mending things

A number of my posts here regard my battle to replace GU10 and MR16 Halolgen bulbs with LED equivalents, via a short period of CFL bulbs. This has been successful, with all the 40 halogens having been replaced with LED some 5 years ago. My energy consumption has gone down and so has the amount of heat generated into the loft and ceiling space from the bulbs. Since then I have kept an eye on LED full size light bulbs for ES (Edison Screw) SES (Small Edison Screw and Bayonet fitting bulbs, all of which are represented in my house. Until recently I had found the LED lightbulbs to have dimmer light and a cold blue tint, much as the first Halogen replacements had. A few weeks back while in my local B&Q DIY store I saw a display of Philips LED Bulbs, some of which featured clear glass and a kind of internal perspex crown-shaped diffractor. I'm pleased to say I have tied both in SES , ES and Bayonet form-factors and they are superior to the Com...

I have seperately blogged my experiences with LED replacements for halogen bulbs, where their size, low heat and beam characteristics work well, but what about normal light bulbs i.e the kind you have in ceiling lights, reading lights and elsewhere ? While on holiday in the USA I picked up a couple of small golf ball LED bulbs with ES fittings. These were to replace the two conventional light bulbs in my fridge freezer. They work well in this setting, and while a bit dimmer the light quality works well. While only on for a few minutes while the door was open, using conventional bulbs in a fridge bugged me, as it seemed they would introduce some heat into the fridge. Recenetly i purchased a 60 watt equivalent LED bulb from my usual supplier, simplyLED, to see how far these have come. This one was advertised as a true 60 watt bulb replacement in terms of brightness and colour temperature. As you can see the bulb has a semi opaque cover and some yellow sections are visible in...

  SimplyLED notified me that they now stock a new range of next generation LED GU10 and MR16 bulbs. I have purchased from them in the past, and they offer a money back refund, so I thought I'd try one. In my kitchen I still retain 6 50 watts  halogen GU10 bulbs as downlighters over hob, sink and work surfaces. The light quality was more critical here than in bathrooms where the bulk of LED bulbs have been used?   I replaced one of them with one of the new type bulbs. While described as next generation they are actually closer to the surface mount type, but with each WMD element with a small domed diffuser on it. In other respects they look the same. However the light quality is very good indeed.  The light is slightly whiter than halogen which has a warm faint orange tint to my eyes, but the brightness is superior to halogen. They use multi light sources but project it in a tighter beam. Anyway here is a picture :  In the picture the light closest to the camera...

I have been monitoring my electricity consumptions for a number of years on the basis that, in order to reduce it, i need to understand it first, i.e. where does it all go ? Initially I took a reading from the meter once a week , then subtracted the past reading from the current reading to get the weekly usage. I did this in a spreadsheet. Now I use The imeasure which is a web site run by Oxford University. It does this and many more things, including gas consumption and factoring in weather conditions. I also monitor my real  time using a current cost device, monitoring the whole house, plus a couple of individual appliance monitors (IAM) which provide me data about individual appliances. I can publish this data to the Internet via the current cost NetSmart unit. All these methods give me a better idea of what I'm using and where it's going. I should explain that my household uses gas central heating as the primary source of heat and hot water. My weekly electricity usage...

If you have seen my other blogs regarding GU10 & MR16 bulbs , you will know that I now favour LED replacements where possible. It's becoming something of an obsession. I retain a few halogen bulbs in my kitchen where total brightness and light quality (i.e orange/yellow warmth) are important. I noticed that the online retailer simplyLED were offering a 6watt(55watt equivalent) LED bulb . I've purchased from simplyLED before and found their service very good, with a no quibble returns policy. I ordered one to try, which arrived the next day The flash from the camera is being reflected back by the bulbs rear reflector, so looks like it's on ! As you can see this bulb is longer than a halogen, so suitable for open-backed fittings or where the bulb is only secured at the base. Other types of fittings may not have enough clearance. In the picture above , the closest light is the 6watt LED , while the other lights are halogens. I would say the new bulb is brighter, hard to g...

A common theme across this blog is reducing my household energy consumption. You will see this in my threads on lighting, computers, gadgets etc. As I see it there are 3 reasons to do this : 1) to save money - lower bills 2) to reduce my impact on the environment - CO2 3) to reduce my impact on non-renewable energy sources (gas, oil, coal, nuclear - they all have to be mined in some form or other. While I have Green interests, I also use a lot of energy in my household, through gas & electricity consumption, and I sometimes feel I am the environmental equivalent of a Champagne Socialis t . I have computers, TV's and all the modern trappings which I'm reluctant to give up. My house is part old and part new. It's a long way from a super insulated eco-home, so I have to be pragmatic. I will never get my consumption down to super low levels, but I want to try and reduce it as much as possible. Measure it How much energy brings me to the first issue in saving energy which i...

If you have read my other blogs about GU10 mains voltage halogen lighting, you will know that I have mostly replaced these bulbs with LED equivalents. they cost more, but last longer, are cooler and use a fraction of the energy. a halogen bulb is typically either 35 or 50 watts. most LED bulbs are 3 watts. While the bulbs in my house are predominantly GU10 mains halogens, I do have a couple of MR16 bulbs. These are a different type of halogen that operate from a 12volt supply. I should mention at this point that I don't have any dimmer switches in my house. Now some mains voltage GU10 LED bulbs are dimable (always check first). MR16 bulbs have two pin connectors rather than the lugs found on GU10 bulbs. GU10's use a push and twist method of connecting to the socket. the MR16 simply push in place with metal clips also gripping the edge of the bin base. They use a separate power supply , either a transformer (old type ) or a switch mode power supply(newer) to convert 250v ...

Things have moved on since my previous blog regarding GU10 halogen bulbs. To recap, 10 years ago we had our house extended and rewired. We had 40 recessed halogen light fittings installed, the type which runs from 240V main voltage (GU10) not the 12v system (MR16). While the light is good, and the reliability of the bulbs has improved, they still use a lot of electricity (50 or 35 watt types) and get very hot. In my previous blog I explored the options which were available including first generation LED bulbs and Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL) in the GU10 size. That was two years ago , and at that time LED bulbs were not up to the job and CFL's , typically Megaman variety seemed the best alternative. These consumed only 11 watts and give pretty good light from a few minutes after turn on. I posted a few follow-ups as I tried a few next generation LED bulbs and this post picks up at that point. In my utility room I had 4 of the Megaman brand CFL GU10 bulbs and these seemed to be t...

I know more than I want to about these light bulbs. While the UK Government is waging war on the 100 watt incandescent light bulb, they have, typically, ignored the growing trend of using these bulbs. I guess they pay people to change bulbs for them. We had our house gutted and rebuilt in 2000, and as a consequence had around 40 recessed lights fitted, each of which take the GU10 mains voltage (240v) GU10 light bulbs. At first, the main issue was that the halogen bulbs had a very short life span and cost a lot to buy, around £5. I seemed to be changing a couple a week. Things have improved and now the bulbs are relatively cheap ( £1-£2) and have a fairly long life expectancy. So what is my gripe ? Well these bulbs are rated at a hefty 35 or 50 watts. The packaging even implies that they are energy saving in some way, but of course watts are watts. i If you have 5 * 50 watts halogen bulbs in your kitchen, then you are using a unit every 4 hours they are on. If I turn on all th...