thanks to a fancy new energy monitor, I've recently discovered that 4 spotlights use more energy than my television.

I'd like to change all the downlighters in my house for LED/Low energy ones, there's around 50 needed. Does anyone have any recommendations? They seem very expensive, though I imagine they'll pay for themselves over a year.

Cheers

[anonymous-user]

I've got these throughout my house -

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAct...

I didn't bother with the matching led driver and none of mine have gone faulty over the past 18 months or so.

[dugt]

Not really totaly the same, but we have had four of these running for 2 years constantly. 24 hours a day, we never turn them off.

They dont get hot, you can cup your hands tightly around them when they are on, never changed one, don't even regester on our power consumption meter.

Im not sure how much they are as we got them as samples for a lift car, but there are probably similar products about.

[Murph7355]

D3fender said:

I've got these throughout my house -

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAct...

I didn't bother with the matching led driver and none of mine have gone faulty over the past 18 months or so.

Are you using them as ambient lighting in conjunction with stronger lamps? I'd heard these weren't that powerful....and equivalent to 20W backs that up...?

[freecar]

We use Exergi LED GU20 replacements in our kitchen as our only light source, the kitchen is long and narrow with a patio door at one end so has little in the way of natural light.

They light it up brilliantly and save 47W per fitting! I never bother switching the MR16 under counter lights on as the GU!0 LED ones are enough for me.

We went for the "warm white" as they have the best colour temperature, they have been in about two years now and are all going strong!

They were about £14 each and fitted the standard GU10 fitting. I'm sure Exergi make other replacement types.

[Phooey]

You need to speak to PH'er E36GUY ( http://pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/profile.asp?membe... ). I have a house full of GU10's but have just revamped the bathrooms and wanted to explore alternatives to these 50w 'energy-eaters'.

I bought 13 of these - http://www.ecoledlight.co.uk/ecoled-zep1-recessed-... - and all i can say is they are truly astonishing in terms of performance and 'cool' running. My electrician at first said LED's are a waste of money. After he fitted these Zep 1's he too was amazed at the performance of this 5w LED and has asked for PH'er Guy's contact details

I promise you that you will be amazed. I am now going to swap the 50-odd GU10's in our house for these. Don't be put off by the price... i'm sure Guy will look after you if you grovel hard enough

[ILoveLamp]

Phooey said:

You need to speak to PH'er E36GUY ( http://pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/profile.asp?membe... ). I have a house full of GU10's but have just revamped the bathrooms and wanted to explore alternatives to these 50w 'energy-eaters'.

I bought 13 of these - http://www.ecoledlight.co.uk/ecoled-zep1-recessed-... - and all i can say is they are truly astonishing in terms of performance and 'cool' running. My electrician at first said LED's are a waste of money. After he fitted these Zep 1's he too was amazed at the performance of this 5w LED and has asked for PH'er Guy's contact details

I promise you that you will be amazed. I am now going to swap the 50-odd GU10's in our house for these. Don't be put off by the price... i'm sure Guy will look after you if you grovel hard enough

£46 for 1?

Even at half price, that's ridiculous!

[skilly1]

I just bought 100 of those from Guy for some changing rooms. The lights are on for 15 hours a day and these use 90% less electricity. I worked out they will pay for themselves in under 2 years and they are guaranteed for 5 years, even if you leave them on all day. They have a life expectancy of 70,000+ hours.
Unlike other LED lights these give a warm white colour and are as strong as a GU50 - the electrician who fitted them was amazed. Can't praise them enough, although pricey to begin with. Will post pics when the rooms are finished.

[ILoveLamp]

Thanks guys,

I can understand the savings when being used for commercial use, but as they are for residential use, they'll only be used for a few hours per day (less so in the summer)...

I guess £15+ is the 'going rate' for efficient downlighters then!

[anonymous-user]

Murph7355 said:

Are you using them as ambient lighting in conjunction with stronger lamps? I'd heard these weren't that powerful....and equivalent to 20W backs that up...?

