best lightbulbs for downlights ?

pennymakespounds

Couple of years ago did the big change in last house of standard bulbs to energy saving , various types , on standard light fittings ... and got to say massive reduction in electicity consumption & bill.

Just moved and doing refurb .... changing most lights in the house to downlights ...

so very important question is ....

what are my options in lightbulbs ? ... and what do i get for best energy saving ones at lowest cost ?

first glance on t'internet talks about .. halogen..led.. .... already getting conused so thought best i come to the experts on MSE !!

and where do i buy them for best deal ?.

guess i need about 40 .

muskoka

huh - can of worms on lights. I'm in similar situation. So far I've found out LED much cheaper to run, however you'#ve got to look at the Lumens. Stick with a reputable make - I understand Phillips are ok, however they're about £8 each. Hopefully someone will be along to guide us 'both' on this one.

fluffpot

You won't be saving money by installing down lights. Think about it - you are installing 40 lights where there are currently - at a guess 10? That's 4 x as many!

I would think very carefully about which rooms are suitable for down lights (kitchen and bathrooms are most usual) and look at other forms for the rest - eg central light with wall lights/plug in lights which give more options for lighting use (and therefore £ saving!!)

Dan_Iggulden

I have just purchased a load of LED's and would say that is the way to go.... it is a mine field though! Lumens don't necessarily tell the story on how bright the bulb is either, it's all to do with the effect of light you want and what equivalent halogen output you are looking for. I use a 2.5 Watt 60 LED bulb which is equivalent to a 50W.

Angle of light is important, you need to consider whether you want true spots, around 45 degree angle of light, or a light that will flood the room, max i have seen is 120 degree angle of light, which is what I currently have in my kitchen.

I don't necessarily agree with stick to a known name, as with most things, this is a sure fire way to spend more money, my only piece of advice here would be to stay away from eBay! Have bought too many poor quality bulbs on there, they all claim to be something they are not!

Also consider the colour you want, LED's generally come in Cool or Warm, massive difference in colour and I have seen many people complain about how clinical the cool white ones look, but I do think they look good in the right environment, but I imagine it depends on preference, wall colour and all that stuff!

Hope that helps