I am renewing the electirc system of my apartment, and with it I am redoing all the lighting system.

I thought there was some way to use LEDs instead of regular bulbs or alogen lights, but I can't find anything significant on the web. It seems that LEDs are only used for bookshelves or something like that.

Does anybody know anything about this? Is it possible to get rid of regular bulbs as main light source, and replace them with LED-based systems?

Here are some LED lamps:

http://www.lyco.co.uk/categories/Led-Lighting.htm?catID=1887

Beware they emit a LOT less light than other lamps

Plenty more here too

http://www.bltdirect.com/products.php?cat=241&nm=LED+Lighting

Some of the newer fluorescent lamps (especially those by Megaman) are quite good, these are what we're currently using. The LEDs don't yet have a good colour temperature, they're very blue.

It's amazing how often, when you just keep looking at this site, something really useful crops up, I didn't suspect the existence of LED bulbs until this PM: The Boxer housekeeping bill:

1. Tax
2. Halogen Bulbs
3. Booze
4. Food
5. Daughter
6. Mortgage


I seem to spend every other day standing on a stool replacing halogen bulbs, and the fitting is very fiddly, often I just yank the whole fitting out of the ceiling: The inventor has a lot to answer for!

Thanks, Guys

LEDs are really not bright enough (yet) to be the sole lighting source in a room. To boost percieved brightness, most manufacturers are putting quite narrow lenses on the front which gives a narrow beam and makes lighting a bit patchy.

The best LED technology available at the moment are some 1W Luxeon lamps available in a variety of fittings. They can be retro-fitted to replace lamps such as 50mm low voltage dichroics (will work off the standard transformer), mains GU10/GZ10 or even old reflector type mains screw type lamps. They are bright, you're looking at near a 20w low voltage lamp. But just like Tahir said, the colour temperature is quite cool in the White option, and the beam is very narrow. These are best as decorative or accent lighting really and they are also available in the primary colours and orange too. These lamps are not dimmable. Dimmable LEDs require some control gear, and you are looking at a significant amount of money for that. They are rated at about 30,000 hours life.

Its good that flourescent lighting was also mentioned. Flourescent technology is getting smaller and brighter all the time and there are quite a few interesting lamps available. Megaman do have some great products, including dimmable compact lamps. I would absolutely recommend taking a look at fitting some interesting flourescents to save some energy. They are bright, come in comfortable colour temperatures and have a long lamp life if you go with a reputable brand. The price/light_output/energy_usage ratio is a lot better with these.

Thanks for such a comprehensive explanation, that's really helpful.
Mine are the mains ones.

Thanks everybody! As usual, this board is more informative than hours of research.

At this point I am uncertain if at least give a try to led bulbs or go vith halogen. So it seems it it too early to use LEDs only.

Reasons why I was looking for LED solutions are

1. Less power consumption
2. No heating (very important)
3. Longer life

I am thinking that I may use LEDs in kitychen under suspended wall units (were heat is less welcome, since you end up working very close to them), and use halogen on the ceiling...

Like I said the new fluorescents are quite good, the 11w GU10 lamp would probably be ideal for you.

But if he's installing a new lighting system he should be able to build in an allowance for extra depth fittings.

You're right though, nothing wrong with mix and match, the 7w fluorescent or LEDs should do fine for under shelf with perhaps halogens in the ceiling if necessary (although I'd still go for some kind of fluorescent lamp).

Somewhat recently (within the last 5 years or so) manufacturers started coming out with lightbulbs that would fit in a standard (US) lightbulb socket that contain a halogen bulb[url]. They're probably intended only for table lamps and other freestanding lamps (I imagine they'd get too hot in a recessed can), but they're pretty neat, regardless. No more dithering about with those [url=http://genet.gelighting.com/LightProducts/Dispatcher?REQUEST=PHOTOGALLERY&PRODUCTCODE=12282&SELECTED=Product%20Photo&COLOR=Yes]hard-to-change, don't-touch-them-with-your-bare-hand-or-they'll-explode sticks.

They also make coiled fluorescent bulbs that fit in a standard lightbulb socket and contain their own ballasts.

Yep, they protrude around half an inch, but for one fifth the consumption and ten times the life, that's not a problem i'd worry about.

Excellent, what do you think of the light produced?

It's understandably a whiter light than the bog standard B & Q 35w, but seems to throw out around the same amount of light with the same amount of spread.

Nice one, I'm glad its working out! They are a great match if you normally use 35W GU10 lamps.