14 lamps x 50 watt x 12 volt halogen spots in my kitchen - how many watts is that in real money?

[JethroUK©]

I have 14 lamps x 50 watt x 12 volt halogen spots in my kitchen

Just wondering how much power they're guzzling bearing in mind they are only

12 volt

So how many watts is that in real money (@250 volts)

[Andrew Gabriel]

It's still 14 x 50W = 700W.

In real money, that's about £700 per year in electricity for

24 x 7 operation; scale price according to actual operation.

[Chewbacca]

A watt is a Watt it does not make any difference if it is low volts high current or high volts & low current. So if you put them all on it's

700W. That should keep the room warm in winter.

Back to your question it is about 2 units every 3 hours.

Suggest you try some LED or low watt bulbs if you want to save money.

[David Kennedy]

Don't forget transformer losses.

That will be offset though as it will add a bit of extra heat to the room...

[Ash]

If you can't switch the lights on/off individually or in sets you're burning a lot of money having 24 lights. Try replacing a few with LED bulbs or replacing the lights altogether. As Chewbacca says below a Watt is Watt regardless of if it's 12v or whatever. I have 3 sets of spots in my kitchen ... 2 of the sets had 4 x 50w GU10 bulbs making 400w .. so I replaced 3 of the spots in each set with LED's and just kept one normal 50watt as a spot onto the work surface. The light looked strange at first but after a few days you get used to it and (amongst other changes elsewhere) the electric bill certainly showed the difference.

Ash

[Bob Minchin]

That is a good rule of thumb Andrew, Thanks.

"1 watt-year of electrical energy cost £1" approx

Bob

[Andrew Gabriel]

It's worth trying, but you are generally on a hiding to nothing trying to do anything much with those recessed spotlamps. They're fitted because they're dirt cheap to buy. They are completely the wrong type lighting for a functional kitchen, which is why they are so horrendously inefficient. (Actually, they are completely the wrong type of lighting almost everywhere they're used - like I said, they're fitted because they're cheap crap passed off as "stylish" to the unwarey.)

Kitchens need a good level of general lighting, and enhanced levels of task lighting. In my experience, the best method for general lighting are fluorescents hidden on cupboard tops, lighting the room indirectly from a brilliant white ceiling. This gives excellent shadowless lighting at all angles, so cupboards are lit to the back, surfaces under cupboards are well lit, floor is lit well enough to keep it clean, etc. The task lighting is used to increase lighting at locations where intricate work is carried out, such as food preparation worktops, sink where items need to be checked for cleanlyness, etc.

If the kitchen is not a functional kitchen (little if any actual food prep) but more of an entertainment or eating area, then you might want lighting reflecting that usage. Here, you might use accent lighting to highlight features, pendants which are as much decorative features as lights, and you could turn your otherwise useless downlighters into decorative LEDs if you like them, rather than trying to remove them and make good the ceiling.

This isn't an either/or situation -- you can have separately switched functional lighting and entertainment lighting where usage of the room changes.

[Ash]

Actually they're not recessed .. they're a clump of 4 spots with GU10 bulbs ... but yeas I agree about the recessed ones .. absolutely useless unless you want to spot a fish tank or a vase.

Ash

[tinnews]

Well how about 50 watts times 14 - i.e. 700 watts, the voltage makes no difference at all (except that 12 volt lamps are usually more efficient than 240 volt ones so you're getting a bit more light for your 700 watts than you would with 240 volt lamps).

[JethroUK©]

Apart from the negligible safety benefits, the advantage of 95% reduction in voltage is what?

[JethroUK©]

I understand the watt thing - because that's the nature of the beast

I dont for one second beleive the only benefit of reducing voltage by 95% is merely a 'bit more efficiency'

[tinnews]

Better efficiency, a 50 watt 12 volt lamp puts out significantly more light than a 50 watt 240 volt lamp.

[JethroUK©]

Nope - look in any shop - again the difference is negligible - certainly not reflected in the *absolutely massive* reduction in volts - any marginal difference you notice will more often than not due to halogen vs std spot and not 250v vs 12 v

I think it must be just one of life's enigmas, but it looks like i will need to change my lighting system for something more economical/efficient - i have considered going back to flo tubes in the kitchen

[Andrew Gabriel]

Also tend to get longer life, and the filament is more robust against vibration. Also, the smaller filament means you can build lamps with more precise beam control, hence various different beam angles are available. You can't build narrow beam 240V versions because the filament is too big (but you don't want narrow beam ones when creating general lighting, because you want the beams washing walls). I suspect the 12V lamps may be cheaper, but the electricity cost is more than the lamp cost in either case. You can probably get lower powered 12V ones too.

[BigGirlsBlouse]

Dosn't matter how many volts....the only difference is to get 50w at 12V requires more amps. Watts is a universal measure of power and you are charged by the KWhr, which for me at my highest rate is 15.8p per KWhr. That is (14x50/1000)x0.158=11.06p/hr

They do make some very good 40W equivalent LED's now which are expensive at over 20 quid each but give the right colour light and only consume 4Watts

[JethroUK©]

Have you any links?

I've seen some 9 watt > 50 watt flo spots - also expensive

[BigGirlsBlouse]

Just hang on a few years and they will be as cheap as compact fluroescents have become... I was buying them when they first came out at 15quid each in the late 80's...cos I recognised that each one was going to save me 80 quid in energy costs over its lifetime It genuinely is as good as a 40W halogen..with the same warm light not the usual cool blue.

make sure the base is the right type though...they make quite a few different types.

[BigGirlsBlouse]

just make sure the base is the right type though...they make quite a few

and fresh in.... the true 50W version available for about another tenner!!....