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6 spot lights or 1 halogen lamp : Which is better?

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I have six spot lights (50w each) that can only be switched on simultaneously. I also have a 300w halogen lamp with a variable switch. Assuming that I don't use the halogen lamp at its maximum brightness most of the time, Which one is more economic?
:rolleyes: Links are a man's best friends.com
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  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,059 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Rampant Recycler
    Well of course your 6 spots will always use 300w.

    Using a modern dimmer switch you will certainly use less power as you dim the lights. They effectively are turning the light on and off 50 times a second.

    The older type dimmers used a resistor that itself consumed some of the saved power.

    http://home.howstuffworks.com/dimmer-switch.htm
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Can you not remove 3 of the spots?
  • Can you not remove 3 of the spots?
    Good idea. Never thought of that actually
    :rolleyes: Links are a man's best friends.com
  • Poppycat
    Poppycat Posts: 19,899 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Or replace the spots ie like R50 to low energy spots like the megaman. We replaced one R50 in a triple spot lights to two low energy 11w
  • Anyone tried LED lights instead?
    :rolleyes: Links are a man's best friends.com
  • LED's give a very different colder dimmer blue-ish type of light... may be energy efficient but not good enough for illuminating a room brightly, in my opinion. Worth getting one to see what you think before going and getting 6! They are fine in my bedroom but wouldn't put them in my living room... :D
  • LED's give a very different colder dimmer blue-ish type of light... may be energy efficient but not good enough for illuminating a room brightly, in my opinion. Worth getting one to see what you think before going and getting 6! They are fine in my bedroom but wouldn't put them in my living room... :D

    Do you have any URL that you could share with us?
    :rolleyes: Links are a man's best friends.com
  • Poppycat
    Poppycat Posts: 19,899 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I looked at leds last week and saw them on display running. They were not very bright to light a room up, only good for lighting small areas. The megamans are good we have the r50 and GU10's and getting some candles tomorrow from a supplier
  • siliconbits... got mine from B&Q, think they were about £8 for 2... pretty tricky to find in amongst all the other bulbs but got there in the end! ;) HTH! :D

    BTW... poppycat... do the megamans sit flush in ceiling mounted downlighters?... haven't actually looked at those particular ones yet... would they be any good for lighting a living room?
  • Poppycat
    Poppycat Posts: 19,899 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Not sure what you mean by ceiling mounted downlighters, do you mean those lights that are built into the ceiling?

    The R50's that are used in spotlights do take time to warm up to get the maximum light, but they do fit fine in the spotlights, and arent much bigger if at all.

    The GU10's are slightly bigger but not by much. We were going to buy some candle bulbs today but the suppliers was out of stock. I have 3 BNC to buy and 5 SES candles about 9w in power each, they do seem to be the smallest low energy candles I have seen so far, okay they cost more but do have a good reputation.
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