The definitive low-energy GU10 lighting thread

[foz01]

Guy, emailed you a while back, had a gimeg go bad, tried the office email as we'll but no response, can you give me a shout,

Cheers

[Scuffers]

Pheo said:

It's a fair point, just in my limited experience the gu10 led retrofit are always going to be a compromise of sorts. A happy Zep1 customer anyway

Very true, but if you have GU10 fittings, they're a quick and cheap alternative.

[Paul Drawmer]

DuraAce said:

12v vs 240v, why should I choose one over the other?

Zep1 vs gu10 with led bulbs, can someone outline the benefits of each for a simpleton like me please? How the costs vary between the two?

I am replacing a 4' strip light with 6/7 down lights.

I think before you choose between 12/240 volt, you need to decide on your type of lamp. If you are looking for LED down lighters, then look for the most effective method of implementing them, that will tell if you are going 12 or 240.

You may decide that to replace a strip lamp, you'd prefer some fancy CCFL tube thingies, that'll be 240 then.

As I said in another post on this thread, I have just replaced a kitchen 4' strip with 7 Zep1s. Flippin' brilliant units compared with the several varieties of 240v LED spots I have elsewhere in the house. Worth it if you're not moving on next week. You're welcome to look if you are near Banbury.

[Dan_The_Man]

Quick heads up that CPC are doing the KOSNIC 5W dimmables for £4.95+VAT (80 degree)
http://cpc.farnell.com/kosnic/kdim05smd-gu10-w65/l...
Anyone have feedback on those ?

[Maxf]

As a guide to anybody looking at Zep 1s, Ive just replaced almost 60 halogen GU10s with 31 Zep 1 lights and the flat feels brighter with a much nicer, more natural, quality of light.

[Otispunkmeyer]

Those ZEP1's are nice, pricey but nice. Our new house is basically all GU10 halogen downlighting fitted into the ceiling. You can be your ass I am going to change these to something that doesn't use so much leccy. I bet if you had all the lights on in the house it'll be several kW! Obviouslly won't be able to change them all at once and I don't know exactly what space is free above them. hopefully I can fit something like the ZEP1.

[E36GUY]

Otispunkmeyer said:

Those ZEP1's are nice, pricey but nice. Our new house is basically all GU10 halogen downlighting fitted into the ceiling. You can be your ass I am going to change these to something that doesn't use so much leccy. I bet if you had all the lights on in the house it'll be several kW! Obviouslly won't be able to change them all at once and I don't know exactly what space is free above them. hopefully I can fit something like the ZEP1.

Trust me, for an Architectural grade fitting (not a wholesale type fitting) they ain't pricey. Ignore anything you see online. Special price for PHers

[RizzoTheRat]

Lidl are currently doing Livarno branded GU10's at £9 for 2. Picked up a couple of try and I've got to say I'm impressed. 5W claims to be the equivalent of 47w at 320 lm. Not got any 50W halogens to compare with but they're brighter than my 11W CFL's which have started annoying me by being slower and slower to come on after 3 or 4 years use. The claim to be warm white at 3000k but they seem a bit harsher than the CFLs, however that's not a problem in my kitchen and the 40 degree beam is plenty for me. Think I might be picking up some more.

[Otispunkmeyer]

Right, getting a better handle on what I have in my new house now. On the landing there is a row of 5 GU10 downlights recessed into the ceiling. They appear to be fitted into vented cages. The cages are obviously a little large in diameter than a normal GU10 and as for depth, well there appears to be ample room above the bulb for the connector and for some wire to curl up in.

Now at the moment, none of these lamps work. There is a problem in the circuit somewhere. It may just be a broken dimmer switch, I don't know. Not even sure why they are dimmable to be honest. I don't see what purpose it serves.

So quite willing to chop out the dimmer. Also one of the lights is very difficult to reach. In fact I am not even sure how they managed to install the cradle!

