LED lighting... MR16 or GU10?

[ancient]

Hello

I'm looking to replace my kitchen and bathroom spots (which are currently R80s and R63s with CFLs) with LED spots. Main reason is I prefer the type of light that LEDs give out compared to CFLs.

My question, for LED bulbs, besides cost, are there any advantages/ disadvantages of going with either the MR16 or GU10 format?

For GU10 LED bulbs I believe the drivers are built into the bulb whereas with LED MR16 bulbs I would need separate drivers/transformers.

With non-LED bulbs people would argue MR16 last longer than GU10 bulbs however for LED variants I don't think this would apply(?) so are there any other reasons why I should go for one or the other?

Thanks

 

[gblades]

There isnt really any difference. I would go for whatever light fitting you like the look of. MR16 you will need a separate transformer which might be more difficult to fit in a kitchen.

If you intend to use a dimmer then you will need to make sure it is designed for use with LED lights. For GU10 you might need to also get special dimmable LED lamps as depending on how they reduce the mains voltage will depend on whether they work with dimmers.
At least with MR16 all lamps should be compatible as long as the transformer itself is compatible.

What lamp powers are you after?
A 5W LED is equivilent to a 50W normal bulb. 5W LED bulbs are expensive though (about £20 each) for good quality ones.

 

[333rocky333]

MR16 is just a type of lamp
Multi Faceted Reflecter, 16 eights diameter, or 2inch/50mm

They can be
Gu10 which is a 240v lampholder
or
Gu 5.3 which is a 12 volt lampholder

As well as other formats of lampholders

 

[ban-all-sheds]

With non-LED bulbs people would argue MR16 last longer than GU10 bulbs however for LED variants I don't think this would apply(?) so are there any other reasons why I should go for one or the other?

No - they will all be unmitigated sh*te.

Don't forget to come back here in a few months time and post a warning to others about what sh*te they are, and how you ended up having to take them out, repair all those holes in the ceilings, and put in something which actually worked.

 

[gblades]

In what way are they bad?
Too dim or unreliable?
Reliability has certenly been an issue with a lot of them.

Even if they are not good you wont need to rip them out. Just changed the bulbs to non LED version.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

They are bad because the basic design of that type of light is fundamentally wrong for lighting a room.

They were designed for display lighting - they are small spotlights.

It doesn't matter whether you put incandescent, fluorescent or LED lamps in (the latter, BTW, being the worst of a very poor bunch) - MR16 lighting is not designed to provide general room illumination.

 

[gblades]

True but you can get the GU10's in beam angles between 25 and 50 degrees.
I have a quad unit in my bedroom and it is perfectly fine. My mother had a quad unit in her kitchen and it is fine also.

In a bathroom however it might not work so well if you have a single bulb. Whatever room you put them in you need at least 4 bulbs pointing in different directions to give a good spread of light and in a bathroom unless you use the basic 1W LED lamps that will be one bright bathroom

 

[aptsys]

You're resurrecting an old thread, but for what it's worth, Tesco are currently doing an offer on GE LED GU10's - £7.50.

I bought a couple as an experiment and actually they are superb. They have what look to be a Cree emitter inside, and have a good wide beam angle. The colour and quality of light are great.

 

[MichaelRupkalvis]

Rocky wrote:
"MR16 is just a type of lamp
Multi Faceted Reflecter, 16 eights diameter, or 2inch/50mm

They can be
Gu10 which is a 240v lampholder
or
Gu 5.3 which is a 12 volt lampholder"

I think you answered my question Rocky. I want to replace a 50 watt GU10 bulb with a LED. I was looking at these lights (MR16 1x5 Watt LED Spotlight) http://www.ledbulbsandlights.com/mr16-1x5-watt-led-spotlights.html/
but I do not think they would work as these would be the equivalent of a Gu5.3?

The websites make it difficult to make a correct decision.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

http://www.ledbulbsandlights.com/mr16-1x5-watt-led-spotlights.html/

"For use with a 12 Volt light fixture with a 2 pin base."

The websites make it difficult to make a correct decision.

Not really - they expect you to know what voltage your lights run at, which IMO is a perfectly reasonable thing to expect...