1W LED lights replace 50W halogen ones

Cardew

scottyf wrote: »

seems false economy to me,but if it makes you feel better

Well said!

On a money saving website, I am amazed at how much people will spend on devices to 'save' small sums.

A good example is people paying £30+ for devices to switch of their TV power remotely to save standby costs.

£30 invested produces £1.50pa in interest, and I doubt many TVs will use that amount of electricity on standby in a year even if left on standby all the time.

ChumpusRex

Cardew wrote: »

You surely mean 50W?

500W is a heater!

Indeed it is. However, floor standing halogen uplighters really are 300W (usually) or 500W for the brighter ones.

I know, I have one - but don't use it much.

I do also have an energy efficient version - but it's not particularly practical. It's a 150 W metal halide HID, an industrial floodlight essentially, which I've modified into an uplighter. It was expensive, considering I bought it as non-working off ebay, and had to fix it up. Not only that, but the bulbs are £15 a pop (although as I was feeling flush at the time, I bought a £30 daylight simulation one) - they are supposed to last 10,000 hours though, so I suppose it isn't that bad.

That said, it is very energy efficient - better efficiency than normal compact fluorescent lights, which means it's crazy bright - probably equivalent to 800W of halogen. Essentially, a large proportion of my living room ceiling is lit up as bright as one of those SAD light therapy boxes.

It's not ideal though. It takes 5 minutes to warm up, and produces no useful light for the first minute. It takes 10 minutes to cool down after it's switched off, and it can't be switched back on again until it's fully cooled. It flickers slightly too, like a fluorescent tube, so it isn't ideal for reading.

CapnJack

I have 7 GU10 LED lamps in my bathroom - after trying out a few different ones I choose the 60 LED daylight white version. I cannot fault them in any way, ample light, no roasting of the ceiling, negligable power consumption and they look good!

Pincher

I don't think LEDs are quite there yet for main lighting.
Even the 80cm LED striplights with lots of LEDs are barely enough to replace a 100W incandescent. For localised areas, they are great.

Andy_WSM

I've got 12 GU10's in my living room and have replaced them with 3W Warm White LED bulbs. The main reason wasn't for the cost saving, but to keep the heat down in the Summer! 600W of light overhead was rather warm!

The 3W LED bulbs are not as bright, equivalent to about 30W I'd guess, but with 12 of them, the combined output is sufficient.

Sye_2

3W High spot LED GU10 lamps = 35W Halogen GU10
5W High spot LED GU10 lamps = 42W Halogen GU10
7W High spot LED GU10 lamps = 50W Halogen GU10

Some LED lamps are rated by consumption which doesn't help really whilst others are rated on output.

A 4W LED is in fact a 3W output if you see what I mean?

MR 16LED lamps are very similar too.

Definately worth considering if you have a lot of them in a room that is used a lot.

Here is a quick calculator for those considering the switch.

Calculations assume 3hrs per day usage. Cost of electricity calculated at 7.84p KW

Total savings are based on the average lifetime of the lamp.

Lamp Type Watts Annual Cost Replacement Watts Annual Cost Annual Savings Total Savings
GU10 50 £4.29 GU10 LED 5 £0.41 £3.88 £58.20
MR16 50 £4.29 MR16 LED 5 £0.41 £3.88 £58.20

These figures take no account of replacement lamps. For example, one 5W LED will last as long as 30 x 50W GU10 so you would need to add this cost too.