Energy Saving Lightbulbs GU10 Fitting

jimzy

Hey,

I've been on the hunt lately to try and retro fit all the lights in my home with energy efficient ones. (Just to say its bloody impossible to find a good retailer with a wide range of CFL / Energy Efficient bulbs, so if anyone has found a good one - online or otherwise i'd love to know! ) The standard CFL bulbs are fine, you can get them almost anywhere. Most of the screw ins are not too difficult to find either, but at the same time, it can be hard to find a good range of these.

But the real problem I have found is to find GU10 CFL lightbulbs, that will fit my existing light fittings. Has anyone else had this problem? Basically the standard GU10 (inefficient bulbs) have a longer 'stem' part that reach into the actual light fitting.

See here:

http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImages/300/94/94c12a45-27f1-46c5-9c5a-5db23027feb9_300.jpg

And the CFL GU10 ones are larger, with a shorter 'stem' part that fits into the light fitting, see here:

http://www.falkslighting.ie/Products/Falks/gu107wcfl.jpg

The CFL's basically don't fit any of these fittings in my home, and I have a couple of different types of fittings, so i don't think the fitting is the issue.

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem? I even spoke to an online retailer (where i purchsed the GU10 CFL's) and he couldn't give me an explanation as to why they don't fit.

Sorry for the long post! I hope someone else has come across this.
Thanks!

CJhaughey

Megaman sell the CFL with fitting, I would suggest that you replace the whole unit, the price is almost the same.
They are available in white and chrome IIRC.
I had the same problem.
You could also look at the high power LED bulbs they are shorter than the CFL models.

jimzy

Thanks CJhaughey,
I looked into LED (and tried out one) but the light doesnt seem to flood the room as nicely as the CFLs, it seems to be very direct... perhaps there are some newer LED bulbs with better light output available now?

Do you mean the megaman CFL provide a fitting of some kind with the bulb?
When you say replace the whole unit, do you mean the actual light fitting?

(I have some GU10 lights in hallway and 2 other sets of track lights in kitchen with 4 GU10 on each, btw)

zzap64

I got CFL versions of GU10 lights that did fit in the original fittings, without anything sticking out.

I have the boxes at home so can get the model number later. If I forget to reply to this tonight, PM me.

jimzy

Cheers zzap that would be great!
So are your bulbs going into recessed spot lights or are they track light fittings?

CJhaughey

jimzy wrote: »

Thanks CJhaughey,
I looked into LED (and tried out one) but the light doesnt seem to flood the room as nicely as the CFLs, it seems to be very direct... perhaps there are some newer LED bulbs with better light output available now?

Do you mean the megaman CFL provide a fitting of some kind with the bulb?
When you say replace the whole unit, do you mean the actual light fitting?

(I have some GU10 lights in hallway and 2 other sets of track lights in kitchen with 4 GU10 on each, btw)

Yes I got megaman GU10 bulbs that came complete with light fitting(recessed)
I got them in white and they look fine.

bryaner

jimzy wrote: »

Hey,

I've been on the hunt lately to try and retro fit all the lights in my home with energy efficient ones. (Just to say its bloody impossible to find a good retailer with a wide range of CFL / Energy Efficient bulbs, so if anyone has found a good one - online or otherwise i'd love to know! ) The standard CFL bulbs are fine, you can get them almost anywhere. Most of the screw ins are not too difficult to find either, but at the same time, it can be hard to find a good range of these.

But the real problem I have found is to find GU10 CFL lightbulbs, that will fit my existing light fittings. Has anyone else had this problem? Basically the standard GU10 (inefficient bulbs) have a longer 'stem' part that reach into the actual light fitting.

See here:

http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImages/300/94/94c12a45-27f1-46c5-9c5a-5db23027feb9_300.jpg

And the CFL GU10 ones are larger, with a shorter 'stem' part that fits into the light fitting, see here:

http://www.falkslighting.ie/Products/Falks/gu107wcfl.jpg

The CFL's basically don't fit any of these fittings in my home, and I have a couple of different types of fittings, so i don't think the fitting is the issue.

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem? I even spoke to an online retailer (where i purchsed the GU10 CFL's) and he couldn't give me an explanation as to why they don't fit.

Sorry for the long post! I hope someone else has come across this.
Thanks!

