# Halogen bulbs



## Waleem (Nov 1, 2006)

Hi all
Our van has small spotlights which use the halogen capsule-type bulbs with the two prongs on the bottom. One of ours has blown, but I'm not sure what wattage to buy to replace it-none of my bulbs have markings that I can see (May have worn off?) What wattage is commonly used in these lights?
Many thanks.


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## Snelly (Aug 20, 2005)

10 or 20... but id send a pm to "the dish"... he owns a bulb company and will advise you. Say Snelly referred ya.


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## tonyt (May 25, 2005)

Well on mine they're 10w and I guess these are commonly used.

My longer term plan is to get rid of them - too hot and too hungry.


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## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

Hi folks,

On ours, it's the silver reflective backplate that gives the info. Ours are G4 capsule bulbs rated at 12volt / 10 watt.

BTW, we have been advised (by a reputable electrical retailer of 50 years in the trade) that customers who have changed their halogen spot bulbs for the LED replacements.......... have all gone back to halogen, due to the lack of light intensity with the LED's.

Is there anyone out there that has had the same problem?

J & R


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## Waleem (Nov 1, 2006)

Yes-ironically, we did ! Bought some LED replacements, but they were too dim and "white" in light quality-my Wife felt they gave too cold a light. Will give the 10W ones a go then-thanks for the advice!
(BTW, we DO use LED lights in our bathroom(car type bulbs) and they are very effective.)


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## 101600 (Oct 30, 2006)

Yep usualy 10watt can be bought in Asda or Ikea at reasonable prices


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## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

Waleem said:


> Yes-ironically, we did ! Bought some LED replacements, but they were too dim and "white" in light quality-my Wife felt they gave too cold a light.


Hi Waleem,

That's exactly the same comments that the retailer had from his customers.

It's not so much the power consumption that we were concerned about (with 300 amps in battery power available), but more to do with the heat given off by the halogens.

Don't think that we will bother now. 

Thanks for the swift reply.

J & R


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## vicdicdoc (May 14, 2005)

Why not try 12v 5w halogen instead of the 10w . . I've swapped to them for our over bed reading spotlights and one of the ceiling lights over the loo [originally there were 4x10w but we find that just with two ceiling lights its still sufficient with 1x5w and 1x10w . . . small battery savings I know but it all helps.
BTW I agree that the normal 'ice white' LED's make you feel cold, I have tried some 'yellow white' LED's and they have a warmer feel about them, we have one on all night so we can see our way down the ladder to the loo


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## 100512 (Aug 13, 2006)

They are G4 base probibly 10W halogens. Id suggest changing these for a warm white 21 array LED. There is a coole White too which may have been tried, its only the 21 LED array that is suitable for reading etc in my view. Any bigger than a 10W halogen and the holder gets too hot and may melt, a could of mine did untill i changed to LED's.

Thre here.

LED


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## gaspode (May 9, 2005)

I see that there are now some 3 watt Luxeon LEDs adapted for G10 fittings about on Ebay (from China only ATM). They're not cheap and there's no indication of the colour temperature but they might just be the answer. Luxeons are single unit high wattage LEDs which give an amazing amount of light output, I've got a couple of torches that use them - and the light quality and output are superb. What we need is someone to try them out. Do a search on Ebay for "luxeon 3w".


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## Snelly (Aug 20, 2005)

I dont think they are G10's... they are a small bulb with a flat end that plugs in the socket where the two wires come out.


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## gaspode (May 9, 2005)

Hi Shane

  

Yes, you're right, the G10 is a 220v fitting, the ones I meant to point out were the GU5.3 12v ones (MR16 shape). I know the poster was after GU4s but a lot of M/Hs use the GU5.3 base with a 10w reflector bulb. The makers of the Luxeon bulbs reckon that the light output of the 3w bulbs is 25w equivalent so should produce significantly more light than the halogens yet only use 30% of the current. The price seems to be around £20 for two from China.

Take a look <<HERE>> for an example.


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## 100512 (Aug 13, 2006)

I recon these would be very good. Ill get some GU10's for home and report back.


