Articles Related to: Low Voltage
With the holes and cable runs in place, it's time to decide on the lamps themselves. The fittings themselves are usually agnostic on this score and you typically have a choice between different types of light bulb, namely mains versus
low voltage (often characterized, incorrectly, as GU10 and MR16) and incandescent (typically halogen) versus LED spotlights.
If you're determined to go down the conventional incandescent lamp route then you may now proceed to the debate about
low voltage compared to line voltage. If however you don't have numerous screws loose and are ...
... tools for doing things like cutting cable channels in walls and will wire everything up much faster and neater than you could.
With the holes and cable runs in place, it's time to decide on the lamps themselves. The fittings themselves are usually agnostic on this score and you typically have a choice between different types of light bulb, namely mains versus
Low Voltage (often characterized, incorrectly, as GU10 and MR16) and incandescent (typically halogen) versus LED spotlights.
If you're determined to go down the conventional ...
So you've bought some
Low Voltage LED lights, or lost the transformer that drives your LED Christmas lights and you're wondering whether you can just reuse some random 12 volt transformer you just happen to have kicking around.
Well the short answer is: probably not (unless you got really, really lucky). Just because whatever transformer you happen to have in your hand converts from say 230 volts to 12 volts does not mean it is suitable for driving whatever 12 volt application you had in mind (your LED lights in this case).
Take a look at a few transformers and you will notice that aside from specifying PRI=230V SEC=12V, meaning obviously that it is a step down ...
... you've bought some
Low Voltage LED lights, or lost the transformer that drives your LED Christmas lights and you're wondering whether you can just reuse some random 12 volt transformer you just happen to have kicking around.
Well the short answer is: probably not (unless you got really, really lucky). Just because whatever transformer you happen to have in your hand converts from say 230 volts to 12 volts does not mean it is suitable for driving whatever 12 volt application you had in mind (your LED lights in this case).
Take a look at a few ...
The financial savings can also be quite staggering by simply targeting this type of lighting because it is so prevalent these days (a victim of its own success).
You can replace/install
low voltage MR16 type LED spots instead of the mains voltage GU10 type, but you're mostly adding complexity for no real gain and if you want your lighting to be controlled by dimmer switches then you will need to ensure that the LED lamps, drivers and dimmer switches are all mutually compatible. Whereas there are many GU10 LED lamps available these days that will ...
... in particular GU10 LED bulbs which can easily and very effectively be used in situations where down lights or track lighting would normally hold sway. The financial savings can also be quite staggering by simply targeting this type of lighting because it is so prevalent these days (a victim of its own success).
You can replace/install
Low Voltage MR16 type LED spots instead of the mains voltage GU10 type, but you're mostly adding complexity for no real gain and if you want your lighting to be controlled by dimmer switches then you will need to ensure that the LED lamps, ...
Sure, it's going to cost you six times what you normally expect to pay in order to buy an LED retrofit GU10 (or 12v MR16 if
low voltage floats your boat), but the longer you hold out on biting the bullet the more it just keeps on costing you.
On the subject of 12v lighting, you *can* replace existing 12v MR16 halogen lamps with LED versions but you will almost certainly have to additionally replace ...
... the savings from switching to LED work out at over £100 per year for just TEN (admittedly high use) light bulbs.
Sure, it's going to cost you six times what you normally expect to pay in order to buy an LED retrofit GU10 (or 12v MR16 if
Low Voltage floats your boat), but the longer you hold out on biting the bullet the more it just keeps on costing you.
On the subject of 12v lighting, you *can* replace existing 12v MR16 halogen lamps with LED versions but you will almost certainly have to additionally replace your
Low Voltage transformers with LED drivers (basically better quality ...
These compare very favorably with the light emitted by standard halogen lamps and in most cases give a slightly more crisp and, well, white light than the yellowish hue associated with incandescent lighting.
There is also the issue of mains versus
low voltage lighting as these not only have different wiring requirements but the actual lamp bases are different. To replace mains powered halogen spot lamps you need to be ...
... that sit below 2800K and are typically described as "warm white", as opposed to "cool white" or "daylight white". These compare very favorably with the light emitted by standard halogen lamps and in most cases give a slightly more crisp and, well, white light than the yellowish hue associated with incandescent lighting.
There is also the issue of mains versus
Low Voltage lighting as these not only have different wiring requirements but the actual lamp bases are different. To replace mains powered halogen spot lamps you need to be looking at LED GU10 format lamps, whereas for
Low Voltage systems you want MR16 LED spot lights (and you will ...
