Replacing kitchen halogens

steveinfinity

Hi

I'd like some advice on whether (as a DIYer) I'm allowed to remove the existing halogen light fittings in my kitchen and replace them with LED's, or do I need to get an electrician in to do the work?

My existing lights are 12V but they are very unreliable not to mention expensive to run. I have 8 in total and each runs of its own 12V transformer.

I was thinking that I could remove the existing transformer & MR16 GU5.3 fitting and replace it with a GU10 fitting & terminal block. Hopefully the new LED GU10 arrangement would still fit in the existing light fitting. (As a newbie I can't post links but if you search amazon.co.uk for "GU10 lamp holder & terminal block" you'll see what I mean.

Any suggestions as to which bulbs would make good 50W replacements would also be appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help.

Steve

27col

Not quite sure why you are concerned about "being allowed". I assume that you will not be telling anyone in "authority". So if you are confident that you can do it safely just get on with it. No doubt some doomsayer will be along to take me to task for making such a dangerous suggestion.
You say that your present lights are unreliable, I have at least 23 x12v halogens in lounge and kitchen and have only had one failure in about 7 years. I replaced most of them with Toolstation halogen lamps which were purported to be 20% more efficient. They were absolutely rubbish, some only lasted a couple of days. In the end I refitted all the old lamps and have not had a failure since. If I could find an LED alternative then I would change them all. But the LED's are so expensive that it would take years to achieve any saving of cash. If someone finds a reasonably priced alternative then I will change at once.

anotherbaldrick

I was thinking exaactly the same thing ,Ie. replacing the halogens with GU10 LED's the kitchen lights are on nearly all the day as the wife likes to see what she is doing. We have 6 so that is 300watt on for about 10 hours a day thats 3kw @12p = 36p x 365. Thats £131 year, almost pay the initial cost off in a year.

So long as the work is done in a satisfactory manner there is no reason you cannot do it yourself

This is a currently running thread on bulb types.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3388564

flashg67

Agree with 27Col - just do it! We'll need an electrician to tell us the elgalities but if you're reasonably competent, you'll be ok as you're only amending what's already there. I've done exactly the same as you're looking at doing in my bathroom, mainly because condensation seeping through was wrecking the transformers, so I took the opportunity to fit waterproof fittings.

I've tried LED bulbs (ebay Hong Kong cheapies) in the kids rrom because they keep leaving them on and had mixed succes - some of the individual LEDs have failed, reducing the output, but they only use 2-3w so I don't go red in the face when they're left on - that's got to be worth something!

Like 27col says, if you sit down and work it out, for average users, it takes donkeys to see a saving from LEDS. Hopefully the price will come down even further soon.

You could take the opportunity to reduce the 50watt bulbs down to 35watt (or even 20w)at the same time giving an instant 30% saving?

steveinfinity

Thanks for the replies & advice

I regard myself as a (fairly) competent DIYer especially where electrics are concerned but I don't want to fall foul of the part P regulations in case I ever choose to sell the house.

I realise that it'll take ages for the LED's to pay for themselves but frankly so long as they stay on I don't mind. At present my halogens keep going out. If I jiggle them about in the socket they come back on but then go out again very quickly. It may be something to do with the heat being generated causing the metal contacts to come loose - if I look at the terminals they appear quite black and tarnished - I tried cleaning the contacts but it didn't work. I then bought some new holders and some Osram branded bulbs but I still have the same problem - out of the 8 lights in my kitchen only 3 will stay on.

I've come to the conclusion that either I have cheap, unreliable devices fitted by my electrician - solution replace them.
Or halogens are unreliable - solution replace them.
Either way, I need to spend some money so I may as well go with a solution that won't be outdated in a year or two.

anotherbaldrick

One thing that makes me want to get rid of the Halogens is that some time ago we started getting a burning smell in the kitchen . After a long process of hunting I tracked it down to one of the transformers in the ceiling breaking down electrically and melting its insulation. It was quite blackened. Not overloaded ,only served one light , but was heading towards setting the house alight. I have since heard of several cases where this has actually happened.