LED bulbs for home use

[Chris GB]

Sounds like IKEA have dropped their price to compete with the Sainsburys bulbs / lamps / diodes / junctions.

[Gizmo]

Got an outside security light with 500W halogen in - can this be converted to LED does anyone know?

 

I fitted some 100W security floodlights (similar to these but with just 1 LED inside each light) when the garden was landscaped, 1 on the rear would have been adequate though (rather than 2) 

 

[VWD]

Folks- hijack or no? Locally Asda have a ten pack of 350 Lumen LED consuming 5w for £27.

[cheezemonkhai]

Folks- hijack or no? Locally Asda have a ten pack of 350 Lumen LED consuming 5w for £27.

350Lumin in what bulb format?

 

350L for 5W is only 70 Lumen per Watt.

Most of the bulbs I have fall into the 90-100 Lumen per watt.

 

Bear in mind approx 800 Lumen is the real equivalent of a 60W incandescent warm white light bulb.

[gadgetman]

All our GU10's are LED except the bathroom until the holders are replaced with waterproof ones.

[VWD]

350Lumin in what bulb format?

 

350L for 5W is only 70 Lumen per Watt.

Most of the bulbs I have fall into the 90-100 Lumen per watt.

 

Bear in mind approx 800 Lumen is the real equivalent of a 60W incandescent warm white light bulb.

350Lumne in GU10. Pity about time of year, as I'd have had a pack normally, s my kitchen has 2 sets of 4 GU10 @50 W ea ,and ones I get from £1 shop are rated as 50w equiv (285Lumne), and match the original 50w ones for output.

[vindaloo]

I have "cheap" LEDs from China. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this approach for lighting the family home... But I was keen to experiment. I'm far from replacing all lights with these things. mainly due to the previous occupant installing dimmers everywhere. Most cheap LED GU10s etc are not dimmable.

 

Anyways, these are the ones (or similar to) I bought...

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Led-Bulb-4W-5W-6W-8W-GU10-MR16-5050-2835-SMD-Spotlight-Day-Warm-White-Lamp-UK-CE-/252065375950?var=&hash=item3ab04466ce:m:mDIbfKZtznDmDw3OGd5DRhg

6.5W GU10 spot (27 x 5050 SMD), wholly glass enclosed, especially where fingers and fluids etc could splash or otherwise make a mess. ISTR I got these from a UK seller. So far none have failed after 2+ years. These are wide angle (120 degrees) and quite impressive in the amount of light thrown.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3pcs-E27-15W-86-SMD-5050-LEDs-1500LM-Warm-White-LED-Corn-Light-Bulb-Lamp-/161898888503?hash=item25b1ecfd37:g:ZE0AAOSwp5JWVysa

Similar to mine except I have BC caps. I got two of these to try to replace 2x30W CFLs in the lounge.... In short, they didn't. The CFLs produce light in an area effect over the whole surface of the bulb, the LEDs as many bright but distinct point sources. Leads to interesting shadowing and blocking of more light by lamp shades and fittings. Also, these are not particularly "safe" IMO. PCBs and emitters are close to the surface. Any melt-down of the bulb might result in mains voltages crossing into the LT side of the bulb, mere millimetres away from fingers and the like. (I don't know this for certain, as I haven't torn down either of the bulbs, but it's an obvious concern).

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/E14-E27-B22-25-30W-LED-72-96-LED-5730-5630-SMD-Cover-Corn-Light-Lamp-Bulb-UKSY-/361340772452?var=&hash=item542196a064:m:mnI_3JeSqbovcx5bhNL6POA

Also got various sizes and styles of these things. Wholly encapsulated in non-conductive materials, so should be safer than the un-covered "CORN" type above. Of the two higher powered ones I bought, one had issues when mounted in a bathroom lamp or my bedside lamp, strips of the LEDs would flicker and eventually go out. Two smaller lamps are in my kitchen extractor hood though and are still working fine. The "dodgy" one is currently mounted in landing lamp though and seems to be fine there.

 

Overall, a mixed bag. I couldn't be happier with the GU10s, the rest have obvious drawbacks or maybe quality issues. Plus none of them can be dimmed.

 

ISTR the dimmer circuit in some bulbs is dependant on the AC voltages used. I've seen different bulbs offered for 110V or 220V regions.

 

J.

[Macdemon]

We have these in our bungalow.................. 

 

http://www.belkin.com/uk/F5Z0489-Belkin/p/P-F5Z0489/

 

GREAT and affordable, there are also bayonet bulbs available too.

 

Got three of these too.................. 

