Replacing downlights

JonathanRyan

JonathanRyan

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It looks like a couple of the downlights in my kitchen have come to end of life. Swapping bulbs and poking around makes me suspect that the transformers have failed. So I'm looking at replacing them and rather than like for like I wanted to fit LEDs.

This was a new ceiling put into a kitchen about 8 years ago in a regular house built in the 1930s. Should I be fitting fire rated downlights or can I use the regular ones? The ones I want aren't available in fire rated version but since I sleep in the room above the kitchen I'd rather be safe ;)
 
Can you change just the faulty transformers and buy new LED lights, something like this > http://www.ledhut.co.uk/spot-lights.html?gclid=COyUkLCymcgCFWsUwwodiHkK0A

Sometimes the cabling or joint from transformer can fail as they melt with the heat if the cabling hasn't been put back properly, if fittings have been dropped for painting etc........... I have replaced my cabling from transformer with heat resistant sleeves.



Edit: LED fire resisitant downlights > http://www.ledhut.co.uk/spot-lights/downlights.html
 
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Funnily enough, that's the exact site I plan to buy from ;)

I could do that, but by the time I've changed the transformers and bought LED bulbs, I would probably be cheaper buying these

http://www.ledhut.co.uk/spot-lights...t-led-ceiling-light-transformer-included.html

The fire rated ones are only pennies more - but I wanted to use 7 watt lights and the FR ones only come in 5 and 9. They also don't look as pretty ;)
 
If you're not doing the job yourself then be aware that an electrician will only fit fire rated downlights now.

We bought some of the old versions for our new house (because they were cheap to get rid at B&Q) and when I asked my sparkie he refused. Had to take them back for a refund and get fire rated lighting.
He also said that from next year halogen lights will become obsolete and everything will be LED. He won't retro fit those either.
 
Ooo good point. I was going to do it myself (how hard can it be....?) but if sparkies aren't allowed to fit non fire reg ones then it probably makes sense to fit fire reg ones myself. Especially as it will be me that gets burned :)

Pretty sure I'm going to swap them to GU10 fitting and then whack in some LEDs to those. The current fittings are fire rated.
 
Just fit LEDs, 4 or 4.5w should be sufficient nowadays (about 40w to 50w equivalent in halogen terms). They cost about £7 or £8 each and you don't need a transformer.
You can touch them after they have been on all day as they give off no heat.
The only other bit you need is a GU10 fitting with a wire attached, so you can connect with a strip connector to the lighting circuit.
 
kendo1 said:
Just fit LEDs, 4 or 4.5w should be sufficient nowadays (about 40w to 50w equivalent in halogen terms). They cost about £7 or £8 each and you don't need a transformer.
You can touch them after they have been on all day as they give off no heat.
The only other bit you need is a GU10 fitting with a wire attached, so you can connect with a strip connector to the lighting circuit.
Click to expand...

Yep - that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Can't remember the advantages of LR14s over GU10s but I bet most of them have vanished now LEDs are cheap and good.
 
Do take note of the colour temperature. I find the warm white at around 4000°K are very similar to the normal incandescent lights that we tend to be used to, but the cool white at around 6000°K are very blue and just not so nice at all.

Personal preference of course, others may find the exact opposite!
 
bindex said:
Do take note of the colour temperature. I find the warm white at around 4000°K are very similar to the normal incandescent lights that we tend to be used to, but the cool white at around 6000°K are very blue and just not so nice at all.

Personal preference of course, others may find the exact opposite!
Click to expand...

I actually ordered some "daylight" whites. The same room has some sun tunnels in it and so the colours always look a bit odd if I have lights on late in the day. I'm hoping this will even them up a bit. If I hate them I can swap the bulbs.
 
Jonathan

Not sure whether you are now looking to replace the whole unit or just the bulb. In my experience you do get what you pay for (as in everything in life!) We ended up putting in Halers LED units when we re-did our bedrooms and en-suites. They are not the cheapest but they do produce a very good/consistent light. https://www.downlights.co.uk/halers.html They also come with a 7 year warranty. Ours have been in two years and still look stunning.

My friend owns a very large lighting company and he says that the colour variation from cheaper units/bulbs is very noticeable and also as the burn time increases, the cheaper ones will change their colour temperature and you will get variation across a room. He gets a bit of business from replacing LED units including light panels that have this issue - as the technology becomes more mass market, the quality at the cheaper end is very variable and is more about "knock 'em out cheap".
 
Thanks @Buck - I'm going down the route of swapping to GU10s, leaving in the existing physical fitting and using GU10 LEDs. As it happens, I've bought some reasonably cheap GU10s on eBay. If their colour is nasty or they start to flicker etc I can swap them out in 10 mins. Key bit it to get the electrics right before I paint the ceiling :)
 
Finally finished this work. All I think now is why didn't I do this sooner? It's a doddle to swap LR14s for GU10s and no more nasty transformers (one of them had actually melted....). LEDs are quite a bit brighter than halogens and pretty much spot on for daylight - the downlights now match the sun tubes.

Also I took out the nasty old glass shelves with fluoros in them that had been really badly fitted and replaced them with some nice MDF shelves that you can actually put stuff on. For extra credit I used some of that 5050 LED tape off of eBay down the edge. Look fabulous but a bit fiddly to fit. Also, nobody told me they need wiring in with correct polarity(!). Otherwise you spend half an hour wondering why they don't work.....

Now I'm looking at all the other lights in the house and wondering how long before I swap them for LEDs...........
 
After about two years with led I swapped back to halogen. I just do not like the light. We calculated it carefully when we designed our kitchen to make the light circles meet. Haven't found a led yet that spreads out that much. The colour temperature is nearly always off whether warm or cold. We tried everything from a few led to a whopping 64 less in a standard fitting but nah.

I swapped all of ours with a colleague who really wanted to go led. Not for us, or not as long as we can buy normal ones.
 
After about two years with led I swapped back to halogen. I just do not like the light. We calculated it carefully when we designed our kitchen to make the light circles meet. Haven't found a led yet that spreads out that much. The colour temperature is nearly always off whether warm or cold. We tried everything from a few led to a whopping 64 less in a standard fitting but nah.

I swapped all of ours with a colleague who really wanted to go led. Not for us, or not as long as we can buy normal ones.
 
Interesting. I was really worried about light falloff etc but the cheap ones I got of eBay work pretty well for me.
 
Sorry for bringing up a dead thread but I've always found putting tin foil around the metal rods to work sometimes, making a new set of bulbs not needed. This advice was actually given to me by a LED downlight company as well ha ha x
 
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