LED Spotlights
LED Spotlights
Find out about Energy Efficient LED spotlights
lighting
At present it is recommended that all
old style incandescent light bulbs are replaced with
Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) bulbs. A typical CFL has a lifetime many times that of an incandescent bulb, and consumes only 20% of the energy.
LED bulbs offer enormous electricity consumption reductions, but suffer from one problem - the light from an LED is very directional and so (at present) they are most suited to be used exclusively as
spot lights. If you want to use LED spotlights for general room lighting, it is usually best to leave some halogen bulbs in the circuit to ensure overall light levels in the room are maintained.
Replacing Halogen Spotlight Bulbs with LEDs
During the last 10-15 years,
halogen spotlights have become more and more popular in British homes. Halogen bulbs (pictured above) are typically available in low voltage 6V or 12V (supplied with adapter) and high voltage 240V versions with 20-50 Watt power ratings.
Replacement
12V LED spotlights are now available and becoming more and more economical to purchase.
Dichroic Halogen bulbs start at around £1 each and last for 2,000 hours -
LED spotlights are priced as low as £4 each and will last 80,000 to 100,000 hours! The total power consumption for an LED spotlight is an ultra-low
1-2 Watt for a bulb offering similar light levels to a power hungry
halogen bulb.
LED Spotlight Options
LED Spotlights are available in a range of optical beam angles from 6 to 25 degrees, so you can choose how intense a spotlight you require - narrow beam for a dedicated reading light, wide beam for more diffuse mood lighting. They come in industry standard fittings:
MR16, and
GU10 so you can very simply replace all the spotlight bulbs in your home and start
saving on your electricity bill each month.
Buy LED Spotlights
Currently, one of the cheapest places to purchase
LED spotlights is
eBay. A huge range of different
colours and
light intensities are available from as little as
£3.50
including postage. Click here to search eBay now for
MR16 LED (12 VDC or 12 VAC), and here for
GU10 LED (mains powered 110/240 VAC).
NEW 12V LED spotlights (pictured at the top of this article) and
MR16 ceramic bulb holders are now available from the
REUK Shop.
NEW Pure brilliant white
240 Volt LED spotlight bulbs (pictured above) are also available in the
REUK Shop. These
1 Watt rated bulbs with
GU10 fitting can be used as a direct replacement for 240 Volt halogen spotlights (except in
dimmer circuits)
In situations where these low-voltage and mains-voltage LED spotlights are not always bright enough (e.g. for general room lighting), consider
Cree LED spotlights which are spotlights made up of one or more 1+ Watt LED bulbs, or
Megaman dimmerable CFL spotlight bulbs.
12V LED Spotlights and Renewable Energy
12 Volt LED Spotlights are being used more and more in off-grid
renewable energy situations where an array of
solar panels, or a
wind turbine, is charging a
12 volt battery bank with power. Using 12 volt appliances, devices, and lighting costs a little more up front, but there are no energy losses caused by having to step up voltage to 240V AC using an inefficient
power inverter if you use 12 volts throughout. A typical power inverter burns up around 50 Watts of power just converting DC from the batteries to AC - enough power to light fifty 12 volt LED spotlights.
nb. This only works well if the battery bank is close to the site where you intend to use the stored power or there are voltage losses over the cables.
Click here to read about how to set up
Shed and Garage Solar Lighting with
12V LED spotlights.
Article Last Modified: 14:31, 29th Jul 2008Comment on this Article
If you have any comments on this article, please email them to
neil@reuk.co.uk.
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