Halogen bulbs with LED??

sudzs

I had/have halogen spotlights, running off a transformer, in the kitchen, a couple of them stopped working recently so had an electrician in the replace them with LEDs. He was unable to change the 2 that had stopped working as they are wired up behind a cupboard and there wasn't enough length of wire for him to change the fitting to the one for the LED bulb, or something like that. That was ok as I can live without them, they are on the bottom of a cupboard, lighting up the countertop but the ones higher up are bright enough.

But there are another 2 spotlights in a similar set up, on the bottom of cupboards to light the counter. I thought he had changed them to LED but discovered they are still halogen. He must have had the same trouble with the wireing.

Anyway, all was working ok before he left yesterday but when I turned them on last night it was like disco fever! The LEDs were flashing on and off about twice per second. The 2 old halogens were still working.


I've been on to the electrician who said he'll have to put another transformer in and not the use the lights in the meantime. :rolleyes:

So wondering if anyone can advise if is it a no-no to run LEDs and halogen bulbs off the same transformer? Any advice appreciated as I'm a little worried.

aido79

sudzs wrote: »

I had/have halogen spotlights, running off a transformer, in the kitchen, a couple of them stopped working recently so had an electrician in the replace them with LEDs. He was unable to change the 2 that had stopped working as they are wired up behind a cupboard and there wasn't enough length of wire for him to change the fitting to the one for the LED bulb, or something like that. That was ok as I can live without them, they are on the bottom of a cupboard, lighting up the countertop but the ones higher up are bright enough.

But there are another 2 spotlights in a similar set up, on the bottom of cupboards to light the counter. I thought he had changed them to LED but discovered they are still halogen. He must have had the same trouble with the wireing.

Anyway, all was working ok before he left yesterday but when I turned them on last night it was like disco fever! The LCDs were flashing on and off about twice per second. The 2 old halogens were still working.


I've been on to the electrician who said he'll have to put another transformer in and not the use the lights in the meantime. :rolleyes:

So wondering if anyone can advise if is it a no-no to run LEDs and halogen bulbs off the same transformer? Any advice appreciated as I'm a little worried.

Are they on a dimmer switch?

sudzs

aido79 wrote: »

Are they on a dimmer switch?

Nope

Stoner

Forget about a traffo for the LEDs just change them to GU10 fittings with mains voltage

sudzs

Sorry for the late reply....

The electrician came back and put in another transformer, I'm assuming its for the 2 remaining halogen bulbs.

Just another quick query.....

Since the halogen bulbs in the bathroom were replaced with LEDs, the ceiling is warm! Coincidence or could there be something happening with the wiring? Its also coinciding with the cold snap so maybe the neighbours upstairs have the heat on full. Though heat rises, so I am stumped. Don't want to bother the electrician again iif it's nothing, he was not too pleased when he came back with the transformer. :rolleyes:

aido79

sudzs wrote: »

Sorry for the late reply....

The electrician came back and put in another transformer, I'm assuming its for the 2 remaining halogen bulbs.

Just another quick query.....

Since the halogen bulbs in the bathroom were replaced with LEDs, the ceiling is warm! Coincidence or could there be something happening with the wiring? Its also coinciding with the cold snap so maybe the neighbours upstairs have the heat on full. Though heat rises, so I am stumped. Don't want to bother the electrician again iif it's nothing, he was not too pleased when he came back with the transformer. :rolleyes:

LED's shouldn't get hot. It may be a fire hazard if the transformers are getting hot so would be worth investigating.
I probably wouldn't bother the electrician either as I'm not convinced he knows what he's doing.

sudzs

aido79 wrote: »

LED's shouldn't get hot. It may be a fire hazard if the transformers are getting hot so would be worth investigating.
I probably wouldn't bother the electrician either as I'm not convinced he knows what he's doing.

No, I haven't much confidence in him.

The ceiling rather than the bulbs is warm. It's warm regardless of the lights being on or off. Could it possibly have anything to do with the new bulbs?

aido79

sudzs wrote: »

No, I haven't much confidence in him.

The ceiling rather than the bulbs is warm. It's warm regardless of the lights being on or off. Could it possibly have anything to do with the new bulbs?

If you take the downlights out of the holes in the ceiling you should be able to access the transformer and see if it's getting hot.
To be honest I don't really understand why he used transformers and didn't just use mains voltage GU10's as said above.

sudzs

aido79 wrote: »

If you take the downlights out of the holes in the ceiling you should be able to access the transformer and see if it's getting hot.
To be honest I don't really understand why he used transformers and didn't just use mains voltage GU10's as said above.

Well in the kitchen all the bulbs are set into kitchen units with a lot of wiring sitting on top of them. To change out 4 of the halogens he would have had to dismantle a lot of units, more bother than anyone wanted! Plus I'm renting, if it was my own place I'd insist on a proper job.

I think he removed a transformer from the bathroom ceiling as there was one left on the side of the bath.

aido79

sudzs wrote: »

Well in the kitchen all the bulbs are set into kitchen units with a lot of wiring sitting on top of them. To change out 4 of the halogens he would have had to dismantle a lot of units, more bother than anyone wanted! Plus I'm renting, if it was my own place I'd insist on a proper job.

I think he removed a transformer from the bathroom ceiling as there was one left on the side of the bath.

If he removed the transformer in the bathroom the cause of the heat in the ceiling may be something else. It's probably worth getting to the bottom of it for peace of mind though.

I'm guessing he removed it to load stabilise another with more fixtures.