Low energy Halogen light bulbs

wealthsaver

UncleJoe wrote:

I heard you can get 'green' ones based on LEDs.
Does anyone know about these, and where I can get some?

(I'm also looking for a refridgerator plug - see seperate thread!)

You can see the dimensions from my photograph.
I had intended to replace the 50W bulbs (14 of them) that were installed in our house loft room. However the dimensions of the energy saving GU10 CFL ones prevent me fitting them.
The led ones use 1-2 watts and run very cool so are useful where little fingers can reach. The standard 50W Halogen spots run at approx 200degrees!




You can buy both the LED GU10 and the CFL Energy saver GU10 from Focus DoitAll stores.

With regards the Savaplug, you can buy the product directly for £24.99 (including P+P), like I did, from the company SavaWatt (though I note they are currently out of stock)
http://www.savaplug.co.uk/productdetails.asp?id=2
Usefully they list the models that are not compatible with the Savaplug.

Quasar

Oh some useful links there, thanks folks! I'm looking to get a solar mobile phone charger and it's in there!

Do the LED lightbulbs use even less power than the usual low-energy ones I usually buy in supermarkets?

Yaumeister

If you need brighter GU10/MR16 LED bulbs then the usual low energy ones, I would recommend checking this out.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/w6trade_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQQtZkm

If your light allows it, consider the 2.5" GU10, 60 LEDs equivilent to normal 50W brightness (at only a fraction of wattage). I use 4 of them in my kitchen and I think they are great!

As for Savaplug, the cheapest price I found is £15 + £3 for p&p at the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Energy Efficiency Advice Centre (EEAC).

http://www.energy-advice.co.uk/shop.html

I don't know if they ship outside the 2 counties though, might want to check your local EEAC.

Grade_A_Reject

I've taken the GU10 CFL bulbs out of my kitchen light fitting as I couldn't bear the light output.

The halogen lights although they consume 200 watts give a nice warm cosy glow. The CFLs have a whiter than white nightmarish hue that I found depressing (more depressing than the thought of using an extra 172 watts of electricity). Looking at the bulbs directly the CFL ones definitely look brighter yet the overall lighting effect seems greater with the halogens.

I've seen LED ones described as "warm white" which I may try but I'm reluctant to spend more money on something I'm not going to use.

Thanks wealthsaver for the pic. How have you found the LED variety?

wealthsaver

I think the reason that the GU10 CFL bulbs seem brighter is that they are not such a focused beam of light. The Halogen 50w bulbs have an angle of 30-40 degrees (Spotlight) whereas the CFL bulbs have an angle of 100 degrees so depending on the viewers perspective, they can seem brighter.

I was disappointed with the LED bulb that I obtained (Ring brand 1.8W) The light is very blue white and not very bright. No good really for a ceiling fixture in my opinion.
However they emit virtually no heat so would be a good feature light in a cabinet for example.

tawnyowls

UncleJoe wrote:

When I had my kitchen made over last year, I inadvertantly bought a swanky new light which uses 4 halogen light bulbs.
They look great and illuminate every corner of the kitchen, but aside from them being very hot to stand under, they blow every 5 minutes and use tons of energy.

Try fitting a dimmer switch to the light - will make a huge difference to the life of the bulb. Shouldn't use tons of energy - most are only 20W, so 4 of those doesn't equate to a single ordinary 100W bulb.

akkd99

Grade_A_Reject wrote:

I've taken the GU10 CFL bulbs out of my kitchen light fitting as I couldn't bear the light output.

The halogen lights although they consume 200 watts give a nice warm cosy glow. The CFLs have a whiter than white nightmarish hue that I found depressing (more depressing than the thought of using an extra 172 watts of electricity). Looking at the bulbs directly the CFL ones definitely look brighter yet the overall lighting effect seems greater with the halogens.

I've seen LED ones described as "warm white" which I may try but I'm reluctant to spend more money on something I'm not going to use.

Thanks wealthsaver for the pic. How have you found the LED variety?

Most of the GU10 CFL replacements are a nominal 7W. Some sites are a bit optimistic about the equivalent light output. These are probably similar to a 35W halogen. To get similar levels of light you probably need to get some 11W bulbs but these are expensive and difficult to find (one seller on ebay does 11W megaman bulbs).

The lights are indeed bluer than halogens but there are supposed to be different colour temperatures available. Another downer is that different manufacturer's bulbs seem to have a slightly different colour temperature and so you can't mix'n'match (perhaps that's why they do it?)

I tried an LED bulb and it looked cool, but gave almost no light. There is a reply to my query about LED lights on dansdata.com

akkd99

[Deleted User]

I ordered the luxeon GU10 replacements last night and they have been despatched already. Wow that`s good service. I only ordered 4 because I want to see how I get on with them. They`ll go into a bathroom and a dressing room. If I like them I will replace all the energy-gobbling GUs

thisisme_2

no seem to metnio0n the voltage some run on transformer some r main powered i know that the main powered one can be changed without changing the fitting just change bulb holder and put transformer into ceiling through hole

Wig

Ikea rates the 7w CFL (what does CFL stand for?) as equivalent to 35W.
This seller sells 11w GU10 on ebay 15 quid each !!! linky.
Note he says "the only 11w low energy bulb on the market" we'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he means GU10 low energy, but even that claim would be incorrect linky2.
Note these are only 5 quid each! and also note they also "incorporates the company's exclusive Ingenium technology"! just like the megamans do LOL.



Be careful with the fridge plug, make sure your fridge is compatible the website linked to somewhere above says which ones are incompatible and all Bosch are said to be incompatible.

You'd have thought wouldn't you that the fridge pump only uses the electricity it requires, odd that it sucks energy which it isn't using, very odd indeed.