LED downlights

[Kurt]

We have 50w halogen down lights in our house. I really like the brightness and spectrum/colour they give off. What I don't like is each one burns 50w + another 5- 10w or so for the transformer. Each one giving off a good 45w of heat is another issue I don't like bad in summer and a fire danger in general.

I have tried GU10 fittings with a CFL globe but the light output,start-up time and spectrum are all rubbish.

I was at a nice restaurant the other day and noticed in there bathroom they had a very bright down lights that also had a warm tone. On closer inspection i could see they were LED.

I did a bit of research online and came to the conclusion that a 9w led would be a 1-1 replacement for my 50w halogen. I ordered 6 9w - 3x3w GU10 style 240v LED's online and converted my down light fittings to GU10 so i could do away with the transformer losses. The leds were about $14 each. I installed the 6 leds. Two in the kitchen. Two above the dining table and one in the passage and lounge room. This covers the main lighting we use 90% in out house. I was disappointed with the light output.The light spectrum wasn't bad they had a warm colour but the brightness was only 1/2 that of a 50w halogen.

This is what I purchased. I am now using them to replace the 6 - 50w halogens in My home theatre room.They are fine for this room so are not going to wast. its a shame they don't have the balls for the main living areas I intended to use them for.
Beam Angle: 60 Degree- (Same as my halogens)
CCT: 3000K
Lumens:600-650lm



After doing some more research it seams a 50w halogen is around 900 - 1000lm.I would say the led's I have would be closer to 500lms as they only feel 1/2 as bright.

My question is are there any true LED 50w halogen replacement globes that have the balls to be a true 1-1 replacement? I am starting to think 900lm minimum perhaps 15w led. Or perhaps just better quality globe?

Kurt

[neptronix]

Yeah....
Let me tell you straight up, LEDs really do struggle to create the kind of 'natural' light that halogens and plain vanilla incandescents do. LED light tends to be peaky and focused.

You'll have hunt around a lot and maybe get into the spendy stuff to get the kind of lighting you're looking for.

Sorry i don't have any recommendations, but i'll tell you this: like a lot of newer and more energy efficient tech, these tend to overpromise and underdeliver. Go for the big overpowered stuff.

[boostjuice]

After doing some more research it seams a 50w halogen is around 900 - 1000lm.I would say the led's I have would be closer to 500lms as they only feel 1/2 as bright.

Human sight and hearing is logorithmic in sensitivity. If the LED replacements look half as bright, its likely the output is only ~1/10th of the Halogens

[Kurt]

I feel you do get what you pay for with this kind of technology. There are some lamps selling for $10 each and others $150. Although that said with bike light's price doesn't always reflect output. I remember when I first purchased my magic shine led light for my ebike. it cost under $100 delivered and you would have played $400 for something similar local at a bike shop.

One thing I noticed is my magic shine light puts out a lot of heat. I guess its driving the led hard. The cheaper led downlights tend to not have much heat sinking and don't get more than warm.The more expensive led down lights tend to have HUGE heat sinks and I am guessing they also drive the led harder and give off more light.

The leds that claim to be 900lm or more tend to be 15w models. and usually closer to $100 each. If i was to replace the 6 main used halogens in my house that would be $600. and consume 90w instated of 330w so I would be saving 240w each hr. Roughly 1kwh a day for 5 1/2 hrs use. 1kwh is 25c in Australia. It would take 6 1/2 years to pay its self off at today s electricity rates.

For $600 I could add another 250w panel to my 1500w home pv system and that would give me about 1kwhr extra in summer actually more because the electricity provider pays me 50cents for every kw fed back into the grid and only charge me 25 cents a KW. Perhaps I should just invest in more PV's

Kurt

[amberwolf]

Ask Texaspyro what he used. He just finished redoing his whole house, including lights like yours, and I have a feeling he's not easy to satisfy when it comes to lighting.

[voicecoils]

You can trial a 10W Philips LED downlight for $1 here:

http://www.negergy.com.au/directory/philips-mr16-master-led/

They are supposed to be one of the best. I recently bought 20 halogen downlights to create a battery discharge load from someone who had just installed the Philips 10W LEDs throughout their house.

