Which Energy Saving GU10 bulbs?

brassmonkey001

I've read as much as I can to try and find which is the best replacement for my enery guzzling Halogen 240v 55w GU10 bulbs, and my head is spinning.
I bought some 21 LED replacements but they are just not bright enough for my main kitchen light, and the light is blueish and cold even though it is supposed to be white. They'd be OK for under cupboard lighting or something, but I need something for my main lights which each take 4 GU10 spots.
I'm wondering if I ought to just buy new light fittings and have done with it.

Judi101

Can anyone help? We have recessed downlighters in the bathroom. I think they are 50 watt GU10 halogen bulbs. We have low energy lightbulbs everywhere else. Does anyone know how these stack up against the low energy bulbs? And if I can get low energy bulbs to fit? We are thinking of getting these fitted elsewhere in the house but seems a silly idea to me if they will cost substaintially more to run.

500yearvision

Hmm,

We have loads of these in the kitchen of our rented house. It really annoys me as they eat energy compared with your 11 watt low energy bulbs. As a result I use lamps most of the time in the kitchen instead, and have not replaced the halogen bulbs as they've blown out (only 3 of the 8 now work - after only 2 years of use - hardly cost effective either).

Don't get them fitted anywhere else!!! One light will be five times the cost of the low energy bulbs, and often they come in flocks of several.

Incidentally, I'm also irritated that places like Homebase sell beautiful uplighters & standard lamps for which you can only use energy burning halogen bulbs. I'm sure they'll figure out soon that people want both attractive AND low energy lighting. It's hardly rocket science!

[Deleted User]

Judi101 wrote:

Can anyone help? We have recessed downlighters in the bathroom. I think they are 50 watt GU10 halogen bulbs. We have low energy lightbulbs everywhere else. Does anyone know how these stack up against the low energy bulbs? And if I can get low energy bulbs to fit? We are thinking of getting these fitted elsewhere in the house but seems a silly idea to me if they will cost substaintially more to run.

Judi,

There is nothing in the market at present that will replace your current GU10 bulb.

The closest you will get is a Cold Cathode bulb, which run to about the equivilant of a similar 35 watt halogen bulb in terms of light output. However the cold cathode bulb will use about a 1/5 of the energy, so much more energy efficient and the bulb should last a lot longer.

HOWEVER you should also be aware that the bulbs are longer. This means that if you have recessed lighting say in the ceiling and providing you have enough of a void in the ceiling they should just fit straight in, but if you have them in say bullet lights (these are lights that contain the entire unit and are not flush recessed) then they will not fit.

The other alternative is LED lighting.

There are direct replacements to GU10 bulbs but, the only run to the equivilant to a 20 watt halogen bulb at best, so are very dark in their light output in comparison. They do use just a fraction of the energy c. 1/50th so are very cost effective despite costing quite a bit more. Also a good quality one will be rated to last for 50,000 to 80,000 hours, in comparison to a good quality GU10 bulb which at best might last for just 2,000 hours.

Perhaps in a few years time we will see LED bulbs that offer the same light output as halogen, but for the time being you will have to wait.

regards

Freddix

tartan_guru

Homebase stock 9w compact fluorescent GU10's for £9.95. Expensive, but will pay back eventually!
Like most CFL bulbs, these seem to take a little while to warm up but I struggle to tell the difference between these and the 35w spots I used to have.

I did try some from the ebulb shop, but found the light too blue and they were almost twice the length of a standard halogen GU10. The Homebase ones are only slightly longer than normal ones.

500yearvision

Sorry,

I didn't know that low energy versions were available, I found these on the interweb.

Hope this is more use to you.
N

t121anf

hi recently bought a new house and we have started fitting halogen ceiling lights.

now they might look good, but at 200w they arent very eco or wallet friendly.

so can anyone recommend where i can get energy saving versions, equivilent to 50w each i think the fitment is GU10.

thanks
ian

moonrakerz

You won't get "energy saving" versions of this type of light.

A halogen lamp IS (or WAS) sold as energy saving as they do produce more light for the power used than a tungsten filament lamp does.
Their main advantage over conventional lamps was their small size, this is now a major disadvantage. No compact fluorescent light will fit in the space occupied by a halogen lamp - and also halogen lamps use a specific type of connector, not used elsewhere.

yakky58

Hi,

take a look at this url ....

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Lighting_Menu_Index/Lamps_and_Tubes_Index/Energy_Saving_Lamps_Index/GUCFL_Lamp/index.html

Thes are called megaman energy saving lamps for GU10 fittings, note they are a little longer than the normal GU10 35/50w halogens.

They maybe what you want. Check the www.tlc-direct.co.uk site out for a store near you or they do ship.

Hope this helps.

yakky58

Opps sorry the url seems to have got truncated....

go to www.tlc-direct.co.uk then sales or browse and type in megaman in the search box. Look at the bulbs there. Any problems place a note in the thread...

scbk

You can get LED versions of GU10 that use up virtually no power, but they're not very bright at all