 

http://www.belkin.com/uk/F7C029-Belkin/p/P-F7C029/

 

[EricG]

We replaced all our spots in the hall living room kitchen and 2 of the bedrooms with 3w warm gu10's. Had them in for 2 years now only had to replace 1 bulb. No heat off them as far as I can tell. Replaced our 500w with a 40 w led flood out the back. Same light fraction of power used.

[cheezemonkhai]

Toolstation sell some nice LED bulbs that look like they have fillaments in them.

Sylvania make them too (Toolstation also sell these too) and they've very efficient.

[seboni121]

Ive just fitted some from flebay into cooker hoid much better light,its used as a kitchen light at times so stays on much longer than designed so overheated and had to change the bulb holder(melted) so the leds will run much cooler ,brighter and economically better

[FUBAR]

I got a pile of ones on ebay from China over a year ago and been fantastic so far, I ordered more than I needed to do entire house inc 3 outside lights. Along with other bits and pieces in a massive eco drive I got electricity bill down from average £67 a month to now £12. My mate works in a light fittings shop and he took some apart to compare to the ones they sell at £22 each and he was happy with them. There are meant to be some proper ropey ones out there though. 

[sigarland1987]

Currently our house is running a mixture of bulbs, but as the older halogen bulbs do start to die I am replacing them with LED's, I do like the like of the Phillips HUE lights and may look at a set for our lounge. 

[Hardcore]

I recently kitted out my full house with Asda own brand LED lights. 

They're pretty good and produce a nice warm white light with no glarel

[TheWanderer]

Try Amazon and search for: LOHAS Non Dimmable 6W A60 B22 LED Bulbs.

(Available in differing equivalent wattages 35, 40 & 60w and Bayonet & Screw fittings)

 

I bought some and they're very good.

Edited 19 February, 2016 by TheWanderer

[vindaloo]

Update: My third link - with the 5630 LEDs. The "dodgy" bulb that flickered has now failed partially, but most impressively. A number of the LEDs seem burnt or scorched, as is part of the surrounding PCB. Disassembling the lamp revealed some harvestable LED strip I may have a project.... But also a most incredible burnt electronics stench that still surrounds the remnants over a week later.

 

Edited 22 February, 2016 by vindaloo

[cheezemonkhai]

Some of the LED circuits in the ones you find sold on auction sites etc are properly dangerous.

[vindaloo]

Ah, thx, CheezeMonkhai.... I had assumed that the only way damaging levels could get to me were through bulb failure! For the open corn style ones, it appears that to be "danger by design".

 

J.

[nokiauk]

Took the plunge and ordered some from Amazon & LED Hut, all seems good so far:

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B016QNHY8A?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00

 

https://www.ledhut.co.uk/spot-lights/g9-bulbs/5-watt-g9-led-bulb.html

 

Thanks for various comments, I agree eBay looked a bit dodgy   

[cheezemonkhai]

If you watch those videos one came from amazon marketplace.

Hopefully you have some good ones.

[nokiauk]

No problems so far and these corns were covered fortunately

[hugs01]

Over the past year I've changed pretty much the whole house over. Warm white is the best to use and they are bright so you may need less down lighters in a kitchen or bathroom.

 

I started using  www.ledhut.co.uk buying a few items to try them out before buying loads of stuff. Quick delivery.

 

The latest purchace was 4 led tubes for the garage lights - remove old tubes change starter for a new one supplied with order - new tube in and bright lights that come on in a second, no flickering. I had cool white for these and there ideal for a utility area.

[fabdavrav]

Osram & Phillips in my house, most of the other cheap ones fail, or produce varied colour rendering & are way off the colour temp also.

 

Loads of info done by Which & others about cheap LEDs.

 

Also 4000K LEDs put out about 33% blue light which disrupts our melatonin production & sleep patterns. 3000K put out half the amount. I go for "warm white 2700K"

 

Again plenty of info on web about that. eg here:-

 

http://darksky.org/lighting/led-practical-guide/

 

Mainly to do with streetlights, but the same basic principals applies

Edited 19 March, 2016 by fabdavrav

[Phil-E]

Just bought some more LED bulbs.

 

Finally replaced the GU10s in the kitchen with some dimmable LAP brand bulbs from Screwfix. Very pleased with them.

 

I also bought some SES candle bulbs from a local DIY chain that are Energizer branded. Build quality on them seems very good and the light output is great. They are also dimmable and cost less than £4 each.

 

Was in Tesco the other week too and they had some Philips Hue Lux (white only) bulbs they were selling off for £7.50 each so I've added 2 more Hue bulbs to my collection.

[nokiauk]

Just received some G4 12v 20w replacements from LED hut, said transformer may need changed but all good with no flicker that's 16 bulbs in total now changed to LED so let savings commence.