Energy Saving Light Bulbs

malc_b

A.L.D.A wrote: »

I wish that tale would disappear. Think about it. I am right now sitting in a room with the window open and the light on. When I want heat I turn on the heating not the light. Just consider the number of times you have lights on and not heating. It is more often than most of us realise. Also electricity is an expensive energy source.

Old style bulbs do contribute to house heating as in fact do all bulbs. All energy decays to heat in the end. Full rate electric is about 2 x heating, depending on what you use for heating. I find it odd that at 11:40 am you have lights on. I use electric lamps when it dark as during the day I have windows for light. Hence the waste heat I get IS useful. It is taking the chill off the house in winter, spring, autumn and most summers these days. In a good summer than yes it is waste heat but then I have lamps on at 8/9pm for an hour or 2. Now I have lamps on at 7pm and in winter, 5pm.

What I find annoying is that this fact is ALWAYS ignored when working out the saving. It doesn't wipe out any saving but is does reduce the figure and it annoys me that such calculations are never 100% honest.

Milko

malc_b wrote: »

Old style bulbs do contribute to house heating as in fact do all bulbs. All energy decays to heat in the end. Full rate electric is about 2 x heating, depending on what you use for heating. I find it odd that at 11:40 am you have lights on. I use electric lamps when it dark as during the day I have windows for light. Hence the waste heat I get IS useful. It is taking the chill off the house in winter, spring, autumn and most summers these days. In a good summer than yes it is waste heat but then I have lamps on at 8/9pm for an hour or 2. Now I have lamps on at 7pm and in winter, 5pm.

What I find annoying is that this fact is ALWAYS ignored when working out the saving. It doesn't wipe out any saving but is does reduce the figure and it annoys me that such calculations are never 100% honest.

Likewise when we do our quotes for the larger commercial venues, our quote is never 100% accurate either (no ones is). This is because we don't allow for the savings in AC cooling often used in hotel function suites etc...
Typical example is a large well known Belfast hotel who asked for a quote on replacing 50w halogens with LED in "One" of their function suites ... Annual saving in the 1st year was over £3700 on energy, lamps & labour (this didn't include cooling the room that had over 100 downlights)

Swings / Roundabouts

RikM

CFLs have been winding me up for a long time. "Equivalent" light output much less than they claimed, lifespan much less than touted. Then to cap it all, they take a significant amount of time to "warm up" amd reach even their meager output, usually accompanied by sound effects.
I've given up on CFLs.

The 50W halogen gu10s in our kitchen have been replaced with LEDs; the first one was quite expensive (off the web), the rest came from Tesco (£10-£12 each, branded). A 5W LED doesn't quite give as much light as a 50W halogen, but it's close. They come on instantly, give decent light right from the start, and don't buzz annoyingly.

I've just got some LED SBC candle bulbs for the wall lights in the lounge. 5W is fine there, to replace 30W halogens.

LED downsides:
They are expensive (painfully so in some cases).
They haven't really got a feasible 60W replacement yet.

I expect both these things to change as they move more mainstream, and CFLs become a thing of the past...

SandLake

If I go to B&Q to buy a 12v 50w MR16, what is the temperature(?) cold white (6000k) or warm white (3500k) - or something different?

Any pointers as to where to buy or makes to look out for?

Thanks

Milko

SandLake wrote: »

If I go to B&Q to buy a 12v 50w MR16, what is the temperature(?) cold white (6000k) or warm white (3500k) - or something different?

Any pointers as to where to buy or makes to look out for?

Thanks

Almost certainly 3500k Warm White 99.9% of the time.
If you must stick with halogen, try using the 35w IRC Osram lamps = 50w+ easily

dmxdave

SandLake wrote: »

If I go to B&Q to buy a 12v 50w MR16, what is the temperature(?) cold white (6000k) or warm white (3500k) - or something different?

Any pointers as to where to buy or makes to look out for?

Thanks

MR16 Halogen will be warm white, you have a choice of beam angles from spot to flood. Choose branded lamps such as Philips or Osram and remember (as mentioned above) There are IRC (infra red coated) versions that means a 20w IRC will give the same output as a 35W standard and a 35w version that gives equivalent output to a 50w.

Might be worth a visit to a local electrical wholesaler as the prices should be better than B&Q, same old advice....shop around!

SandLake

Sorry, I think I said something misleading, I want to go down the LED route but I was just checking if I need Warm White or Cool White LED's.

Is it easy to get a 7w LED MR16 that will fit in the same fitting as a Halogen MR16 or is that something I need to be wary of?

Will my existing transformers be OK?


Just seen online that I could get a 6.7W LED with a beam angle of 25deg and a lumens of 1200cd or for the same price a beam angle of 35deg and a lumens of 650cd - what is the difference, is 650 lumens sufficient for a 50W Halogen replacement. I 'think' I would prefer the 35deg beam angle.

Thanks

A.L.D.A

malc_b wrote: »

Old style bulbs do contribute to house heating as in fact do all bulbs. All energy decays to heat in the end. Full rate electric is about 2 x heating, depending on what you use for heating. I find it odd that at 11:40 am you have lights on. I use electric lamps when it dark as during the day I have windows for light. Hence the waste heat I get IS useful. It is taking the chill off the house in winter, spring, autumn and most summers these days. In a good summer than yes it is waste heat but then I have lamps on at 8/9pm for an hour or 2. Now I have lamps on at 7pm and in winter, 5pm.

What I find annoying is that this fact is ALWAYS ignored when working out the saving. It doesn't wipe out any saving but is does reduce the figure and it annoys me that such calculations are never 100% honest.

It was 11.40 pm with a desk light and a computer on in a well insulated room. THe heating was not on and it was warm due to heat from the computer and body heat I suppose.

There are a lot of things I would also disagree with about energy saving calculations and cost benefits calculations. I am a great believer in effective controls, so in that scenario lights are for lighting.

gwni

Thanks everyone for all your posts so far, they have provided me with a wealth of information and some thoughts on possible changes to my own lights.

It's always good to hear from people who have been there done that and are willing to give you an honest opinion.

Thanks again.

Milko

SandLake wrote: »

Sorry, I think I said something misleading, I want to go down the LED route but I was just checking if I need Warm White or Cool White LED's.

Is it easy to get a 7w LED MR16 that will fit in the same fitting as a Halogen MR16 or is that something I need to be wary of?

Will my existing transformers be OK?


Just seen online that I could get a 6.7W LED with a beam angle of 25deg and a lumens of 1200cd or for the same price a beam angle of 35deg and a lumens of 650cd - what is the difference, is 650 lumens sufficient for a 50W Halogen replacement. I 'think' I would prefer the 35deg beam angle.

Thanks

The lamp I would suggest is a Philips 7w Master Dimmable GU10, available in either 25 or 40 degree & having seen, used & sold them, they outperform standard halogen lamps easily probably closer to 60w power. Personally, as previously mentioned, I'd do away with your trannies & use GU10 lamp holders instead.