Given that LED GU10s have a had a good few years to develop, what are they like now? The OSRAM and Phillips offerings would seem, on the face of it to be ideal replacements. But I am not sure. B&Q peddle some Diall make, but I am guessing those are ropey to say the least.

The landing is not a large space. In fact its probably only 3 m long by a body and a half wide, then goes directly into a stair case. No windows. We're going to paint it a light colour using Dulux's light reflecting paint.

So we probably don't need something epic in those downlighters as they haven't got that much space to light! Just something warm and soft is whats needed in there. I think 35 W equivalents will do it.

While I am here, I seem to have the exact same light fittings in the bathroom too. Now I thought you had to have units with a certain IP rating in areas where it was going to get wet and steamy?

[Scuffers]

bathroom wise, you need to use the right fittings for the zone your installing them.

I used this:


then fitted it with these:



(3x3W Cree)

put two sets of these in 3+ years ago, work great, never had to touch them since.

for more 'open' area's were you don't want a spot light, the new COB GU10's are pretty good..

[Z4monster]

Heads up that Costco are doing a deal on these at the moment:

http://www.costco.co.uk/view/product/uk_catalog/co...

Feit LED GU10 50 Watt Dimmable Replacement Bulbs - 2 Pack

Listed at £12.41 Exc VAT (£14.89) and now on offer at £6.99 Exc VAT. (£8.38) until 02/11

Just replaced 12 standard halogen spots in the kitchen and I am gobsmacked at how bright they are. I was expecting less light output and less throw from the LED's but they are great at both.

Previously had 35w lamps to try and reduce the cost of running them (replaced 50w originally) and now have all 12 on for just 72w

The room is very high as it goes to ridge height and the spots are on a track system on the beams about 4 metres off the floor so I am really suprised how good they are.

[e8_pack]

Are there any recommendations for mini LED units or bulbs?

I have 4 on the kitchen alcove units that i want to replace.

i used these (TLC - LT FRD12WW) in the kitchen with good effect, very pleased, but they dont do the mini size.

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/LTFRD12WW.htm...

Anyone use some good mini LED lights?

Thanks

[RizzoTheRat]

Otispunkmeyer said:

Given that LED GU10s have a had a good few years to develop, what are they like now? The OSRAM and Phillips offerings would seem, on the face of it to be ideal replacements. But I am not sure. B&Q peddle some Diall make, but I am guessing those are ropey to say the least.

I'm very impressed with the Livarno ones I mentioned above so far. Obviously time will tell with the reliability but they're easily as bright as they claim. All the LED's I've come across seem to be a narrower beam than halogen or CFL's so good for spotlights but maybe not so good for downlights.

[mr shifty]

Z4monster said:

Heads up that Costco are doing a deal on these at the moment:

http://www.costco.co.uk/view/product/uk_catalog/co...

Feit LED GU10 50 Watt Dimmable Replacement Bulbs - 2 Pack

Listed at £12.41 Exc VAT (£14.89) and now on offer at £6.99 Exc VAT. (£8.38) until 02/11

Just replaced 12 standard halogen spots in the kitchen and I am gobsmacked at how bright they are. I was expecting less light output and less throw from the LED's but they are great at both.

Previously had 35w lamps to try and reduce the cost of running them (replaced 50w originally) and now have all 12 on for just 72w

The room is very high as it goes to ridge height and the spots are on a track system on the beams about 4 metres off the floor so I am really suprised how good they are.

That didn't last long - they seem to be back to £14.89 now!

[Max M4X WW]

Hi all,

I'm new here but hopefully buying our own place soon and I want to get my LED's sorted ASAP!

First off, I need some GU10 bulbs (well I hope they are GU10 and not the 12v spikey ones) I assume there is a 'best buy' for these but I'm struggling with all the recommendations!

Are these much discussed EcoLed ZEP1's a similar size to a GU10 fitting? To avoid bombarding Guy with emails, how much are they each and for say 10/20 units?

