So, often seeing the LED light ads from DX on the left hand side bar, usually got a 5 pack of E27s (screw-in) for about $26, and had a look at them and also the B22 (bayonets), which will work in NZ, seem to vary between $5 and $10 or so bucks each. Havent bothered to look, but how much are places like Lighting Direct etc selling individual bulbs for?

Anybody,
a) running LEDs in their house, if so where'd ya get them?
b) tried the ones from DX,
or c) if not from DX, where else are we getting them from??

how are you finding them? much different to CF ones?

I've just bought some Philips E14 ones from Bunnings for $12ea. And Osram GU10 spots from LightingPlus for $13ea. Installing them into new light fittings next week.

I think I picked up some phillips ones E27 at the hardware store recently. Much brighter than I expected, probably should have chosen less lumens.

Still gotta get some bayonets for a few places. And my house has a bundle of small edisons E14 which I havent found an LED alternative yet.

Could someone post up the DX link? I think my ad blocker is blocking it.

Also - its somewhat irritating that the CFLs last so long! Seems kinda wrong to replace CFL with LED while they're still working.

swtchbckr wrote:a) running LEDs in their house, if so where'd ya get them?
b) tried the ones from DX,
or c) if not from DX, where else are we getting them from??

how are you finding them? much different to CF ones?

our place has a mix cheap generic r80 leds from bunnings and e27 panasonic led globes (replaced all the downstairs downlight fittings with one with integrated reflectors so don't need r80s - haven't done upstairs). Main win over cfl's is absolutely zero warm up time, even the latest CFLs still take a bit to settle (early ones took minutes to warm up), also reckon colour temp is a bit better (cool-white cfls always seemed a bit too blue/white)

could always go totally mad and invest in the phillips HUE system - infinitely variable colour is cool, price not so much

http://www2.meethue.com/en-nz/

http://store.apple.com/nz/product/HA779 ... 899622f286

Just replaced the 50w mr16 gu5.3 bulbs in the kitchen with 7w ones from Bunnings ( 24$ for 4 ). Very bright but a bit weird looking( guessing low CRI). Being 7w they draw enough power to make the old transformer think it has something connected. Will save about 6$ a month so money well spent.

jo wrote:Could someone post up the DX link? I think my ad blocker is blocking it.

I have my adblocker turned off only for Vorb...
http://www.dx.com/c/lights-lighting-139 ... 1/e27-1314 for teh E27s
and searching on B22s... http://www.dx.com/s/b22+led+bulb

You have no real idea if those dx bulbs are properly certified/tested for sale/operation in new zealand, would be a bit of a crapshoot. For the fairly minor savings vs the reputable brands that have all that stuff sorted I wouldn't consider it worthwhile.

Point taken

LED's almost everywhere through the house except a few existing CFL's outside which will be replaced with LED's as they die

Bought all of them at Bunnings, when they were doing a two for $10 deal on their generic ones, bar one dimmable one that was $26

Found they are as bright or brighter than described, and colour not dissimilar to old incandescents

Ripped out all our down lights year and replaced with Philips 10W LED down lights ($60 per light fitting, but at the time only one that fitted the hole size we had) and installed insulation above them. Noticeable improvement in warmth, heat pump keeps up on coldest nights, and fire is now too warm if its above 10 degrees outside. With CFLs never had enough light in the living room and had looked at installing more down lights, with the LEDs had to install a dimmer and have better CRI.

At same time replaced kitchen 5x 50W halogens with 6x 7W LED GU10's (OSRAM) - again more and better quality light. About $16/bulb. This year did the study and a couple of bedrooms.

LEDs have dropped significantly in price since then, but I was warned to stay away from cheap/no brand ones. They loose brightness over time, and the Red/Green/Blue emitters will change at different rates in different bulbs - eventually each bulb change colour, cheap ones drive the LED harder so they won't last as long before this happens.

Motivation was for me was more/better quality light, but payback of down lights, without considering lowered heating cost was around 24 months (over standard bulbs).

Downlights got from and electrical wholesaler (discount though contacts) and the GU10's Lighting Plus (on "special").

I thought about importing from DX/Ebay etc and decided not to due to electrical regulations and stuff I know nothing about, the 'boss' pointed out that insurance could be a problem if we installed randomly imported 240V stuff, and was it worth the risk. Decided not worth it in the end.

Its a no brainier - replace all you lights with LED as soon as you can afford it.

Some of the cheap chinese ones are dodgy as fuck. Some of them liven up their entire enclosure with 240V when you turn them on, and I've seen one catch fire Your insurance company will tell you to get bent if they find out what rubbish you decided to put in your light socket.

Being an ex-sparky and having seen some shit, I'd either buy stuff that's sold in New Zealand or have someone that knows what they're talking about take one apart to see if it's built safely.

matnz wrote:Ripped out all our down lights year and replaced with Philips 10W LED down lights ($60 per light fitting, but at the time only one that fitted the hole size we had) and installed insulation above them.

I thought they needed to be uninsulated so they can shed heat. They really don't like getting too warm.

znomit wrote:

matnz wrote:Ripped out all our down lights year and replaced with Philips 10W LED down lights ($60 per light fitting, but at the time only one that fitted the hole size we had) and installed insulation above them.

I thought they needed to be uninsulated so they can shed heat. They really don't like getting too warm.

depends on the light and fitting, documentation supplied with the lights will specify one way or the other.

IC or IC-F are the ones you want. Can be covered by insulation. Pink Batts any way, not sure about that Insu-fluff crap that's in some houses. I've tried to set fire to it with gas torch and didn't burn but it doesn't seem right covering lights with fluff. The drivers or transformers can't be covered by insulation though - need to be on top or they overheat.

I've been replacing old incandescents & CFLs at bach recently with LEDs from aliexpress. Being off grid & 12V my choices are more limited so I've been buying singles of different types & all good so far. All have arrived within 2wks of ordering. The warm whites seem good. The cool white far too harsh & cold colour. Ok for outside lights though, just not indoors. Replacing 25W, 40W & 60W lamps with 8W, 12W & 15W LEDs so making good saving on the drawn on the battery/solar