Mains voltage halogen downlight fittings with LED bulbs?

SilverSix

I've an on going quest to find some suitable LED downlights.

With the lack of any reasonable fire rated LED downlights available at a reasonable cost (£42.90! Halers EvoLED, best price including VAT I could find). I'm thinking that getting hold of bog standard GU10 halogen mains units and changing the bulbs.

I know that there can be an issue with low voltage halogen fittings & LED lights as the bulbs don't often draw enough power.

Am I right in that this shouldn't be a problem with a mains fitting as there would be no transformer? Also with an LED bulb heat shouldn't be an issue either?

As I can get a GU10 fitting, for example:
http://www.simplydownlights.co.uk/Mains-Voltage-Tilt-Fire-Rated-Downlight-GU10-Twist-Lock_AY9EE.aspx?0

And then get some decent bulbs for around £10-15 each and it comes in at around £16/17 cheaper per unit. I need 55 :eek:

Also providing the bulbs are dimmable & I use a suitable dimmer switch should I be okay? or do I need a dimmable housing too?

Thanks,

Ben

fluffpot

55 down lights - how come so many? They are not the best way to provide light in most rooms as they just light in a column down.

Still if you really want them...

Dimmable LED's to replace GU10's are more expensive - look here

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

So around £20 per lamp (Bulb)

You will also need to get special dimmers as the low load (W) of the LED's means that they are not enough for a normal dimmer (they normally start at 60W min load). The link I posted also has low load dimmers.

The Halers fittings you mention also come in dimmable - but they are around £50+ per fitting. Nice lights though!

LED lamps do get a bit hot - that's why the Halers (and others) have a heat sink (metal fins) behind to dissipate it

SilverSix

Thanks.

They will not be the only light source in the room. Though I do like the lighting effect they give. I plan to use tiltable fittings so I can bounce light off walls if need be.

The company in the link provided can supply 3w dimmable LED bulbs in bulk for under £10 per unit.

So the combined price would be approx £20 per unit which is much less than the Halers. The halers also have a similar beam angle if I remember correctly. Though they do have very nice Philips bulbs in them.

I might be able to get hold of some slightly different downlights giving a 120 degree beam angle though my friend who said it 'wouldn't be a problem' doesn't seem to be proving himself very resourceful.

fluffpot

I don't think you'll need to bother dimming 3W LED's - they won't be that bright! The ones in mly link are high power 4.9W

If you are having other light sources in the room, maybe think about how many down lights you need - less, perhaps?
If you are mixing lamp types (eg LED and tungsten, or halogen) I would advise trying them out together first. When you have both sources on - you can then see the difference between the two types of light and often this is quite marked and can look a bit odd. I speak from experience!

Make sure you get a sample first as the light colour of LED's at the cheaper end of the market can be not very nice (ie blueish)

Also watch the tilt angle, as unless you place them very close to the wall the tilt won't be sufficient to direct the beam to hit the wall.

The Halers (and others) are integral units (ie you can't replace the lamp (bulb)

kabayiri

As fluffpot illustrates, it's still a bit hit and miss.

I have recently bought :-
a) Halers evoLEDs for the kitchen
b) IP65 housings and 4W kosnic LED bulbs for the living room
c) LED downlights and suitable housings for soffits (sp ?)
d) LED bulbs for uplights in the patio
e) LED wall lights and LED shelf light
f) LED strip light for floating effect cupboards.

I've spent quite a lot, but like most normal folk I have tried to seek value.

A few suggestions / questions .

I think dimmable LEDs are still a bit pricey. Can you not have switching arrangements to bring them on in sets?

Getting colour balance is quite a challenge. You can't easily find suppliers where you can view all the options, and I have ended up buying some options 'blind'.

£17 to £20 is eminently doable with a decent (ish) bulb like a Kosnic.

Can you not win the lottery because the Philip 'TurnRound' LED fittings are very nice (imo) and sound like what you are looking for

Tr1pp

fluffpot wrote: »

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

The site has them listed as DIMMABLE but the specific blurb once you have clicked on them says NOT DIMMABLE :think: ...might want to check this

fluffpot

Hmm, yes I see Tr1pp

I'll bring it to the attention of the wholesaler. I would imagine they are dimmable as there is a whole load of dimmers underneath that item