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Converting from Halogen bulbs to LED's


tosher

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I am thinking of replacing some of my halogen light bulbs with LED's to reduce power consumption but want to keep the original light fittings. Is this as easy as the advertising blurb suggests and are the LED's as bright as they say. The ones which look ok to the untrained eye are from "Bedazzled" and they claim they are just as bright as the comparable halogen bulb. Anyone tried them ?????

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If the fitting is correct, MR16, MR11, G4 etc.

 

They work, check the lumens, that is how to check and compare brightness.

 

The colours are white (blue/white) and warm white (green/yellow).

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I am thinking of replacing some of my halogen light bulbs with LED's to reduce power consumption but want to keep the original light fittings. Is this as easy as the advertising blurb suggests and are the LED's as bright as they say. The ones which look ok to the untrained eye are from "Bedazzled" and they claim they are just as bright as the comparable halogen bulb. Anyone tried them ?????

 

My experience in my motorhome where I have converted is that they are OK for general illumination but you would find it a bit of a strain trying to read by them. This is, of course, OK because the ones that you leave on all the time are the ones for general illumination. I think I would leave halogens in places where you will want to do detail work such as reading/writing. Bottle is quite right there are the two colours but the white (blue white) is very cold and slightly eerie. Go for the warm white I reckon.

On the barge I had some mega expensive high power ones fitted where the lights are used frequently and they are good but we still have auxiliary lights for reading and in rooms where the lights are not left on for hours (bedroom and bathroom for example). This was also due to cost considerations.

Roger

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Nip down to Ikea and look at the Komplement range. (it doesn't fit Halogen fittings, sorry).

I have now installed a couple, wired directly into existing 12v fittings and therefore have a couple of 240-12v transformers spare. They are strip-led lights in a warm white light, and are in lengths from 20cm to 1m. you can also link them. They give plenty of light for reading or indeed model building (I am currently doing Titanic :blink: )

They also do not seem to use any electricity!!"!!!!!!!

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I switched all our halogens to LED's. The cool seem brighter but not the nicest light so I have ended up with these in the kitchen (sorry galley) and shower room and the warm white in the living area and bedroom. We also us aux lamps for reading etc.

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I switched all our halogens to LED's. The cool seem brighter but not the nicest light so I have ended up with these in the kitchen (sorry galley) and shower room and the warm white in the living area and bedroom. We also us aux lamps for reading etc.

We find they are very directional, so if you are sitting in the right spot we can see to read with no problem. We have two in the bedroom in adjustable spotlights over the bed head for reading in bed.

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We find they are very directional, so if you are sitting in the right spot we can see to read with no problem. We have two in the bedroom in adjustable spotlights over the bed head for reading in bed.

 

Have a look at the Komplement, not directional at all, fits well into the roof/sidewall corner. I had a couple of LED's sets from homebase and wasn't convinced, I am now.

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We find they are very directional, so if you are sitting in the right spot we can see to read with no problem. We have two in the bedroom in adjustable spotlights over the bed head for reading in bed.

 

I changed most of the 10 watt cabin downlighters ( about 16 of them) to warm white, circular module devices that are built from 12 off, 5050 surface mount LEDs. They are brighter than what they replaced and consume about 2.2 watts I think they claimed - I am just installing a regulated 12 volt supply and putting in that spike protector that Gibbo suggested a few months back, although no problems so far in a year or so of albeit low usage...

 

However for in cupboard lighting I am fitting 8W and 16W fluorescents as they give more light for less £££s

 

 

Nick

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We replaced all our bulbs with LED's from Bedazzled. We have LEDs in the oil lamp types on the bulkheads / walls in the saloon, in the eyeball lights in the bed cabins and in the ex-halogens overheads in the galley. Warm whites and the higher colour temp ones. BUT, the big problem is they interfer with the radio. But note that this problem has been addressed by Bedazzled and new lamps will be EMI emission free. So, my recomendation is buy from Bedazzled, who is a NBoater, but ensure hat tyou get the emi suppressed ones.

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The best we've found..fitting normal spot fittings..are the '3XCree' LED's from Ideal lights in Wales. warm white available, not cheap but excellent illumination...far better than any others we tried.

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I am thinking of replacing some of my halogen light bulbs with LED's to reduce power consumption but want to keep the original light fittings. Is this as easy as the advertising blurb suggests and are the LED's as bright as they say. The ones which look ok to the untrained eye are from "Bedazzled" and they claim they are just as bright as the comparable halogen bulb. Anyone tried them ?????

We've just started replacing 15w halogens (over 20 of them in cabin ceiling G4 fittings) with LEDs. Some 12-LED ones we bought at a marina are very bright indeed - over 20w equivalent. We also bought a few from Bedazzled (G4H-10 models, with 10 LEDs in each equivalent to approx 20w halogen, but only draw 2w/0.166A) which are also bright. We read by them. Yes, the new Bedazzled ones have no EMI problems.

