Amanda Ripanykhazov wrote:

I have been having severe problems with 12v halogen "spot"lights.

My Satco strip seems to blow its individual internal mini-transformers
behind the bulb about every other time the bulb blows. I also have an
Ikea fitting supporting three 12v halogen bulbs on which the bulbs dont
blow as often but the whole supporting transformer seems to blow every few
years.

Much perceived wisdom online seems to date back a few years to the dawn of
LED bulbs, when specs (heat? heat dissipation? colour temperature? lumens?
current used? etc) were all over the place and I am wondering whether
these have settled down yet so that I can just replace the halogens with
LED bulbs using similar (or internally adjusted) current? Or does that
still entail only buying the most expensive, - eg Philips, - bulbs?

Or if the current or heat draw which causes the el-cheapo transformer in
the track lighting units and the Ikea unit to blow is substantially less
for LED bulbs, can I render those transformers MORE reliable by putting
LEDs in and adding (say) one or two bulbs to the Ikea unit to compensate
for the lower current draw?
Can you get LED drop-in replacements for these bulbs?
The Halogen lamps run off constant-voltage AC. the LEDs (internally) run off
constant-current DC. The "bulbs" would need to have a rectifier/regulator
built into them. You certainly can get these for 120 V Edison-base sockets,
not so sure about track lighting systems.

Jon