Did you try Amazon?

jimzy

bryaner wrote: »

Did you try Amazon?

Yep bryaner, i tried amazon and a good few other places, i managed to find them, ordered some, but now they don't fit any of my light fittings. thats the pickle i'm in!

Looks like the megaman bulbs are the way to go (thanks CJhaughey), they have a longer stem part (more similar to a standard GU10 bulb), hopefully they will fit!

I don't see how these bulbs can be produced if they don't fir a standard light fitting, it's very strange...

limklad

LED are by far the most efficient. The problem with the LED's is that they do not always match the dimension of the old light fittings and you need at least a 10W LED for good light if you have three existing spots lights for a normal kitchen for good light brightness where you have 50W Halogens equivalents.

The 1W LED has poor lighting but barely fit into the light fittings which are only good for lighting internal cabinets. I estimate from experience with them that the 1 Watt LED is equivalent to 20-30watts Halogens. You need lots of these bulbs to brighten up the room properly.
The 10W is very expensive and very large but is equivalent to a 50-60W Halogens.

Bandiman

limklad wrote: »

LED are by far the most efficient. The problem with the LED's is that they do not always match the dimension of the old light fittings and you need at least a 10W LED for good light if you have three existing spots lights for a normal kitchen for good light brightness where you have 50W Halogens equivalents.

The 1W LED has poor lighting but barely fit into the light fittings which are only good for lighting internal cabinets. I estimate from experience with them that the 1 Watt LED is equivalent to 20-30watts Halogens. You need lots of these bulbs to brighten up the room properly.
The 10W is very expensive and very large but is equivalent to a 50-60W Halogens.

LED is definitely the way to go. CFL is only to fill the gap while the technology matures, but it pretty much has now.

jimzy

I'm all for the most efficient option, which is definitely LED, but from my experience I havn't found any decent quality light from an LED spotlight (maybe I just havn't bought the right one yet!?). The light just seemed very poor from one I tried out.

I have managed to find an ecopal CFL bulb with the longer foot (stem, whatever its called) and its working out great.

Just got 4 of them in the post today. They are 11 watt bulbs, not as efficient as the LEDs but much better than the 50 watt halogens! The light seems brighter in my opinion than the standard halogens, and imo it seems to provide a more even flow of light to the room.

success at last!

Dopey

I have a GU10 ecopal 2 watt LED and a MegaMan 11watt CFL to try out in the kitchen tonight.

They both looked good in the shop but it was hard to tell which is the best. Initially I thought the ecopal was better but after the MegaMan warmed up (approx 1 minute) it looked brighter. Will post more later.

Heroditas

Dopey wrote: »

I have a GU10 ecopal 2 watt LED and a MegaMan 11watt CFL to try out in the kitchen tonight.

They both looked good in the shop but it was hard to tell which is the best. Initially I thought the ecopal was better but after the MegaMan warmed up (approx 1 minute) it looked brighter. Will post more later.

Lux levels fall off very quickly from the 2 and 2 watt LEDs when you're more than a couple of feet away from them.
Thw Megaman is what you need if it's to actually illuminate anything.
The others are only useful for mood setting

jimzy

Heroditas wrote: »

Lux levels fall off very quickly from the 2 and 2 watt LEDs when you're more than a couple of feet away from them.
Thw Megaman is what you need if it's to actually illuminate anything.
The others are only useful for mood setting

i have 2 sets of track lights in my kitchen, each with 4 bulbs,
I have 4 standard 50w halogens in one and 4 11w (they say equivalent 55w) in the other, and i have to say they are a pretty good match

maybe the megaman are better bulbs but the ecopal are perfect from what i can see, definately not any duller than the standard halogens.

jimzy

Dopey wrote: »

I have a GU10 ecopal 2 watt LED and a MegaMan 11watt CFL to try out in the kitchen tonight.

They both looked good in the shop but it was hard to tell which is the best. Initially I thought the ecopal was better but after the MegaMan warmed up (approx 1 minute) it looked brighter. Will post more later.

yeah im not sure about the megaman but the ecopal ones i have take 30 seconds or a minute to become fully illuminated.

Dopey

I tried the GU10 ecopal 2 watt LED and a MegaMan 11watt CFL last night.

