Need to replace lots of GU10 Bulbs - advice please.

decsdad

I had them, the light is ok but they are 20mm too long. But if that doesn't bother you they are good. It didn't bother me for a few months, but seemed to annoy my wife immediately.

SallyForth_2

Wouldn't it be better to replace them as they pop rather doing the whole lot in one go?

You could just replace the ones in a high usage area now, like your living room, and see how well they do.

Otherwise, isn't just chucking out perfectly good bulbs wasteful, even if they are more expensive to run.

Ben84

bitemebankers wrote: »

Mcfi5dhc gives some good advice, imho.

GU10 lamps were never designed for general room lighting - they're supposed to be for accent and mood lighting. The fittings are popular with builders though because they're *very* cheap. As you're discovering though, conventional bulbs cost a fortune to run and the energy savers are expensive and poor.

Your best bet would be to change the fittings to something more appropriate that takes a regular-sized bulb. Much cheaper in the long run. In fact, probably cheaper than fitting energy savers even in the short run!

I'd want to change to another fixture if I had halogens, probably just a bayonet fixture with a shade. Much better choice of bulbs, and I'm sure you get better light from having the bulbs in the room rather than behind holes in the ceiling.

I'm not sure why builders use halogens so much though. Fixtures may be cheap, but the bayonet ones with ceiling boxes can be bought in hardware shops for less than £3, and fitting them should use less cable and take less time too. I'd be surprised if halogens were cheaper than these. I think it's just fashion.

If anyone is stuck with halogens, either too much work to replace or they live in a rented house, table lamps or uplighters with energy saving bulbs are good for lighting a room. Certainly better than spending hundreds on LED bulbs that might be disappointing and difficult to re-sell or take with you if you move.

LightPlanet

Ben84 wrote: »

I'd want to change to another fixture if I had halogens, probably just a bayonet fixture with a shade. Much better choice of bulbs, and I'm sure you get better light from having the bulbs in the room rather than behind holes in the ceiling.

I'm not sure why builders use halogens so much though. Fixtures may be cheap, but the bayonet ones with ceiling boxes can be bought in hardware shops for less than £3, and fitting them should use less cable and take less time too. I'd be surprised if halogens were cheaper than these. I think it's just fashion.

If anyone is stuck with halogens, either too much work to replace or they live in a rented house, table lamps or uplighters with energy saving bulbs are good for lighting a room. Certainly better than spending hundreds on LED bulbs that might be disappointing and difficult to re-sell or take with you if you move.

Hi Ben. Lots of people like the clean, uncluttered look of recessed halogen lights. LED replacements should not be difficult to install and certainly should not be disappointing. Quality LEDs are fantastic and are not a compromise when compared with halogen.
As far as moving house is concerned, I have a friend who replaced lots of halogens with LEDs and as a result got a significant improvement in the energy efficiency rating of the property - which helped with the sale.

dave_ave

I used Megaman 14W GU10 replacement lamps in my kitchen and bathroom. They are more a mini fluorescent tube than LEDs. They were £10 each when I bought them from Ebay. They take a while to warm up, so I put 1 normal GU10 back in each fitting to get instant light. I've been impressed with them so far, but not sure how long they'll last.

JennyR68

Took the plunge and ordered one LED EXERGI HyperBright GU10 LED 4.4 Watt 50,000h Warm White wide flood from www.litebulbs.co.uk

Have popped it in the kitchen and am very,very impressed. Just trying to get my head around how long it will take to break even on the investment if I go ahead and replace them all...

The savings figures given are pretty unrealistic based on 19p a unit when I pay only 7.46p.

On the bright side get 5% off any more I buy from them.

Mcfi5dhc

JennyR68 wrote: »

Took the plunge and ordered one LED EXERGI HyperBright GU10 LED 4.4 Watt 50,000h Warm White wide flood from www.litebulbs.co.uk

Have popped it in the kitchen and am very,very impressed. Just trying to get my head around how long it will take to break even on the investment if I go ahead and replace them all...

The savings figures given are pretty unrealistic based on 19p a unit when I pay only 7.46p.

On the bright side get 5% off any more I buy from them.

Doing some rough calculations using your figures, 7.46p, 4.4watts, and assuming the following: 50 watts for a normal GU10, postage for your bulb zero, cost of a normal GU10 £1.00, you'll get payback per bulb in just under 6,000 hours of use (assuming you used it just as much.

The 6,000 hours would cost you £23.00 either way (inc cost of the one bulb each), and at 3 hours per day is 5.5 years

Co-incidentally, 50,000 hours is also about 5.5 years, so if you left them on 24/7 (costing you just under £3 per year), and they burnt out in that time, you could possibly claim a refund as they haven't lasted their designed life.

Hope this helps

JennyR68

So they are more 'green' than money saving short term.

I have 4 x 35w on around 5hrs a day in kitchen.

If I were to invest £91.70 now on 4 bulbs then I'm realistically only looking to reduce the bill by £16.70 this year. Unless electric prices drastically go up in the next few years am looking at 5 years at least before I start saving.

They would have to last 25yrs to reach 50000 hrs, is that realistically likely???

On the green side looking at reducing from 255kwh to 32kwh per year.

Mcfi5dhc

JennyR68 wrote: »

They would have to last 25yrs to reach 50000 hrs, is that realistically likely???

On the green side looking at reducing from 255kwh to 32kwh per year.

More likely you'll have got bored of those fittings by then (have you got any light bulbs/fittings from the seventies still?)

I think what you have done is great. Its just one of those things that is good, but way too expensive. At the end of the day, a lightbulb should be a quick 50p purchase in Asda, not a financial investment for 5+ years IMO

I think the approach you have done though is spot on, just buy one, and see how it goes.

JennyR68

Mcfi5dhc wrote: »

More likely you'll have got bored of those fittings by then (have you got any light bulbs/fittings from the seventies still?)

Don't you mean the 80's? 70's was 30-40 yrs ago can you believe! I was a wee bairn in the 70's so no but have lived in this house for 21 years this year and still have some light fittings we put in when moved in, when we like something we don't get bored easily.

It's a bit frustrating because I do prefer the light from the LCD, and the only low watt CFL that is like for like size wise for halogen I've found is described as 'budget' and only 30w equivalent so it kind of puts me off. Will need to stew a bit longer on this one.

Was rather pleased to see a decent looking low watt candle though for my sitting room http://www.litebulbs.co.uk/product/21701/megaman-candle-ultra-compact-7w-bc-flame-tip-energy-saving-light-bulb.aspx things to look better in the low watt department online compared to my local co-op!