Down lights-Fluro V LED

[Stringy]

advice required to help decide which type of light to install on the verandah, I will need about 30 downlights to cover the area.

I have 6 low voltage dimable downlights in the kithchen which use about 70w each and want to use either 240v fluro or led non dimable lights on the verandah due to their low power consumption. Ebay has these for about $21ea which seems reasonable (the 12v's in the kitchen cost $8.50ea).

Does anyone have any experience with the 240v fluro's and led's and are there any differences in the light output. Not concerned about bulb life as by the time they die the price will have changed to who knows what.

Thanks,

[doug1]

Not sure of the area you intend to light or spacing but aI have just installed 15W CFL downlights about 2.5 M apart on a walk way and am very happy with it. LED lamps may not give enough light
What dimensions are you intending, length,width, spacing, any idea of how much light you want?

Doug

[Stringy]

Doug1,

The verandah floor area is 30m long x 3m wide with an 2.4m ceiling.

from your post I assume that the fluro (9watt) emits more light than led (?watt)?

[OBBob]

I think the LEDs are still quite a bit more expensive than the CFLs. Both of them still have trouble getting the warm colour of a halogen, however the CFLs seem to be further advanced in this.

[Grunt]

If you want to do your bit to reduce green house gas emissions do not get conventional downlights. 30 x 50 or 70 watts will give you a killer electric bill.

Checkout either Envirolux or Fozz lighting from the Beacon Lighting website. http://www.beaconlighting.com.au/

There are other alternatives around too.

[SilentButDeadly]

Stringy,

10 of those Megaman www.megaman.cc compact fluorescent GU10 downlights (same size as 12V halogen) from www.cosmoluce.com.au will do the deed. Choice of 11 Watt or 7 Watt globe and a dimmable version is available.



Cost per globe and fitting is about $40.

http://www.cosmoluce.com.au/pdfs/cos...anGreenEco.pdf

The other choice is the more powerful G24 type of compact fluorescent downlights with PL style globes that you commonly see in commercial applications


http://www.cosmoluce.com.au/pdfs/cos...Commercial.pdf

My other favorite is the 20 watt PAR38 lamp to replace those energy hungry outdoor floodlights - this one is a ripper....

[Stringy]

Thanks for the replies folks.

Though I am still after some feedback on the LED's, might see if I can buy a couple of each and trial them side by side.

[namtrak]

.........Does anyone have any experience with the 240v fluro's and led's and are there any differences in the light output. .......

I have talked about this in our reno thread, however for convenience sake. We bought about 40 of the NECO flouro downlights for our house. And they are NOT bright enough to light working areas. We had 7 of them in the kitchen in area, about 3m by 4m (more than the recommended) and they were way too dim. We replaced them with normal halogens. We are now using the Fluoros in transit areas and areas where we don't need the light to be so bright. Eg Hallway, Entrance, Under eaves down the side of the house and wait for it - Verandah. I think they would be ideally suited for your verandah, however I would also make sure I had some brighter lights available where I needed them.

We have also installed some LED's in the deck itself, and they push out a surprising amount of light. However from what the sparky says, he doesn't believe they are quite up to scratch just yet (he thinks a couple more years and everything will be LED's)

[Stringy]

namtrak, Thanks.

I looked at your reno site on the weekend, and found your comments and pictures of value.

I have 12v dimable downlights in the kitchen and have looked at replacing these with dimable fluros but at the moment they are $50 a bulb and dim, so I will wait for the price to come down and technology to improve. I need to keep them anyway so I can blame the wife for our power bill due to the great lighting in her kitchen.

As for the verandah I have not purchased the lights yet and came across the LED's at the same price of CFL. The major lighting retailers are 2hours drive away and it is hard to compare in a showroom.

The CFL's you replaced due to inconsistent colour would not matter on my verandah but is a dissapointing result.

More feedback on the LED's will be greatly appreciated.

[Sir Stinkalot]

We are looking at replacing some lighting around the place. I am in a lucky situation to be able to contact reps from lighting companies directly and get honest advice and lighting designs.

When I mentioned that we were looking at LED down lights in our lounge area I was told that they still don't have a great output and tend to give off a washy light. They have been recomended for feature uplights, especially in pavers and decks. As for the advise above they may well be the future but they need some further development.

We are looking at recessed fluorescent down lights, 1x 18W. As they are recessed I was told that the lighting output would be slightly lower than an upwards facing fixture. As such I was told 4 fittings for a 3 x 3 m area. I was also told to run the globes on a dimmer to increase bulb life.

At the moment we are running 5x CFL in a horrible external fitting and they give out plenty of light. I expect that we will need 6 with the recessed option. The light is very white as we went with the cool white globes years ago, but you get used to it. The lighting consultant mentioned that the new CFL globes are getting much closer to the halogens if that is what you are after.

Hope this is of some help.

[bennylaird]

Lots of powerful leds around, check out Altronics, Jaycar, etc.

[bennylaird]

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView...Max=&SUBCATID=

[Harry72]

What about those Luxeon LED thingys? anyone tried them?

[bennylaird]

Good power but need special supplies which make them expensive

[bennylaird]

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView...Max=&SUBCATID=

Halogen replacements