led bayonet bulb that works with touch dimmable lights

barney2013

Has anyone any experience of (or recommendations for) replacing standard 60 watt bayonet bulbs used in touch dimmable lights with led bulbs - eg one touch = 20 watts, 2=40 watts, 3 = 60 watts, 4 = off (with a normal bulb). Preferably at a good price.

If I bought a random dimmable led bulb as an experiment, is there any risk of damaging the touch dim function?

In addition, any tips on makes or cheap retailers for general bayonet bulb replacement and replacing 30w fluorescent under kitchen cabinet worktop tubes (is it possible to switch to led without rewiring?) with led, at upto £20 a pop, I'm trying to avoid potentially expensive mistakes.

Are there any major retailers that demo led's switched on?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Rice_Krispie

I'm not sure if this will help but if you check out a company called Trilight LTD i'm pretty sure they will help.

I have used them loads of times and never had a problem with them.

Just a suggestion, hope this helps!!

WestonDave

I suspect you may struggle depending on how the light works! I've just stuck a LED dimmable (replacing a 40W SES) in a touch lamp and found that whilst it works fine it doesn't dim. I suspect that this is because the output at the lowest "tap" is enough to light the LED to full brightness, and on the higher "tap" settings it can't draw any more (being already fully on) so stays the same. Doesn't bother me as I only really want it as a "grope" on as its a bedside light - different light settings aren't that relevant.

Quiet_Spark

A standard dimmer switch cannot be used with dimmable LED's, you need to get a dimmer switch that is made for the job.

missesther

WestonDave wrote: »

I suspect you may struggle depending on how the light works! I've just stuck a LED dimmable (replacing a 40W SES) in a touch lamp and found that whilst it works fine it doesn't dim. I suspect that this is because the output at the lowest "tap" is enough to light the LED to full brightness, and on the higher "tap" settings it can't draw any more (being already fully on) so stays the same. Doesn't bother me as I only really want it as a "grope" on as its a bedside light - different light settings aren't that relevant.

I found the exact same thing with my touch lamp. Except I get dim, bright and sort of flashy-bright at the highest setting. Tried two different LED makes too for that. Still, it's as bright as before and less likely to blow like the other bulb did (in just over a year too ).

jennifernil

Would these be suitable?

http://www.lightupuk.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=444_462_471_513&products_id=2186

You can buy bayonet to GU10 adapters for about £2 to be able to use them.

Our daughter has these in her house, we took down a standard (fairly old) dimmer switch to try and they dimmed perfectly.

barney2013

thanks for the responses, even the various sellers seem a bit vague on the will it work or not question, even when they sell products as true 60w dimmable replacements. I'd be interested if anyone had got a specific model/brand to work with any normal dimmer or touch lamp, or if not, which models to avoid. WestonDave/misesther, which models have you used?

jennifer, I'm looking for traditional 240v incandescent bayonet bulb style rather than gu10's but thanks for the links.

If anyone knows of anything to convert fluorescent striplights to led or low power, I'd be interested.

It's a bit surprising with the current and future cost and supply of energy being constantly in the news, that the government and industry can't provide some clear guidance, innovations and standards to make the switch to led easier.

thanks again.

SplanK

I got caught out the other day re-doing one of our rooms. I bought a "old style light bulb" shaped unit but with a halogen bulb inside. I thought great and whacked in a dimmer switch only for the bulb to start flickering. Turns out that dimmers have a minimum wattage they will work at as well as a maximum. Bulb is 50w where as dimmer needed a 60w load minimum Why they do not make this clear I don't know, as each dimmer I found I had to open up and check the back to see what it was capable of supporting.

I managed to find a 40-250w dimmer from our larger B&Q store at the weekend, the smaller "standard" B&Q didn't and only supplied 60w min units!

With your LED fitting, I highly doubt that you will get anywhere near 40w load unless you have a large number of them, so chances are it wont work.

WestonDave

Mine was a megaman one - as I was looking for a small golfball size on a SES base which was LED and dimmable, my options were somewhat limited.

However its not the bulb which is going to be the problem its the dimmers. Had a similar problem with a 5 light candelabra - swapped out 5 x 28W halogen candle bulbs for 5 times 5W dimmable LED's having initially swapped one as a test. One in the fitting with 4 halogens worked fine, swap them all and you get a disco effect as the dimmer "hunts" so for now I've put one 28W back in which with the other 4 LED's is just enough to keep the old dimmer happy. Solution is to get a low power dimmer which I will do when I can get to the electrical wholesaler in opening hours!

The problem with touch lamps is firstly they are internal to the lamp, and secondly they don't reduce the power as a wall dimmer does but in most cases they change the brightness by rapidly turning the light on and off (hence the flickering effect seen by missesther) - the more it turns it on and off the less light comes out. That works fine with a incandescent bulb which will respond with a lesser glow from the filament (less heat generated as its partially off) but LED's will either be on or off, and as the cycling is faster than the human eye can detect and is mostly on, it just looks like its on. In short, you can get an LED bulb to fit these lamps but unless they have some additional circuitry in them, they won't dim.

If you want it to dim, you might be better trying a halogen equivalent to a standard bulb - 28W halogen capsule in a standard bulb shape will be equivalent to a 40W old style, so something like a 40 or 45W halogen will be a 60W bulb. As these work "mechanically" in the same way as the bulbs the dimmers were designed for you should have a better result - plus they are generally cheaper than LED's.

Yorkie1

Spam reported. Multiple posts in quick succession all promoting the same company.