LED light bulbs

alexlyne

I bought an E14 78led job from hongkong for around £4 to see if was any better than the 60led varieties that are more common from UK sellers. When it arrived I noticed the LEDs are slightly smaller, thus packing more of them into the same form factor.
Only had it for a couple of weeks, and so far so good.
The light is ever so slightly orangier than my other ones, and it is possibly slightly brighter. I may consider getting a couple more of them for the 3spot kitchen light.

I'm waiting to find a decent E27 360deg bulb for the cupboard under the stairs, where there's no protection from banging your head on the bulb! (plus the on/off is on the socket itself)

Reliability is my biggest concern with these bulbs. It's great that LEDs themselves have a life longer than you or I, but the controller part is what is going to fail (probably a capacitor used to regulate ac current)... I have a broken 1.3w one from a couple of year back and may investigate.


As for kitchen downlights, I'd definitely recommend gu10 leds for areas where you'd like spots - by worktops, over cooker and sink. As you can get pretty good (reliabilty unknown) bulbs for £4, the initial outlay would be small in comparison to the kitchen build.

Broadwood

I bought 2 of the E14 warm-white 15 LED 90-degree 3 watt bulbs from Lidl last year and have used them in two table lamps in the living room every evening since, from dusk til bed time. They sit about a foot from magnolia walls and the ceiling is brilliant white, so even though most of the light is reflected off the back wall and ceiling they provide a nice even glow over the whole room which is great for watching TV. The lamp shades are cream colour so some light is reflected downwards off them too. Visitors who notice them are amazed that the bulbs are LED's and only 3 watts.

2 bulbs @ 3 watts x 1000 hours (3 hrs a day) @ 20p/kWh = £1.20p per year.
2 bulbs @ 25 watts x 1000 hrs (3 hrs a day) @ 20p/kWh = £10 per year.

So at that rate the bulbs should pay for themselves in about 18 months and are rated at 25000 hours so should last 25 years during which time they will save over £200 in bulbs and electricity bills at current prices.
If I've got the maths right, That's Money Saving .....Time will tell !!

The bulbs cost £5.99 each and both are working perfectly still, even though one has always had a slight buzz if you get very close and all else is quiet. The glass gets warm but never hot even after being on for up to 7 hours during the long evenings of December and January.

Basically I'm happy enough with them to be planning to convert my kitchen table lamp to take E14's too as I've not seen any BC type LED bulbs in this price range. I think the E14's are available again in Lidl next week at the same price as last year.

victor2

Broadwood wrote: »

2 bulbs @ 3 watts x 1000 hours (3 hrs a day) @ 20p/kWh = £1.20p per year.
2 bulbs @ 25 watts x 1000 hrs (3 hrs a day) @ 20p/kWh = £10 per year.

So at that rate the bulbs should pay for themselves in about 18 months and are rated at 25000 hours so should last 25 years during which time they will save over £200 in bulbs and electricity bills at current prices.
If I've got the maths right, That's Money Saving .....Time will tell !!

If you're paying 20p/kWh for your electricity then you're definitely not money saving. 10p is nearer the mark. But still there should be a saving. I suspect people will laugh at you if in 25 years time you're still using those "old fashioned" LED lights!

Broadwood

victor2 wrote: »

If you're paying 20p/kWh for your electricity then you're definitely not money saving. 10p is nearer the mark. But still there should be a saving. I suspect people will laugh at you if in 25 years time you're still using those "old fashioned" LED lights!

Ah...I forgot to mention that I'm on Economy 7 tariff, which although might cost me more during the day, I more than save during the night with the emersion heater etc on a time switch. I'm with Atlantic and I pay about 23p per unit day rate and 5p per unit night rate for the first X number of units, then cheaper per unit above that. These rates are the "no standing charge" rates.

buglawton

If you cook with gas then that tariff could be a winner

dazarooney1987

Halitosis wrote: »

We are having an extension / new kitchen fitted and I'm wondering if LED downlights are the best option (given that we need to get at least a dozen fittings).
Does the fact that we are not 'replacing' lights but starting from scratch influence which type of lighting will be more economical over a number of years?

Thanks for any advice

I try to use LED lights as much as possible now for economical reasons. I found some LED downlights which might be suitable for you but you might want to consider uplights as well, I've seen those used in kitchens, in the cabinets.

http://www.ecoledlight.co.uk/led-downlights.asp

kevanf1

Ok, no axe to grind and I'm not involved with any companies or anything. My own personal experience with LED bulbs has so far been pretty good. I picked up 4 GEC branded GU10 (240 volt two pin halogen replacements) LED bulbs from Asda about 12 months ago. They were obviously a special buy and at £3 each I thought I might as well try them.

So far I have fitted 2 of these bulbs into a 4 bulb array in the kitchen. The other two remaining bulbs are halogens that we will use until they 'blow'. My personal observations are that the halogen bulbs are very slightly brighter and give a softer or warmer light. The 2 LED bulbs are very bright white and are rather cold. However, it does not take too long before you get used to the very slight dimmer quality or harsh whiteness.

I have not seen this LED bulbs again in Asda but it may be worth looking in your local store. I did see what I think are the same bulbs in a local Wilkinson store over the weekend. The bulbs were priced at around £4 each. They were next to some that looked physically different, much bulkier but still LED with a GU 10 fitting but these were £14 each.

I did see a price (power consumption) comparison some time ago (last year just prior to purchasing the LED bulbs mentioned above) that had LED alongside the equivalent or near equivalent of CFL bulbs. I cannot recall the exact comparison but, I think it was something like for every 7 pence worth of power that a CFL bulb used then the LED would use 1 pence. This was just a power consumption price comparison and did not factor in the initial purchase price of either type of bulb.

I reiterate, this is purely personal experience that I have related here.

Dan_Iggulden

I have tried quite a few different LED bulbs so thought I would post my findings so far.

Firstly, I have found out the hard way that there is no easy way to measure the output of the light, I foolishly assumed that a 80 LED bulb would be brighter than a 48 LED bulb, not always the case.
Every bulb should have a colour rating, ie, warm or cool, be careful of this as they are very different in colour, so make sure you are getting the output colour that you really want.

Best way I have found is to look for equivalent ratings to halogen bulbs. I have recently bought a pack of 60 LED GU10 bulbs for my kitchen and am incredibly impressed, they have replaced my 50W halogens and I would say are a little brighter if anything, and only use 3W's of energy! Big difference between 500W and 50W for power consumption.

Will probably change my bathroom lights when the next halogen goes pop too, they really seem to be a no brainer.

madget_2

Dan_Iggulden wrote: »

I have recently bought a pack of 60 LED GU10 bulbs for my kitchen and am incredibly impressed, they have replaced my 50W halogens and I would say are a little brighter if anything, and only use 3W's of energy! Big difference between 500W and 50W for power consumption.

Will probably change my bathroom lights when the next halogen goes pop too, they really seem to be a no brainer.

Dan, please could you let me know which 60 LED GU 10 bulbs those are? I'd love to replace the halogens in our kitchen and they sound pretty good.

Dan_Iggulden

Madget, send me a private message if you would please, I don't want to be drawn into a public promotion debate!