The MegaMan CFL takes longer to warm up but provides better light in my opinion. I'm going to go for the MegaMans. I was impressed with the ecopal lights. 2 watts of energy usage is a fantastic achievement.

jimzy

hey dopey thanks for the info - good to know.
i had tried an LED out before too but just thought the same, the light did not seem great. CFL it is for now then.... hopefully the LEDs will advance a bit more & become the norm in the near future. Thats pretty efficient at only 2 watts!

ocy

We refurbed our house and in rewiring we put in mains voltage gu10 fittings with a view to eventuallly using LED lights, We are currently using CFL and they keep failing, within minutes of changing the bulbs they start to flicker. Is anyone else having this problem.

dicky82

hmmmm, you may have them on a dimmer switch, clf gu10s are not dimmer compatable. . . :rolleyes:

ocy

No dimmer switches,

Have used Litron Bulbs
and the latest batch are Eg ones

guy in shop is now getting Megaman, has anyone had any problems with these

Dopey

ocy wrote: »

No dimmer switches,

Have used Litron Bulbs
and the latest batch are Eg ones

guy in shop is now getting Megaman, has anyone had any problems with these

I have the MegaMan CFL bulbs in since last week and they provide good light. I went for the soft white ones. They can take a minute to warm up fully. The light is not as good as the halogens they replaced but they are a good substitute.

dicky82

ocy wrote: »

No dimmer switches,

Have used Litron Bulbs
and the latest batch are Eg ones

guy in shop is now getting Megaman, has anyone had any problems with these

is it the same fitting blowing the bulbs or are they all blowing intermintly? if its the same fitting your problem may be there, if its all the fittings then it could be poor wiring connections but more than likely the bulbs.

be warned that alot of electrical suppliers are now selling inferior goods due to the recession to allow for the drop in customers. had a row with my wholesaler only last week about crappy gear. try buy a reccomended name and not the cheaper alternative.

ocy

HI Dickey82
We have tried them in other fittings, because at first we thought it might be the fittings as the ones in our kitchen and living area are special ones for flat roofs, but we have ruled that out by trying in other rooms, we have 52 down lighters in total so, its an expensive hobby replacing them with more expensive versions each time

robtri

ocy wrote: »

HI Dickey82
We have tried them in other fittings, because at first we thought it might be the fittings as the ones in our kitchen and living area are special ones for flat roofs, but we have ruled that out by trying in other rooms, we have 52 down lighters in total so, its an expensive hobby replacing them with more expensive versions each time

simple... buy the ones with the 2 year gaurantee... keep receipts....
when they blow bring them back..... presto no cost outlay to you......
just exercise getting up and down the ladder

tusmaith

roughly how much € per bulb for decent ones?

illingworth22

I went to see the Guy's (Joe) at PWL or Phibsbro electrical last week re Rako lighting and while I was there they showed me a GU10 LED lamp from Philips. It was nearly 60 euros a pop but and I quote the Gent's "you get what you pay for!"
LED is still in its infant stage, they also told me that the Philips bulb was somthing like 4th Generation and that Philips are now developing the 10th or 11th Generation of LED bulb!

We will all just have to wait! :rolleyes:

kasper

hi just wondering does anyone here know where the ecopal or megaman gu10 11w cfl bulbs can be bought in ireland ?

Cuauhtemoc

I tried a couple of Exergi GU10 LED bulbs from a UK website. Just arrived today. One 3.6w 30 degree beam warm white and one cool white. I have to say I'm very impressed with the light from them and would see them as a near(but not quite) subsitute for 50w halogens though if you had a few more fittings you'd probably be ok.
These particular ones are going in reading lamp and are more than adequate.

Compared to some of the older bulbs with 48 and 60 leds and also an 11w cfl(which has dimmed considerably in just over a year) there is no comparison.

Of course there is always a downside. The cost is horrendous at about 20 sterling each plus delivery. But i believe that if it does what it says on the tin of 50k hours(I'll let you know in 15 years if they're still going:) ) of use then i will more than save far more on electricity costs and replacement costs were i using halogens. Will just try to replace other halogens slowly one by one(well quite quickly) as they blow.

hi just wondering does anyone here know where the ecopal or megaman gu10 11w cfl bulbs can be bought in ireland ?

I've seen ecopal in two different homevalue hardware stores in Tuam and Kilkenny so other branches would be a good bet as well. - See if they let you try them first!

C.

DO0GLE

Superquinn sell ecopal