G4: halogen or LED?

For a reading light I reckon LEDs should be fine. I am always a bit nervous of quartz halogen lights in close proximity to paper.

I am using an LED replacement in the transformer equipped desk light beside me. No problems

I think the problem with the type of light you have could be the physical size of the LED "bulb" compared to the halogen. From memory of having similar light in the past was that the halogen just fitted. However with lED running a lot cooler the glass cover could be discarded giving more space.

(just be a bit careful you can get 1.8W (~20w Halogen) and 1.0W (~10W halogen) I can only speak for the 1.8W which seem to be fine. I expect as always you need to make sure that you get the colour temperature that you prefer - presumably warm white for bedside.

Thanks everyone for the comments, I'll give LEDs a try. (I actually quite like the blue-ish halogen light for reading).

newshound snipped-for-privacy@stevejqr.plus.com> wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@brightview.co.uk:

I fitted a couple of G4 LEDs in a Cooker Hood. They flicker a bit - I suspect they are under-loading the power supply.

or maybe a cooler/blue white for reading. I find with my ageing eyes that the blue white light gives better contrast when reading from a book.

I like a reading light to be behind my shoulder, illuminating the page mainly and leaving the rest of the room darker to avoid distraction.

I used to have a fluorescent tube desk lamp on an Anglepoise-type arm. This was good but I was conscious of the mains-frequency flicker when I first got it.

I now have a lamp with a shade on a bedside table, using a Philips Hue bulb. This is a nice restful light, and can be dimmed and altered in colour between very warm (candle-light) and very cool (daylight in the shade). But it's not as easy to get good lighting on the book, without my body getting between the light and the pages. I need to find a *cheap* Anglepoise-type desk lamp. The one I've got on my desk in my study is probably overkill (expensive and a very large head) but I'm sure smaller ones are available now as bedside reading lights.

Even halogens are on the warm end of the range of LED light colour temperatures, and you will find the daylight white LEDs a great deal bluer. I find this best for reading too.

Yes, I have a fitting with 6x 12v G4 20w halogen lamps. It would not even light up with 6 x 4W led lamps in it. Basic, wound, transformers will be fine, as they always give out power, a lot of the solid state ones cannot detect the low wattage required by LED lamps, so do not work.

Halogens are towards the red end of the spectrum. If you want blue, get any cheap LED. ;-)

Yes they got very hot. I had one with what looked like a car headlight bulb in it and the outside could burn you if you left it on for a long period. Brian