Super Mustud Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 It started like this. I was out in the garden toiling away at the The Goddess' latest instructions. Man drives up in a Camry (it already looks suss), walks up to front door AND IS LET IN!! Runs in and out between house and car a few times. Mustud investigates. Man is installing a draft excluder to rear of front door. I suppose it will assist the draft excluder on the front of the front door. Sort of like double glazing. Man smiles and leaves. Goddess waves a bunch of leaflets under my nose and starts extolling the virtues of LED lights. Anyway, after a week I capitulate and ring Mr Camry and arrange for the replacement of our cfl downlights with the wonderful LED product that will last 25 years and be installed at Government cost due to a VEEC program. Anyone else gone down this route? The cost is $28 per non dimmable globe but only $38 for replacement of existing downlight body and globe with an 8W dimmable LED on a gimbal body. Installation is no cost to us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saxon Hall Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 I would imagine it involves assigning your carbon credits to the installation company.That is the way it works with those energy saving thingamajigs they plug into your power outlets which switch off all the standby appliances. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gee Emm Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 I find that 15W LED is closer to a replacement lumen value. I am a fan of LED, but you do need ~30% Wattage of a halogen bulb for replacement lumens. Also, I prefer a wider angle beam. We have some at 105 degrees for down lights in living areas, which eliminates spotlighting. They can be initially expensive, but most things I like are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Full Range Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 I replaced 15 older style down lights with new 9 watt LED units with dimming capabilities and dimmers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cafad Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 I am slowly replacing (as they die a natural death) all the down lights in my folks house with LED bulbs. There are some 7W lights with diffuser lenses available at the moment that are pretty good value, they certainly give more effective light than any of the other models we have tried over the last 3 years. Personally I would still use a halogen to read under but for everything else it is LED all the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaynin Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 I've found the LED dimmables aren't up to scratch of the halogens just yet - they flicker when at low power, and will shut off completely when power is low enough - but they shut off at different stages to one another. Halogen downlights are smoother to operate, but inefficient and hot to run. We've put LED downlights around our eaves, and they work fine, just have to watch how far down we dim them to keep them consistent. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JohnA Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 havent done it in the current house, nor will bother with it, but the new house will have these LED downlights throughout. No choice these days through the builders, unless you opt for normal baton lights, then replace them with your own downlights Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 It started like this. I was out in the garden toiling away at the The Goddess' latest instructions. Man drives up in a Camry (it already looks suss), walks up to front door AND IS LET IN!! Runs in and out between house and car a few times. Mustud investigates. Man is installing a draft excluder to rear of front door. I suppose it will assist the draft excluder on the front of the front door. Sort of like double glazing. Man smiles and leaves. Goddess waves a bunch of leaflets under my nose and starts extolling the virtues of LED lights. Anyway, after a week I capitulate and ring Mr Camry and arrange for the replacement of our cfl downlights with the wonderful LED product that will last 25 years and be installed at Government cost due to a VEEC program. Anyone else gone down this route? The cost is $28 per non dimmable globe but only $38 for replacement of existing downlight body and globe with an 8W dimmable LED on a gimbal body. Installation is no cost to us. Closet greenie :-) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guru Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 What would the goddess have done if he had driven up in a Prius? Or you for that matter....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Mustud Posted October 30, 2013 Author Share Posted October 30, 2013 What would the goddess have done if he had driven up in a Prius? Or you for that matter....... Laughed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Mustud Posted October 30, 2013 Author Share Posted October 30, 2013 Closet greenie :-) I have hidden my Greenie tendencies as best I can since numerous unsavoury characters have labelled themselves as such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaphod Beeblebrox Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 It started like this. I was out in the garden toiling away at the The Goddess' latest instructions. Man drives up in a Camry (it already looks suss), walks up to front door AND IS LET IN!! Runs in and out between house and car a few times. Mustud investigates. Man is installing a draft excluder to rear of front door. I suppose it will assist the draft excluder on the front of the front door. Sort of like double glazing. Man smiles and leaves. Goddess waves a bunch of leaflets under my nose and starts extolling the virtues of LED lights. Anyway, after a week I capitulate and ring Mr Camry and arrange for the replacement of our cfl downlights with the wonderful LED product that will last 25 years and be installed at Government cost due to a VEEC