Cost of 14 LED lights in bedrooms/bathroom

Jimmy_Neutron

Just had an electrician visit me. I asked him to give me a quote to replace 14 halogen lights - 5 x 2 bedrooms and 4 in the bathroom with LED, he would also rewire the cables in the loft so everything would be safe. He also said with LED lights there would be no need for transformers as the light fittings would be mains fed.

Breakdown of his quote -

14 x LED light fittings + LED bulbs @£15 per fitting/bulb = £210
Rewire through loft = £120
Certificate and notification = £30
= £360

Is this a reasonable price?

I have also posted a thread with pictures regarding the wiring currently in the loft - sorry unable to links as I am a new user - forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=56406711#post56406711

fluffymuffy

Can't you just replace the bulbs yourself? I did. They were £10 each on Amazon.

oldskoo1

£15 per bulb if this includes new brackets, clips and surrounds is a brilliant price, providing they are at least 4w.

If it's just a bulb price thats a rip off. Get these from Amazon. I bought 13 recently, they are superb. Brighter than the halogens. 90% less energy used, run cool, last much much longer but most importantly have the right colour temperature.

Bonus is they are a bargain!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Long-Life-Lamp-Company-replacements/dp/B006UR5IUY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349800992&sr=8-1

I think the £120 for cabling is perhaps on the OK side if he's a good sparky.

The cert imho is just a waste of money. Normally just needed if selling house and sol. requests it, if they even figure you have had new lights.

I rewire my lights all the time.

fluffymuffy

mine are MR16s - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aurora-efficient-Fluorescent-Perfect-Retrofit/dp/B004MA1WB0/ref=sr_1_1?s=lighting&ie=UTF8&qid=1349802780&sr=1-1

Jimmy_Neutron

@oldskoo1

in your house are the bulbs you purchased used with fittings with transformers or are they mains fed?

Which is better - transformers or mains fed, and why?

And if mains fed couldn't the existing 14 fittings in the ceilings be wired up so they are mains fed - so all I would have to pay for is 14 LED bulbs and the wiring to be re-done?

As you can tell I know nothing about lighting, or electricity:(

societys_child

I bought 10 x GU10 LEDs (less than 2w each) on ebay for £24 inc P&P. (Drop-shipper I think)

That was 10 months ago, no noticeable difference with the 50w halogens they replaced, non have failed yet.

societys_child

jimmy are your bulbs like these (12v with transformer, note the 2 pin connection - MR16)

or these ( Mains voltage, note the different 2 pin connectors - GU10)

MR16 simply push in . . GU10 twist into the socket.

Jimmy_Neutron

@societys child

I have just checked the bulbs. The bedrooms which have downlights in have GU10 bulbs/fittings and the bathroom has MR16 bulbs/fittings. I thought they all had the same type of fittings - why the difference in type, is it to do with the bathroom needing a different type?

So would that mean the bedroom lights are mains fed and the bathroom lights are used with a transformer?
So assuming the cables are safely attached to joists etc I could just use LED bulbs in the existing GU10 fittings?

DevCoder

The bathroom is a special location (although if the lights are above 2m then its outside zones) so need declaring to building control (and for you to be "competent") LABC for your own work would be about £150-300 just for them to check you work.

MR16 is used in the bathroom because it's ELV (Extra Low Voltage) as opposed to GU10 (Low Voltage) so far less risk of shock and is normally double insulated.

You also need to consider firehoods for the lights which are recessed to prevent heat buildup due to insulation in the void or nearby joists etc.

Then theres the whole cable rating factor if moving from ELV to LV.

Personally it's not a bad cost all round and I'd certainly pay the £30 for the EIC (Electrical Installation Certificate)

southcoastrgi

guys before you comment further you may want to look at the OP's orginal post, not quite sure why you felt the need to start another thread ?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4220565

adouglasmhor

southcoastrgi wrote: »

guys before you comment further you may want to look at the OP's orginal post, not quite sure why you felt the need to start another thread ?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4220565

I was going to post http://dx.com/p/gu10-3-5w-48-smd-led-140-lumen-7000k-white-light-lamp-bulb-230v-51518?rt=1&p=2&m=2&r=3&k=1&t=1&s=47785&u=51518 until I saw your post. Well if anyone else is looking there are plenty of variations on there, 3 weeks to wait from order to delivery.