Energy saving spotlights

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

cfl's are slow to get up to full brightness, more so in winter (unless you have the heating on 24-7). there are cfl's that can be used with a dimmer switch. you could always drop to 25w halogen lamps. halves your wattage.

 

[Davidc]

cfl's are slow to get up to full brightness, more so in winter (unless you have the heating on 24-7). there are cfl's that can be used with a dimmer switch. you could always drop to 25w halogen lamps. halves your wattage.

I haven't found GU10s that start fast, but the latest standard ones should get to 90% brightness in less than 1 second at temperatures down to 0 degrees.

 

[HJ]

Use LEDs, instant on, and there are now some that are dimmable! Yes they are more expensive to buy, but they are a lot cheaper to run, to workout how much try this calculator.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

I haven't found GU10s that start fast, but the latest standard ones should get to 90% brightness in less than 1 second at temperatures down to 0 degrees.

my cfl's are nowhere near as fast as that. tho we have had them for a long time (at least 5 years) and they were not cheap. i think they cost £11 each. 1 blew and the replacement is quicker to get to full light, it's also a slightly different shade of white, if you know what i mean.

if the new cfl's ARE that fast i may change them all. we have 40 cfl's downstairs in the hallway, kitchen and dining areas alone. i'm going to ask suppliers tomorrow.

 

[SavageHoutkop]

my cfl's are nowhere near as fast as that. tho we have had them for a long time (at least 5 years) and they were not cheap. i think they cost £11 each. 1 blew and the replacement is quicker to get to full light, it's also a slightly different shade of white, if you know what i mean.

if the new cfl's ARE that fast i may change them all. we have 40 cfl's downstairs in the hallway, kitchen and dining areas alone. i'm going to ask suppliers tomorrow.

I agree, mine are definately not that fast - possibly a minute, but it is hard to comment as your eyes take time to adjust. My LEDs are instant though, but the light is wrong, too blue and too direct (for use as main light in a room, anyway). That said they're not the £30 LEDs; but still. I've had mine less than 5 yrs, probably 2 at most.

I'm very happy with my CFL ones - they are these:
http://www.nigelsecostore.com/acatalog/7watt_GU10_Low_energy_reflector_lightbulb.html

 

[Yellow Fang]

My CFL spotlights are several years now, so there may be better on the market. I wanted to replace some 40W bulbs in my kitchen light fitting. I assume they're spot lights. They're not recessed into the ceiling, but hang off some candelabra type thing. I was quite impressed with how they looked, but I balked at the price - £9 each. I changed my mind the next day and bought four. The bad thing about them is that they take a while to warm up. They can seem a bit miserable and gloomy when I first come in the door. They take about five minutes to warm up. The good thing about them is that they produce much less heat. The heat from the old 40W bulbs was melting the fittings. Annoyingly, despite the claims of greater reliability, one of them blew last year and I couldn't find a replacement of the same type. I found another CFL bulb that fitted and looked alright. It was a lot cheaper too. I hardly notice I have three bulbs of one sort and one of another.

 

[Norm]

if the new cfl's ARE that fast i may change them all.

I quite like the time it takes to get to brightness, especially in the bathroom at 3am when the last thing you want is full bore at the flick of the switch.

 

[Archie_tect]

You need 4W or 7W LED bulbs which fit in any standard Gu35w fittings. You can get various colour 'temperatures' from daylight [cool bluish] to warm [equivalent to old tungsten light].

Because they fit into standard GU35 fittings and are 240 volt you don't need starter or ballast packs so light is instantaneous as they are mains fed.

Looked at a hotel recently with Wolesley where they had over 2500 fittings using Gu35 and Gu50 bulbs. Using 4W and 7W LED bulbs instead they can save a fortune on running costs. 4W LED bulbs cost £11 approx but should last a minimum of 10000-30000 hours depending on location.

If you go to an electrical wholesaler like EDS or [CEF] City Electrical Factors you should be able to get them even cheaper for quantity.

Beware of difference between low energy fittings like Thorn 2D [11 and 22W fluorescents] and LED versus low voltage. Low voltage fittings use specialist bulbs which are expensive and don't last very long requiring longer start-up time to heat up and achieve full brightness.

[edit: SP]

 

[Over The Hill]

I have low energy bulbs everywhere (apart from the shed cupboard and garage that are only on now and again for a short time).

The extra energy in the old type is frightening.

The other good thing is that they last a really long time. I was always changing bulbs in the past but since I changed over I have not had to change one.

I think they are a bit ove optimistic on the output and would go up a size to be as bright.