I hate halogen downlights. Like the plague, they have managed to spread beyond commercial buildings and now you find them in rental apartments as well. They are inefficient as buggery and spit out terrible amounts of heat especially during a qld summer.
Anyway, umart are selling these 5w led down lights that substitute for a 35w halogen. Unfortunately warm white is the only color. $9 down from $18. $15 is cheaper to the real street price but still a good ddeal.
This is where i bought my first lot from but second time around didnt have the 3000k version, so i ended up buying from Ledworkshop.
I also bought some Osram downlight kits from bunnings for only $10, (normal price) which included the Osram redback power supply which will drive the LED's ok.
My idea was to ditch the haolgen and replace with the Nichia.
http://www.bunnings.com.au/osram-12v-35w-60-downlight-kit-wi…
now showing $8.90….. bonus
http://www.ledworkshop.com.au/led-drivers-transformers/osram…
$10.90 ex gst????
Actually come to think of it, ledworkshop's prices may be WITHOUT GST???
need to check that checkout.
Thanks for the OSRAM kit link. Think I paid more for the transformer @ Bunnings as a test unit last year.
Have you tried the newer 65° COB Nichias?
I doubt you are going to get a lot of lumens from those.
For renters hit by the halogen downlight plague, another cheaper option is to leave them off and use a few uplights with CFL instead.
Luminosity is definitely on par with 35w halogens as far as I can see. A little bit of flicker (mild) for 10s after turning on and then they remain steady. Quite happy with them and the price.
Damn, I bought Ledlux ones at like 40 bucks each early last year
Halogen downlights have many advantages over cheap LEDS.
These LEDs are not dimmable.
There is no mention of the CRI.
It's not possible for a 5W led to replace a 35w 12v halogen.
The beam angle is poor and there are two specified on the box.
These are a poor purchase, better to buy a decent brand like Osram where they specify lifetime, output, CRI etc.
At least they are a decent colour being warm white - not sure why you want to put a whiter bulb apart from a home office/garage.
As for the flicker on startup this just shows these are cheap rubbish. Unless the output of the light is actually measured properly any claims they are on "on part with 35w halogens (MR16 or GU10???)" can be taken with a grain of salt especially as the angle of the light output is different.
If you're going to go LED buy a decent brand with full specs otherwise buy IRC bulbs and note that many comparisons are measured against a GU10 halogen not a MR16 halogen and they put out quite different amounts of light.
I'm negging this deal as the bulbs are rubbish and not worth wasting money on.
Lifetime is specified at 30 000 hours.
I tried Osrams before (quite a few years ago now). There was some flicker experienced and I was told that this was due to the transformer, which would need to be changed. I thought we would experience the same problem with these but they dont seem to have that problem.
Anyway, have fun with whatever lights float your boat.
I agree with most of what you've said… except the reputable brand stuff.
Osram had a fitting that the industry nicknamed the 'hand grenade' because it had a 60% failure rate.
Do more research, cheap retrofits are usually rubbish.
sauce: Work for a large lighting manufacturer.
sauce: Work for a large lighting manufacturer.
Yeah right. What flavoured sauces do you offer?
If you want flood lighting from LED's, COB's are the way to go. Unfortunately there are so many different boards and you can't trust the wattage/lumen rating of the ebay listings, it's hard to know what you'll get. The ones with the 40mm board are the better ones I've tried, but of course CRI, wattage and lumen output still varies.
If you want reasonably good MR16 12v LED light to replace 35-50w halogens i would suggest these.
http://www.ledworkshop.com.au/nichia-mr16-8w-dimmable-led
Ok they are not $9 each BUT i bought 10 at $16.95 each (inc free postage) of the 3000k to replace my 50 w halogens and they are pretty close in colour (a little whiter) and intensity (a little duller than 50w GE halogen)
the bonus is the 60 degree spread as there are no "1 metre spots" on the floor.
Also NO RFI to cause issues with TV or Radio reception….BONUS. !!!