Energy Saving GU10 Bulbs

squelch41

Hi,
I've got 12v 40w bulbs in my kitchen x10. When on, seems to make my energy meter jump somewhat!
I was thinking of changing the fittings to GU10 and putting in CFL energy savers.
I was wondering if anyone had experience of these and could recommend a brand/model that was of good quality and reasonably priced?
Did you notice a significant drop in your bills or was it not worth it?

Cheers
squelch41

jd87

Wait, you want to change to GU10 fittings in order to get energy saving bulbs? Are you mad? A GU10 fitting is notoriously bad for finding suitable energy savers. All of the CFL ones out there are terrible and the only decent LED ones are incredibly expensive. You don't mention what fittings you have at the moment but they have to be better than GU10.

Pincher

I have three GU10 downlights, two in the glass cabinet, and one in the ceiling, above the garage/kitchen door. All three are on one low voltage adaptor, which is triggered by a directional PIR sensor.
The idea is that when someone comes into the kitchen, the downlights come on, but not for long, so the high consumption is not an issue.

There are also localised strip lights and GU10s, but they are not meant for extended periods of use.

For long periods, I have multiple fluorescent tubes near ceiling level.
The traditional tubes are too yellow, whereas the energy saving ones are de-saturated and blue/grey. I find that by having both on together, the combined light is very natural and pleasant.

The energy saving tubes are in designer brushed aluminium, the traditional ones are behind opaque acrylic panels, so there is nothing low rent about them.

Downlights are localised spot lights, so you have no choice but to have lots of them for a large room, which is ridiculous. They are a good solution when you have low ceilings, and don't have the clearance for a pendant light. People seem to be going for downlights to get the modern minimalist look, but it's not always practical.

prosaver

try putting reducing to a 20 watt spotlights i did and from 100 wat and it looks ok plus reducing the bill by 75 percent u can buy the bulbs cheap in b and m or poundstreter

victor2

I've got 9 20W low voltage lights in my kitchen and was looking into changing them to GU10 low energy lights. Soon ruled out LED ones because of the cost and relatively low light output.
Did consider CFL GU10 lights, which are readily available, but at a price. Megaman make 9W tilting downlights, which I found here, but they don't come cheap. Plus, you'd really need an electrician to fit them to keep within the current regulations.
I figured that as lighting technology improves and gets cheaper, LED GU10 size bulbs which run directly off the mains will become available at an affordable price. Hence my thinking to go for standard GU10 fittings.
Done nothing so far though - still too expensive!

squelch41

The reason for GU 10 is that the space in the ceiling where the 12v halogens bulbs are would only take GU10 - wouldn't be enough space to fit a standard E14 and bayonet fitting CFL.

If the GU10 CFLs are rubbish, then I wont bother.

Agree about LEDs - FAR too expensive - would never get the costs back.

Jon_Tiffany

squelch41 wrote: »

The reason for GU 10 is that the space in the ceiling where the 12v halogens bulbs are would only take GU10 - wouldn't be enough space to fit a standard E14 and bayonet fitting CFL.

If the GU10 CFLs are rubbish, then I wont bother.

Agree about LEDs - FAR too expensive - would never get the costs back.

A 50W GU10 costs around £9 a year to run. A 5W LED would cost around 90p a year. Even if you pay £20 per bulb they will pay back in under 3years.

The main problem with GU10 LEDs is that they dont quite output the same amount of light as a 50W GU10, plus there is the added complication of getting the correct colour - pure white, cool white, warm white (or colour temp) etc

Give them a few more years and the only way will be LED.

squelch41

I'm sure that you are right that in a few years they will be the way forward.
However, at the moment they are a bit pricey and first generation stuff tends to fall about short of its promise.

That said I have just noticed that 12v MR16 LEDs are available now which would make life easier.


http://www.litebulbs.co.uk/product/22620/exergi-hyperbright-led-mr16-36w-50000h-warm-white-wide-flood.aspx

Talldave

In the kitchen I've used ten GX53 fittings of 13W each to replace the previous twin tube flourescent fitting. Fittings are larger then GU10 so require a bigger hole and more space above ceiling, but the illumination is much more even than halogens could ever achieve.

samtheman1k

Change them to 10W bulbs. They will NOT be 75% less bright, in fact, the difference is hardly noticable, but WILL save you 75% of the electricity. They also last longer, saving more money.

StockportGerbil

Hi!
Has anyone tried (and would you recommend) the LED GU-10s on ebay from the far east, which are a fraction of the price of the ones available over here?
Thanks
Kevin