Converting to LED - help with Cooker Hood and Bathroom Spotlights

JohnB47

Vampgirl wrote: »

We have these LED GU10s in our kitchen and bathrooms - http://www.megamanuk.com/products/led-lamps/professional-series/reflector/gu10/246204/ We had a electrician come in to add some more lights in the kitchen and he told us that we could directly replace any existing halogen GU10 with these bulbs.

But our light fittings directly over the showers are actually slightly different to the others in the bathrooms - the bulbs are totally encased and are not exposed to steam/water directly.

Yes, that's the type I have in our bathroom but the one over the shower kept blowing. Water vapour can still get into these fittings - they're not perfectly sealed, at least mine aren't, cos I've recently dismantled them to clean off the little glass lens. I assume that water vapour got at the halogen bulb and was converted to steam by the high temperature of the halogen bulb and caused the temperature to rise above the bulbs capability. The lower running temperature of the led bulb had stopped this happening.

I'm not saying that all bulbs in a bathroom should be led but ones directly above a shower might need to be. Of course they should all be led if you want to save money in the long run.

brightontraveller

JohnB47 wrote: »

Yes, I know all that stuff about leds. I was repondingbto the OPs query about specialist led bulbs for bathroom use - I'm not aware that such a bulb exists. Fittings yes, bulbs no.

[FONT=&quot]You keep saying they don’t exists [FONT=&quot]and [/FONT] you know all about led GU 10 what do you think all the things heat , lux etc are options ? [/FONT]
Lamp (bulb) should be matched to conditions of installation and those of the fitting etc that doesn’t mean because it fits the lamp holder its correct?

JohnB47 wrote: »

Also, my fitters were qualified electricians who fitted enclosed type fittings meant for bathrooms. It was just that the one over the shower kept blowing. They changed the halogen bulb twice and the fitting once, eventually fitting a 7w gec led and the problem went away.

If they were “knowledgeable” this differs from just being “qualified” why didn’t they fit 7w gec led at the beginning was it because they liked returning to replace lamps? It’s a pleasant drive to your home, you make great cup of tea ?
You’ve answered this yourself “eventually fitting a 7w gec led and the problem went away.” Correct fitting and lamp selection initially you would have not had the problem at all would you?:rotfl::rotfl:

elstimpo

brightontraveller wrote: »

Not wishing to panic you they are likely alright if there bought from wholesaler, diy store or supermarket etc but there are some not so great ones on eBay etc

There are terrible LED lamps being sold by so called 'specialist' retailers too. Don't for one minute think that cheap and sub standard LED's are only found on ebay. We test products every single day and when conforming to our standards, over 90% of the stuff on sale in the UK, we would deem sub standard.

elstimpo

JohnB47 wrote: »

Yes, I know all that stuff about leds. I was repondingbto the OPs query about specialist led bulbs for bathroom use - I'm not aware that such a bulb exists. Fittings yes, bulbs no.

Also, my fitters were qualified electricians who fitted enclosed type fittings meant for bathrooms. It was just that the one over the shower kept blowing. They changed the halogen bulb twice and the fitting once, eventually fitting a 7w gec led and the problem went away.

You can get fully water proof (submersible actually) LED Lamps. IP44 is the minimum requirement for a lamp to be fitting into 'zone 1' (likely to be the wettest area) is IP44. IP ratings go from IP20 to IP69

IP64 - Protection from Splashing
IP65 - Protection from jetting
IP67 - Protection from immersion up to 1m for 30 mins
IP69 - Protection from continuous immersion

The issues with bathrooms are not with Lamps if you fit the correct one, it's with the fitting and how water/moisture can get into the fitting and interfere with electrical wires etc.

You will be hard pressed to find a GU10 or MR16 LED Spotlight with the required IP rating and therefore you should always use a full enclosed fitting.

brightontraveller

elstimpo wrote: »

There are terrible LED lamps being sold by so called 'specialist' retailers too. Don't for one minute think that cheap and sub standard LED's are only found on ebay. We test products every single day and when conforming to our standards, over 90% of the stuff on sale in the UK, we would deem sub standard.

Only 90 % manufactures must have been on the ball that week?
LED retrofit as in its sort of in its infancy is wild west only thing that getting better is the forged Cu certs etc or dubious certs for conformity from some unknown testing lab in bongo bongo land . I’ve know lamps leave factories as one thing, change whilst being shipped and again when being distributed,,, now that’s intelligent lighting :rotfl:

elstimpo

brightontraveller wrote: »

Only 90 % manufactures must have been on the ball that week?
LED retrofit as in its sort of in its infancy is wild west only thing that getting better is the forged Cu certs etc or dubious certs for conformity from some unknown testing lab in bongo bongo land . I’ve know lamps leave factories as one thing, change whilst being shipped and again when being distributed,,, now that’s intelligent lighting :rotfl:

Sad but true.

It might be in its infancy for the vast majority of retailer's brands and manufacturers but there are some of us who have absolutely superb retrofit products where you can't tell the difference between them from traditional lamps, contain high quality internal components and effective design.

It's really whats called knowing what you are talking about and investing profits/money into proper R&D instead of aggressive marketing campaigns _ Google Adwords promoting your cheap and useless LED's that you constantly discount by 15-30% !

The things i wish i could publish about some of the retailers and companies selling vast amounts of cheap and dangerous LED products here in the UK.

Yes, intelligent lighting. It's the intelligent manufacturing - you visit a factory, they roll out the red carpet, make you put all sorts of safety equipment on and bags to cover your chows, show you around a factory containing a very happy and smiling work force who are doing a professional job - to coming back 2 days later on a surprise inspection, simply walking into said factory unannounced and seeing the complete opposite of what we saw two days previously and being arrested by their security and then taken back to our hotel by the police and told to leave China.

Actually happened and this factories products are being sold by a 'leading' online UK LED specialist as we speak.