| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Jb |
Anyone using LED lighting at home?And do the bulbs really cost that much ?
Just looked for some LED alternatives for some spotlights. RS sell some; only 5W but still put out 400 lumens but they cost £30 a piece! for a bulb!
|
||||
| RichardW |
1w ones are about £3 | ||||
| judith |
I'm testing a couple ATM.
And they do last for 40,000 hours (apparently). I quite like the idea of never having to change a bulb. And you can't argue with 4 W, now can you. You can get 3 W ones for £8.99, but I don't think they're good enough for kitchen spots IMO. (I think the 5W ones are available for £24.99, but I will check that tomorrow morning). |
||||
| quixoticgeek |
Yes,
I have various types to experiment with, I got mine from http://dotlight.de/ I went for various ones including some GU10 and some MR16 fittings. They work quite well, and don't seem that unaffordable in the grand scheme of things. I keep pondering replacing all my lights with them, but I have about 5 years life left in most of the bulbs in my flat, and as they cost me 6 quid each back then... for a low energy flourescent R80 bulb. Do note there are warm white and white colours, the white is a very harsh cold almost blue white, the warm white can be abit to yellow tho. It depends alot on the bulb. I tend to mix the two. I also have a pair of MR16 bulbs that I intend to form into an outdoor battery powered lamp for use when camping. Hope this helps. J |
||||
| judith |
Yes, I haven't quite sorted out the balance. The ones I'm trying out ATM are the white ones. I think, on the whole I prefer the warm white, although a mix of the two might be best. They also don't quite have the spread of the old GU10s that are also being tested, although the wattage is so much lower that it might be worth while simply using more. |
||||
| James |
I've got LED GU10's in our small attic room as the main source of light. They offer a small but adequate amount of localised light which my OH doesn't like (too cold). But for a room that is only used occasionally without the need for high light levels (like a kitchen) or lighting designed to relax (like a sitting room or bedroom), they're OK (imo).
Having said that, my OH has made the argument that if we're not often using the room, what saving are we really making by having them? Could we not use standard compact florescent GU10's and have a much better lighting without increasing our energy use much. If you keep an eye out, you can find cheap LED's. I got ours on special offer- I think they were 5 for a fiver at B&Q. |
||||
| Jb |
All the cheap LEDs I've seen so far are both low light output (perhaps 20W equivalent if you're lucky, i.e. down around the 50 lumen region) and quite frequently in very bulky packages which makes them unusable to replace halogen spots. | ||||
| ros |
see this thread :
http://forum.downsizer.net/viewtopic.php?t=45548&highlight= TLC do the ones you are looking at cheaper than RS, we're happy with the 6 in our kitchen - guess it depends on room size, other lighting etc etc |
||||
| Jb |
Which are a better physical size but based on their quoted output (175 lumen) there's no way they are equivalent to a 45W halogen (the 35W halogens I currently use are over 400 lumen, even the 20W I use in low light level areas put out about 250. |
||||
| James |
I may be wrong, but I dont think there are any LED GU10's that are equivilent to a 45 W halogen. | ||||
| ros |
I see what you mean about the quoted lumen output -
but the halogens we replaced said that they were 50W - but they weren't really that much brighter than the LEDs-- is it possible that cheap halogens are not that bright and so that's what I was used to ? they certainly didn't last very long. still saying that the 6 LEDs we have are perfectly adequate for our small kitchen - with LED under counter as well for occasional use ( in fact the under cupboard ones are all I use in the evening to make tea or whatever ) and I can recomend having non-heat producing lights under the cupboards over where one sits with a laptop or makes pastry 
|
||||
| Jb |
Actually that's one of my main reasons for looking at these. The drop in power consumption would be so negligible as to barely be worth the effort (if I use 1200 litres of oil in a year to heat the house is changing a few bulbs really going to make a significant difference? No) but to replace some of the ceiling spots with very low energy and thus very low heat units could make a difference, after all if I turn on all the spots in the bathroom I'm effectively pumping 200W of heating straight into the loft. If an LED bulb is that low a power is it realistic to put insulation over the top of it? At present I have little islands of no insulation around each light where they are connected in the loft. |
||||
| kevin.vinke |
I´ve just got some combination low energy led bulbs for the hallway stairwell.
We used to keep the hall light on (low energy bulb) for the kids. The new bulbs work like this: switch on and the led scome on(0.3w) which gives enough light for a night light. Switch off and on again and the low energy comes on. Works very well. |
||||
| ros |
1200L - at least it's cheaper this year than last ! luckily our 70s box only gets through 750-900 yr depending on how frugal/cold I'm feeling
I'm sure I saw something about being able to insulate over them - but I can't find it now - will keep looking. Would not having the heat producing lights in the bathroom mean you needed more heating in there to compensate?? |
||||
| Jb |
No. As heat rises and they're ceiling spots they're just heating the loft. Also the argument that 'it's not waste heat, it heats my house' is flawed. It's only true for some people over winter but in most cases the waste heat from light is in the wrong place or almost immediately lost through open windows or available at the wrong time |
||||
| 12Bore |
Just spotted this
http://www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20091001.p.Energy-saving_Downlighters.ar7 |
||||
| Jb |
Good price, but if it's from Lidl I'd avoid it like the plague. Everything I have ever bought from Lidl has been turned out to be substandard tat. | ||||
| Helen_A |
I can't speak for those but the LED working light that DP bought from Lidl 3 years ago is still going strong in spite of hefty use, is as bright as the 'standard' one he had that cost twice as much, and uses 50W as opposed to 1000W
We've got LED lighting in the bathroom and on the landing, a collection of lamps (battery powered or mains, av. 2W a go), and are moving over bulb by bulb as the various CFLs etc go pop (which isn't often other than in DS1s room as he keeps thwocking the ruddy light with toys 'learning to fly'  )
|
||||
| jema |
Without quoted luminosity figures I'm not playing, being burnt too much buying useless LED lights. |
||||
| arvo |
Also on a safety note beware insulating anything thats not an LED even those cute GU10 halogen bulbs create a lot of heat and it's meant to dissipate : into your loft or wherever. You don't really want heat building up in your ceiling cavity with all that nasty wood and cable to get warm. |