Took a while to persuade my parents that replacing the little 50w halogens with led alternatives was worth the money to buy them. They had a lot of bulbs to replace. But the difference was huge, and the wheel on the meter finally got a well earned rest. Over 1kW of bulbs replaced at around a 10th of the consumption, brighter, and not needing replacement every few weeks 🤣
Mine are of a similar opinion - I think they're not convinced that the bulbs will last any longer, without seeing it first hand for themselves. Trouble is, that bulb got fried just after I made the video and had to revert back to a halogen. The bulb did say it wasn't dimmable, so that may have been the reason, but it's still £18 out of pocket, and adding to a mistrust of LED bulbs!
@@GuyGoesGreen Regarding the dimmable aspect, that does also relate to the type of dimmer switch being used. There are different types of dimmer wall switches over here (110V) and the expensive ones do a very good job (cheaper ones cause the lights to flicker). I suspect it is the switch on your lamp that is still behaving like a dimmer even when giving you full strength power which then fried your bulb. Not sure how you can resolve it without changing out the switch in your lamp.
Thabks so very much for your video and thorough review! Super helpful as my halogen just went dead now and I’m searching for a replacement! 💖 And of course: wishing you a very Happy New Year! ✨
Our 3 bathrooms have beautiful fixtures, but they use the halogen double end bulbs (16 bulbs total). Guests are forever leaving the room and forgetting to turn them off. I’ll come home to an empty house and find them on!$!$!$. Only downside of our gradual whole house conversion has been not being able to dim our recessed ceiling lights in the kitchen.
I feel your pain with the lights being left on! Hope your house conversion is going well. It's a shame not being able to dim the kitchen lights. Sometimes you need bright light, but a lot of the time it's way too harsh for my eyes, I need a more relaxed lighting.
Yes, I think I'll have to do the same Mike. £18 is too much to throw away on a defective bulb. It does mean I've been questioning whether it's better to use a halogen bulb in my uplighter to save having to buy a new uplighter that can cope with LEDs. One less thing in landfill is probably the best option, so I'll have to source another halogen bulb, I suspect.
In my case it was NOT win. In my system (which is very similar to the video): 1) LEDs do not dim. I suspect the "dimmable" LEDs do not match the incandenced dimmer. 2) LEDs do not switch on and off completely (again, because of the dimmer) 3) LEDs produce less light. Despite all advertizing and lumens. 4) I had to buy and try several LEDs - just to find out none of them work well so far. 5) But YES! I save a lot of money on electricity - just as well I could just through away the whole lamp (I got 2). Now I need to figure out what to do: find and replace the dimmers? Find and try yet another type of LEDs? DIY the led driver for 220V input and 220V output? Replace the R7S system completely for a different LED-dedicated? Looking on Internet I see I am not alone with my problem... Usual comments: "flicker", "do not dim" and "not bright enough". So replacing R7S Halogen Bulb With LED WILL save you money, but WILL NOT always give you satisfaction.
That sounds like a fair summary Mich, thanks for sharing your experience. If devices are built specifically for LED bulbs they'll give a good performance, I'm sure. But like this, they're not always going to work effectively in an old light that's not built for them.
@@GuyGoesGreen Thank you! I found out from looking on their schematics my dimmers are not "variable voltage", but rather "variable phase cutoff". This doesn't work with 220V AC Led drivers, which all the R7S-s have. Also - my simple rule of thumb: To replace an incandenced bulb you need a LED of approx 1/5 power. The R7S in my lamp is 300W, so the LEDs must be at least 60W. Even if we "compensate" for LED light 1-sided direction, say 1/2, we get 30W. Such a LED - to my knowledge - doesn't exist in R7S form.
@@michroz Exactly. You just confirmed something that I found out by my own experience with LED lamps. 10x light efficiency is just a lie, in fact you get something like 7x depending on form-factor. Then yeah, I also need to change the R7S 300W which is 5400 lm compared to the most powerful LED replacement available of ~18W 2400 lm. Also, one side without LEDs is not a solution for me as my fixture also has a small window pointing downwards. So there is no good solution for R7S so far unfortunately.
Hi Brilliant Video. SUbscribed. Off to try the calculator. I have been doing manual estimates wish I'd found this before. I bought one of these on Amazon for a dimmable switched uplighter, like you never dim it BUT there is a background hum which is a bit annoying. I had actually googled converting the R7 to a normal screw adaptor, hundreds of choices e27 to R7 but none going the other way. I wish electricity was 12p as at Jan 23 more like 30p! So savings may be even greater! Thanks.
Thanks so much for subscribing, it's really appreciated. It's so frustrating that there are so many options and variations for bulbs! I'm glad you managed to find what you needed. And yes, it's hard to remember the days of 12p electricity!
I have the same up light as you, I tried to fit LED lights to both lights. When I turned on the power at the socket they both came on without me using the switch. They only went out when I turned off the main! The up light R7S was a slimmer one than the one you used. The supplier said I needed to disconnect the driver only found the dimmer switch have you got any suggestions please. Thanks
Mike, I had the same issue - it fires up with a slight glow without the switch being used! But, latest news - it's now not working at all - goes into a strobe effect as if my lounge is a scene from Saw. I haven't worked out if there's anything I can do yet, but I assume not. So that's money down the drain. I'm afraid I don't know what they mean about disconnecting the driver - I really wouldn't recommend getting involved in any tweaks to the light fixtures.
