Halogen/LED spot light bulbs

[AuditAngel]

We currently have 100 spot lights spread throughout our house. When they were installed we were told Halogen was the way to go.

Clearly, since then, technology has moved on. We are finding it increasingly hard to source the halogen bulbs, and they do not last very long.

We tried installing LED bulbs into the fittings we have, but my husband said they were flickering.

Do we need to get the electrician back to change all 100 fittings over to LED suitable ones (I think transformers may be required)? Or, is there a kind of KED bulb we can put into the existing fittings? Or, is there a simple to install kit that I could fit myself?

After paying so much last time, I begrudge paying again. I would be happy if I could do it myself a room at a time, to spread the cost, but I'm not gifted at DIY, it would need to be idiot proof, and able to do it through the holes in the ceiling.

Thanks for any help

They are probably mr16 bulbs with a transformer if they're flickering. You need to get the transformer removed and change it to a gu10 fitting. The fittings are cheap and it's pretty easy.

Kitchenlights we do currently have MR16 bulbs, but I wasn't aware that they have transformers. I know the GU10 fittings are the ones with a bobble on the ends, whereas what we have (MR16) are just prongs/pins.

I have seen LED MR16 bulbs, are these not compatible?

You say pretty easy? I'm an accountant, reasonably good at following simple instructions. Will the transformers be easy to remove through the ceiling holes?

How much energy would I be saving with all the bulbs swapped over? Just trying to see what the period for recovering the cost of changing the fittings would be.

Thanks for the information

The transformers are hidden up in the ceiling. If you take out the fitting and pull the cable you can see it. There are tutorials on YouTube, you can do each one in 2 minutes once you’re good at it but I’d buy a wire stripper first. You might have one transformer per room if they’re not behind each fitting.

LED mr16 bulbs are varyingly ok but it’s trial and error and can get expensive. Gu10 are a more standard sort now anyway. Even our non flickering mr16s always looked a bit funny.

Look you can do all of them for £41 https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F192308451467 and however much gin you need to get you through it.

The halogen are 50w and led are 5w so it’s a crazy amount of difference. Turning our kitchen lights on used to be like running a hairdryer or two microwaves