Installing LED lights

[darrude]

Hi, I've just had my first year in my apartment, and nearly died when I got a 4K electric bill (now paying out £490/month)....

I'm looking at every possible way to save energy. We have a total of 29 50W MR16 Halogen spot lights in the apartment and I have a wife and 2 kids that don't know how to turn the bl**dy things off! I was thinking of swapping them all to LED bulbs. They are currently all on individual 12v transformers rated at 10 - 60W.

What I was wondering, could I run say 4 LED bulbs off one transformer (creating a new ring, can you have a ring with DC current), otherwise the costs will be astronomical.

I've seen comments online saying you can, but lots of other website saying you can't.

My plan was to leave the existing ring in place, just remove the spurs to the transformers, then put a new ring / wiring (what ever is required) to power some new LED's bulbs.

Thoughts and recommendations would be very much appreciated.

Also if anybody knows any cheap websites for bulk purchasing of LED bulbs, or just recommendations for a particular type, that would also be very useful.

Many thanks,

Darren.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

£4k electrical bill, have you questioned this with your supplier?

 

[flameport]

Not clear what you are intending to do.
If you just want to change to LED lamps, then the easiest method is to buy 12v types which are compatible with the existing transformers, no wiring required.

The wiring can be changed and one driver fitted to operate several LEDs, however this is far more involved and is likely to be notifiable work, and therefore far more expensive.

Something else - £4000 electricity per year at 15p per unit is about 26000 units used, or well over 70 per day, every day of the year.
While the lighting will use a fair bit, it can't possibly be the cause of all of that massively high usage.
What other electrical items have you got? How is the building heated?

 

[darrude]

Yes, I have, I wish I believed it to be a fault with the meter.

Since I found out I have been keeping a weekly usage log, even counting the amount time appliances are on etc. My calculations give a higher usage than actual.

We are all electric and not on economy 7. The people that lived here before ripped out all the storage heaters. I've calculated a £850 saving / year for switching back to economy 7 / storage heaters. I'm hoping a lot of the other changes we have made should also help.

I'm open to any electricity saving tips. So far in the last 3 months we have done the following.

- Changing wash cycle to 20min quick wash for weekly wash clothes.
- turned down underfloor heating to a constant 18 Degs from 20 - 28 deg cycle.
- had blinds put up in the room to help avoid heat loss at night (it is wood land out of the window so blinds weren't needed for privacy.
- New front door (old one was very draughty).
- will be changing electricity suppliers which (according to Uswitch) will save £400/year.
- using parents washing line to dry clothes.
- will be buying a heat pump dryer to replace the cheap condenser we have.
- Looking at insulating suspended ceiling (see post: //www.diynot.com/forums/general-diy/insulating-a-floating-ceiling-is-it-a-good-idea.325522/
- sealed every draft I can find.
- Going to be much smarter with the heating. Turn it off, or down very low while we are out etc.

I hope there is a magic answer but don't think there is. I hoping my wife will find work soon, so the heating can be off in the day, and we can hopefully pay off some of this money. Unfortunately if we can't get the bill down we will be forced to move, which will be a real shame.

Thanks,

Darren.

 

[RF Lighting]

For the downlighters, ditch the transformers and replace them with GU10 lampholders, then you can fit either LED or compact fluorescent lamps into your existing lights.

Something like a 5 or 7 watt LED lamp gives a good output. Whilst still not quite as bright as a traditional halogen lamp, it is certainly a useable light.

 

[conny]

Turn off the under floor heating and wear socks. People did without this for centuries.
If you are serious in reducing your bill there are some things you can do without and still be comfortable.
When it gets chilly put a cardigan/jumper on.
Have carpets instead of laminated/real wood/ceramic tile flooring.
Fit thermal lined curtains. Bath/shower together, (has added benefits as well, ).Fit timers to electrical appliances where practical.
Swap suppliers through Uswitch or someone similar to ensure you get the best deal.
These are just some ideas to begin with.

 

[Astra99]

You say you are all electric. Is gas available, albeit out in the road? For heating and hot water, gas is far more efficient than electricity, and it would be worth investing "a few grand" in getting gas installed along with a condensing combi boiler for heating and hot water. As a for example. for my largeish detached house, I pay £600 pa for gas (heating, hot water and hob) and £400 pa for electricity (oven, w/machine. tumble drier etc)

As a footnote, I remember the adverts in the 1950s and 60s which promoted oil and gas for heating and cooking, and slated electricty as expensive. Then in the 1970s the arabs tripled the price of oil overnight, so gas was the only (then) affordable form of heating! That is when Economy 7 came into vogue, but IIRC it was still a lot more expensive than gas.

 

[big-all]

i am very anal about saving energy i have reduced my lighting to between £10 and £20 a year
the good thing is the maximum i can use is £ 20 a year at an average 50w an hour as all led lights

my suggestion is reduce the down lighter to normal pendants and fit with led bulbs then the saving is 2 fold half the lights giving as good a spread plus maximum energy efficiency

having said that its a drop in the ocean compared with heating applications
as said underfloor is a lot off your costs
wrap up a bit turn the heating down 1/2 a degree every other day until you feel cold then turn it up 1/2 a degree

do you have any 500w security lights ??

 

[ban-all-sheds]

We have a total of 29 50W MR16 Halogen spot lights in the apartment.

A perfectly good design according to many people.

 

[darrude]

Hi Guys,

thanks for the replies, unfortunatley, changing to GU10 or pendants would be just as expensive and adding new transformers. Really I'm looking for the cheapest way possible of adding LED lights.

Our apartment was very cold in winter, never had the heating on high. Now that we are very consious of the potential big bill i'm sure it won't be a bad next year and changing suppliers etc so offer some saving.

We did do some sums, and moving is starting to looks like a good option though, if we put the potential savings from electricity and maintenace charges it adds nearly 25K onto the mortgage value.

I will see how much of a reduction on last year we can make in the next few months then time to make a decission.

Thanks,

Daz

 

[big-all]

after reading your post further i measured my cold fill washing machine consumption over a cycle 65 mins 40 degree was less than 1unit[1kw]per wash infact the the machine in the off position uses 7w or 1.176kw a week if plugged in
a tumble dryer will use perhaps 3 or 4 units per load per cycle so 40 or 50p

why not switch off all circuits check the meter is stationery
then turn them all on an off one at a time and check for the high load circuits take a reading for exactly10 mins on each circuit


my total gas and electric is around £70 a month
i use an average 9 electric units a day at present 7.8 average

2 people 3 bed house both with own tv computer/laptop with a games console and usual white goods only heating and hot water by gas

 

[Chri5]

Buy one of these

http://www.google.co.uk/products/ca...LQjKT-fXC4mq8AOKieH4Dw&sqi=2&ved=0CJMBEPMCMAY

They work well enough, and will save you money.