Hot from me as quite a high light output.

and a lot safer than many of the no-name Chinese ones on eBay

Good price but even Poundland 5w leds works great!

I bought 16 of these for Kitchen/hall to replace existing 50w gu10 halogens a few months ago. Work well but they're brighter than the halogens were. We've got used to them now but were in 2 minds to take them back. Please bear this is mind if buying.

Are these actually any better than these also at Screwfix that work at £1.40 per bulb?

http://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-gu10-led-lamps-345lm-650cd-5-3w-10-pack/4159k

Hot from me for a reputable make, dimmable LED spotlight.

I wasn't aware of that, but that's not something that I need. Is it worth the extra 60p per bulb for the Philips as opposed to the LAP?

If you dont need dimmable then LAP brand is fine - I've got these in my bathroom for some time and had no problems.

Help! I have 10 downlighters in my kitchen split on two circuits 4/6. The current ones are 12v 50W MR16 halogens, ive replaced all the bulbs with LAP MR16 LEDs, the 4 circuit is fine, the 6 circuit seems to have one that flickers, I know this is a problem with MR16's but I just wondered why only one flickers, its not the bulb, I've switched it and it was the same, do I need a driver or is it better to change out to GU10 fittings??? :wink:

so normal hallogen bulbs can be replaced with these LEDs or holder has to be changed ?? please advice

I had MR 12V LED bulbs and mine would flicker it was due to the transformer not being compatible with the low vottage LED's. My electrician converted the downlights to GU10 240V and removed the transfomers now my LEDS's don't flicker. :smiley:

Good price for dimmable, heat added.

Indeed you have a standard halogen type 12v transformer. You need an LED driver instead. Similar, but different.

Alternatively, just do away with the whole 12v scenario and replace the transformers you have with new GU10 type tails and just go the way everyone else is going - mains GU10's.

​Up to you, Is there a reason why your kitchen lights are 12 volt? Usually you find 12 volt in bathrooms/ shower rooms.

Home Bargains do a non dimable version of this for £1.19. I've no idea how it compares quality wise.

Just watch out for the narrow beam angle. We've got these in the living room and there is a definite spot effect from them.

LEDs that don't specify a CRI of 90 or above (or don't specify at all) will have an artificial feel. You'll really notice it in a kitchen where foods will have an odd colour.

What you will find with lights that run off a 12 volt transformer, they need a certain amount of load to make the transformer work (the LED load is too low). I've come across this problem before so I would say the only solution as silly as it sounds is to increase the wattage of the lamps.

Does each bulb have its own transformer? If so due the the low current the transformer may be struggling with such a low current. I had this in my bathroom and only one flickered. The solution is either to try a higher wattage bulb, a newer transformer or wire one transformer into all 6 or 12 sockets, you should be able to use the existing cables, but bear in mind if you ever go back to halogen you may blow the transformer!
Or replace with 240v gu10 holders and lamps
I just wired the 4 bulbs into one transformer by the way, should be more efficient that way too as lower transformer losses as only 1 rather than 4.

Do you mind me asking roughly how much? I looked into it a couple of years back and the cost was astronomical, but back then, one LED GU10 was about £15!! :smiley:

Subject to cost, I think that's my preferred route :wink:

Yes, the previous owner was a (crap) Plumber by trade, but thought he could do every other trade, basically, he was a tit and I'm gradually finding out how much of a tit. We're talking about a plumber who fits HIS OWN boiler and sinks the condensate pipe into a hole in the garage floor, he didn't even drill all the way through the concrete to access some miraculous "soakaway", at least we managed to get service cover on it before it all knackered!!

Ahhh.... so if I take these back and replace them for higher watt bulbs, it MAY cure the one flickering light? Worth a shot before I get it all ripped out for GU10's :smiley:

What are you doing Saturday? I'll make the tea, you do the wiring!! :smiley:

Yes in theory, but I think the highest wattage gu10s are 8w (OSRAM do some) but they are a lot more expensive and may well be insanely bright! Depending on how your lights are wired, just leaving 1 high wattage bulb (ie halogen bulb) in may work, although the symptoms of just one flickering light suggests that they are on separate transformers. It's possible the flickering ones are on the 4 light circuit though, so you could try that

I replaced all of our GU10 and MR16 bulbs with Philips brand LEDs last year-they're really good bulbs, have no issues.

Lol, depending on how accessible the transformers are, it's not necessarily a big job. Often the transformers are just laying loose above the ceiling, so you can just pull them through the hole. If you try one light and the transformer comes out, you could either then just replace the transformer, or just wire in a GU10 socket. Putting GU10 sockets in is probably the better and more cost effective solution IMO. You should be able to get decent ones at about £5/6 each in a pack, probably cheaper than 12 separate transformers.

Change them all to GU10.

MR16 driver frequently broke and cost £10 each to replace.

I fed up with it. Last year, I change all LED to GU10 last year, more than 100 of them. An electrician worked for 2 days.

Just change the transformer as I believe it's faulty . £3 in toolstation. Fairly simple to change. It shud work after this

Thanks for the advice guys, lots to think about :wink:

​I know just the type, I think he must have owned my girlfriend's house at some point as well :smirk:

If it's a steady flicker it's probably the transformer. Random flicker more likely a loose connection. GU10's are the way to go, 12v transformers can take a lot of juice on the 240v side.. and the 12v side generally has a loose connection cooking something.

Its a fast but steady flicker, only the one light though, so I guess that adds weight to it being the transformer? (I'll have a dig around in the hole thing and see if I can find a plastic block?? (as you can tell, I'm a pro DIY'er, probably still better than the donkey who installed them!! :smiley:)

The flic

The flicker usually means that the transformer is not meeting its minimum load, so it's switching on and off, hence the flicker.
Usually the mr16 setup will either have a transformer that feeds several bulbs or there is 1 transformer per bulb. In my case my transformer had a minimum load of 10W. I was putting on a 5W bulb. You can buy bulbs that have circuitry in side that adjusts for this. I believe the Philips master range do this, but they cost about £15. Too pricey for me.

I spent quite a while researching into this as i too had flickers etc. I had 20 halogen mr16's. After a lot of research i decided that the best thing would be to remove the transformers and move to gu10 off the mains. I'm not a diy person, but it didn't sound too difficult, so i did it myself last weekend (bought some gu10 holders from amazon). In my case i had 1 electronic transformer for each bulb which made it simple and It took about 5 minutes to do per bulb.

Thanks for that, I'll have a look into it, I think I'll still end up paying for a professional though as the OH panics too much about electrics :wink:

Instead of the pricey philips master range you can also fit a dummy load resistor in the circuit. ELV or mains.
It acts as a resistive load, helps meet transformer minimum loads and on mains allows circuit to meet minimum load for some dimmers.

Bargain. I'd buy a ton of these if they were 3000k.

So much darker than my current 5w.

Going to return them all.