Scott wrote:

On Sat, 26 Nov 2016 20:23:08 +0000, MrCheerful
wrote:

On 26/11/2016 20:18, Scott wrote:
On Sat, 26 Nov 2016 20:10:23 +0000, MrCheerful
wrote:

On 26/11/2016 19:20, Scott wrote:
On Sat, 26 Nov 2016 19:04:55 +0000, ss wrote:

On 26/11/2016 18:37, Scott wrote:
It would annoy me incessantly to have a two gang switch with only one
in use. Why did you not buy a single gang switch instead?

It was like that when we bought the house and have had too many other
jobs to spend time on it. Easier for me just to replace the switch
bearing in mind I dont know yet if both switches are connected.

Not sure the time involved would be any different.

If they are I will try and trace the `dead` one.
Maybe it was for an outdoor light or something. Previous owners done a
lot of DIY and they owned a light company :-)

Are you in contact with them perchance? The answer may be a short
phone call away.

I am slowly replacing their halogens with LED.
Lounge has 12 x 60w, kitchen 13 x halogens.

Are these mains voltage or 12V? I have a lot of 12V halogen bulbs and
I am wondering if they can be replaced or if the huge drop in load
would damage the transformer.


The problem is that older transformers do not suit leds. I did find
that as long as one halogen is retained (where several lamps are fed
from one transformer) everything is fine, but changing to all led makes
that circuit flicker. You could of course change transformer as well or
change the MR16 halogens to GU10 leds, you would need the GU10 bulb
connectors and some rewiring.
Where my halogens are only on for short times I have left them, ones
which tend to be kept on for long periods I replaced the transformers
and put in leds.

Thanks. What do you mean by 'older' in the context of transfomers?
Mine are torroidal transformers installed about 10 years ago. Is the
situation different for electronic transformers and torroidal
transformers? I suspect the cost of replacing a three torroidal
transformers would exceed any savings to be be achieved.


I believe they would be unsuitable, how many lamps are fed by each one?
Leds are now only a couple of quid each, so it might be worthwhile
buying enough for one circuit and trying, and you could experiment by
leaving one halogen in and the rest led

There are five powered by each transformer. Each transformer has its
own switch so in effect there are three lighting groups. I'm not too
bothered about the cost of the LEDs but I don't want to risk wrecking
the transformer in an experiment as these units are very expensive.
Even leaving one halogen would mean a far lower load than the
transformer is designed for. I think having three lamps different
from the others would offend my sense of feng shui.

If they are toroidal mains transformers (with no switched electronic
supply) they will be perfectly happy with the LEDs. The problem is that
if the transformers produce 12V AC and the LEDs require 12V DC the LEDs
won't work.
--

Roger Hayter