I've been and bought a couple of these low energy fluorescent GU10 bulbs. I''ve seen the comments on longevity and brightness in earlier threads, but before we get that far I'm trying to actually make them fit.
One, a Pro-Lite 11W bulb fits in the hole but won't slide right in unless I do some metal bending where the springs attach to the outer fitting. I've got 40 to replace so a correct fit would be welcomed.
The other one, a GET 7W bulb, has a couple of notches in it, which I thought would avoid the problem with the springs. This one however has a slightly larger diameter and so won't fit the hole at all.
So does anybody actually make a direct replacement GU10 which fits a conventional fitting?
Andy I have been using LED GU10's for the last 12 months and am very pleased (though it took many suppliers before I got one I liked). My guess is that it is your GU10 fittings and not the bulbs that have an abnormality. My fittings are very tight and a pain to change, but others I have come across have been great. Calum
Many thanks Calum. Yes there does seem to be some variation in the various fittings around the house, but all of them are a tight fit in one way or another. I don't think I can justify changing both fittings and bulbs just yet, though it will make a big difference to my electricity consumption.
When I went down this route originally I tried some LED lights but they were nowhere near as bright (this was 3 years ago) as halogens or fluorescents. Have they now caught up?
Not which gives same light output. Rule of thumb for a normal compact fluorescent is a 1:4 ratio for equivalency with filament lamp.
Reflector lamp CFL's are generally much worse than this, particularly the tiny ones. This is because reflector lamps require a small point light source in order to design effective optics to control the beam. A filament is a much closer approximation to a point source than a CFL tube; CFL tubes have to be a reasonable length in order to be efficient, and the tube tends to obscure and render the reflector pretty useless as well as partially obscuring itself. A figure of
2:1 would be much nearer the mark for small reflector lamps.
However, in spite of this, it's not uncommon to find a room can appear brighter when fitted with CFL reflectors in downlighters. This is because the CFL's are flood lamps (having no effective beam control) verses their filament equivalents which are spot lamps. The floodlamp nature of the beam distribution means that lighting may reach many parts of the room which were previously in darkness, such as the walls. This depends on the room and lighting distribution.
There is one CFL reflector lamp which does generate the same light (more in fact) than it's filament equivalent, and that's the 23W GE Genura, but it's an R80 replacement. It generates more light than a 100W R80, although again it's a floodlamp and not a spotlamp. It uses a completely different technology to most compact fluorescents and unfortunately has a higher price as a consequence. It should last significantly longer too, but this is dependant on being well ventilated and not getting too hot.
I beleive these are the "Cold Cathode" type lamps. I have now converted to these! They are up another level from the cheap 'n' nasty lamps you get in Tescos and the like.
Have a look round for Megaman Lamps; they are really the best out there!
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for the "ingenium" type, ok for 15,000 hours and over 1/2 million switching cycles!
As for GU10 replacements, theirs are brilliant, BUT like all (as far as I am aware) GU10 replacements they are longer. You can get fittings to suit though. I have bought all mine from TLC-Direct and their service has been really good too.
Actually, they are "no cathode" lamps -- there are no electrodes in the tube at all, called electrodeless induction lamps. This is why they last a long time, since the most common failure of a fluorescent is the electrodes wearing out, and that can't happen. Genuras carry on running until either the electronic control gear packs up (which depends on operating temperature), or the phosphor wears out.
Conventional fluorescent tubes waste energy at the electrodes (as a result of the cathode fall voltage), and this is avoided in an electrodeless induction lamps, which is partly why it manages better than the 4:1 ratio normally quoted in comparison with a filament lamp.
Cold cathode tubes waste much more energy at the electrodes due to a much higher cathode fall voltage, which is why they aren't generally used for lighting. They don't start looking efficient until you get to long tube lengths so that the electrode losses reduce as a proportion of the power consumption. They are instant start, so they are easier to drive from standard phase control dimmers.
I hadn't realised these use a "completely different technology" but I can certainly vouch for their effectiveness. Not only are the lamps bright and long-lasting but they (subjectively) reach full brightness much more quickly than a conventional CFL. Certainly expensive, but there's a large variation in price out there and shopping around saved me quite a lot when I last bought some.
Most of the LED lights are the right size AFAIK. I've just ordered one so I'll feedback when it arrives - link below:
or
The company I got the CFL GU10 bulbs from is so bad for customer service I am not prepared to post a link to them. I am trying to find an alternative supplier at present. CPC seem to have some shorter bulbs (LP02762 & LP02763) but I haven't tried them.
All the Megaman ones are longer than halogen bulbs. Also anything over 7W is going to be long.
Just found this as news LEDs replace halogen with 90% energy savings Find News
January 24, 2008
One Welsh-Scottish firm is set to unveil light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that it claims are the first replacement for halogen light bulbs.
Safio Energy, which has provided lighting to some high profile houses, said that its new LEDs produced the same amount of light as the halogen bulbs they replace, though with a 90 per cent energy saving.
Among the famous spaces the company has lit are the Big Brother house, the Armani store in Oxford Street and GMTV studios, though it has also helped buildings closer to home make savings.
Safio director David Mackay told the icWales news site: "Our trials in restaurants in Cardiff have shown remarkable results. One installation of 150 LED halogen replacements at the Happy Gathering restaurant in the city is producing an estimated £7,500 saving in electricity costs a year."
He said that the firms technological breakthrough was to build an LED GU10 bulb which used three watts of power but had the same output as a 50-watt GU10 halogen bulb.
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