salsa-king

sorry but is it me, I've not understood a word of that.

stoneface

iTrader: (6)

As clear as mud.

Tam the bam

I changed my my standard GU10s (because they only last about a week) to the LED ones, but the light given off is utter kak! I'd be interested to hear of any bright alternatives!

dpb

Im pretty lost with most of this lot ^^ except to say iv got 14 watt genies everywhere that going to be on for any length of time and in the kitchen a 2 foot flourescent 'underlighter' additionally

njkmrs

I have 12 GU10,s in my kitchen ,but split so I can have 8 on in the middle or 4 on at each corner,or all on at once .Great light from them but it does pain me when the kids stroll in ,switch on the lot then walk out again with them all left on.
Also tend to use the under wall cabinet lighting,to try and give light without using the main downlighters .
Not had many issues with bulbs going .Just the odd one now and then .
Would definately change to 20w bulbs if a good alternative became available that gave the same amount of light .
Monster trees in front garden block a lot of the natural light from the kitchen so have to use the lights more than I would like .
I did not think a few years ago ,people would be having this type of conversation,but when everyones trying to have your pants down ,needs must .!!!!!!!!!

LanCat

Yep, nail hit firmly on the head.

salsa-king

we're now looking at the cheapest place for GU10 11w CFL warm light bulbs?

Wenker Man

For people who have issues with GU10s and poor life span: get a decent dimmer (one with soft-start). Since having these, the bulbs last much much longer (halogen and normal incadecent).

I've used CFL GU10s, problem is the ones I tried are slightly longer. So protrude by 10mm out of the recessed fittings.

I had some cheapish (£10) ones made by Newtone and one lasted about a month, I took it back and had it replaced FOC and that went a month later too! Third one seems ok as its been in for 12months. They are 7watts and output is somewhat pathetic (about 15watts equivelent, I'd guess) and it takes ages to warm up, its not an issues as they are in the soffits above the garage door, so just for background lighting really.

I also have a Megaman 11watt CFL GU10, this is far better than the Newtone ones, but still takes ages to warm up and output is probably that of a 25watt bulb so again not really any good except for background lighting.

salsa-king

11w CFL should be more lik ethe 50w halogen though.. according to the websites.


try this calculator.. makes you think the costs...
calculatorv3.xls

Allan

iTrader: (1)

Yes they might say they are, but there not. I've tried the CFL route and couldn't live with the low output and slow warm up.

Allan

iTrader: (1)

Has anybody tried the Brilux v3 3x2W LED ?

salsa-king

these.....
GU10 LED lamps


look a good power saving, but at £19.99 a bulb!!!!!! they're expensive.

Allan

iTrader: (1)

Yep, they look to be the most powerful available at the moment, although there're to much at that price.

OllyK

As most people will just chuck the CFL bulbs in the bin rather than taking them for specific re-cycling, you can still revel in a bit of planet destruction by now mercury poisoning the planet instead

OllyK

That's great as long as the home owner never wants to re-decorate using darker colours!

Wenker Man

Not sure where those website got their info, but the 11watt ones I have are certainly no where near that of a 50watt halogen, maybe similar to a 40watt non-halogen bulb, although slightly dimmer.

No, but I tried a few of these: Initial Lights

Impressive output for 3watts, colour is much more natural than CFL or most of the bluish-white LED. Still, very very dim. Less than the 11watt CFL so again only any use in large number and for background lighting. Plus the beam width is narrower so it lights a smaller area.

I also bought one of these: LED GU10 Lamp 240v - White

Crap! Horrible blushish white colour so useless for anything barring background lighting, but the colour is wrong, so no use for that either.

NXG

I've been looking for the same thing for our kitchen lights. Slightly OT, but I had 15 40w BC mini globe bulbs in other light fittings and replaced the lot with 8W spiral energy savers from Tesco who are doing a 2 for 1 at the moment. Very slightly brighter, but uses a LOT less energy. We have 6 wall lights on the go every evening in the lounge and have gone from 240w to 48w!! Due to the rate at which the filament bulbs used to blow,the purchase price difference will be paid back in no time.

P.S. Startup time and time to reach full brightness of these spiral ones seems to be a few seconds on the latest ones. It used to be several minutes!

speedking

They seem proud of this bit:But the bulb uses 3x2W LEDs consuming 7W total power

Our kitchen is 12' x 12' (3.7m) and well lit using 6 x 50W bulbs. The LED bulbs at £120 provide a 1.5m diameter pool of light. 6 of them would still leave dark patches in the room. Plus we'd have to turn up the heating a notch as well

wagrain

Went into Tesco's last week and they had loads of the energy saving lamps on offer at 5 for 40p !!!

Bought loads as we fit them in some of our rented properties.
Got the 15w ones as they are similar to 60w normal bulbs.

Tenants are happy with them!

Allan

iTrader: (1)

Interesting, so the Brilux would be roughly twice as bright. Might be getting there in terms of performance if not price.

salsa-king

not GU10s though!!


we have 4 of these in our Utlity room... also have them in the downstairs toilet.


they're 5w CFL bulbs, warm up times not very long and one at full brightness I'd say its a good light.

I've just swapped this bulb int our kitch.. where we have eight. From looking at it it looked as bright, being only 5w I'm thinking the 11w would be even better. Good thing was It fitted straight into the down light, then it's held in by a metal ring clip, no fear of springing the fitting out the plaster board ceiling and load of plaster coming out withthe light!! lol



he bulb nearest you on the pic is the CFL one.




Still temped by the 11w CFLs as they are lables up as general use lighting, not like the 3x2W LED bulbs that say are more fo background lighting. At the end of the day we need to able to see in the kitchen



Phil

salsa-king

£7 still looks the best price i can find for the 11w cfl's.

anyone found the same bulb cheaper?

corradoboy

Energy Saving GU10 CFL Lamp from Liteworks

£4.99 (+£5 P&P) so the more you buy the cheaper the postage divides up. I ordered an 11W and a 13W to test. Not received yet.

dunx

iTrader: (3)

They also do LED's at £4, more my price !

DunxC

OR

GU10 Superbright White 20 LED Light Bulb Lamp 230V 1.2w

corradoboy

The problem I find with LED's is that they're very directional. OK for specific 'spot' light usage, but with room lighting you want an even flood of light.

I found the same when experimenting with LED's in cars. The Scoob 03-07 brake-lights see the standard incandescent bulb entering at a funny angle, and when I swapped in an LED it simply could not be seen, unless you were laid in the gutter directly beneath the corner of the car.

salsa-king

good find CB, when did you order them??
would be interested to know how you go on.
shame you see the #bulb# part. do they do them covered like in my picture?

LEDs wouldn't give enough light off for all the room. hence why you need the cfl's

Gymbal

I had a garage converted into a play room and said to use the energy saving 11w ones, though "slow" compared to conventional we have 8 in an old double garage and all 8 are too bright if on all at once. After 1 minute cannot tell the difference. windows are north facing.
As an aside we use enrgy saving R80s elsewhere and they are slower in comparison. Dimmers are my only problem elsewhere in the house but as I have changed 36 r80 to 11w enrgy savings that is max 396w from 2880W even if in the kitchen my wife turns all 11 on it is so much cheaper than the old 8.
Sorry slightly off topic

Bottom line no regrets.

salsa-king

Thanks for that, I'll go for the 11w in the kitchen and 7w on the hall way.

8 11w CFL can't be any brighter than the 8 50w halogens we've already got

Bubba po

I don't know why everyone's going on about flourescent bulbs and tubes.

If I want flour I'll go to Homepride.

It's Flu-o-rescent.

Bubba po