Switching to LED/smart bulbs

[DoinItForTheKids]

Hi all

I have a house that's say 7-9 years old so pretty up to date electrics and modern consumer unit.

I've got some rooms with halogen spots and others just with standard ceiling light fittings (some the fittings for those old style Ikea energy saving bulbs). I want to swap to LED throughout, and I also want some element of either smart lighting / remotely controllable lighting (whether by smart bulb or Alexa) / or motion-activated lighting.

So I guess my questions are in sections:

Swapping to LED

1. I know with halogen spots you have to also fit a transformer don't you, does this just go as standard for any light fitting where you'd want to use LEDs ie does this apply to non spotlight lights too?
2. How does an electrician go about this - do they have to chop through the ceiling to do it and if so how much mess does it make, do floors have to be taken up, that sort of thing?
3. Or, does the electrician have to fit a transformer above every single individual light fitting and chop out the ceiling on every one - or can they do it to the entire house or to a whole lighting circuit at a time somehow?

Moving to smart bulbs

1. If you have a light fitting that has 6 bulbs say, if you fitted one smart LED, would that control that whole of that light fitting ie would it control the non-LED bulbs as well, or only that one single smart bulb?! (I'm so sorry, this is the most dumb question ever but I feel I might already be making assumptions - wrong ones - because I don't really know the facts!).

Dealing with problem areas/usage problems
Aside from the obvious of being able to turn lamps/ceiling lights on and off by voice through Alexa, there's some 'problem areas' that I'd be really grateful to receive advice on of the best approach and what type of technology/approach to take.

5a. A very dark entrance hallway and two sets of stairs - ideally you'd have motion-activated because it's so utterly gloomy you risk falling and breaking your neck and it's horrible dark when you go into the hallway - not very welcoming for guests or even for me when I walk back into the house at the end of a working day. I don't know if this though is so much of a need for smart lighting here, more motion activated? It would be useful to have motion-activated in the kitchen as well to be honest as that one is a double-whammy one as it bleeds into the issue set out in 5b below - ie one of the lights my daughter leaves on all the bleedin' time!

5b. Darling daughter leaves the landing and first floor bathroom lights on all. the. time. She's got her own Alexa (Echo Dot) so I'm thinking smart (not motion-activated) bulb in the family bathroom (this smart Alexa spot version looks possible www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0753SGM5Y/?psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it&coliid=IU32GH800M7J1&tag=mumsnetforum-21&colid=2F17LV48U1S3K and is wet area rated) and on the landing a standard LED light bulb - then she can return to her room (just off the landing (all of 4 feet away...)) and once safely in there, tell Alexa to turn off the landing light and turn off the bathroom light.

Phew! If you've not lost the will to live, I'd be very grateful to hear your thoughts and advice, especially direct experience.

For ordinary lightbulbs, you don't need a transformer, the control is built into the lamp.

this sort of thing

You can get little LEDs that need a transformer, but I wouldn't. Change over to miniature LEDs with an SES fitting if you need small ones. It will be cheaper and less complicated. IMO Halogens are so much worse that they will soon disappear from the market.

LEDs last longer, use less electricity, don't get so hot, and don't need transformers.

Here's a variety:
Wickes

Wilko

you can get whimsical novelties such as colour-changing and dimmables. IMO the technology is changing fast enough that any fancy remote control you buy will soon be obsolete. If you buy dimmers, the type of dimmer and the type of bulb have to match.

p.s.

Hallway
LEDs are incredibly cheap to run. A 5W will run for 200 hours on 15p worth of electricity. Consider either bulbs with their own photocell, or light switches that come on when it gets dark and stay on either for xx hours or until daylight. I keep the stairs and porch illuminated during hours of darkness.

Naughty daughter
Who cares if she wastes 1.5p?

What you spend on geewhiz tech will exceed the cost of running the lightbulb.

1. You can buy LED bulbs that directly replace existing halogens (and so still need the transformer) or ones that don't. Don't mix them up, straight mains will kill a bulb that expects a transformer.

2/3 If you want to change out your existing transformer-fed sockets to mains they'd need refitting/replacing, yes.

1. A smart bulb will only change itself. It's just a self-contained wifi-controlled light. If you have a 6 bulb light fitting you'd need six controllable bulbs. Also almost all smart bulbs are mains.

5a. Sure, put in a motion activated bulb. You only need one in each area - you can swap out a single kitchen light, for example.