program. Anyone else gone down this route? The cost is $28 per non dimmable globe but only $38 for replacement of existing downlight body and globe with an 8W dimmable LED on a gimbal body. Installation is no cost to us. Forget it. As Mr Happy Pants has stated, you need around 15 Watts of LED power to equal a 50 Watt halogen downlight. I have a crapload of downlights in my kitchen, so a few years back I replaced all the iron transformers with 'electronic transformers'. Since each iron transformer wastes around 12 ~ 15 Watts and the electronic transformer wastes around 2 Watts, I made some pretty decent savings. Recently, I purchased a crapload of 6.5 Watt LED downlights from Aldi for 5 Bucks each. I fitted them to the kitchen fixtures. Whilst the light output is lower, there is plenty of light in the room. Amazingly, the dimmer works with the new LED lamps, despite a clear banner across the Aldi packaging suggesting that the lamps are non-dimmable types. Wait for Aldi to put them on special again. 20 bucks for a package or 4 lamps. Can't beat them, On the strength of the downlight sage, I purchased more Aldi LED lamps recently. I found a 7.5 Watt lamp for the bathrooms, which replaces the 75 Watt mirrorback one in the IXLTastic fan/heatlamp/downlight fitting. I also found an 11 Watt lamp for the loungeroom, which has replaced a 100 Watt incandescent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gee Emm Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 A lot of people aren't aware of this. Since each iron transformer wastes around 12 ~ 15 Watts and the electronic transformer wastes around 2 Watts, I made some pretty decent savings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaynin Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 Amazingly, the dimmer works with the new LED lamps, despite a clear banner across the Aldi packaging suggesting that the lamps are non-dimmable types. Please let me know if they spontaneously self-combust Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaphod Beeblebrox Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 Please let me know if they spontaneously self-combust Will do. They've been in for a couple of months, without problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juicester Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Brightgreen Dr700 - haven't found another led globe that comes close. Great throw range and 720 lumen output (50w halogen equivalent). Not cheap but by my sums payback period is still inside the warranty period of 3 years. This is a drop in replacement for people on mr16 12v systems like me - no transformer replacement necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hybridfiat Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 (edited) We spent $180 on 12 LED downlights for the new kitchen and diningroom. Ive 'jury rigged' them to see what the end result will be and the light is pretty good. All 7w with diffusers. Ill post final opinion and pics when the kitchen is done. Edited November 2, 2013 by hybridfiat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Mustud Posted November 2, 2013 Author Share Posted November 2, 2013 I will be installing 20 LEDs next Wednesday. I will then be able to reflect on whether I have been a mug or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Triode Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Brightgreen Dr700 - haven't found another led globe that comes close. Great throw range and 720 lumen output (50w halogen equivalent). Not cheap but by my sums payback period is still inside the warranty period of 3 years. This is a drop in replacement for people on mr16 12v systems like me - no transformer replacement necessary. Just looked at one online - looks too long to fit into a standard downlight ceiling light fitting. How does it fit into your light fittings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Mustud Posted November 2, 2013 Author Share Posted November 2, 2013 Just looked at one online - looks too long to fit into a standard downlight ceiling light fitting. How does it fit into your light fittings? My understanding is that the best LED application is with the integrated LED/fitting/transformer that comes as all one piece. You never change the globe, just the whole shebang. If they last 20 to 25 years as predicted then that sounds pretty keen! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwhitesox Posted November 2, 2013 Share Posted November 2, 2013 Brightgreen Dr700 - haven't found another led globe that comes close. Great throw range and 720 lumen output (50w halogen equivalent). Not cheap but by my sums payback period is still inside the warranty period of 3 years. This is a drop in replacement for people on mr16 12v systems like me - no transformer replacement necessary. They are the best but they are also the most expensive and require a bit of room in the roof space to install as they are quite tall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juicester Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 They are the best but they are also the most expensive and require a bit of room in the roof space to install as they are quite tall. $43 a pop in a bulk order of 17. takes about 2 minutes per globe to replace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwhitesox Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 (edited) $43 a pop in a bulk order of 17. takes about 2 minutes per globe to replace. Yes but you can get bulk orders of Chinese Cree LED's which are nearly as good ( I said nearly ) for $3 a pop which still take 2 minutes to replace. Edited November 5, 2013 by bwhitesox Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LogicprObe Posted November 5, 2013 Share Posted November 5, 2013 I have a few LED units but have decided to wait a year or so until they improve. The halogens will do for the time being. I only use CFL's outside where I don't care about the light much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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