LED Bulbs. Help!

headpin

Daz2009 wrote: »

Didn't I read somewhere recently that under an EU directive led bulbs will be illegal shortly ?

I think it is the halogen bulbs. They are not much more efficient than the old incandescent variety, whereas the LED bulbs are probably more than 10 times more efficient.

patman99

The lEDs that tronator linked-to are superb. I bought some from a trader at my local bootsale. They are what is known as 'CREE' lighting. They are very bright and have a good beam angle.

As for the candle bulbs, try AliExpress. There are a huge range of LED bulbs available on there. I have ordered 1x globe and 1x corn bulb to see which is the better of the 2 before committing to a larger order.

You can do the same (but do read the feedback as some suppliers are not as good as others).

globalds

If you have a homebargains near you have a look in there.

They have GU10 5w 370 lumen for £2.49 and I saw the candle bulbs but not sure the fitting type ..They were about the same price ..These are ecolight in the link the prices are for packs of 12 in store you buy individual bulbs

Cisco001

I purchased GU10 from ledhut last time as I prefer SMD LED.

Another place you can try is CPC

Cisco001

s_b wrote: »

we have gu10 lights in the kitchen and i tried 5 watt led types as replacements and they are hopeless even though they are supposed to be equivalent to standard 50 watt bulbs,im going to buy some 9 watt ones from china and see how i get on with them
be aware theres cold white and soft white types too


i found a pack of 10 for about £15 the other night on ali express i believe

Those are no good. got something similar 2 years ago. 1/3 of them died.

Strider590

^^
Be wary of cheap stuff from China, their mains power is 220v, most of Europe is 220v, UK is anywhere between 230v-250v.

Basically they work by first rectifying the mains voltage from 240v AC, to about 340v DC, the LEDs are set in banks so this voltage is divided down to give each LED it's required voltage (about 3v each). If the bulb is designed for 220v AC and you use it on UK 240v AC, you over voltage the LEDs, which then start to fail very early in their life cycle.

elstimpo

The_Economist wrote: »

Can anyone advise me which LED bulbs are best buys.
I need 4 GU 10 ones for spotlights & 10 Candle shape ones for other lighting.
Can anyone suggest the best place to buy them. I have been looking around the local stores and they seem very expensive for one bulb. :eek:
Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm getting desperate now.

If you are looking for LED's that produce the same colour, quality of light and brightness as halogen and incandescents, then only two companies in the world have products that can do it. Nearly every LED Lamp on sale anywhere in the world is NOT a genuine halogen or incandescent replacement due to their poor ability to render colour accurately. Therefore the quality of light is reduced (often by 20%).

To properly replace a 50w halogen you need;

Colour Temperature - 2700k (ignore warm white)
Colour Rendering Index (CRI) - At least 95
Lumens - Minimum around 350 (with 95 CRI), more lumens if CRI is lower - but a halogen as 100 CRI so the lower you go the lower the quality of light.

Also, 'cheap' LED's are usually a false economy. A proper LED Lamp will have good quality LED Chip, power supply, capacitor and incredibly important is thermal management system to remove heat from the critical components. If anything thinks this can be done on the cheap then i can tell you it absolutely cannot. If you buy simply on a cheap price the likelihood you will have to replace these is very high.

There are lots of and lots of traps in this industry, especially from those who 'pile them high and sell them cheap' so please do a lot of research before spending your money.

Check out ALL companies you might buy from on Trustpilot. You might find some of the companies you are looking at have a VERY different score to the one they advertise on their site.

elstimpo

Cisco001 wrote: »

I prefer SMD LED.

Interesting, why?

elstimpo

tronator wrote: »

I bought 8 of those 2 years ago and they're brighter than the 50W we used before.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B006UR5IUY?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00

One broke recently and got replaced free of charge by the manufacturer. Highly recommended.

The colour temperature and CRI levels of that LED Spot are not comparable to a 50w halogen. Very different. They 'seem' brighter because the colour temp is 3000k.

In this image, you can see a 3000k colour temp and the top and 2700k in the bottom. Massive difference.


click image upload

tronator

Do you know that you can quote multiple messages in one post?

elstimpo wrote: »

The colour temperature and CRI levels of that LED Spot are not comparable to a 50w halogen. Very different. They 'seem' brighter because the colour temp is 3000k.

In this image, you can see a 3000k colour temp and the top and 2700k in the bottom. Massive difference.

If they "seem" brighter, then they are brighter to me. That's what counts. And when you say halogen and LED are different, then it doesn't necessarily mean that halogen are better. It's very subjective. Most people say one is better than the other because they are just used to that kind of bulb/light.