[Ypedal]

I've toyed with these and no joy yet, as outlined above it's either way too expensive to justify or just not bright enough..

i got got some dimmable's from ebay a while back, however one blew up because you have to use a specific type of dimmer and mine was not on that list.

the 2nd one i am still using in my bedroom as a nigh stand light with a simple on/off and it's been reliable but 6w only does so much.

I've switched from flueo 40w's in the kitchen to halogen and like it a lot more.. warmer light is comforting.

[Spacey]

Surely you could put some Cree uber lights in there, my 900 Lumen Cree light chucks out a silly amount of light at 4W

[Hillhater]

You can trial a 10W Philips LED downlight for $1 here:
http://www.negergy.com.au/directory/philips-mr16-master-led/.

Im sure they are good but at $54 a pop, ... they would cost me over $1k just to replace my kitchen lamps !
F**'' that !! ...are they having a larf ??

[Miles]

I'm looking into getting LED lighting for my workshop. Anybody have experience with these?

[floppy2floppy]

I have been looking for LED's forever and have tested almost everything on the market. The best LED lights for the price are made by Ecosmart, they sell them at home depot, they are a good color and cheap for LED's. The best one that ecosmart makes is called the ecosmart cree led downlight (http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R ... ogId=10053), it just dropped in price too. It puts out a color that almost identical to incandescent and it is dimmable, the downlight only fits 6" cans so it probably won't help you with your situation but look on home depots website, all the ecosmart led's are good.

[JEB]

For me 2 killer led lights, was to cut off the heads of d cell led mag lights, half to keep them aimed down they are blinders for on comming drivers

[ohzee]

I tried to replace some of the gu10's last year with LED's , but the light was 10% of the halogen's.

This year I found some that actually replaced all 10 gu10's in my house.

http://www.led-na.com/wp-content/upload ... o-GU10.pdf

This is the light. A battery's plus has them for 20$ each and I promise they are worth it.

Id say it's as much light as the halogen , but it's a bit tighter beam.

Wife was even happy with them. Nice to be able to adjust the light now and not burn my hands.

As stated I am very happy with the purchase.

Ninja Edit - lol noticed this was bumped by spam... Still I stand by my post.

[cal3thousand]

Need some LEDs that will easily fit in my refrigerator. Having a glowing hot wire in there is just plain silly.

[Kin]

Not only does the LED diode need to be a quality one with the right color coating, but the lens need to be proper. For that reason, I think this is an application where you want to spend some money, even if not the very top $150/bulb range. I imagine it's somewhat easier to build a bright flashlight than the delicate balance of indoor lighting.

My friend spent a few years replacing his bulbs, in part because of that cost. Just a few at a time every year, as the lights died out. I've found one place where LEDS really make sense is the laundry room, because both incandescent and even moreso CFLs seemed to have a terrible time with the increased vibration from the machines.

[Hillhater]

.... I've found one place where LEDS really make sense is the laundry room, because both incandescent and even moreso CFLs seemed to have a terrible time with the increased vibration from the machines.

Ahh ! OK ..best not fit them in the bedroom either then !

[Kin]

=D that made me chuckle.


[I guess what you mean though, then, is that the bedroom would be a good place for LEDS]

[cal3thousand]

.... I've found one place where LEDS really make sense is the laundry room, because both incandescent and even moreso CFLs seemed to have a terrible time with the increased vibration from the machines.

Ahh ! OK ..best not fit them in the bedroom either then !

I agree, that's why I have motion and light detection LEDs running the length of my bed. Side benefit: keeps the cats from being flattened in the middle of the night.

[Rassy]

In a local museum where I am a volunteer board member we installed a dozen Phillips LEDs with standard screw in bases on a ceiling track system. We needed to improve the lighting in a 16' x 24' room without improving the base electrical system. Historic building and all.

All my documentation is filed at the museum, but I believe the lights were 15 Watt, 30 degree, 3000 or 3500 Kelvin, and somewhere around 800 luments. They cost $45 each, but have a 50,000 hour life expectancy.

The results were excellent. They have a 2 or 3 second start up delay, come on at full brightness, and run cool. I wouldn't hesitate to install similar quality LEDs anywhere, the only drawback being the initial cost.