About a year ago I bought some surface-mounted 12-volt halogen downlighters
from a well known mail order company. There are 7 lights, and at any given
time 3 or 4 of the darned things aren't working. The problem appears to be
that the connector that the two-pronged bulb plugs into just isn't up to the
job of holding the bulb securely enough. If I remove and reseat the bulb (no
mean feat given that I wear variable focus glasses and have to stand on my
head to see what I'm doing!), they will work again for maybe an hour or a
day, or even a week, but eventually they die again. The supplier replaced
them with some of a different but equally crappy design. So, the question is
"Does anyone know of a supplier of good quality surface mounted cabinet
downlighters" please??
The thing that narks me about this is that I found some lights that looked
good quality but were a bit pricey. Sparky spoke to wifey saying "Nah! Don't
waste yer money - get these El Cheapo ones, they're just as good". So
muggins is living with the legacy!

In article ,
"Pidgeonpost" writes:
So, the question is
"Does anyone know of a supplier of good quality surface mounted cabinet
downlighters" please??

My parents have had the IKEA ones for over 5 years now,
without any problems. These are the ones with two 10W
lamps at either end of the long thin fitting, and the
transformer in the middle.

Personally, I prefer slim fluorescent fittings under
cupboards.

--
Andrew Gabriel

In message , Andrew Gabriel
writes
In article ,
"Pidgeonpost" writes:
So, the question is
"Does anyone know of a supplier of good quality surface mounted cabinet
downlighters" please??

My parents have had the IKEA ones for over 5 years now,
without any problems.

I had exactly the OP's problem with such fittings from Screwfix (I
assume that was his supplier) - I gave up trying to make them stay
working and moved house....

Personally, I prefer slim fluorescent fittings under
cupboards.

Indeed, though in my case these were visible fittings
--
Chris French

About a year ago I bought some surface-mounted 12-volt halogen
downlighters
from a well known mail order company. There are 7 lights, and at any given
time 3 or 4 of the darned things aren't working.

Use slimline fluorescent tubes. They give a much wider pool of light, which
is good for preparing food. You can also get a lot more total light output
without needing to construct another belching power station to power them
all.

I have 4 18W tubes under cupboards and a 30W tube up the chimney for the
cooker. That's 102W. Using halogen, due to reduced efficiency and their
inappropriate lighting pattern requiring many extra fittings, similar light
coverage would be getting on for a kilowatt, probably making the kitchen
unbearably hot in summer, too.

Christian.