long lasting LED lightbulbs

[HamblesHandbag]

I HATE bloody halogen spot light bulbs. They last about 3 weeks meaning out of 12 in our bathroom/kitchen etc we very quickly get down to having minimal lighting before I nag someone tall to change them

Whilst planning a new bathroom, the chap said we could have some light bulbs that last a guaranteed SEVEN YEARS!! this absolutely delights me

The bathroom chap was talking as if we would need to rip out the old halogen spot fittings and replace them, but then a quick google brought me these LED light bulbs.

So can I just replace all our existing halogen spots with these LEDs? or do they need completely different fittings?

I believe that some (more modern) light fittings can take either LED or halogen, so if you have these, you can just replace the bulbs.

however if your light fittings are older, chances are they can't support LED bulbs, hence the need for new fittings.

best to ask an electrician though (or look up the details of your existing light fittings, if you still have the details)

ah thanks minipie.

We've only been here 8 months, so all the fittings are inherited from previous owners. The fittings on the end of the LED light bulbs look the same as the halogen ones, but I wonder if they could overheat or anything - i'm slightly paranoid about fire risks. I'll ask the bathroom fitters when they start in a couple of weeks.

The ones I've seen so far will sort of fit, but they're deeper than the old halogen fitting and so stick out below it. We've just had new LED light fittings put in the holes which previously had mains halogen lamps. Not cheap at £36 each but they have a 10 year guarantee and I have 9 of them lighting a utility room for less than 80W. Incredibly bright light, it's like an operating theatre out there.

The LED ones are very expensive and not very powerful, they are likely to get cheaper and better in time

You can get CFL spots that will last a lot longer than your halogens.

You need to identify the cap on your old lamps (BC, ES, SBC, SES or a plug type) and start by buying one new lamp to make sure it will fit in the refector (if any)

If you have 12 lamps in a room, then obviously you will be replacing twelve times as often as if you have one. Spotlights are intended for shining a bright light in a single small area, and are fundamentally not very good at illuminating a room. They are quite good as ornaments, if you like that sort of thing.

Piglet, not sure I agree about 'not very powerful' - ours are giving a better light than the mains halogens they replaced, in a 4m x 4m room. I do agree that the first ones to the market were a bit pointless though.

I've known people illuminate a 12-ft-square room with single 100W lightbulb. So if you're using 9 LEDs in yours, at a total cost of £324, I would hesitate to follow your lead.

I would hope that, for the money you spent, you're getting plenty of light.

Yes, they were expensive. I wanted to try them out so I could test them out for other properties. And in our utility room, a 100W lamp isn't going to cut it. And I won't have to buy a light bulb for 10 years.

Fittings cost will come down as they become more common. I'm paying for being an early adopter and I'm fine with that.

PS Hambles sorry for hijacking!

PigletJohn is right single bulbs can light a room and expense wise that's one way to look at it but lighting in homes is rarely just about quantity of light it's quality of light. Sparkly halogens (and replacement LEDs ) give a different quality of light and can be useful and attractive in some situations.
I was dubious about the LED halogen replacements at first but we've now replaced all the ones in our kitchen and bathroom and the quality is fine and actually they look really good don't tell DH I said that There are different 'colours' of White and we've found the warmer white ones give a more like to like replacement with traditional halogens. How easy it is to replace them depends on what fittings you have.
If they are GU10's you can just buy new bulbs as and when you need them (this is how we did it until they were all gradually replaced) they aren't hugely expensive if you buy them on line you can get low powered ones for about £4-5 higher rated ones for £12-15.
Some other fittings you can also just do direct replacement. However if you have an external transformer on your lights you may need an adapter to allow you to use LEDs.

We have found LEDs a bit hit and miss. Like wonkylegs we just replace when one of the halogens goes -one a week it seems otherwise it is a false economy, but I think it is worth buying one or two at a time from different shops and finding out what you like best

My husband likes the white lights but I hate them (too clinical) so we mostly have a softer white/yellow ones. The light range is different on different bulbs too so we have a couple of dark spots where the lights don't properly illuminate the kitchen, which we never had with the halogens so these will get moved elsewhere and replaced in time.

We have GU10 fittings and some bulbs fit well and some seem a bit loose but still safe enough.

