LED Light Bulbs?

[Ireland-or-bust]

Hi all,

I have just ordered (should have asked first) a box of 10 LED GU10's.

These are the spot light bulbs, usually 50w each. These are 1.4w.
They claim to be equivelent of 24w in old money.

This is still ok, as these things invariabley come on spot lights with
3 or 4 or more.

I have loads in my house, because of the low ceilings in old farm houses.

So i'm going to give these a bash. I did the maths and they are many times cheaper to run than the floresent cousins that are just becoming available. They are also cheaper. £50 for 10 delivered from france, via ebay.

Anyone got any? Any good?


Mark.

[Jez]

A friend of mine tried them and said the light was funny and not bright enough... YMMV!

[the.fee.fairy]

there's been a lot of discussion about this on a strawbale list that i'm on.
The only problems they've encountered are that sometimes, the LEDs have a blue glow to them (much like those new fangled car headlights).
They're also not as pure light as the daylight bulbs, or daylight itself.

However, for general lighting, although slightly 'cold' they're good enough.

[Martin]

I've tried them! The light is very "blue", and the main problem is the fact that they emit quite a narrow beam - to get a useable "spread" of light, you have to mount them several feet from a worksurface. For emergency use, they are a good way to get light for very little current, but I fear you'll find them rather lacking!
Probably the nearest to that which gives a vaguely "nice" light are the energy saving bulbs in G10 fitting - around the same price as the leds, and not as economical to run, but give a much nicer light! - I reckon to always look for the magic numbers "2700" on them - it's the colour temperature - 2700 is at the "warm" end of the spectrum

[Magpie]

I saw someone using these at a solar house demonstration day. He said the main problem is how the light is so directed - one intense beam and that's about it. He got around it by using those drinking glasses with the bobbly bases as light shade, diffusing the light. He used them more as up-lights though, on tables or whatever, and just sat the glass over the top. I guess any bobbly light shade would do the trick.

[Ireland-or-bust]

Hi all,

thanks for advice.
someone also said they had a tendency to explode.

So in short ,they're dim, focused, cold, blue and explode.

I might as well just light the money, as least its warm coloured.

Never mind, they'll find a home in my chicken house or the shed.
I put lights in the chicken house to make them go to bed earlier.
They loose there night vision when they pop in for a nosey around dusk.
Very sneaky those chooks.

I will try some energy saving GU10s next. I need 15 of them tho.
At £10 a pop thats £150 for light bulbs :-(

Mark.

[wulf]

Explode? Perhaps they are being overloaded?

As far as the colour goes, perhaps a coloured gel could provide a solution, since LEDs run cool to the touch?

Maybe it is also partly that we have grown used to highly illuminated nights; I'm sure they provide as much illumination as a candle or two, which is often enough.

Wulf

[Ireland-or-bust]

I can say now with great authority that these bulbs are crap.

Focused like Hilary Clinton

And about as bright a George Bush Jr

And as Blue as Bernard Manning.


AVOID

Going to try the floresent ones when i have got over the €70 i spent of these.


Mark.

[Martin]

if it's of any help, there's a german bloke who sells packs of 4 x 12v energy saving bulbs on Ebay for around £20 - may be worth a look! (12v ones are usually £10 - £12 each!)

[Ireland-or-bust]

I don't have any 12v circuits in my house.
I was going to do the whole lot at 12v but went for mains in the end cos
of the amps/loss of 12vcd.

My light fittings are staying put, i'm alraedy up to the 3rd fitting
in some rooms. think floresent is the way forward.


M

[Ireland-or-bust]

I bought 10 x these lights from a guy in FRANCE.

User name bynoun. Uses a hotmail address.

first they are naff, which i think everyone except me already knew.

But more importanty, yesterday one EXPLODED in a blaze of glory.
Shot the glass front clear accross the bedroom.
It was VERY hot.

What would happen if it had landed on my bed???

I'm going off now to report this guy/product to everyone i can
starting with ebay and paypal.


Mark.

[Ireland-or-bust]

Hi,

I now have the CFL spot light GU10s.

They are yellow warm light.

Not as bright as the tungston but only 7/9w instead of 50w.

They are equivelent of about 25w each, says 35w on the ads though.
But as you always have clusters of 3 or 4 of them its still 100w

I shall have to see if these explode like the LEDS


Mark.

[paradox]

I cant belive led bulbs are exploding like this.

I have never taken one apart but i would think that they consist of a 240v to whatever voltage dc transformer that supplies the leds and the only way they should ever blow is if they get given to much voltage as current is drawn not supplied.

Do you still have the parts or a complete led bulb?

If you do would you mind posting it to me and i will pay the postage as i would love to see how these are put together and the actual rating of the components.

As for getting hot any led component should never produce heat that can be felt by hand.

[Ireland-or-bust]

Hi,

I sent them back and got a refund.

I agree entirely with your statement.

LEDs are 99% light and 1%heat. The blown one was 110%heat !

From what i could see and smell there must be a transistor in there
regulating the voltage, cos the smell was crozzeled silicone.

But to push out with so much force to blow the glass accross the room and
seperate the pcb from the fitting, i might be leaning towards a capacitor
going pop. But i saw no evidence (it could have been blown to bits tho.)

Either way i would advise EVERYONE to avoid these until the
technology is more stable.

My electricity supply is not the most stable in the world but its not terrible.
When the neighbours milking machines go on, the lights flicker a little
but thats it. These bulbs blew hours after milking was finnished.
I only had them a few days too.

The ones i have now , are still going well.

I will revise my estimate tho...I have a bank of 4 on the landing.
They would be equivalent of about 60w in total.
Its a bit dim but its usable. Plus it uses one 1/5 of the 200Watt i used to use on the landing.

The seller i got mine from is ITGSUK on ebay.
They came fast and cheapest on ebay.


Mark.