Hi Folks We have a small-ish shop selling local arts & crafts - run on a co-operative basis so trying to keep costs to a minimum - while having it well-lit. (I realise this is a contradiction!)
Currently lit with GU10 / 35w halogen mains spotlights (3 per bar - fittings too cheap to refuse from IKEA!)
There are also some 4ft daylight fluorescents for general background lighting.
We've 'economised' on the spotlights by removing every third one (so a
3-spot bar now has 2 spots in it) - but we're still spending a hefty ?90 (90 euro)on electricity every four weeks to keep the lights on..
We tried fitting fluorescent spots but the ones we tried didn't physically fit - as they're fatter than the halogens.
So - thinking about LED spots...
CPC has a bewildering selection of GU10 Leds - from 15-led up to 60-led, and then the high-power single units...
Presumably, on the cheapie ones, the more leds the better - but is it worth the price hike for the high-power units ??
Chuck the GU10 spot bars away - they will always pour money down the drain. Low CapEx, but unaffordable OpEx, as you found. Effective low energy retrofits are not viable in GU10 form factor, as you also found.
LED lighting can be very effective but the CapEx for effective LED lighting is likely to be far too high for you at the moment. Same with HID lighting. It may be different in a few years time for LEDs, and it might be different if you could look at the total cost of ownership over 5-10 years, but you probably don't have that luxury.
That leaves you with fluorescent. Choice of fitting is critical, and they can be found for relatively low CapEx. In your scenario, tube specification is going to be important too.
If you must have accent spot lighting, use 12V halogen, not mains, but limit the quantity, and never try to use it for general lighting. You might also consider LED in this case - it's the area where LED is most quickly becoming cost effective.
Also, don't dismiss the thought of fittings using retrofit CFLs, providing you can find efficient ones (that get as much of the light as possible where you want it, and not wasted). The market for retrofit CFLs ensures the price stays dirt cheap, and there are good ones out there if you look. Efficiency is not far below that of linear fluorescents.
There was a thread on shop lighting some months back, if you google for it.
a while now. Initially they only offered the 3W ones, but the range has now expanded (as has the price, but that's improving)
I've not had a problem at all with them, but like CF's treat the light equivalents with a pinch of salt - I used 3 x 3W devices to replace 2 x 50W GU10 spots over my cooker.
In an ideal world.... but for the time being we're stuck with the GU10s
Yes - found that out the hard way!
Did briefly consider a 'diy' solution (pipe-cutter 1cm off the end of each of the metal 'shrouds' - but that's very much 'plan B' - saaing as how they're all up there on the ceiling!
OK. So you're saying that the led 'bulbs' that are worth fitting as replacements are at the top end of the price range ? looking at CPC (just for the sake of seeing a range of options) - the multi-led units go for anything up to 10 euro, whereas the high-power, single led units are round the ?25 mark - which gets costly when you multiply it up!
Ha! The local 'encourage small businesses by handing out money' organisation wanted to see our '5-year-plan'. I responded by saying that I planned to be alive in 5 years... and the discussions sort of went downhill after that
Very much short-term at the moment...
OK - I don;t know anything about that - sort of a fluoro-floodlight ? Any links or suggestions as to what to Google for ?
What we have is two rooms - each about 10ft wide, one 12ft long, 'tother
18 ft long. Display shelves down both 'long' walls in each room. Fluoros down the middle, lengthwise and rows of spots either side of the fluoros. Paintings / artwork on the walls above the display shelving.
Maybe I should go the 'pipe-cutter' route.... and reduce the length of the metal shroud on the spot bars. Only got 3 x 20 to do..... Knowing my luck, I'll do that and then discover that the CFL Spots are rubbish!
Yes - It might have been me that started it...
I guess there's always the 'do nothing' option - leave the installation as it is and just live with the ?20 / week 'leccy bill. That may be the most practical option - given the possibly short-term nature of the thing, and the cash limitations... GU10 / 35w can also be had @ CPC for c35 each - which is rather cheaper than led / cfl...