5b. If she leaves the lights on, motion activated is better than remote controlled. It's not like she's likely to remember to "Alexa, turn off the hall light. Alexa, turn off the bathroom light" either! Not to mention the annoyance of having lights turned off by someone in another room, perhaps unwittingly (or perhaps maliciously).

Yes indeed pigletjohn I won't give a jot if DD leaves the lights on all night (although even so, I still would prefer them to be off if no one's walking down the stairs or in that room!!) but, at the moment I've got 5 x halogens in the kitchen and 5 x halogens in the bathroom, on all bl**dy night half the time!

So with the SES LED spots, will that fit into the existing halogen light fittings - sorry I'm not sure if it's the same fitting on the end as fits into a GU10?

SpoonBlender how do I know I'm buying (or, umm might have actually already brought) the ones that would need a transformer - can I tell from what it says on the packet and what would I be looking for??

Your answer re 2/3 has saddened me (lol!) as this would be fine in my bedroom where there's a loft hatch and presumably the poor electrician could scrabble around in there getting covered in fibreglass and change out the transformers so SES spots can go in instead, but for the kitchen there's a bedroom and the bathroom on the top of the kitchen ceiling and in the kitchen there's the bathroom/my daughter's bedroom on top of that. Is it holes in ceiling or holes in floors??

5a SpoonBlender, so in my example 6 bulb ceiling light in say the hallway, with one motion-activated bulb and 5 regular, only the one bulb would come on, so I'd need six of these?? I've purchased a ceiling light with more bulbs and a different shape and design in order to spread the light over a greater area (it's a more open light fitting) but also to substantially increase the brightness because the hallway is like being in a cave.

5b SpoonBlender it's not a case of not remembering, she's 16 and scared of the dark (seriously). She shoots back into her room omitting turning off lights so she doesn't get any darkness around her! But nevertheless I'm still happy with the idea of motion sensor LEDs. Maybe in her room she could have Alexa-capable bulbs then we could set them to a schedule so they were never left on all day during the day when I'm at work and she's at school!

Any ideas on sources of motion-sensor or darkness-sensor regular 1. LED light bulbs 2. transformer compatible LED spots because we'd need all lights on this floor to be ones which turn themselves off (I would rather they turned themselves off as to be honest, if I can see the lights on and the light coming through my bedroom door from the floor below, it just keeps me awake. I know it won't matter cost-wise but for my own sleep, I do want the lights off when not in use really. Preferably not 'ugly' LEDs but I'd be interested to know where to look and exactly what I should be using to search for for these types of bulb.

Thanks very much indeed.

SES (E14) is small Edison screw. It's about the size of your fingertip. Often uses cooker hood lights and some miniature spotlights. I think fridge lamps and oven lamps use it.

ES (E27) is Edison Screw. About an inch across. It's the common European size.
American ones (E26) are not quite the same size as European.

BC (B22) is bayonet cap most common in UK. There is an SBC but you seldom see it.

Then there are a wide variety of miniature ones, mostly used for tiny halogens. IMO these will fall into disuse as LEDs take over the market.

Some bases are of European origin and quite sensible. GU4 is 4mm spacing, GU9 is 9mm spacing.

Some lamps are sized in American and the logic is really funny. An MR16 is not a lampholder size, it means a Mutifaceted Reflector Lamp two inches across (because it's 16 eights-of-an-inch). Widely used in shop display lights.

The bulbs suitable for mains voltage and those suitable transformer powered are physically different, so if it fits you're okay. (I am 99% sure there's no idiotic overlap!)

5a Yes, only one would come on. Also, for a ceiling lamp you'd need all of them to be motion controlled else the other five will be always on - you need it switched on else the motion controlled one won't be powered. If you swap it for a ceiling light with its own motion detector it would turn all of them on.

5b Ah! Poor girl. Is it worth a bit of therapy? I'd be happier putting £150 into getting her off the dark aversion than into fancy light bulbs...

I've only looked at Alexa-connectable lamps, Philips Hue and the Hive ones (we already have Hive), but last week was the time to buy those. More sales after Xmas probably.

I didn't think all halogens used a transformer. Depends if they're 12V or 240V doesn't it?

In my house they had individual transformers for each spotlight so we just took the transformers out. Dead simple to do and cheap. I'd recommend you get an electrician to make sure though.

yes, lamps that look the same can be different voltages.

230v

230v

low voltage (electricians will quibble over the meaning of this term

not stated in the listing FFS

Argh! That's fucking awful John. Thanks for putting me straight