@@GuyGoesGreen HI, LED BULBS ARE NOT COMPATIBLE WITH DIMMERS OR LIGHTS SWITCHS WITH A PILOT LIGHT, you need to find out a way tu cut all the power so the bulb doesnt turn on ramdomly automatically, i have seen other led bulbs that are compatible with dimmer switch or light switch with pilot light
I found the harddest part here was trying to find the LED item to exactly or closely match my halogen bulb with the eqivalent LED. If someone has tables that would be great even though I relise it may be a very big one!
Hi Lisa, thanks for watching and commenting. This table might be useful. It shows wattage for different bulb types compared to LED: www.thelightbulb.co.uk/resources/lumens_watts/
Don't know why you would want a halogen bulb inside in the first place especially 230w thats bright ? I bought 10 LED bayonet 60 w equivalent bulbs that use 10w each for ten quid from B & M fitted five of them months ago all still going strong. New cheap uplighters and lamps are readily available they have cheap adapers for converting bayonet to screw in and vice versa you can buy.
Thanks for watching and commenting Mark. It originally came with a halogen bulb in it, so that ran its course and I replaced when it had blown. Good to see that you've made a switch to LED and found it easy to do.
Really need to expect to buy with a lifetime guarantee from a reputable retailer for £19, lot of manufacturers don't mind giving lifetime guarantees because it is likely you'll loose the receit or disgard original packaging or break or have the thing stolen before any claim lol
It may depend on what type of heating system you have have. if you have a heat pump, it will pump many more watt hours of heat into your home while burning only 1 watt hour of electricity.
Took a while to persuade my parents that replacing the little 50w halogens with led alternatives was worth the money to buy them. They had a lot of bulbs to replace. But the difference was huge, and the wheel on the meter finally got a well earned rest. Over 1kW of bulbs replaced at around a 10th of the consumption, brighter, and not needing replacement every few weeks 🤣
Mine are of a similar opinion - I think they're not convinced that the bulbs will last any longer, without seeing it first hand for themselves. Trouble is, that bulb got fried just after I made the video and had to revert back to a halogen. The bulb did say it wasn't dimmable, so that may have been the reason, but it's still £18 out of pocket, and adding to a mistrust of LED bulbs!
@@GuyGoesGreen Regarding the dimmable aspect, that does also relate to the type of dimmer switch being used. There are different types of dimmer wall switches over here (110V) and the expensive ones do a very good job (cheaper ones cause the lights to flicker). I suspect it is the switch on your lamp that is still behaving like a dimmer even when giving you full strength power which then fried your bulb. Not sure how you can resolve it without changing out the switch in your lamp.
Thabks so very much for your video and thorough review! Super helpful as my halogen just went dead now and I’m searching for a replacement! 💖 And of course: wishing you a very Happy New Year! ✨
That's very kind, thank you for watching, and Happy New Year to you too...
@@GuyGoesGreenthank you very much too! 🥰🙌
Thanks for being so helpful. Loved the summary in the description. Good luck with your TH-cam channel!
Thanks for watching Gabriel, I'm glad you found it useful
Our 3 bathrooms have beautiful fixtures, but they use the halogen double end bulbs (16 bulbs total). Guests are forever leaving the room and forgetting to turn them off. I’ll come home to an empty house and find them on!$!$!$. Only downside of our gradual whole house conversion has been not being able to dim our recessed ceiling lights in the kitchen.
I feel your pain with the lights being left on!
Hope your house conversion is going well. It's a shame not being able to dim the kitchen lights. Sometimes you need bright light, but a lot of the time it's way too harsh for my eyes, I need a more relaxed lighting.
No choice now lol 🤣🤣 halogen/fluorescent lamps are being phased out in the UK and EU! Lots of work for me though as an electrician 😊
Thanks for watching and commenting. Glad to hear business is good!
I guess I will have to try and get my money back! Thanks for your reply👍
Yes, I think I'll have to do the same Mike. £18 is too much to throw away on a defective bulb. It does mean I've been questioning whether it's better to use a halogen bulb in my uplighter to save having to buy a new uplighter that can cope with LEDs. One less thing in landfill is probably the best option, so I'll have to source another halogen bulb, I suspect.
Thanks this was very useful!
Glad to hear that, thanks for the feedback
In my case it was NOT win. In my system (which is very similar to the video):
1) LEDs do not dim. I suspect the "dimmable" LEDs do not match the incandenced dimmer.
2) LEDs do not switch on and off completely (again, because of the dimmer)
3) LEDs produce less light. Despite all advertizing and lumens.
4) I had to buy and try several LEDs - just to find out none of them work well so far.
5) But YES! I save a lot of money on electricity - just as well I could just through away the whole lamp (I got 2).
