"KD" wrote in message
. uk...
Hi all,
A question in a similar area to Boicey's a few mintues ago....
I've just had a fun hour trying to figure out how to easily remove a GU 10
halogen downlighter from our kitchen ceiling after having bought some GU10
CFLs. One set of needle nosed pliers and a smashed up bulb later, I've
realised that they're 'MR16 GU 5.3 fittings' with Osram Decostars in them.
These seem to be low voltage. This surprised me a bit; I had thought that
only mains voltage lamps were dimmable and that these were 'mains
voltage'. I am obviously not an electrican
Anyway, I'd like to replace them with LEDs. A lot of LED MR16s say that
they're 'a direct replacement for my old inefficient bulbs'. Then, in the
small print, they mention LED drivers versus LV transformers. Given that
I didn't install the original halogens ... can I assume that each one
currently has it's own transformer ? thick question alert - do LV
halogens have to have transformers ? I assume so but would like to be
sure.
I was thinking of simply swapping them with some LED MR16 bulbs just in
case it works OK. Given John R's reply to the Econic 3w question, I'm
just wondering if it's even worth bothering as it'll cost around £30 for
the room I want to experiment with and I don't want to have to install
either transformers or drivers. Worth a shot ?

Thanks in advance,
Keith, who previous struggled remembering which fittings were BC, SBC, ES
or SES, never mind this new fangled halogen nonsense


Hi all,
Just a follow up to my original post. I've discovered each of my
downlighters has it's own transformer. So much for using one halogen to up
the power that the transformer is required to deliver, this would only work
with multiple bulbs per transformer. However, a number of LEDs claim that
they can work with existing transformers, rather than LED drivers, but with
half the expected bulb life. So, I took the plunge ... I replaced 3 spots
upstairs directly with LEDs. The LEDs come on, look OK and don't flicker
..... however, my bedroom radio now suffers terrible interference. Now to
figure out how to stop that ....

Cheers,
Keith