Thanks

[Pheo]

Max M4X WW said:

Hi all,

I'm new here but hopefully buying our own place soon and I want to get my LED's sorted ASAP!

First off, I need some GU10 bulbs (well I hope they are GU10 and not the 12v spikey ones) I assume there is a 'best buy' for these but I'm struggling with all the recommendations!

Are these much discussed EcoLed ZEP1's a similar size to a GU10 fitting? To avoid bombarding Guy with emails, how much are they each and for say 10/20 units?

Thanks

Zep1s from memory need an 82mm hole saw. They're quite a bit bigger than GU10. Advantage being they have much better light spread than an LED in a GU10. but obviously more of an arse to fit (my electrician wasn't too happy!)

[WCZ]

E36GUY said:

<Light related things>

as mentioned by someone else earlier you can get ZEP1's at a good price? can you pm me some prices for 10/20/30 ?

[Otispunkmeyer]

RizzoTheRat said:

Otispunkmeyer said:

Given that LED GU10s have a had a good few years to develop, what are they like now? The OSRAM and Phillips offerings would seem, on the face of it to be ideal replacements. But I am not sure. B&Q peddle some Diall make, but I am guessing those are ropey to say the least.

I'm very impressed with the Livarno ones I mentioned above so far. Obviously time will tell with the reliability but they're easily as bright as they claim. All the LED's I've come across seem to be a narrower beam than halogen or CFL's so good for spotlights but maybe not so good for downlights.

I purchased a phillips LED GU10 from Tesco on a whim. Got the 5W 2700K version which claims to be similar in output to 50W and I put it on the landing. I did manage to fix the lights on the landing after narrowing the problem down to a busted dimmer. I then read that GU10's and dimmers isn't great idea anyway and so switched to a normal light switch. Not sure of the wattage of the current lamps but, they are also new and the LED unit matches these in both colour temperature (if slightly warmer), brightness and area of illumination. Quite pleased with it.

Next thing I want to try is removing the CFL tube under cabinet lights in the kitchen and replacing with LED strip light units. They are currently 2 x 20cm ish (odd size, can't seem to find < 1ft items in B&Q), 1 x 5ft (58W) and 1x4ft (36W).

The light they give off is ok, but they sometimes take a while to ignite (even though the starters and the tubes are new) and there is colour temp difference between the 5ft and 4ft units (they are next to each other, so its obvious).

Any suggestions?

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Monday 27th October 13:19

[The Don of Croy]

Slightly O/T but I've just replaced most of the ground floor 12v GU5.3 stuff with own brand Tesco LED's at £6.50 each.

They are the first we've tried that a) fit as a direct replacement in the same housing and b) give an equivalent amount of brightness and c) of the approximately correct 'whiteness' as the 50w halogens they replaced.

Only been in two weeks but so far they've outlasted one Osram £15.00 jobby that packed in after a week (luckily replaced foc by CPC).

One demerit - some of them don't 'fire' at the first click - you need to switch off and on again...curious. Might be to do with the type of transformer specced for the halogens?

No effect on the DAB radio either.

Hopefully we're saving up to 783 watts per hour when they're all on (just the kitchen).

They also sell a GU10 version - slightly different spec - which I've popped in the porch fittings.

[koosh]

i just replaced 3 lamps in my bathroom (2 normal and one 3xSMD led outputting a different color light) with 3 duracell lamps which i bought from the discount aisle in asda a while ago for £1 each. supposed to last 25,000 hours and have an output of 4w if i remember correctly. there is a slight difference in overall color in the room but its a small bathroom and they are perfect for what it is / the cost. i can only assume they will pay for themselves very quickly at £3....

also noticed screwfix is selling a box of 6 (or 10) LAP led GU10's for £20.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-gu10-led-lamps-281lm...

considering buying to have in the cupboard just incase... cant go wrong at £3.30 a lamp....