Now I need to figure out what to do: find and replace the dimmers? Find and try yet another type of LEDs? DIY the led driver for 220V input and 220V output? Replace the R7S system completely for a different LED-dedicated?
Looking on Internet I see I am not alone with my problem... Usual comments: "flicker", "do not dim" and "not bright enough". So replacing R7S Halogen Bulb With LED WILL save you money, but WILL NOT always give you satisfaction.
That sounds like a fair summary Mich, thanks for sharing your experience. If devices are built specifically for LED bulbs they'll give a good performance, I'm sure. But like this, they're not always going to work effectively in an old light that's not built for them.
@@GuyGoesGreen Thank you! I found out from looking on their schematics my dimmers are not "variable voltage", but rather "variable phase cutoff". This doesn't work with 220V AC Led drivers, which all the R7S-s have.
Also - my simple rule of thumb: To replace an incandenced bulb you need a LED of approx 1/5 power. The R7S in my lamp is 300W, so the LEDs must be at least 60W.
Even if we "compensate" for LED light 1-sided direction, say 1/2, we get 30W. Such a LED - to my knowledge - doesn't exist in R7S form.
Very helpful comment. Thank you!!
@@michroz Exactly. You just confirmed something that I found out by my own experience with LED lamps. 10x light efficiency is just a lie, in fact you get something like 7x depending on form-factor. Then yeah, I also need to change the R7S 300W which is 5400 lm compared to the most powerful LED replacement available of ~18W 2400 lm. Also, one side without LEDs is not a solution for me as my fixture also has a small window pointing downwards. So there is no good solution for R7S so far unfortunately.
Hi Brilliant Video. SUbscribed. Off to try the calculator. I have been doing manual estimates wish I'd found this before. I bought one of these on Amazon for a dimmable switched uplighter, like you never dim it BUT there is a background hum which is a bit annoying. I had actually googled converting the R7 to a normal screw adaptor, hundreds of choices e27 to R7 but none going the other way. I wish electricity was 12p as at Jan 23 more like 30p! So savings may be even greater! Thanks.
Thanks so much for subscribing, it's really appreciated. It's so frustrating that there are so many options and variations for bulbs! I'm glad you managed to find what you needed. And yes, it's hard to remember the days of 12p electricity!
PS thanks for the calculation website
No problem, hope it was useful
I have the same up light as you, I tried to fit LED lights to both lights. When I turned on the power at the socket they both came on without me using the switch. They only went out when I turned off the main! The up light R7S was a slimmer one than the one you used. The supplier said I needed to disconnect the driver only found the dimmer switch have you got any suggestions please. Thanks
Mike, I had the same issue - it fires up with a slight glow without the switch being used! But, latest news - it's now not working at all - goes into a strobe effect as if my lounge is a scene from Saw. I haven't worked out if there's anything I can do yet, but I assume not. So that's money down the drain. I'm afraid I don't know what they mean about disconnecting the driver - I really wouldn't recommend getting involved in any tweaks to the light fixtures.
@@GuyGoesGreen HI, LED BULBS ARE NOT COMPATIBLE WITH DIMMERS OR LIGHTS SWITCHS WITH A PILOT LIGHT, you need to find out a way tu cut all the power so the bulb doesnt turn on ramdomly automatically, i have seen other led bulbs that are compatible with dimmer switch or light switch with pilot light
So at the end its absolutely essential you get the right bulb make, purchase price and guarantee for the venture to be cost effective.
.
great video
Thanks for watching and commenting, much appreciated
I found the harddest part here was trying to find the LED item to exactly or closely match my halogen bulb with the eqivalent LED. If someone has tables that would be great even though I relise it may be a very big one!
Hi Lisa, thanks for watching and commenting. This table might be useful. It shows wattage for different bulb types compared to LED:
www.thelightbulb.co.uk/resources/lumens_watts/
Don't know why you would want a halogen bulb inside in the first place especially 230w thats bright ? I bought 10 LED bayonet 60 w equivalent bulbs that use 10w each for ten quid from B & M fitted five of them months ago all still going strong. New cheap uplighters and lamps are readily available they have cheap adapers for converting bayonet to screw in and vice versa you can buy.
Thanks for watching and commenting Mark. It originally came with a halogen bulb in it, so that ran its course and I replaced when it had blown. Good to see that you've made a switch to LED and found it easy to do.
Really need to expect to buy with a lifetime guarantee from a reputable retailer for £19, lot of manufacturers don't mind giving lifetime guarantees because it is likely you'll loose the receit or disgard original packaging or break or have the thing stolen before any claim lol
.
Even 10w normal LED house bulbs seem to generate a lot of heat into the home !
.
Maybe you messed it up putting it in a device that has a dimmer option ?
That's my expectation, yes. There appeared to be charge always on in the device, which impacted that type of LED.
But in winter you save 0. …because in winter… heat is good
Well I guess that's one bright spot, yes! But with energy costs excessively high I'm looking at lots of ways to reduce costs.
It may depend on what type of heating system you have have. if you have a heat pump, it will pump many more watt hours of heat into your home while burning only 1 watt hour of electricity.