Thread: Off Topic-replacing Halogen with LED ,electricians???

LED's are starting to get better, but still not great, Pierlite have a new range out called Starburst, they do a 12w LED which will be the closest to a 50w dichroic, anything lower than 10w doesn't come close.
By using the LV transformer and not an led driver, the lamp expectancy is not as long, CAN be as little as 25,000hr instead of 50,000hr.
I have over 60LV downlights in my house and as they blow i'l be replacing them with 12w leds, i like the output of the dichroics so am hoping pierlite have come close to it.
Oh and rollypolly, know one likes taking orders from an apprentice, so get back in the corner

10 out of 10 for your concerns Rollypolly

In Australia an LV license is required if working above 50VAC or 120 VDC ripple free to 1000VAC, 1500VDC ripple free

Extra low voltage is clasified as anything below 50VAC or 120 VDC and a license is not required.

If your not wiring the primary side of the transformer then you are free to do what you want with a 12V system.

Originally Posted by blitz

10 out of 10 for your concerns Rollypolly

In Australia an LV license is required if working above 50VAC or 120 VDC ripple free to 1000VAC, 1500VDC ripple free

Extra low voltage is clasified as anything below 50VAC or 120 VDC and a license is not required.

If your not wiring the primary side of the transformer then you are free to do what you want with a 12V system.

Cheers Blitz...

Up here ELV is the relm of the Instros and the Sparkies refer to them as "Low Voltage Plumbers"

Originally Posted by Vern

LED's are starting to get better, but still not great, Pierlite have a new range out called Starburst, they do a 12w LED which will be the closest to a 50w dichroic, anything lower than 10w doesn't come close.
By using the LV transformer and not an led driver, the lamp expectancy is not as long, CAN be as little as 25,000hr instead of 50,000hr.
I have over 60LV downlights in my house and as they blow i'l be replacing them with 12w leds, i like the output of the dichroics so am hoping pierlite have come close to it.
Oh and rollypolly, know one likes taking orders from an apprentice, so get back in the corner

Damien,
How much do these cost?

Dave.

don't know, haven't priced them yet, if i remember i'll get a price tomorrow, do you want just the globe or the whole kit?

Well my 2 cent worth. It would take a long time to get your money back when changing over.The older wire transformers used about 50 watts of energy and 50 watts for the light, giving a total of around 100 watts in total per lighting point. So they developed the electronic transformer that used about 8 watts from memory to get your losses down. So if you rip out your existing electronic transformer and put the wire wound type in and LED at each lighting point you are not really gaining any thing. So for halogen and electronic transformer it uses about 58watts per point and for LED and wound transformer would from say 50-60 watts allowing for transformer losses. The wound transformer may use slightly less that the figures above but is it worth it. if you changed one wound transformer to drive a couple of lights it would work out better. Remember when changing the 240volt side of thing you need a sparky, and depending on the setup it could be quite expensive.

Originally Posted by Vern

don't know, haven't priced them yet, if i remember i'll get a price tomorrow, do you want just the globe or the whole kit?

Don't know as yet. I am planning to move in a couple of years and would then consider changing lights.

If what Norton 5974 said above is correct it would almost be a waste of time changing although I am entertaining the idea of running them off a battery.

As for the 240 volt side, I have see/used a lot of these transformers which come with a lead and three pin plug attatched and just have to be plugged in, in which case a sparky would not be needed.

Dave.

Just to weigh in with my experience here...

About 5 years ago, I bought 2 LED lighting kits consisting of 10 button size (about 30mm) brushed stainless style discs with 4 LEDs set in them, along with a transformer to drive each lot of 10 and the wiring. The transformers are wired into a 1.0mm T&E cable with an in-line light switch and a 3 pin plug.

The lights are set into our 2.1m x 1.5m bed headboard as reading lights, and were bought specifically for their lack of heat and "longevity", which was stated as 100,000 hours.

However, on average 1 LED per week would fail, and we were backwards and forwards to the supplier having them replaced under warranty. But since we got the last warranty replacement batch 3 years ago, not 1 has failed.
The sole difference? We moved from a 1930s house with a 1930s electricity supply. Apparently these LEDs are very particular about the quality of your supply. How you quantify that, I've no idea as I'm not an electronic or electrical expert.