Excessive light-bulb issues...

greensalad

They are LEDs. GU5.3 type. I have tried a brand at £2.50 a pop and £4 a pop. One by a brand called "Sebson" and the other a non-descript brand.

Should I be spending more? I can't think how much it would cost to replace them all over again with a £5 bulb each!

I've nudged the management company again for the diagnosis from the electrician and if they don't get back to me by the end of the week I'll email the LL without the electrician information.

Cisco001

greensalad wrote: »

They are LEDs. GU5.3 type. I have tried a brand at £2.50 a pop and £4 a pop. One by a brand called "Sebson" and the other a non-descript brand.

Should I be spending more? I can't think how much it would cost to replace them all over again with a £5 bulb each!

I've nudged the management company again for the diagnosis from the electrician and if they don't get back to me by the end of the week I'll email the LL without the electrician information.

GU5.3 type = MR16
You need to change the transformer to LED driver. MR16 halogen usually with 12V AC transformer, where cheap LED need 12V DC.

There are MR16 with retrofit which don't need changing transformer. I knew Philips is one of them and it is about £4 each

Edit: £20 for 5. Looks like these from screwfix are direct replacement of halogen bulb.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-mr16-led-lamp-gu5-3-346lm-5w-warm-white-pack-of-5/4698g#product_additional_details_container

elstimpo

greensalad wrote: »

Yes this is a weird one.

I live in a modern flat which has those fancy spotlights bloody everywhere. In the kitchen (including under the cupboards, bathroom and ensuite.

When we moved in they were all fine but within a few months loads of them went out, so we purchased some more. I couldn't find them any cheaper online than £2 a pop. So we bought about 6 and replaced them.

Next month, a load more went. So we repeated and replaced them. You guessed it, a month later even more went including some of the original ones.

I let the management know that I thought there might be an issue with the wiring. Considering these are LED lights they shouldn't be going so quickly. They sent over an electrician who indeed said that the lighting was done "wrong" and that it was causing the bulbs to go. And it had also caused a couple of the sockets to go completely so even with a fresh bulb we have no lights in some places. I should have pressed him for more information but he said he would just relay to the management so I didn't think anything of it.

I didn't hear a peep so I spoke to the management again but that was weeks ago and not heard any response.

Meanwhile, since the beginning of our tenancy about 14 months ago we've replaced all 32 light bulbs 3 times over and then some. That's about 100 bulbs and over £200 spent on bulbs in just over a year.

What can I do? Am I crazy for thinking this is unreasonable and something needs to be done?

If you are buying LED Spots for £2 a pop then i'm staggered they lasted as long as they did.

Cheap LED's are a complete and utter waste of time, they contain cheap internal components that get incredibly hot due to lack of thermal management and a capacitor that can't cope with the generated heat.

elstimpo

greensalad wrote: »

They are LEDs. GU5.3 type. I have tried a brand at £2.50 a pop and £4 a pop. One by a brand called "Sebson" and the other a non-descript brand.

Should I be spending more? I can't think how much it would cost to replace them all over again with a £5 bulb each!

I've nudged the management company again for the diagnosis from the electrician and if they don't get back to me by the end of the week I'll email the LL without the electrician information.

GU5.3 (commonly know as MR16) will probably require a specialist LED transformer to be fitted to the circuit for each and every fitting. This is to transform the power of the circuit, designed for high wattage halogens, down to the level a low wattage LED needs. If you don't do this the LED's are going to be put under serious stress and fail.

elstimpo

greensalad wrote: »

I'm replacing them with LED ones, that say they last 20 years!

It's incredibly doubtful even a seriously high quality and expensive LED Spot will last 20 years. Nothing to do with the LED Chip (although brightness will be considerably down) but the life expectancy of the other internal components in the power supply.

Some companies are spouting absolute nonsense about LED's, they really are.

sniggings

elstimpo wrote: »

GU5.3 (commonly know as MR16) will probably require a specialist LED transformer to be fitted to the circuit for each and every fitting. This is to transform the power of the circuit, designed for high wattage halogens, down to the level a low wattage LED needs. If you don't do this the LED's are going to be put under serious stress and fail.

Agree, I've got mr16s and the only LED that will work in the fitting are philips master LED, others just last a few minutes/hours.

as said it's most likely the transforms that needs changing for your LEDs to work or swap the transforms or give the philips master LEDs a go as they are designed to work with halogen transformers, the LEDs are expensive tho at around £15 for 1.