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## sallytrafic (Jan 17, 2006)

I've changed all my halogens to LEDS, only thing wrong is that the beam from the 21 LED array isn't as wide as the halogen. This is exacerbated by poor positioning. The extra one I've fitted myself is excellent. Some may find it too far to the blue end of white but I'm ok with it though I didn't expect to be.

Regards Frank

BTW the site that Davebl linked to is excellent for lamp identification


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## gaspode (May 9, 2005)

sallytrafic said:


> I've changed all my halogens to LEDS, only thing wrong is that the beam from the 21 LED array isn't as wide as the halogen.


Hi Frank

These Luxeons are a totally different kettle of fish to the LED arrays that have previously been available. As an example I have a headlight with a 19 LED array which compared with a single 1 watt Luxeon is downright dim. You may be right about the colour temperature though, it seems to vary considerably between units. My 1 watt Luxeon is a lovely clean white whereas I have a 3 watt which is distinctly blueish. The beam angle will also be narrow as the Luxeon is a single light source rather than an array. What we need is an objective opinion, perhaps Dave will let us know how he fares with the G10s.


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## 100512 (Aug 13, 2006)

Yep, Ill report back when theyre here. Ill compare CT and LUX with halogen and the 21 LED array when I have them.


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## 100512 (Aug 13, 2006)

I have two Luxon 3W GU10's here. They have a colour temprature of getting on for 5 to 6K so are cool white so are quite blue. Both are reasnobly matched in terms of colour. The angle of the beam is quite tight and they are a spot rather than a flood type LED, I have the spot version thats 15 degrees there is a flood version too at 50 degrees. They Iluminate about 20 inches over about a 7 foot throw (sorry for the imperial units). Id say thay are an equvilent of about a 25W halogen bulb. I havent had the opertunity to measure the Colour temp and actual LUX yet so sorry for the lack of actual science here. When I do Ill get some photos of the various bulbs too.

They are certainly a good find and Id happliy use them. I think you have to bear in mind they may be a little blue form some tastes and quite tight in angle of the beam in the spot version, but they are very bright and a well made product.

Ill have a hunt around to see if they are available in a G4 base fitting.

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZledlightinghouse

I go mine here.


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## 100512 (Aug 13, 2006)

*LED Lighting and Halogen Comparison*

For those interested in this subject. There seems to have been some comment about this issue in the past so I have measured the output of the LED and Halogen bulbs best I can with a Sekonic incident light meter, the light meter was at 10 inches in the direct beam of the LED or Halogen in all cases (excepting the Luxeon which is a mains unit but regulated to 12V nominal) and the battery voltage was 13.6V. Please bear in mind that this is a comparitive test not actual Lux measured.

10W Halogen f2.2 
1.8W 21 x warm white LED array f2.87 
1.8W 21 x cool white LED array f2.88 
3W Luxeon LED cool white spot f8

Bear in mind the Luxeon is a 15 degree spot so will appear to measure much brighter than the wide angle 21 LED arrays. Ill try to get a wide angle Luxeon for comparison but Id recon the Luxeon has about twice the light output but thats a guess.

For reference, each stop the light output doubles.

The LED's do have more of a directional charicteristic than a halogen bulb in a spot fitting and the readings were taken in the brightest part of the beam.


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## gaspode (May 9, 2005)

Hi Dave

Very interesting observations, I reckon that in five years, all light bulbs will be LED if this rate of development continues. The higher wattage Luxeons do seem to have a very high colour temperature, the 3w that I have is much bluer than my 1w (although the light outputs seem similar). Keep up the observations and let us know how you get on.

To return to the original question, I found <<THESE>> G4 base bulbs which might be ideal for M/H lighting that uses the G4 capsule bulbs, not Luxeons but output is claimed to be 15w for a 1.08w input with 90 deg angle and a wide voltage tolerance.


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## 100512 (Aug 13, 2006)

I think the LED you mention is very similar to the one I tested, visualy it looks more yellow in the lens. In the product below they have a warm white single 3W LED that looks interesting, not 12V though.

A point I didnt mention Im still suffering a burnt finger from changing that darn halogen..... The just get too hot.


