Lighting a house from scratch – LEDs(?)

Evening all,
I’ve been reading a few of the LED threads on here and picking up some useful tips. Being now at the stage of rewiring my house, fixing up walls etc, I’ve got a blank slate for lighting solutions. Broadly, recessed bulbs in the kitchen and dining room (supported by uplighters in the living room) are what we’re after, and I’m thinking of LEDs.

The various threads on the topic on STW seem to approach LEDs from the angle of retrofitting them to existing wiring/ halogen setups. What’s the deal if doing it from scratch?

eg: is it still a case of the built-in transformer/ separate transformer/ 12V circuit choice? Do the pots benefit from being bigger (for heat issues)? Is there actually a better way to do it all unencumbered by halogen setups?

Ta!

240v GU10 led down lighters no need for transformers then

OK, but the GU10s have a built-in transformer that has a tendency to fold pretty quickly – from what I’ve read elsewhere, no?

GU10 lamps are 240v no transformer required

2 ways to go with this, you can get standard down lights and fit an LED lamp in but get good quality ones though around 7-9w power. These will be ok, we fitted alot on housing projects and the good lamps gave a nice light output ( lux/lor).
The other way is for the more expensive but supposedly better and bespoke self contained led fitting which can give very good output but again you need to go fir decent kit as its the led drivers that are the key issue with these fittings.
Worth visiting a local electrical wholesalers and going through your project with them as they will know the products and some may even do a lighting design.

GU10 lamps are 240v no transformer required

LEDs run on between 2V and 5V DC – how does that work then?

LEDs run on between 2V and 5V DC – how does that work then?

I think we may have discovered the magic of Trout lights!

Don’t know but I’ve got a LED GU10 in a standard 240V fitting. Just as a means of trying out different light sources before ordering stuff for the kitchen.

aP – they work well enough – I swapped out 14 12v halogens in our kitchen for TLC’s GU10 240V bulbs. There was another thread a few weeks back. Colour temps are getting good rendering indexes much better but go for quality bulbs.

There’s a transformer in both the 12V and the 240V bulbs but the 240V one is a lot more complicated and is likely to be the failure mechanism for these bulbs. The LED’s themselves will last ages but a 240V transformer packed into a couple of cubic cms with limited cooling isn’t the best idea.

Do the 240v ones not include à rectifier as well to convert the ac to sc?

The 240V ones run so cool you need have no worries about heat. The ones I’ve got produce a nice light colour instantly and give more light than the “economy bulbs” they replace for about a third of the power consumption. Buy one or two different ones to try before you spend hundreds of pounds on enough to light a house.

Being fitting LEDs around various commercial sites for a while now, If you are going for a “dedicated LED” then have a look at JCC’s Fireguard LED7’s.

On the other hand, These 6Watt Gu10’s from megaman are very good. They are a next generation LED, and are much better than any of the other retrofit LEDS we’ve fitted so far. Colour rendering is the closest to halogen I’ve yet seen.

I’m in the same position as the OP. In what way would something like that JCC jobber be better than an appropriate GU10 housing with e.g. those Megaman LEDs? Genuinely curious – provided I got decent cans with adequate space for LEDs then wouldn’t that be a more flexible option, as well as being a bit cheaper?

Cheers – appreciate any wisdom!