Changing GU10 bulbs from halogen to low energy
Discussion
The lighting in my house is provided by around 50 50W halogen lights, using the GU10 type bulbs. These take the form of both recessed lights and spotlights. Does anyone on here have experience of changing these over to the energy saving type which would appear to give huge savings. The replacements are not cheap, so it would be good to have the thoughts of anyone that has already done it.
we got one GU10 LED bulb as a trial to see if it was worth replacing all 8 in our kitchen because I seem to replace a blown bulb every other week.
That 1 bulb is now in the drawer, replaced by a standard bulb.
It was useless. It didn't throw out as much light as the original, despite being brighter from the calculations we did. It was very very white which was far too harsh, and had a spotlight effect so we'd have needed 30 of them to make the kitchen look as bright as the original 8 do.
That 1 bulb is now in the drawer, replaced by a standard bulb.
It was useless. It didn't throw out as much light as the original, despite being brighter from the calculations we did. It was very very white which was far too harsh, and had a spotlight effect so we'd have needed 30 of them to make the kitchen look as bright as the original 8 do.
I have these: http://www.litebulbs.co.uk/product/22591/exergi-hy...
As recommended on another thread on here.
Fantastic. Make sure you go for the warm white instead of the cool light and they will look just the same as the normal bulbs.
Seem expensive but not a long payback at only 4W, plus they offset the eco harm the 4.4 V8 parked outside is doing!
As recommended on another thread on here.
Fantastic. Make sure you go for the warm white instead of the cool light and they will look just the same as the normal bulbs.
Seem expensive but not a long payback at only 4W, plus they offset the eco harm the 4.4 V8 parked outside is doing!
jimsco said:
I have these: http://www.litebulbs.co.uk/product/22591/exergi-hy...
As recommended on another thread on here.
Fantastic. Make sure you go for the warm white instead of the cool light and they will look just the same as the normal bulbs.
Seem expensive but not a long payback at only 4W, plus they offset the eco harm the 4.4 V8 parked outside is doing!
Well I've just ordered 12 of them for the kitchen, so I will post how I get on! My energy direct debit has reached £300 a month so I thought it was time to do something!
As recommended on another thread on here.
Fantastic. Make sure you go for the warm white instead of the cool light and they will look just the same as the normal bulbs.
Seem expensive but not a long payback at only 4W, plus they offset the eco harm the 4.4 V8 parked outside is doing!
Well I've just ordered 12 of them for the kitchen, so I will post how I get on! My energy direct debit has reached £300 a month so I thought it was time to do something!
The cost of those things!!
I spent quite a while researching this last year as IMHO the 50w ones are terrible. They get far too hot, and whoever fitted them in our place used cheap light fittings which get hot, brittle, and disintegrate. One even shorted out and tripped the circuit breaker. You have to have a lot of space round them and clear the insulation away. Not so bad in the loft but between floors a PITA.
We have over 40 in our house so a tenner a time is not going to happen.
In the end we bought some Xenon (give out more light than halogen ones) 35w lamps. They are plenty bright enough, are cooler, and straight away give us a 30% power saving. We have only had a couple blow in a year as well as opposed to 1 every week or so previously.
Buy decent ones too - we have Crompton ones, much better than the crap from Homebase.
I have tried loads of LED and low energy ones and they have been rubbish without exception. Some of them won't even fit as they are much bigger. The tech may have moved on though.
I spent quite a while researching this last year as IMHO the 50w ones are terrible. They get far too hot, and whoever fitted them in our place used cheap light fittings which get hot, brittle, and disintegrate. One even shorted out and tripped the circuit breaker. You have to have a lot of space round them and clear the insulation away. Not so bad in the loft but between floors a PITA.
We have over 40 in our house so a tenner a time is not going to happen.
In the end we bought some Xenon (give out more light than halogen ones) 35w lamps. They are plenty bright enough, are cooler, and straight away give us a 30% power saving. We have only had a couple blow in a year as well as opposed to 1 every week or so previously.
Buy decent ones too - we have Crompton ones, much better than the crap from Homebase.
I have tried loads of LED and low energy ones and they have been rubbish without exception. Some of them won't even fit as they are much bigger. The tech may have moved on though.
As said megaman and crompton are both good brands, I get a good price on crompton. They do take a minute or two to reach full brightness.
