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LED Spotlights

Find out about Energy Efficient LED spotlights


12V LED Spotlights

At present it is recommended that all old style incandescent light bulbs are replaced with Compact Fluorescent Light (1) (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.

Halogen Bulb from a Spotlight

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

240V LED Spotlight

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 (2) each month.

Buy LED Spotlights


Buy MR16 and GU10 LED spotlight bulbs from eBay

Currently, one of the cheapest places to purchase LED spotlights is eBay (3). 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 (4) (12 VDC or 12 VAC), and here for GU10 LED (5) (mains powered 110/240 VAC).

NEW 12V LED spotlights (6) (pictured at the top of this article) and MR16 ceramic bulb holders (7) are now available from the REUK Shop (8).

240 Volt White LED Spotlight Bulb (GU10)

NEW Pure brilliant white 240 Volt LED spotlight bulbs (9) (pictured above) are also available in the REUK Shop (10). These 1 Watt rated bulbs with GU10 fitting can be used as a direct replacement for 240 Volt halogen spotlights (except in dimmer (11) 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 (12) which are spotlights made up of one or more 1+ Watt LED bulbs, or Megaman dimmerable (13) 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 (14), or a wind turbine (15), is charging a 12 volt battery bank (16) 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 (17) 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 (18) is close to the site where you intend to use the stored power or there are voltage losses (19) over the cables.

Click here to read about how to set up Shed and Garage Solar Lighting (20) with 12V LED spotlights.

Web Link References

(1) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Benefits-of-CFL-Lighting.htm
(2) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Ways-to-Save-Electricity.htm
(3) http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?type=1&campid=5335956320&toolid=10001&customid=
(4) http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?type=3&campid=5336029660&toolid=10001&customid=&ext=mr16+led&satitle=mr16+led
(5) http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?type=3&campid=5336029660&toolid=10001&customid=&ext=gu10+led&satitle=gu10+led
(6) http://www.reuk.co.uk/buy-12V-LED-SPOTLIGHT-BULB.htm
(7) http://www.reuk.co.uk/buy-MR16-CERAMIC-BULB-HOLDER.htm
(8) http://www.reuk.co.uk/REUK-Products-For-Sale.htm
(9) http://www.reuk.co.uk/buy-240V-LED-SPOTLIGHT-BULB.htm
(10) http://www.reuk.co.uk/REUK-Products-For-Sale.htm
(11) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Dimmable-Energy-Saving-Lightbulbs.htm
(12) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Cree-LED-Spotlights .htm
(13) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Review-of-Megaman-Energy-Saving-Lightbulbs.htm
(14) http://www.reuk.co.uk/solar.htm
(15) http://www.reuk.co.uk/wind.htm
(16) http://www.reuk.co.uk/storage.htm
(17) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Power-Inverters.htm
(18) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Interconnecting-Batteries-for-Battery-Bank.htm
(19) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Line-Losses-Calculator.htm
(20) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Shed-and-Garage-Solar-Lighting.htm

Article from REUK.co.uk:
http://www.reuk.co.uk/LED-Spotlights.htm
Published: 29th July 2008
© REUK 2009