Energy Saving Downlights

[wickedwelshwizard]

Hello

I recently bought my own place (great timing I hear you say) and I have raised a bit of cash to start work on it. The first thing I want to do is replace the lighting with downlights. Been doing my research and thought I would go green and get energy saving ones, rather than have 4 x 50 watt halogens in one room - the electric bill would be something else. So I have found the Megaman 11 watt dimmable CFL's. They have everything I want and are dimmable (they produce a 50 watt light output). Then comes the painful bit, each one is £14. Add on the special holders required (they are 15mm longer than standard halogen) which are £7. I need 24 downlights (for anyone struggling with the maths that is £480). That is before I get a hold of the dimmer switches and get my bathroom downlights. Has anyone got any suggestions for a cheaper way of doing this that doesn't include a Balaclava and a shotgun? Thanks

 

[kinhell]

Try
http://www.fastlec.co.uk/flameguard-low-energy-cfl-fixed-downlights-with-11w-megaman-lamp-p-638.html

or

http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Type/_Downlights.LowVoltage-FireRated.html

 

[sparkybird]

Are the lamps switch dimmable or dimmer dimmable? I only say this because I have had problems with the so called dimmerable range - despite following the detailed loading advice to the letter they did not work on the dimmer switch.

Megaman finally conceded that they were still testing the lamps and to watch this space... Needless to say they've not contacted me. This was about 3 months ago, so might be worth getting in touch with them to see if they recommend any brands of compatible dimmer switches. (I tried MK Grid, Richmond and a cheapo one - all no good!)

Oh and to answer your post - if you don't need fire rated fittings you can just use the cheap 'open back' ones as the lamps can sit further back no problem. Or stick a fire hood on them..

 

[wickedwelshwizard]

Thanks Kinhell for the link, looks as though I could save myself £80 which is better then a slap in the face, but still means its going to cost me £400.

Sparkybird, always good to hear from someone one who has tried and tested them, and I must say what you have said worries me a little. I spoke directly to Megaman and they sent me the spec. If you say that you have followed this as well and yours do not dim - then I don't think spending this type of money is worth it. Have you found anything that works? I have heard rumours that Megaman have recently bought out their own dimmers, but as with everything on this one they cost more than the average one.

 

[jpdw]

Dimming seems to be the achiles heel of so-called energy efficient lighting. Depending on how many rooms you want with dimmables, maybe it's worth just doing the "non dimmable" rooms for now and the "dimmables" later ... in the hope that real dimmables might be available one day soon...

Or consider fitting a mix of CFLs (for brightish light at low running energy) and traditional filament bulbs (for cheap & easy dimming). I'm doing this in one room at the moment - replacing 5x100W spots with 4x40 filament bulbs for dimming & a couple of CFL floor standers for times when bright light is needed (reading etc. ). [you might find the comparison of the "colour" of CFLs vs filaments to be very annoying though]

Whilst this doesn't directly answer how to get lots of dimmable CFLs cheaply, it's a suggestion of how to achieve brightness & dimmability for a lot less cash.

 

[JohnD]

...I need 24 downlights ...

I like your use of the word "need"

what will you do when fashions change and you are left with 48 great ugly holes in your ceilings letting the sound and smoke through?

 

[wickedwelshwizard]

jpdw
Think you could be right. In 2011 when the government outlaw the old bulbs then perhaps by then the technology may have moved on, hopefully LED's will have improved. May have to bite the bullet and go for 50w halogens then for now. does anyone have experience of what having four of these is like in a room? (in other words is the light adequete? and is the light ambient enough?)

johnD
I am 6ft 6in and when the ceilings in the house arn't the highest there is only so many times you can duck and dive pendants before you contemplate ripping them out of the ceiling rose with your bare hands and screaming like a warrior pocessed. or put in downlights? hence the 'need'.

 

[sparkybird]

I've not tried anything else to be honest. If Megaman are guaranteeing that the lights will work with their dimmer, I'd go for that - at least you can probably get your money back and not be left out of pocket as I was. (as well at looking like a prize t*t to my clients!)

You could maybe tell them you've heard they've had problems and see if they can produce any evidence to convince you otherwise!

let me know how you get on

SB

 

[eyeofthebeholder]

I have also been looking into this.

We are going for several spots in our lounge to make the room feel bigger without the pendant lighting. We have decided to have several switches switching combinations of different spots to create different modes and to some extent control the amount of light in the room.

A company has now starting producing a proper dimmerable low energy bulbs. As far as I am aware there is only one retailer in the UK: http://www.nigelsecostore.com/acatalog/Dimmable_.html. These look to be a similar size to normal bulbs, so will not fit small spots like G10s.

As the technology is now there - its only a matter of time before they produce the smaller dimmerables!

Ad.

 

[Dippy]

It is certainly interesting to see that properly dimmable flourescent technology is moving forwards, but also that maybe it is not quite ready yet???

For the OP, I can offer some experience. I am soon to replace my whole house lighting, and am using a centalised dimmer system. This is partly because I want whole house control, but also because I like the idea of scene-setting.

One thing I soon realised is that scene-setting works best when the dimming is quite low. As soon as you bring the light level quite high the effects lessen. Therefore I realised that I do not really need full-range dimming. This was good, because as you know, downlighters are inefficient in terms of lighting a room, so you can easily end up with a large total wattage design.

My solution is to mix halogen downlighters and CFLs. Once they have warmed up, 11W CFLs give a very good and pleasing level of light. Therefore when I need full light in a room, most of it will come from these. For the scene-setting I will use halogens. I have opted for the infra-red coated Osram lamps, which are more expensive, but give out a lot more light per watt than regular halogens. The 35W ones give at least the same light as a 50W regular lamp. However I don't even need 35W ones. I will mostly use 20W lamps, and these will mostly be run at a lot less that this during dimming.

Maybe this is not applicable to you, but maybe it is at least food for thought.