led v halogen

camelia · Oct 07, 2009 12:48 am

I want to install undercabinet lights in my kitchen. The installer wants to put halogen lights in but I told him I want the LED. I'm not sure what is better 240v or 12V. What is the price difference for the two types of lights? I live in sydney and want to know where I can purchase these.Any help would be appreciated
thanks
camelia

JilaMint · Oct 15, 2009 4:25 pm

When you say "when they blow replace them with 12v MR16 LEDs"
Do you really mean replace them when the price of the 12v MR16 LEDs is reasonable ?

I'm not having a dig - I just think if the government was serious about reducing energy consumption with the ban of the old incandescent bulbs, they should also subsidise the cost of 12v LEDs for households and new builds. They are currently over $60 per bulb compared to about $3 for a halogen.... it's no brainer for most people who are about to install 20-30 or more downlights in a house.

Halogen downlights contribute far more to our energy footprint than incandescents ever did. Although banning them in favour of CFLs was a good move.

camelia · Nov 12, 2009 8:52 pm

Thanks for your responses. The kitchen company is supplying the 12v halogens...they dont offer the LED's, I think I'll just stick to this and if I can get LED replacement bulbs that are not too pricey then I'll go with that
Thanks,

Lighting Designer · Nov 12, 2009 9:12 pm

Hi Camilia,

if you google "MR16 LED lamps" in Australia, you will find a whole lot of suppliers with different price brackets for these lamps. when choosing a lamp, check what the "lumen" out put is vs the beam angle
a decent light would be anything over 250 lumens and around 25 to 30 degree beam spread.

i've seen these lamps retail anywhere from $40 - $60

and you are spot on, why the government did not subsidize these lamps is beyond everyone !!!

Lighting Designer · Nov 16, 2009 8:48 pm

agreed, but i have not come across a retrofit MR16 led lamp with 400+ lumens .... have you ?

Lighting Designer · Dec 16, 2009 4:14 pm

would be nice though ....

rep334 · Dec 18, 2009 3:31 pm

Hi For the LED cainet lights ,you cannot use MR16 as these will be way too deep for 16mm board and will intrude into the bottom of the overhead cabinets .
There are new led cabinet lights 3 x 1 watt and as bright as a 20 watt halogen ( two types ,warm and cool white , cool white is the brightest.)
Ring Hafele in Sydney and as for sales tell them you are interested in Hafele article number 830.33.082 ( cool white ) and 830.33.083 ( warm white )
Pricing is very reasonable and you can run 3 of these lights of the driver 830.88.080 .
Please ring and you will pleasently surprised ( perhaps you should tell the cabinet maker ) ??

realestate73 · Dec 29, 2009 6:20 am

Hi All,

I've just replaced our Halogens with 9watt LED's and they look fantastic. It took a while looking around for ones that were bright enough but I finally found some at a reasonable price.

They are 380 lumens and 60 degree beam angle... Edited by Moderator (Bam)

Now I just need to convince the wife that we should also get a bran new large screen led tv

just in time for the cricket

cheers
Adrian

Pixelated · Dec 29, 2009 11:13 am

Hi & great thread btw :-)

I'd love to know what you think of compact fluorescents compared against LED's and halogen downlights? The reason I ask is because these are DH's preferred choice but the two we've trialled are not very good to say the least imho.

Thoughts please....

Pix

realestate73 · Dec 29, 2009 3:18 pm

Hi Pix,

From my personal point of view there's no comparison to the LED's I recently bought. I have 2 compact fluorescents in my house at the moment in the toilets and not only are they damn ugly globes

the light is also not very nice, its kind of dull orange. Don't ask me why the house was built with only 2 CF's and the rest halos lol

If my wife could have her way, I'd be rewiring the two toilets for more LED's! (ps if you read this babe, no I'm not doing it)

I guess its not only the brightness of the LED's, its the look of them being flush along the ceiling, they look really modern.

Edited by Moderator (Bam)

I'm interested in others views on the comparisons tho...will be reading this thread eagerly...

cheers
Adrian

Pixelated · Dec 30, 2009 11:50 am

I may not have made myself very clear. Sorry.. hehe

I actually meant compact fluorescent downlights. The fitting itself looks ostensibly the same as any other downlight (halogen, LED) just the light source is different.

Are they what you have RealEstate?

Has anyone had any success with compact fluorescent downlights versus LED's and halogens? As mentioned, I just don't like the quality of the light.

Pix

realestate73 · Dec 31, 2009 5:56 am

Heya Pix,

I got confused too

I thought you meant the other compact fluorescent globes that screw in. They are the ones I have in the toilets.

installation inspector · Feb 05, 2010 8:59 pm

I have seen two warm-white 5w (120 degree, 260 lumens, 15 SMD LEDs) in a GU10 in a corridor with standard 50W halogens and the only difference between them was the LED's didn't produce the "spot" on the floor like the halogens did, but otherwise the light appeared to be identical (beam onto wall, ambience, etc). They also come in a 4W MR16 with the same spec's, and cool white with 300 lumens.

They were a relatively cheap (compared to brand names) on eBay (no need to elaborate any further, in case it's against forum guidelines, but should be easy enough to find from information provided in this post if interested

).

And government-subsidised? Try Green Loans (probably not applicable to new home owners/builders though?). When mine's approved, I'll be changing all my halogens to LED's (except the under-cabinet ones in the kitchen).

wombat · Feb 06, 2010 4:35 pm

Hi

When we signed out contracts with builder we got extra battens for lights in the family room and kitchen for future downlights.

I've now got a quote from the electrician (same one builder uses but better prices)

Light point upgrades to suit future downlights (existing light point) $10 each
12v Halogen Downlight (white/gimbal) supply and install including flexi thermal guard $90 each

Is this reasonable?

Apart from that and keeping in context for this topic, should I be considering LED and what type?

* we have 5 in the family room 2-1-2
* 3 in the hallway from front door even spaced
* I think 3 in the kitchen

I know Haolgen is cheaper intially but that is it

installation inspector · Feb 06, 2010 7:02 pm

It might be worth paying a visit to a local lighting shop. I know the few I've been into have displays for halogen and CFL to compare output (although not ideal, as the shop is full of other lights turned on as well). It will only be a matter of time before they start selling/displaying LED lights too...

Or you could just buy just a few LED ones, and try them out in different locations to see if you like them. If not, you can put them somewhere where the light output isn't so critical (eg: the walk-in pantry or bathroom/ensuite?)