I'm fortunate enough to have large windows all over the house, but I've been using them at work as well and I can't fault them. (I never used 50w mr16's, only ever 20w)

[Super Slo Mo]

I've bought these, Diamond LED GU10's, the Opal 2 model.

http://www.diamondled.co.uk/high_power_led_lightin...

I got the cool version for the office, and the warmer version for home. The warm ones are slightly cooler than a 50W halogen GU10, but easily as bright. Beam is a little narrower, but still perfectly good. I would definitely recommend them.

I paid around £8.50 each plus the VAT. Given how long they last, I thought this was a pretty good price, considering the halogens only live for a fraction of that time, and use 10 times the power.

[E36GUY]

@ Phooey & Skilly. Thanks for the recommendations chaps. Much appreciated.

LED is more expensive than Halogen for sure. Simply because you can't make a decent light for the same money - the component parts are more complicated and expensive. Buying LED lights on the basis of best price is completely the wrong way to go about things as there is massive fluctuation in quality out there not to mention safety implications if LED is not effectively heat-sinked. If anyone's interested in reading why we place no faith in replacement bulbs then read my other post in this thread.

Regarding the below. I have had a look at the spec of these. Something doesn't add up. They quote a lumen output of 300 for each version of the lamp be that cool or warm white. Well, cool white will always have a higher lumen output so something is wrong there that they quote the same for both. My suspicion would be that that output is for the cool white and isn't accurate for warm. With regards to the lumen output itself, 300 is only about half what you get from even the cheapest halogen so in fact these won't be anywhere near as bright.

Super Slo Mo said:

I've bought these, Diamond LED GU10's, the Opal 2 model.

http://www.diamondled.co.uk/high_power_led_lightin...

I got the cool version for the office, and the warmer version for home. The warm ones are slightly cooler than a 50W halogen GU10, but easily as bright. Beam is a little narrower, but still perfectly good. I would definitely recommend them.

[Zod]

I've been thinking about this for a while. We have 70+ of the things and I hate replacing them. The energy wastage must be enormous.

[Super Slo Mo]

E36GUY said:

Well, I stand corrected. However, I did do back to back comparisons with my 50W halogens (and other LED's at the wholesaler's), and while the beam of the LED's is tighter with a slightly harder shadow (as you'd expect), the difference in light levels wasn't terribly obvious. Like I said also, I'm happy with the results.

Colour wise, the warm versions are slightly cooler than the halogen, but there's not much in it.

[E36GUY]

Zod said:

I've been thinking about this for a while. We have 70+ of the things and I hate replacing them. The energy wastage must be enormous.

Here's a cost comparison for you then between a 50W halogen and my ZEP1 LED. Some assumptions taken but it is generally accepted in the industry that the average home uses its lights for 8 hours a day over the year (more in winter less in summer etc) so I base it on that. Also, the figure for electricity per kW may not be quite correct but anyway, won't probably be far out and energy prices are only going one way.

W= Watts. KWH = KiloWattHour

Halogen
50W x 70 = 3500W(3.5KWH). 3.5 x 0.12p = 0.42p per hour x 8 hours = £3.36/Day or £1,226.40 per year.

ECOLED 5W
5W x 70 = 350W (0.35KWH). 0.35 x 0.12p = 0.04p per hour x 8 hours = 0.37p/Day or £122.64 per year.

Absolutely the up front cost of LED is higher than halogen for sure however, with a resultant an annual saving £1,103.76 one can see that the payback could be pretty swift. It's never going to make sense if you just do a bathroom with 4 lights in it but if you are doing the whole house with say, 70 as per the example it's a big saving. You also have the leftspan advantage. More than 50,000 hours so no more changing bulbs. If you have secondary systems such as aircon for example, there are benefits here too as it won't work as hard as it has none of the halogen heat to deal with.

[Zod]

Thanks!