Bulbs

lky2k23

I currently have 12 of these TCP 50W Halogen MR16 12V https://www.unifit.co.uk/products/80880/mr16-halogen-esaver-50w-12v-tc

and told they are a huge electric drain. Is this true?

NeverInDebt

If you had all 12 on for one hour that would be 600w which is probably around 10-12p and hour. If you used led you could cut that a lot between 72-96watts per hour if you had all of them on. However it would cost you a lot to replace for led instead of less than £2 per bulb you could be paying £10-£20 depending on make

Andy_WSM

Absolutely true. 12 * 50W = 600W of lighting + any losses from the transformer that converts the mains to 12V.

Assume you have a unit price of 14p per kWh then those lights will cost you approx 8.5p per hour that they are on.

lstar337

LED would be around a 10:1 saving. But they are not cheap to buy.

To replace all with decent 5W LED bulbs would be about £240.

lky2k23

Thanks everyone.

I've seen these came out top with Which recently. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Integral-ILGU105-3N03KBENF-GU10-Spotlight-White/dp/B00MA7Y03O/ref=sr_1_20?s=lighting&ie=UTF8&qid=1406886433&sr=1-20&keywords=integral+5.3w+gu10

Different fitting by the looks of it though?

bloss0m

You can get mr16 bulbs but I believe you need a led driver for your light to use led's

aleph_0

lky2k23 wrote: »

I currently have 12 of these TCP 50W Halogen MR16 12V https://www.unifit.co.uk/products/80880/mr16-halogen-esaver-50w-12v-tc

and told they are a huge electric drain. Is this true?

Short answer, yes. But I'm going to answer by explaining the cost of electricity, so you can convince yourself. It is priced in kWh - or killowatt hours. For the sake of argument, lets say your price is a nice round 14p/kWh.

What this means, is that if you left a 1000W device running for an hour, it would use 1kWh of electricity.

Your 12 bulbs each use 50W, so that's 600W total. So, every hour you use 0.6kWh of electricity, costing about 8p.

As NeverInDebt points out, with alternatives, you could significantly reduce that usage, by about 85%.

A note of caution - whilst over the bulbs lifetime, they are significantly more expensive than alternatives, in lighly-used rooms, this might not be a problem. Also, your bulbs are 12V, and you'll need to be careful to avoid transformer compatibility issues. At the very least, you might want to consider not using all the bulbs, possibly as part of a long-term plan to move to LEDs once your current stock run out.

lky2k23

So not as simple as just buying http://www.amazon.co.uk/pieces-MR16-LED-SEBSON%C2%AE-280lm/dp/B0055HVYFS/ref=sr_1_1?s=lighting&ie=UTF8&qid=1406886912&sr=1-1&keywords=mr16+led and fitting?

I should have been clearer, they are switched in 2 groups of 6.

bloss0m

I have led's in most of house now. started off replacing the bulbs that are used most, ie kitchen, living room. I also like the fact that you get almost instant light if you compared with low energy bulbs. Ones in living are used with dimmers and there is around 1/2 second delay. I replaced the mr16 in kitchen with a new light than used gu10's and will take led's

Smiley_Dan

Yes, another thing to factor in are dimmers which often need to be changed.

Frankly I'd take the opportunity to change wholesale to mains voltage rather than low voltage, apart from maybe in the bathrooms.

p.s. it's "lamps" not "bulbs"

lky2k23

I dont have a dimmer switch.