Needless to say, the IKEA bulbs (included with the spotbars for ?7 all in) have shown a somewhat limited lifespan!
> for a while now. Initially they only offered the 3W ones, but the range
Thanks - these look interesting (but expensive!) See my reply to Andrew above - we're limited in our funds, and don't really know where we'll be in (say) 12 months time - so there's a trade off between capital and running expenses....
It does look as if these are a viable replacement for the halogens, though...
You could try one and see if it works for you, but the LED units in retrofittable formats do tend to cook themselves and die. I have seen some expensive ones used in a picture gallery (shop) and they were dire. There were colour fringes of yellow around the edge of the beam. Latest models may be better but I am not holding my breath.
You could try GU10 20W halogen instead. That saves about 30% off your lighting bill. 10 of them are about the price of 1 LED GU10 fit device.
You might be advised to remove the shrouds completely. IME CFL spotlights don't last long in shrouded fittings -- I suspect the heat fries the electronics.
As I say - we have 40 to 50 of the bulbs, so re-lamping with LED bulbs soon gets costly.... I guess I could do a spreadsheet and see where the two curves cross (energy usage / unit cost with halogens vs energy usage / unit cost with led) but that assumes that the led devices are any good...
Don't know about the 20w halogens - I can imagine you'd get to the point where the light output didn't justify having them on There are a couple of places in the shop where the halos are just lighting a cabinet - so the 20w or even LED ones might work there...
I guess, when all's said & done, the current arrangement may be as good as it gets - only ?20 per week, after all...
Hi Chris Not sure if I'm using the right term - I mean the tubular piece that surrounds the neck of the bulb. With the CFL's, their profile is such that they don;t taper down so fast, and they won;t engage with the bayonet-type fitting.. Don;t know how 'removable' the metal bit is....
The multi LED give quite a diffuse light so have no real advantage over well placed fluorescent. The single high intensity LED produce a narrower field and can be very effective for lighting individual objects - they produce sharp shadows and the cooler (more blue) colour temperature ones produce a very "white" light which works well with objects with bold colours. You can get some feel for how effective they would be simply by getting a good torch using one of them and experimenting with it. Using fluorescent for area lighting and some single diode high output LED for highlighting parts of the display may be your best approach.
They chose those in a _picture_ shop? Haven't they ever heard of colour rendition?
Adrian, that's a thought, I don't know exactly what you sell. Fluorescents (including the compact sort) and LED lights can do odd things to the colours of things on display. Sometimes this is good - it can make your fruit look riper for example - but generally it's a bad thing. The old incandescents, and the slightly better halogens you have, have much better colour.
They were trying to reduce their electricity bill like the OP. There was a customer questionnaire about the new lights. I filled it in with appropriate comments!
The colour rendition in the middle of the beam was not all that bad despite being a decidedly non-thermal source, but the much wider yellow phosphor glow and sharper blue core made for some nasty distracting colour fringes around each pool of light.
Depends if you want daylight or artificial light - the former is available free when the sun is up but needs UV filters on the windows.
I don't think you can beat the Philips MyVision 4W spots. I've replaced all the mains halogen GU10s we had with them and to be honest, the only noticeable difference is the light from them doesn't have quite as wide a spread as the mains ones did. Otherwise they are just as bright and pretty much the same colour temperature as the old halogens.
I've seen other brands and makes of LED spots and nothing else I've seen comes close in terms of brightness or light quality.
Single diode high intensity LED lighting is very good for jewellery as it really does produce some nice sparkly effects especially if the jewellery is spotlessly clean.
Looking the where you have the halogens in your pictures I'd be inclined to replace them with some better quality fluorescent fittings but buy tubes of the right colour temperature separately.
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the subject well.
6ft tri phosphor tubes are about £4 each and with the right choice of colour temperature will create better lighting than your halogens and lower running costs.
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