Hi

 

This is probably a simple question if there are any electricians on here-

 

My kitchen light fitting has four R39 spotlight bulbs in it, all rated 30W and they are mains voltage, nothing fancy with transformers or anything. I was looking for a replacement as one has blown and found that there are new, low energy bulbs available that are LEDs and rated between 3 and 4 Watts.

 

My question is - can I replace the standard bulbs with the new ones one at a time when they blow or do I have to replace the whole set of four in one go? If the latter then I'll probably just keep replacing them with the standard bulbs because of the outlay (I can get four conventional bulbs for the price of one LED equivalent.)

 

Thanks

Wattage is just a measure of the amount of power that the product consumes. Voltage must be the same (or within the tolerances). Osram & Phillips make the best and most reliable on the market........well they have been around a lot longer!!! I have Osram & Phillips LED bulbs in standard bulb shape in bayonet and screw and very good.......................

 

Tesco a month back were doing 3 for 2 on Philips LED bulbs!!!!! normally £14.90 each!!!     

 

I got 12................

Try ikea.  They do cheap LED bulbs, I assume they subsidise the costs.  I have quite a few of various types, not sure if they do R39 ones, but worth a look.

I get MY LED bulbs here................ http://www.ledhut.co.uk :yes:

 

Got good service from them.

Oh, ok thanks to all of you then. I'll get one and replace the other 3 when they go. They're claimed to last longer so the cost difference should even out long term. I was just worried that if I put one in I'd end up with something daft happening like the old three drawing all the current and the new one not working or the other way round because they weren't a balanced set. :think:

What you will find is that they'll have different colour temperatures so will look 'odd' when mixed.

Bite the bullet and get a matching set of new ones - after all, the more you use them, the faster they'll pay for themselves.

I recently replaced my white triple spot fixture in the kitchen. Was a 3x60W R63 spot. (Had accumulated dust and "yellow" over the previous 15 years).

 

The new one cost £24 from TLC direct and came with 4x50W halogen GU10s. Which I've replaced with rather brighter LEDs.

 

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/GB5739dash4S.html

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230809182924?var=530143641584&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

(27SMDs wide angle (120 degree), day white, 5050 emitters).

 

J.

What you will find is that they'll have different colour temperatures so will look 'odd' when mixed.

Bite the bullet and get a matching set of new ones - after all, the more you use them, the faster they'll pay for themselves.

Odd's not going to look that out of place in our house. You're right though, they should all be replaced.

 

Thanks everyone for your help. Will get some ordered.

I have all LED lights downstairs in my house, upstairs is awaiting redecoration. It's saved a lot of wattage on the lighting and the bulbs weren't more than a few quid each. Just it's important to get them all in warm white,otherwise they look crap and strain your eyes. Th only downside I see is if you look hard you can see them flickering, but that may just be a case of cheap bulbs.

I replaced my GU10 halogen bulbs in the kitchen(they gave a precise spot light, shadowy and blew often) with wide angle led bulbs. They are a huge improvement creating a much wider uniform spread of light. So far cannot see any drawbacks.

My 50W GU10 fitment lamps blew all the time and cost a fair bit to run as it was a total of 200W.

Initially I tried some "Robus" gu10 led replacements 7 or 10w I think but they failed fairly quickly so gave up and returned under warranty.

Then replaced some 12 months ago with some (expensive) Phillips 7W GU10 LED's

Awesome and I much prefer the whiter light and they are pennies to run with 50,000hrs life which will be approx 22 years for me based on my current useage

And if I move house they will all be coming with me! I will fit some cheap 50W GU10's again, LED's all the way.

Edited 14 December, 201312 yr by Defenderben

I have all LED lights downstairs in my house, upstairs is awaiting redecoration. It's saved a lot of wattage on the lighting and the bulbs weren't more than a few quid each. Just it's important to get them all in warm white,otherwise they look crap and strain your eyes. Th only downside I see is if you look hard you can see them flickering, but that may just be a case of cheap bulbs.

May well be as you say "cheap" lamp units. No flicker on my rather expensive but reliable Phillips units.

I have all LED lights downstairs in my house, upstairs is awaiting redecoration. It's saved a lot of wattage on the lighting and the bulbs weren't more than a few quid each. Just it's important to get them all in warm white,otherwise they look crap and strain your eyes. Th only downside I see is if you look hard you can see them flickering, but that may just be a case of cheap bulbs.

 

Advice seems to be bathroom and kitchen can be cool white, bedrooms can be warm white. Though personal preference and medical (eye issues/SAD/age) can mean more cool white/day white is a better option.

Maybe it's just me, but I hate cool white light. Unless it is natural, it doesn't look natural

To clarify the flicker, it's not really flickering, just if you wave your hand you can see the strobe effect as they're cycling at 50hz.

Phillips are the best for GU10 and go for LED every time.

 

I've got a kitchen that had 50W Halogens, then went down to 35W halogens.

It's now got 3W LED in there and the brightness is the same as with the 35W halogens.

 

If you don't have a cooker hob light etc, then it can sometimes be worth keeping a halogen in the food prep area, but to be honest, I've not found it an issue.

I've got two sets of GU10 all 50 W. Saw some low wattage ( think it was 3w LED) cheap so tried one ,then another in the same set.  more. Last week we went back to 50w in one set- the light output was not enough and to save on the LED ones ,we had to switch on the under unit lights to make a work surface lit & safe to work on . I'm not very impressed by the electronic lights .I've used a suppossedly 100w equivalent in place of a 60 W filament, and the 100 was nowhere near as bright .

I had over 70 50w halogen spots in my house (mr16 and gu10's) and I've slowly been replacing them with LED lamps and compliant drivers in the case of the 12v MR16's. Without doubt the best have been either the latest Philips or the Sylvania's (personally prefer the latter in the 7w version). I found the cheaper led ones either flickered slightly or just didn't have the lumens output to realistically replace the 50w halogens. Colour temperatures also varied slightly between batches of the cheaper ones.

I had over 70 50w halogen spots in my house . . . .

Blimey, I bet your house could have been seen from the space station 

When I first ventured into LED lamps I bought daylight GU10 replacements from Mygreenlighting, they were £12 each. Very good light

output and are ideal in our kitchen. I recently changed 6 GU10's in the bathroom for 4W LED's from Ikea that were £4 each, warm white coulour, which I probably wouldn't have used in the kitchen, but they are certainly bright enough to replace 50W GU10 halogens.

I had over 70 50w halogen spots in my house (mr16 and gu10's) and I've slowly been replacing them with LED lamps and compliant drivers in the case of the 12v MR16's. Without doubt the best have been either the latest Philips or the Sylvania's (personally prefer the latter in the 7w version). I found the cheaper led ones either flickered slightly or just didn't have the lumens output to realistically replace the 50w halogens. Colour temperatures also varied slightly between batches of the cheaper ones.

 

Yes, I quickly discovered the folly of replacing MR16s with LED equivalent lamps, flickered until replaced AC>AC transformer with AC>DC line driver!

Have replaced two of the R39 spots with LED equivalents and so far am pleased with them. Brighter than the two remaining conventional bulbs and no noticeable flicker.

A lot of the recommended sites didn't have R39s in stock so they were from an ebay seller. No branding on bulb or packaging so can't say to anybody "go out and get this type". 3W though is brighter than the old 30W but a much whiter light, fine for a kitchen.