Where can I get some cheap and quality LED down lights, I really love to replace all the down lights in my house, about 60 downs lights, and whats every one think about the LED down lights?

For quality I would look at Brightgreen. When you say replace do you mean the halogen globes or the entire fittings? The globes can be replaced with a light called the DR700. They are of the same quality as halogens, equally as bright, but use way less power.

http://brightgreen.net.au/products/dr700/

probably not as cheap as you are looking for, but cheap & quality LEDs = non-exsistent.

good luck!

Not sure where you get cheap ones but we recently put in LEDs thorugh out in our new build. We went with Clipsal (not cheap) but am happy we made the investments so far. We've been in our house since beginning of the year and happy to report that not a single bulb has blown. I used to get so annoyed how the helogen lights used to blow all the time.

The lights are also very bright. I prefer the warm glow of yellow over the white.

I still haven't received my first electricity bill so will see how energy efficient they are compared to helogens.

BrightGreen has a lifespan of 20+ years if used 8 hrs a day.

But if it dies, you can't replace the bulb but must replace the whole unit?

Will the company be around in 20+ years?

I don't think LEDs really do die, the light will degrade after about 20 years of use at 8 hours a day, but only by about 10%. I understand that the drivers are fully replaceable, and are covered under warranty.

I've just been to our local light shop and have come away quite frustrated. The girl there insisted that LED lights fade considerably after only one year of operation and that it continues every day from there. Has anyone had LED lights for a long period and can agree or refute this?

Not true.

LED downlights will fade only a little bit over time, less the 5-6% of lumen output after close to 10,000 hours of use. After 20 years at 8 hours of use a day they will reduce by only 10-15% of lumen output. The girl at your local store has it wrong. Top range LEDs have an 80% lumen output after 70,000 hours.

The key to LED brightness is operating temperatures. They lower temp the light operates at, the longer it will burn at it's brightest. The best LEDs have decent heatsinks that keep the lights cool as well as onboard thermal monitoring that lowers the light output when running too hot to maintain life.

Hi everyone

this question might sound naive, but why is it that all new homes have downlights and not a good old fashioned central light? I find downlights (in my rental home) too shadowy and harsh on the eyes. Makes everyone look gloomy.

Also how much does it cost to instal into an existing home?

downlights actually cost more to do. It's just the trend I guess.

A fortune to install into an existing home! Upgrading on a new build was close to $60/light from pendant to downlights and you often need more downlights then normal lights.
I removed them because of their energy in-efficiency in terms of heating cost...as well as the lighting itself.

Also a number of people didn't like them, it seems to be more a fashion trend than anything else

I think LED down lights are definitely the way to go as in reduces your power bill and it increase your intensity of where you need to get lit up. You can definitely get cost efficient ones if you know where to look.

Hi, I definitely agree with Marcus, we have 65 downlights in our new home. We decided to install quality lights so we went for the PHilips GU10 7W, they look fabulous & only cost us $45 each ( globe + housing ) & the electrician charged $35 each to install. They really give a " homey" effect.

Check out this reply on a different thread.

Kogan just had a speciel on LED downlights, I bought a few and am pretty happy so far. They were GU10 4x1Watt says on the packet 15,000 working hours. Packet of 4 were $29. We shall see.

On the topic of Fading, I can only assume that this may be accelerated if you incorrectly install the LED's, causing them to get too hot.

4W LED is equivalent to less than 20W incandescent bulb, just 4 may not be enough.

I agree, we have the GU10 7W, they're very bright provided you have enough of them in the room.

Nowadays, you can pick up some good quality 12W LEDs downlights at around $20 each.

Whatever you pick, ensure each light is wired separately & not together in case you need to replace the whole thing, especially if you're building a two storey, otherwise it becomes very difficult to replace, if the need arises.

Also - not sure if its mentioned - we used the plug variety so we could remove easily. BUT - don't let them cut off the plug to hardwire - it can void any warranty.