cos jon

Just doing some house refurbishment and decided to go with some downlights in a few rooms, got talking with a guy who said that the bulbs for them won't be available soon due to mercury content or something, so when the bulbs blow you'll be buggered for replacements!!

Does anyone else have any info if this is the case, and is there any other options ??


Cheers.....

tabetha

It is soon(very soon) going to be illegal to manufacture std type filament bulbs, this is due to thier ineffeciency.
LED's are taking over, mainly led by CREE with thier excellent XR7090.
These produce awsome amounts of light for little in the way of power, they can be made in various wattages, but expressed in LUMENS and different colours.
Just as an example of thier effeciency I have a P1D CE Q5 torch with a 180 lumen cree led, it measures 71mm long about 15mm round, but is brighter by a hell of a long way than a 5 D cell maglight, despite being a 1/4 the size of 1 D cell battery.
tabetha

spenner

Dont know if they have got better but the ones i fitted for a punter a few months ago were pants compared to low voltage lamps that are currently used also they have a weird colour sort of bluish purple and although they are bright dont seem to give off much light also made room feel cold.

tabetha

There certainly are some cheap and rubbish ones about that are not so cheap.
Not so much into these but torches is my hobby!!
tabetha

Twellsie

iTrader: (1)

i have the LED ones in my bath room as i was sick of the the regular ones burning my head brightness and colour seem about the same, but no where near as hot

Oranoco

I've got low voltage ones in my kitchen and they don' seem as bright as the mains voltage ones in my bathroom. I fitted both sets and am pretty happy with both. Mine weren't expensive just the B&Q jobbies. Would post a pic but they're dangling while the ceiling is drying

focusv8

Whatever down lights you fit there will always be a replacement lamp available to fit.
Traditional tungsten lamps are being phased out as are the current halogen low voltage.
Only discharge lamps (fluorescent etc) have mercury in them.
Halogen is going because it's inefficient, too much energy lost in heat. (I wonder why they allow Plasma T.V's same problem there)
LED will eventually catch up with the light output.

.

tabetha

CREE developed a LED, that gives out the same as a 350watt(240V) light bulb, but at 1/400th of the power consumption, and measuring 3mm X 3mm.
This won awards in 2005.
tabetha