 

One thing to note is that, although all the ones we have are warm white, the Bedazzled ones are warmer white than the others. The marina ones have a sort of green tinge to the yellow. I think the yellow in these LEDs is simply a colour mask over the ordinary cool white light and that 'eerie' blue comes through the yellow a bit. None we've tried yet are really as warm looking as halogens. But I guess I like not having to even think about turning on a bunch of these lights more than the light tinge.

 

Also, to fit these, I've had to 'round back' the shallow metal reflector (with the back of a knife handle) opposite to where the LED plugs in in the G4 sockets - so that the LED light sits flush and allows the round glass plate to sit over them. There are small 'transistors', or whatever they are, on the back that add about 5mm to the depth at that edge.

 

 

[Edited so that LCD --> LED!]

Edited by Jim Batty
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We've just started replacing 15w halogens (over 20 of them in cabin ceiling G4 fittings) with LCDs. Some 12-LCD ones we bought at a marina are very bright indeed - over 20w equivalent. We also bought a few from Bedazzled (G4H-10 models, with 10 LCDs in each equivalent to approx 20w halogen, but only draw 2w/0.166A) which are also bright. We read by them. Yes, the new Bedazzled ones have no EMI problems.

 

One thing to note is that, although all the ones we have are warm white, the Bedazzled ones are warmer white than the others. The marina ones have a sort of green tinge to the yellow. I think the yellow in these LCDs is simply a colour mask over the ordinary cool white light and that 'eerie' blue comes through the yellow a bit. None we've tried yet are really as warm looking as halogens. But I guess I like not having to even think about turning on a bunch of these lights more than the light tinge.

 

Also, to fit these, I've had to 'round back' the shallow metal reflector (with the back of a knife handle) opposite to where the LCD plugs in in the G4 sockets - so that the LCD light sits flush and allows the round glass plate to sit over them. There are small 'transistors', or whatever they are, on the back that add about 5mm to the depth at that edge.

 

I've never come across LCD lights, are they better than LEDs?

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I have a few LED lamps that fit G4 and MR11 fittings. Both have the same arrangement of 9 surface-mount LEDs. I happened to have a light-dependent-resistor and I have measured the relative light from these and the halogen lamps they replaced.

 

At floor level the light from the LED is about 1/3rd of the light from a G4 20W led. The distribution pattern of the light is much the same.

 

At table level (for reading) the light from the LED is about 1/30th of the light from the MR11 LED. This is largely because the halogen lamp focuses the light but the LED version doesn't.

 

For comparison the comfortable light level for daylight reading is twice as bright as the halogen MR11.

 

The newest G4 replacement has 12 LEDs but doesn't seem to be any brighter than the older units with 9 LEDs.

Edited by Robin2
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We replaced all of our interior lighing with LED bulbs a few months ago and have been very happy with them. We replaced the G4 10 watt halogens with an 11 watt equivalent LED bulb and the light output is certainly comparable. We went for the bright light versions which do give a different light but we prefer it. £18 for six bulbs from some where in Hong Kong!!

 

Have just (yesterday) recieved our replacement LED cockpit bulbs so will be giving these a go at the weekend. We fitted some blue LED strip lighting for the "posing" effect and were so impressed with the light output that we decided to fit LED bulbs to the existing fittings. The cockpit lighting utilises festoon bulbs so we were pretty limited as to where we could buy the correct light output ones. They were pretty expensive at £15 for a 25 watt bulb and £9 for a 11 watt blue light bulb both 42mm long. We bought these from Ultra Led's and were very impressed with the service. Ordered at 8.30am on Tuesday and delivered first thing wednesday on standard turn around.

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I am thinking of replacing some of my halogen light bulbs with LED's to reduce power consumption but want to keep the original light fittings. Is this as easy as the advertising blurb suggests and are the LED's as bright as they say. The ones which look ok to the untrained eye are from "Bedazzled" and they claim they are just as bright as the comparable halogen bulb. Anyone tried them ?????

 

 

What fantastic responses to my post, just what I was hoping for, they answer all my questions and some that I hadn't even known about. I now feel much more relaxed about changing to LED's. Thanks to all - tosher.

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The best ones I've tried (and I've tried a fair few) are the 68 SMD LED bulbs from ebay. They're super bright, wide angle and a nice mellow colour. 4 quid each and took about a week to arrive. Bargain. They're 12 quid if you buy them in this country.

Box please! Need a favour. :)

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The best ones I've tried (and I've tried a fair few) are the 68 SMD LED bulbs from ebay. They're super bright, wide angle and a nice mellow colour. 4 quid each and took about a week to arrive. Bargain. They're 12 quid if you buy them in this country.

 

Just looked at these. How do you use them in your boat? I presume not just for your tunnel light.

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