So far we have bulbs from B&Q, Homebase and Screwfix direct

We think once we have replaced all the ones in our kitchen 10 bulbs our hourly bill will go from about 7p per hour to 1-2p.

I'm just looking at the two dead LED halogen replacements, that have lasted a couple of months before dying. I'm quite relieved as the blue light from them was horrid. I believe you can get warmer ones, but they do not last anything like as long as claimed. They are a false economy. I can't wait to get rid of all the halogen spot fittings in my house.

TrixyMalixy - sounds like you got some duds there, the ones in our bathroom have been in 3yrs nearly four years now and are still going fine, they are on everyday. Kitchen - oldest one's about 3.5yrs now all going fine

im not convinced by led yet. my boss buys them direct from China. we have tried a few suppliers and they have all been crap so far - not lasting very long. It's either the bulbs or the electricians/wiring....

We had a toilet light refitted with an integral LED spotlight. Turns out they used a "narrow angle" one (ask for wode angle!!!) and so now it is nicknamed the Mastermind Toilet and guests are asked to hum the theme tune when they enter the facility. All we need now is a plaque on the wall saying "I've started so I'll finish"....

As for the "replacement" halogen bulbs that slot into your existing fittings, beware!... The low v

We have warm white Philips LED bulbs in our kitchen spotlights and I'm very pleased with them. Reasonable angle, light is nice and not harsh and all 6 are still going fine (3 years old).

We had a toilet light refitted with an integral LED spotlight. Turns out they used a "narrow angle" one (ask for wode angle!!!) and so now it is nicknamed the Mastermind Toilet and guests are asked to hum the theme tune when they enter the facility. All we need now is a plaque on the wall saying "I've started so I'll finish"....

As for the "replacement" halogen bulbs that slot into your existing fittings, beware!... The low voltage LED ones don't always work with your fittings. It's gutting to spend £50 on bulbs and find they don't actually turn on in your fittings (you can get an electrician to replace the transformers with special LED drivers but that costs £15 a fitting....

Lastly, if you have a DAB radio beware!! The LED bulbs often cause interference and you lose your digital signal...I have no idea why!....

I am replacing my kitchen spotlights with LED lights and have so far been very pleased, the old type would 'blow' really frequently and although the new ones are very expensive, none have blown yet. I can't tell any difference with the actual 'light' probably because I am getting on in years and my eyesight is so terrible anyway .

The cost is shocking though, however I must have spent a fortune in replacement bulbs before so hope it evens out.

whats the verdict then?
we need 44 bulbs for down lights, didnt even really consider the leds until where we got the down lights mentioned about the energy saving.
We know the light will be ok due to how many we are having in each room.
all in all is it worth the extra outlay to start for what you will save in electric?

We swopped all of ours last year - we have about 15 in the kitchen x 50w so we bit the bullet and swopped them purely for the money savings. We did his last summer and as yet none have blown, which pleases dh as he was constantly changing them.

44 bulbs

what wattage per bulb are you planning, if not LED, and how much will each cost?

what wattage per bulb are you planning, if they are LED, and how much will each cost?

44 = whole house - not super large silly size extension :)
Halogen bulbs 50w dimmable = £ 30
leds same as above 6w = £180 - £250

44 bulbs @ 50w is 2.2kw, costing about 30p per hour if all on

44 @ 6W is 0.26kw, costing about 3.7p per hour

Difference of 26p ish per hour

so your £200 or so extra lamp cost would be recovered in 770 hours of constant use, all lamps on. or, at 5hrs per day, in 154 days

We will try not to think about the comparative cost of buying and using CFLs, which would have been much cheaper. The idea of spending 30p per hour on lighting alone horrifies me. If I turned on every light in my house (all CFLs) it would cost me less than 5p per hour (17 lamps, incl kitchen spots, av. 18W each, 0.3kW), and it is not a small house.

Totally agree - in winter it could be costing you £2 a day just to light the house :-(

And halogen bulbs don't last long at all, dh was constantly changing them, they blew really easily. We are really happy with the led lights.

Our new kitchen lights had halogen spots in but the heat generated was burning my tall dh's head. I saw some led spot bulbs on offer in aldi about £3 each so I replaced them all, no problem, same fitting and now a happy dh.
Not sure if aldi still have them, it was about a month or so ago