Thanks for your enquiry. Our MR16 is designed to work with such transformers. Basically the internal circuitry adapts the transformer output to provide the correct input for the LED – this way the life of the LED is not compromised. In terms of light output however, you will find that compared with a 50w Halogen the light levels will be reduced by approx 30-40% – no easy way to tell you that but it’s a fact of life and it’s not just our lamps which will be like this – no 4.5w LED will provide the same light as a 50w MR16 Halogen – if other suppliers make this claim make sure you get a money back guarantee as you’ll need it!

Regarding dimmers, the lamps will work but I can’t vouch for how well they will dim as that is dependent on the dimmer switch and transformers.

Hope this helps.

Richard

Would the Maxilux Driverless MR16 LED bulbs be safe to use with the existing installed JCC transformers, & what kind of performance could I expect?

Some of the lamps have dimmers – same transformers. Would that work with these LEDs?

Are the life figures valid is used with the existing JCC electronic transformers?

Many thanks for your kind assistance,

Gerry

Thank you for your query. There are three lamps on our website that I can recommend. The first is a medium powered LED on a par with a 35w halogen, beam angle of 80 degrees so less shadowing and is called an EconoLED. It uses just 2.3watts and costs around £13.99. The next one slightly brighter is the Maxilux Zenigata on a par with a 40w halogen using 4.5w of power, beam angle of 60 degrees again cutting down on the shadowing you get with halogens. These lamps has been around for about 18months and have been a good replacement for 35-50w lamps. With an LED because the light is consistent across the beam unlike the spotting affect of the halogens, the light does often seem brighter than its halogen counterpart. The Zenigata costs around £19.99 per lamp. The brightest one we have now is the Toshiba which is a 50w + replacement And dimmable the most expensive at £29.99. If you are considering lamps from elsewhere do check what they are on a par with. We also offer a returns policy so if you would like to look at a couple of different lamps to see whether they will do the job, if not they can be returned until something more suitable comes along.

They do seem alot more money but when you factor in the expected life which is 20 times more than a halogen and on average you are probably spending £1 per bulb then you can see where the first additional costs comes in And you would be saving so much on your energy consumption per bulb so saving money there too.
With regard to the integrated systems they include the fitting, LED built into the unit and transformer and are no more difficult to install than any other fitting using a transformer. Some of the intergrated fittings have the lamps are part of the unit so you dont have to change the lamp as they should last 40,000hrs. If it were to fail you would have to change the whole unit. Some do have an inner core which just needs replacing all very straight forward and probably alot easier than trying to get halogens out of their fittings. One other point if you are replacing existing halogens and you want the same colour effect ie warm slight yellow hue chose the warm white in the LED if you want a more modern slightly brighter effect the cool white might be worth considering.

Hope this helps

Gillian

I am interested in replacing my 35/50 W GU10 Lamps with LED lamps. The choice of products seems to be getting better & better. Can I please get some economical recommendations on what would be the best options. I need general household lighting & the LED lamps must fit in existing recesses.

I am also interested in the integrated LED downlighters to replace existing ceiling rose lights. How are they fitted & are they easy to fit.

Many Thanks.

Tariq.

Thanks for your query – normally the problem with just swapping halogen lamps for LED is the transformer. An LED normally demands a different type of supply to that supplied by a halogen transformer however we have developed an LED which is specifically designed to operate with these units.

If you purchase from us then there should be no problem but if you choose to buy elsewhere you must check if the lamp needs a constant current supply – if the answer is yes then don’t buy the lamp!

You will be able to run multiple LED’s from the same existing transformer – just swap the lamps.

In terms of heat an LED will generate MUCH less heat than a halogen – at all time you can touch an LED lamp which is not the case with a halogen.

The only compromise you will have to make is the amount of light – a low voltage 50w system really is pretty bright and a 4.5w LED will only give a light level equivalent to a 20w lamp. We do have new models coming in November which will be more like a 35w lamp.

You can see the product I recommend here.

Richard

I also have an Ikea low voltage system with 5 halogen bulbs, can I just replace them with LED’s?
Many thanks
Adam

Thanks for your comment – the reason the halogens fail is obviously because of the amount of heat they generate – fortunately LED lamps operate at a much lower temperature so the fire risk is practically non existent. Assuming that the fittings you have are open backed, then you can buy plenty of retrofit LED lamps – it’s much easier with GU10 (mains voltage) than 12v systems but both are possible.

The only issue you might face is the level of illumination. Generally current LED lamps are still not as bright as halogens though our new TOSHIBA GU10 lamps are very, very close. The body temperature on these lamps get to approx 50 degree C which is not going to cause any burning or marking on nearby timers. The other advantage of LED lamps is that the maintenance schedule should be reduced to almost nil thereby offsetting the higher capital cost.

So there you are – the simple answer is yes you can replace the halogens and the lower heat should be fine ref the regulations BUT you will of course need to check this as we do not pretend to be experts.

You can see our range of LED lamps at here.

Is there and LED option here that would eliminate the heat risk without having to move several recessed ceiling lights? Any solution would need to pass an electrical safety check.

GU10 or MR16 LED’s are designed as a retro-fit solution to replace less efficient technologies in existing fittings. Assuming you are using/planning to install fire-rated fittings, then the maximum wattage you will be able to use (assuming the lamps are LED’s) will be around 8 watts, due to restrictions on the size of the heat sink on more powerful lamps. However you are not restricted if using a dedicated LED unit, allowing for much higher wattages and output levels. We currently stock a 15w fully integrated unit – the Spacelight see here and later this year we will be taking delivery of a fully dimmable integrated downlighter solution. My personal preference would be to use an integrated downlighter, but if you do decided to go with the standard fitting and lamp combination, I would suggest you use a low voltage system to ensure optimum long-term reliability – see our other blog posts for more info on this subject.

A final note, both of the solutions suggested are recessed fittings, so require a ceiling cavity to sit in. May sound obvious, but many people don’t realise!

Hope this helps,

Will

Hope this helps,

Richard

Would like LED downlight fittings throughout but am unclear on most suitable option. Use standard downlight fittings & fit LED GU10 bulbs, or dedicated LED units?

Would appreciate any advice.