You need the 11w to get anywhere near the light output of a 50w halogen, but it's longer so buy 1 to check it fits. If it doesn't then 7/8 watt versions may be the limit. LED tech is improving all the time but I've not yet found anything that comes close to a halogen lamp, but sometimes (eg 4-spot-light-bars) I suggest plop a couple in and mix to get both low energy and decent light.
You need the 11w to get anywhere near the light output of a 50w halogen, but it's longer so buy 1 to check it fits. If it doesn't then 7/8 watt versions may be the limit. LED tech is improving all the time but I've not yet found anything that comes close to a halogen lamp, but sometimes (eg 4-spot-light-bars) I suggest plop a couple in and mix to get both low energy and decent light.
megaman are most definitely the best.
agree with the coolwhite comment earlier, we have coolwhite in the kitchen and warm white in the other rooms.
we took out just under 40 50w gu10's out when we moved in last year + another wide selection of non energy saving bulbs.
because we were doing so many we contacted a seller online and asked him for a bulk discount.
we got them for 6.55 per bulb from £9.
it does't take long for them to warm up at all and you get used to it anyway very quickly...
agree with the coolwhite comment earlier, we have coolwhite in the kitchen and warm white in the other rooms.
we took out just under 40 50w gu10's out when we moved in last year + another wide selection of non energy saving bulbs.
because we were doing so many we contacted a seller online and asked him for a bulk discount.
we got them for 6.55 per bulb from £9.
it does't take long for them to warm up at all and you get used to it anyway very quickly...
I have installed 13w low energy lamps (which claim to be equivilent to 60w) in place of 50w GU10 lamps. They were Kosnic, not a brand I have heard of before, but are available in Day light (6500k) and warm white (3000k).
I got them from CEF Electrical wholesalers ,a national chain, they cost £5.99 each & VAT.
I got them from CEF Electrical wholesalers ,a national chain, they cost £5.99 each & VAT.
F i F said:
Bookmarks thread for when run out of huge stock of Homebase Gu10s bought on some stupid discount offer.
Rate they blow I'll be checking this thread out again in about a month.
Replied to this thread for the same reason.Rate they blow I'll be checking this thread out again in about a month.
How much did they cost in Homebase just out of interest?
I bought 15 bulbs from Screwfix this morning (£1.10 each).
monthefish said:
F i F said:
Bookmarks thread for when run out of huge stock of Homebase Gu10s bought on some stupid discount offer.
Rate they blow I'll be checking this thread out again in about a month.
Replied to this thread for the same reason.Rate they blow I'll be checking this thread out again in about a month.
How much did they cost in Homebase just out of interest?
I bought 15 bulbs from Screwfix this morning (£1.10 each).
Then I had some voucher thing because they'd screwed up on something else, which gave me a stonking discount, if that makes sense and so I :ahem: stocked up as it was the only thing in stock that knew was going to need at some point.
Wish I'd not spent it on GU10 bulbs now. Two out of eight gone in last 7 days. The Homebase ones are indeed carp. Think of that VW advert; you know the one where the bloke bets on red when everybody else bets on black etc.
euroboy said:
Are any of the LED GU10s posted here suitable for dimming?
We have over 20 GU10 fixtures in the house, probably costing me a fortune, but they are all on dimmers.
There is a very good Philips dimmable LED GU10 but it is unlikely to fit any standard GU10 light fitting due to it's length (it'll stick out the front or wont even go it)We have over 20 GU10 fixtures in the house, probably costing me a fortune, but they are all on dimmers.
It is rather expensive though.
Another well known low energy manufacturer also has one on the way but it will also be of the larger size.
I've yet to see a GU10 LED that can give more that an equivilent of 35-40W halogne. The unfortunate limiting factor is the small 50mm diameter of the lamp.
slippery said:
Now I am confused. I've just paid over £200 inc VAT for 12 bulbs which are 4w each but supposed to be equivalent to 40w! I'll let you know how it goes!
Don't worry! I had the same doubts when I ordered 12 for my kitchen (£20 each at the time). The good quality LED lights are very bright.The watts used is not a good measure of exactly how bright they will be:
"With LED light bulbs, you can't rely on wattage to measure how bright the bulb is. Always check the lumen output as some LED bulbs are more efficient than others, so produce a brighter light from a lower wattage."
Edited by jimsco on Tuesday 23 February 16:38
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