MR16 LED ?

[Rick Hughes]

I have a mix of MR16 & GU10 lighting.

The MR16 used upstairs is a pain as due to extensive insulation, even though I have a clear 200mm all round and then a fireproof container ... the transformers still get too hot and fail.

I improved somewhat by using non-dichroic bulbs (Phillips Coolmax) but it would be a lot getter if I could fit M16 LED bulbs ....

Are these sufficiently mature enough yet to consider using these ?

I tried a couple a few year back ... and they were pretty poor, as technology has moved on considerably for LED thought I would ask here ...

[John Rumm]

IME they are one of the few cases where LEDs seem to out perform the halogen equivalents. I found a 9W Cree lamp (3 LEDs) actually gave slightly more light that the 50W halogen 35 degree dichroic it replaced. The colour temperature is also very slightly higher.

[DerbyBorn]

Rick Hughes wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I have some 8.5 watt dimmable downlights which are superb. See:

[Andrew Gabriel]

First problem is that they will be below the minimum operating power of the existing transformers. Given that, replace them completely with GU10 fittings and LEDs. There's a much larger range of LEDs in GU10 format than in MR16 format. Choose a GU10 fitting with a free lampholder, so you can fit longer LED bulbs than standard GU10 halogens.

If you want high light output (similar to 50W), you may instead need to look for dedicated LED fittings (bulbs can't be changed), but these are much more expensive - it would be cheaper to fit more GU10 fittings if you wanted more light.

[Lobster]

[e-mail] (Andrew Gabriel) grunted in news:l9t3c2$re5$ [e-mail]:

Wot I did. Also, I was able to convert the MR16 fittings to GU10 by buying new connectors for them, so the job was a doddle; no issues with wrongly-sized holes in the ceiling (in general, holes are smaller these days than when when the first generation of downlighters came out).

I went with wide-angle GU10s from ledhut (FYI they have a 20% discount code at the moment) and am really pleased with them.

[leona912311]

? 2013?12?31????UTC

+8??3?32?28??Rick Hughes ??

[leona912311]

? 2013?12?31????UTC

+8??3?32?28??Rick Hughes ??

I bought three LED MR16 bulbs on Amazon before, you can find more quality b ulbs here. Safer to use!

[pcb1962]

I've done the opposite - converted GU10 fittings to MR16. I figured that the transformer crammed into the hostile environment of an LED GU10 is the most likely cause of failure so an MR16 with a separate transformer should have a much longer life. I used Aurora transformers, one per bulb, about 24 bulbs - hall, landing, kitchen, utility room, not had a bulb or transformer fail in the 4 years or so they've been running.