Replacing mr16 with LEDs

27col

A bit of information for anyone who might be interested.
I have finally got around to replacing some of my many MR16 35w halogen lamps. I bought MR16 3x1w, warm white, LED's, 320 lumens at a cost of £7.20 each from LEDHUT.
I was agreeably surprised to find that they were quite a good substitute for the 35w halogens that they replaced. I have not yet informed my wife of the change and will be interested to see if she comments on the new lights. They are not quite as bright as the 35w lamps they are replacing, but are quite good enough to enable me to read while I am having my meal.
Also, they work quite well with the existing transformers, so they will not have to be replaced. Anyway, 3w instead of 35w seems a good cost saving to me. All I need to do now is to see if I can find the same LED at a cheaper cost.
Comments welcome.

fluffymuffy

I've been running round the house replacing my MR16s for some weeks now. The four outside the front door work a treat, but some of the others switch themselves off after a while, and in the bathroom I needed to keep one halogen in the loop to get it to stop flashing.

In all we had 45 halogen bulbs at 50W each. That's 2.25kW. (There were here when we moved in)

sunshinetours

Do the maths realy for areas where you very rarely use the bulbs, maybe a few hours a week for example, as payback periods can be very long still

For kitchens, lounges etc where there mayb e a lot of regular use and especially outside lights left on overnight the LED's start to make sense very quickly at the right price

Only MR16's i have are on upstairs landing so may get thee changed when the current ones fail as they are 4 x 50w and do get left on sometimes

27col

I am not looking for a pay off on the investment but it will be nice to have lower bills and a guilt free, well lit, winter of dark evenings.

sunshinetours

27col wrote: »

I am not looking for a pay off on the investment but it will be nice to have lower bills and a guilt free, well lit, winter of dark evenings.

This is MSE! Lower electric bills to cover your initial investment surely?!

ic

27col wrote: »

Also, they work quite well with the existing transformers, so they will not have to be replaced.

Yet? I thought although they may work, with the wrong transformer/driver you could see a reduced life on either the transformer or the bulbs?

cattinthehat

Hi, we 're looking at replacing at least 20 hallogen spots with LED's and have done some basic research. However when we went to a local electrical wholesaler they only have Fusion bulbs at £32 each once VAT had been added! They are 360 lumins, 5W, have a 3 yr guarantee and there was very little difference between the one we replaced and our current 50W bulbs... however it's going to cost nearly £900 to replace all 20 + labour to do this!

Has anyone else been sold these or are cheaper alternatives just as good?

sunshinetours

I doubt if the £3 or so ones i bought are as good but I would also very much doubt if the Fusion ones are 10x as good! Its how much you are prepared to pay for light quality I guess

WestonDave

Looking online the Fusion bulbs appear to have very low lumen outputs so would not appear to be suitable replacements (presuming these are the Fusion bulbs sold through City Electrical Factors).

I've tried a few experimental ones - I've got some Lumineaux 24 SMD bulbs in bathroom fittings replacing 50W halogens - I'd say they were a bit under powered but in a small bathroom its not the end of the world and they may be being adversly affected by being 120 degree beam angle set back in covered fittings (so part of the light is staying in the fitting). However at £10 each and 4.5W so a lot lower powered they are good value. They weren't very happy in the kitchen which has older transformers - flickered a bit.

I've also got one Philips Master 10W bulb in the kitchen (we have 6 lights on one switch and one central one on another - the central one was put there to enable some light to be left on without running loads of power - the LED is currently in the central one). Again I'd say it was slightly below a 50W halogen but possibly a different beam angle to the others. However it is happy with the older transformers and doesn't flicker probably purely down to being higher powered. The only other downside is that the shape means you need to reshape the spring wire that holds it in a bit to get it to fit but its nothing a pair of pliers and a bit of careful trial and error won't cure.

You almost certainly want to avoid the cool white or daylight ones as they are quite a cold light - the warm white works well. I did get a cool white one as a trial and its now gone out into the porch as it seems appropriate out there!

I've got a 60W bayonet light bulb replacement on order as the outside light fitting (on a PIR so can't use a compact fluorescent) has gone, and also a G9 capsule replacement for a 40W halogen on order so should be able to try at least the latter this week. (Getting the outside light changed is harder as I can't do heights!)

paulmapp8306

i recently changed all my 50w halogen spots with "next generation" LEDs at 370 Lumens. There £10 ish per bulb and run at 4.4w each, but they are actually brighter than the old halogens. REALLY pleased despite costing nearly £160 !!! (3 spots in kitchen, 4 in bedroom, 6 in hallway, 3 in kids room).

tillycat123

paulmapp8306 - can I ask did you get warm white or cool white? I've spent a fortune on the warm white and really don't like the light. It gives off a light that reminds me of the old kitchen fluorescent.

Wondering if I should try the cool white instead.