Switching from Halogen to LED

[shoshntosh]

Hi Can anyone advise on switching from halogen lights to LED lights... i.e. safety, pricing. We have 16 - 20 overheads, all halogen, and the bulbs are sometimes charred when we replace them. Any and all advice appreciated. Thanks

[sheff]

Are you talking about the GU10 type bulbs?

In which case do it! Costs are fairly competitive now, we got loads from TLC in Penge.

These i think

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/LTSM5WW.html

I switched a few halogens in our utility recently and was shocked at the charring and burn in the sockets... No such issue with LED that i've seen/aware of.

They are great, my only regret is getting warm white in the kitchen and they last so long you don't get to change your mind so quickly! So pay attention to the kelvin/description (warm, daylight etc)..

We have also just gradually switched out all of our bayonette and screw bulbs as well... Again, very impressed with the cost now. And there are some great ones from Philips that have 3 different lights styles on one bulb (warm, intermediate, low etc, great for wall lights)..

[shoshntosh]

yes, that's what i mean. thanks for the advice, sheff.

did you switch out your transformers or keep the old ones?

why don't you like the warm white? i was thinking of going with those. do you think daylight is better?

[sheff]

Kept everything the same in terms of light fixtures.. We had a complete rewire but originally had some halogens in certain rooms (utility, kitchen). Mainly because at the end of a renovation i'd lost the will to live researching stuff so just went with what i knew...

In our old house i was shocked when one of the sets was almost melted!!

The warm white is fine in some rooms, but in the kitchen I find it can be quite 'gloomy' when you are doing cooking etc. But great when eating... Not sure if that is the colour or brightness but i think its brightness...

To be honest, initially I found the whole process overwhelming!! Comparing all the different types of bulbs, kelvin, wattage, comparison to halogen, tungsten (for normal bulbs).... I think I may have just got there now!

ETA... I'm sure somewhere like TLC if you went in would let you take 16 of the warm and switch to another if you spoke to them. They are a helpful bunch in there.

[Salsaboy]

I've just done this for a client. Switched 55 halogen bulbs to LED GU10 ones. Had to convert all the wiring as the existing bulbs were low voltage and so had transformers and the wrong sort of bulb connector.

Be careful of the LAD bulbs you buy as some are 2 or 3 mm longer than existing ones and sometimes don't fit into the actual light fittings. PM me if you want some help/advice.

[alex_b]

I've been slowly switching mine over. A few things to think about: first if you have dimmers you'll need to make sure you buy dimmable bulbs. Second if you have fancy dimmers (e.g. Electronic ones) you'll find not all 'dimable' LEDs will work with them. Thirdly for bathrooms and other areas where you use mirrors you want bulbs with a high CRi (Colour Rendition Index). Colour temperature is a personal choice, I prefer warm white (or very warm white) as I often find the cool whites too blue, but check with each room. Finally the sizes as some bulbs have very long depths or large ballasts that might not fit all recesses.

Personally I've gone with the Phillips Master range for all of my replacement halogens, Megaman for my replacement regular incandescents and Click Interceptor for new fittings. I bought from Amazon so I could send them back when they flickered or didn't behave as I liked.

[alex_b]

Oh also you can get both main GU10 and low voltage MR16 LEDs so you may not need a rewire. The low voltage lamps are more likely to be fussy about which bulbs will work with them.