GU10 LED Problem :(

Ettenna

I bought 4 LED GU10 bulbs for our dining/computer room to replace the 50W bulbs already in there. They arrived today. I put them in the fitting (B&Q fitting about 3/4 years old). They flickered a bit but seemed ok and looked really good. I walked out into the hallway and our electric fuse box is humming. Went and turned the LED's off and it stopped. Hmmm thought I, that's not good. I turned them back on after a few minutes and while I was looking at the fitting, one of the bulbs stopped working and a few minutes later another one went the same way

I am going to return them to the EBay seller, but any ideas why this happened? And what can I do in the future?

We have a total of 32 GU10's I want to replace in the house, 16 of those downstairs and imminently because they are costing a fortune.

muckybutt

In all honesty....crap manufacture is the most likely cause.

Personally I would go for the better branded names of LED lamp such as phillips - osram ar megaman, all of which are good quality but arent cheap prices upwards each from £7 for the megaman ones

sillygoose

Can you link one of the sellers listings? - I also have some LED GU10's on the way, will let you know how those turn out.

Ettenna

These are the ones I bought.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180642126872&var=480023076045&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_1487wt_905

Meepster

Maybe a silly question, but you aren't using them on a dimmer switch are you?

Ettenna

The fitting is attached to a dimmer switch but it doesn't work and I didn't twiddle the knob

Meepster

It doesn't matter if the dimmer switch wasn't "twiddled" Dimmer switches (even when on "full") control the electricity differently to a normal open/closed circuit switch. They essentially crop the AC current, to create ON and OFF cycles, with the more OFF cycles giving a lower light level. LED's need a constant AC supply to work and using a dimmer can effectively change the life-period of an LED bulb from 50,000+ hours to a second.

The only way you will be able to use dimmers on an LED bulb is if it is an old style "resistor" based dimmer.

What I am basically saying is: there is nothing wrong with the bulbs. It is the dimmer switch which is causing the problem.

http://www.reuk.co.uk/240V-LED-Bulbs-and-Dimmer-Switches.htm

Ettenna

Okie dokie. Thanks for that explanation. Makes sense now I will have to change the switches - we don't really use the dimmer anyway.

sillygoose

Meepster wrote: »

What I am basically saying is: there is nothing wrong with the bulbs. It is the dimmer switch which is causing the problem.

http://www.reuk.co.uk/240V-LED-Bulbs-and-Dimmer-Switches.htm

Good call, why didn't I think of that!

Same issues apply to most other low energy bulbs too. There are going to be a lot of redundant dimmer switches and blown security lights in the years to come, government have kept quiet :silenced: on these issues instead prefering to go on about how much money/environment we will save :think:

Meepster

sillygoose wrote: »

Good call, why didn't I think of that!

Same issues apply to most other low energy bulbs too. There are going to be a lot of redundant dimmer switches and blown security lights in the years to come, government have kept quiet :silenced: on these issues instead prefering to go on about how much money/environment we will save :think:

I only know about it as I often sell LED lighting as part of a kitchen and it always states on the box "Not to be used with a dimmer switch" and the curious side of me did a little digging as to why exactly they couldn't be used

If you do use a dimmer on a low enery light bulb, it wont blow straight away like an LED might, but it will shorten its lifespan. Although the constant flickering of the bulb would probably drive you insane and make you swap it out for a normal light bulb before it actually failed!!!

Osram do make a low energy bulb that can be used with a dimmer (I think it's called the dulux-something-majiggy*) there are also some other low energy bulbs that can be used with a special type of dimmer switch, but I believe they are relatively expensive...

*can't for the life of me remember what they are called!

Ettenna

Any idea why they would make the fuse box hum? It definitely is the LED lights because when I took them out there was no noise.