LED lamps

Now beginning to develop into a usable alternative to halogen lamps and they come on immediately, are the same size as standard lamps and offer extremely long life

In the past LED lamps have only offered meagre levels of light output and had to be used selectively. Do not judge the quality of an LED lamps simply by the number of LED’s it has – it’s a bit like choosing a hi-fi by the number of buttons it has!

Can I simply swap Halogen lamps for LED? - Yes AND No!

The simple answer is yes - they will fit and work, however there are some really fundamental differences in the light they produce. An LED will produce a more concentrated beam which will travel a long way whilst a Halogen will usually produce a more widespread and uniform beam. If you choose and LED with a narrow beam then place it  above a table you will see a bright circular area with an obvious edge - this makes them perfect for focussed lighting but not so good for general purpose lighting. If you need lamps for general lighting then you really need to look for a wider beam for it to be usable.

Whilst the output of LED lamps is definitely improving, you need to be aware that the higher light outputs lamps will appear expensive BUT they will still pay for themselves many times over in terms of power savings and you have the advantage of a usable and attractive light - with LED’s you really do get what you pay for.

Try a taster pack of LED’s to find the right one for you - return any you don’t like

click here for more info

Advantages
 Extremely long life
 Low Power consumption
 Small Size
 Come on immediately

Disadvantages
 Relatively expensive to buy
 No great choice of colour temperatures
 Not dimmable
 Not yet as bright as halogen lamps
 

Suggested applications
 Highlighting features
 Background lighting
 Adding colour and atmosphere
 Permanently on lighting

View our quick comparison chart for LED’s here

Click on the image to download a PDF information leaflet

! I’ve tried some lower colour temperature LED lamps and they don’t seem to be as bright.

True. This seems to be a feature of LED’s in that the higher colour temperature lamps give off more light than the warmer colour temperature ones. Nothing we can do about this at present. Sorry.

! Will I save money by switching to LED lamps?

YES. Remember that the running costs of an LED lamp are some 80% lower than the equivalent halogen lamp and they should last around 25 times as long so if a halogen lamp cost £1 then over the life of the LED lamp you should expect to spend around £25 in replacement halogen lamps. If the lights are intended to be left on for long periods then the savings in terms of running costs will mount up quickly.

Don’t forget that often the cost of the man employed to to change the lightbulb is more than the cost of the lightbulb so the fewer times you have to do it the more you save.

! I’ve heard there are some really powerful LED lamps becoming available.

True. BUT. We are now seeing 5w, 7w and even 9w lamps and they certainly give of a huge amount of light, however they are currently going to cost in excess of £30 each and at the moment we just don’t think they are worth it. No doubt the price will come down and when that happens we will stock them