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## Ifor (Oct 21, 2006)

I just installed a load of the Led Strip lights from the bottom of the page. They are not bright enough to use as a direct replacement for a halogen or florescent light, not really being bright enough to read comfortably with.

The original halogen lights were not positioned optimally for my liking and got very hot. I now have 9 of these strips positioned around the van giving good illumination all over the van including the roof bed where you had to use a torch before. I have them setup with a two way switch for all of them, one by main panel and one accessible from the roof bed which is my preferred sleeping spot.

They are a bluer white but when you switch on the halogen now it's that that actually looks strange being distinctly yellow. I now have all around van illumination using just under 1 amp where as before I used 4 amps for and still had darks spots.

Ifor


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## 100512 (Aug 13, 2006)

Ifor said:


> I just installed a load of the Led Strip lights from the bottom of the page. They are not bright enough to use as a direct replacement for a halogen or florescent light, not really being bright enough to read comfortably with.
> 
> The original halogen lights were not positioned optimally for my liking and got very hot. I now have 9 of these strips positioned around the van giving good illumination all over the van including the roof bed where you had to use a torch before. I have them setup with a two way switch for all of them, one by main panel and one accessible from the roof bed which is my preferred sleeping spot.
> 
> ...


Thats a good move, Ive not seen these led strips before used in that way. Are there any warm white ones ?


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## Ifor (Oct 21, 2006)

The strips I got look to of been made by these people but there site is a bit of a mess and I could not find exactly what I had there when I tried looking. With just the strips on I don't notice the colour, it's only when you mix them with the halogens that the difference stands out and then it's the halogens that look off.

I spent some time looking for slimline led strips or tile type surfaces, I thought there would be more choice but I did not find much. What I was looking for was something really slimline so I could just stick them too the van roof and not bang my head on them too often with the roof down. The ones I have are 10mm high and suitable for outdoor use being totaly incased in a clear plastic. I had expected to be able to find something half that height but failed and most of what I found were at least 30 mm heigh so not suitable for what I wanted.

It was an expensive option but I am very pleased with it now.

Ifor


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## Fatalhud (Mar 3, 2006)

Hi I have replaced 4 of my 10watt halogens with 21 LED units
they are no where near as bright and i would describe the light as a yellow
glow
Also I had to modify the globe fittings to make the led lamps fit
I intend to fit an extra 2 normal lights into the roof so that i can use halogen on hook up and led when not


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## krull (Jul 22, 2006)

Interesting thread. I have been looking for some LED replacements for the halogen downlighters in my Autosleeper. They are similar to the ones mentioned, but smaller, about an inch in diameter. 
Does anyone know what they are?

thanks


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## Fatalhud (Mar 3, 2006)

try here
http://www.leisure-electrics.co.uk/acatalog/12_volt.html


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## krull (Jul 22, 2006)

FATALHUD said:


> try here
> http://www.leisure-electrics.co.uk/acatalog/12_volt.html


Excellent. Thanks


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## 100512 (Aug 13, 2006)

Hmmm,

One lasted a month the other about three months before making a loud bang and frightening the dogs......

The leds were greeat whilst they lasted it seems the voltage reg in them wasnt up to it.

Im on the look out for better ones now.

Dave



davebl said:


> I have two Luxon 3W GU10's here. They have a colour temprature of getting on for 5 to 6K so are cool white so are quite blue. Both are reasnobly matched in terms of colour. The angle of the beam is quite tight and they are a spot rather than a flood type LED, I have the spot version thats 15 degrees there is a flood version too at 50 degrees. They Iluminate about 20 inches over about a 7 foot throw (sorry for the imperial units). Id say thay are an equvilent of about a 25W halogen bulb. I havent had the opertunity to measure the Colour temp and actual LUX yet so sorry for the lack of actual science here. When I do Ill get some photos of the various bulbs too.
> 
> They are certainly a good find and Id happliy use them. I think you have to bear in mind they may be a little blue form some tastes and quite tight in angle of the beam in the spot version, but they are very bright and a well made product.
> 
> ...


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