For various reasons I decided to use a plastic suspended ceiling system for my bathroom ceiling, rather than going to the hassle of getting it replastered. I thought that I could make it look quite snazzy by fitting led downlighters into it. I would have tried halogen's but I think that they would be way too hot for the plastic to handle.
Not really knowing anything about LED's at the start I've found that there's more than meets the eye to using these for room lighting...
1) You need to use a transformer which is specifically designed to drive LEDs rather than halogens.
2) Unless you use very expensive transformers you can't dim LEDs.
3) The multi LED MR16 bulbs produce a very tight beam of light, which isn't really any use for general room lighting, even if you put in a lot of downlighters. Check the beam angle, if it isn't specified then assume it has a very tight spot beam
4) The quality of light can vary a lot. I've tried 3 different types of white LED now, pure white ones are too blue to use, even ones which claim to be warm white can produce a very green light which isn't suitable for normal use.
5) Anything below 5w LED will be very dim, compared to a 35w-50w halogen.
To sum up, the only LED MR16 bulb I've tried which could be considered useable for normal house lighting as a replacement for a halogen would be the 5w single LED warm white 70degree beam angle ones, which are available for about 15 quid a piece from various web sites. For my project I'd required about 5 just to light a small bathroom, which makes it a very pricey proposition compared to a couple of quid for a compact CFD which will easily light the whole bathroom.
To sum up, for the moment, none of the LED's that I've tried seem suitable unless I want to pay about 80 quid for bulbs to light a small room. I'll keep an eye on the progress of these bulbs, as I'm sure that progress towards a true halogen replacement will be rapid, but for now I'll be patient and keep using a compact fluorescent.
Not really knowing anything about LED's at the start I've found that there's more than meets the eye to using these for room lighting...
1) You need to use a transformer which is specifically designed to drive LEDs rather than halogens.
2) Unless you use very expensive transformers you can't dim LEDs.
3) The multi LED MR16 bulbs produce a very tight beam of light, which isn't really any use for general room lighting, even if you put in a lot of downlighters. Check the beam angle, if it isn't specified then assume it has a very tight spot beam
4) The quality of light can vary a lot. I've tried 3 different types of white LED now, pure white ones are too blue to use, even ones which claim to be warm white can produce a very green light which isn't suitable for normal use.
5) Anything below 5w LED will be very dim, compared to a 35w-50w halogen.
To sum up, the only LED MR16 bulb I've tried which could be considered useable for normal house lighting as a replacement for a halogen would be the 5w single LED warm white 70degree beam angle ones, which are available for about 15 quid a piece from various web sites. For my project I'd required about 5 just to light a small bathroom, which makes it a very pricey proposition compared to a couple of quid for a compact CFD which will easily light the whole bathroom.
To sum up, for the moment, none of the LED's that I've tried seem suitable unless I want to pay about 80 quid for bulbs to light a small room. I'll keep an eye on the progress of these bulbs, as I'm sure that progress towards a true halogen replacement will be rapid, but for now I'll be patient and keep using a compact fluorescent.
