I’ve just fitted my first one of these in a down-lighter at home, bought from my friendly independent light shop and it really is the business! Bright light straight away, only 4.5w so really energy efficient, but….and it’s a big BUT for me…£16!!!

Now I really would like to support a local business, but I know they’re not struggling – they’ve expanded the shop in the last year and sell online – and given that I’ve got a dozen down-lighters in the kitchen, and about a dozen GU10 lights elsewhere, this could get rather expensive! I don’t need to replace every bulb now (most of them are of the spiral fluoro type, so already energy-efficient of sorts) but I’m looking for recommendations of cheaper sources. Are ebay ones any good? I’ve seen some on there for £22 for a pack of 10 from a Uk based shop – a very significant saving compared to my purchase – but do you get what you pay for??

Don’t scrimp on led lamps the cheap ones are crap, bear in mind led lamps last a lot longer than either conventional or halogen lamps.

there’s been a recent thread to track down.

But as above – consider £20 an investment. At 90% savings in electricity they do pay back pretty quickly. But that wont work if they fail early because you bought cheap rubbish ones.

Cheers stoner, I’ve found that thread, although it’s a bit technical for me in places 😳

I think ‘selective’ replacements over time is the way to go.

How good are the ikea ones from a reliability point of view?

Our house is covered in GU10 downlights and we are starting a fail/swap program for LED ones, picking up a couple at a time every trip to the Ikea at MK, but if they are tat/short-lived, then I’ll start getting them elsewhere.

Suggestions welcome.

COSTCO
2 for under £20 iirc

Screw fix, not sure about led, but got 5 normal gu10’s for £7 from them yesterday.

Edit: start at £4.10 for led – just looked

Been using the Ikea ones for a while.

If they blow within a year, bearing in mind the 10,000 hours (or whatever they say) lifespan, I’ll take them back.

Got some smd ones two years ago for £2.50 posted from China… checked out the difference via an energy meter, amazing,,,

Get these.

Next generation LED chip, reasonably priced and the closest to Halogens in terms of lumen output and colour(if you go for warm white) I’ve seen so far.

I bought 20 4.5W daylight white GU10s off eBay and so far they’re still doing very nicely. Try to get from a seller with a decent history of selling LEDs, not the local tax-dodger seeing what can be flogged on best for a profit.

ultraleds.co.uk – just had 5 delivered along with converters to fit E27 and they are cracking!
They’ve been going since 2005’ish and their service is second to none.
Also look at powersavebulbs.co.uk – just got 34 Philips MR11 5W at £8 each!

Hmm. I “bought” 20 Chinese eBay Mr16 5W LEDS for £50 and none have failed yet – but mainly because they haven’t arrived a month on from the purchase.
I’ll let you know what their like when they arrive (if)..

I bought 4 for a tenner off ebay and they’re great. Had a choice of warm or bright light (went for bright) and at 4-5 watts per bulb a big saving on halogens. I bought from a seller who listed as being in Manchester but they came from China. Took 9 days so no problem. I would guess that all the LED bulbs in Ikea, B&Q and local stores are made in China anyway so buying off ebay isn’t going to get you anything much different.

I’ve been buying mine from here doing sections of the house at a time as the halogens go.

ultraleds.co.uk

We’ve got 50w halogens around the house, what wattage LED’s would we need to match the effective output?

Edit: just found 6watt

I’ve just fitted a new bathroom light with 3x20w halogens and in comparison to the old skool incandescent they replaced they’re crap. The light fitting says its only rated for 3x20w, but if I fitted 4.4w/60w equivalent LEDs, do you think it would be a problem? In wondering about heat output etc.

The light fitting says its only rated for 3x20w

It means 20W halogens. Either heat or amerpage limited.
If you use 4, 5 or even 7W LEDs you will be nowhere near the limits of heat or amperage so they’d be fine. And much brighter.

we bought ours from here a few years back and when 1 went pop this year they changed it no questions no problems.

I’ve used both ultraleds and Simply LED. Kitchen is Simply MR16, hall is ultra GU10. Both are fine. I’m using Ultraled in the hall as the beam angle is larger.

B&Q Have some on special right now… 3 for a tenner in their DiALL range. No idea how good they are though.

I’m just trying out one of these
First one failed after a couple of weeks (developed a mad flicker), got 2 sent to me as replacements. One of those failed too, but the other is fine.
Really nice colour and strength. If it works, then I’m happy.

Thanks Stoner, that’s what I thought. Cheers!

Groupon have regular deals on these. Usually around £60 for 12

Tesco had the 250 lumens 6w dimmable LEDs for tenner
Some light off them
Nicer light than the 50w they replaced

Chinese ones are not well insulated and according to my electronics chum who takes them apart for fun and modifies them for props – there can be

“..No inrush current limiting and no protection for the electrolytic should the LEDs go open circuit. The voltage across the 100V cap will rise to about 350V if that happens.”

Dunno what that means but I suspect it means you might get a shock and fall off a ladder.

Chinese ones are not well insulated and according to my electronics chum who takes them apart for fun and modifies them for props – there can be

“..No inrush current limiting and no protection for the electrolytic should the LEDs go open circuit. The voltage across the 100V cap will rise to about 350V if that happens.”

Dunno what that means but I suspect it means you might get a shock and fall off a ladder.

Go to thewarmlightcompany.co.uk,cree led’s cheap,i forget how much they were now but bought 25 6watt (3×2),in warm white,super nice bulbs,and amazing after sales from the guys,highly recomended,check em out all.;)))

Sainsbury have Philips 35w non-dimmable for 4.99 at the moment

Been doing mine through local electrical wholesale place, ask an electrician where they buy from!
Initially had the ones that look like a cluster of LEDs, they all blew up.
Shop replaced for ones that look like mini micro chips great job, 12 in hall 50 watt halogens replaced for 3 watt LEDs which are brighter.
600 – 36 watts bound to save a few pennies
3 yr guarantee and 8.50 each

All helpful stuff, but still I mine field of options!

So I am thinking of the Cree ones, which look reasonable… ??

The only doubt I have is that they say 60 degree angle. The bulbs will be used in a converted cellar in a stairway, kitchen and bathroom.

The current halogen’s are approx 36 degrees, will the new ones not spread the light as well, or in fact be better?

Light spread will be better, wider angle.

AAMOI … what makes a bulb “dimmable” ? What if I plug a “non-dimmable” bulb into my dimmer?

Sorry if this is a dim question … 🙁

either
a) wont work
b) will flicker
c) will turn off as you “dim”
d) wont turn off as you “dim”.

What it wont do is, dim 😉

If anyone would like some 240V incandescant 50W GU10 GE bulbs, give me a shout. I bought eight (maybe ten) from Waitrose, only to throw the reciept away as I walked out of the shop and discover when I got home that I needed 12V ones 😳

you might need a special low rated dimmer switch. Dimmers can be designed for the higher loading associated with halogens. When you replace 200w of halogen with 20W of LED they don’t like it. Ours went pop.

I bought a few the other day from ikea at £6 a pop

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/20220039/

I’m currently sitting under one of the Ikea ones and it’s not very bright. I don’t have any measuring equipment but subjectively I’d say it’s equivalent to about 20W of halogen. Colour’s quite good though.

I got a load of the GU10’s from Poundland, 40w, they work fine, and everything in our local Poundland is 95p, due to a price war with the 99p shop.