MR16 replacement not working

[Anna86]

Hello,

I am simply trying to replace an MR16 LED spotlight that has stopped working. However when I put the bulb in and turn on the light it simply flashes and turns off and won't turn on. Is anybody able to help me with why this might be happening?
The old bulb has the following: Sainsburys MR16 35W 4271M2700
The new bulb is a shine hai, M615 LED spotlight, 5.5 watts MR16 GU 5.3 4000K
Many thanks and kindest,

 

[kingeri]

MR16s use a tranformer to step the voltage down to 12v, and they usually need a minimum load on them to function. Your new lamp is an LED, hence is drawing far less than the old one, probably below the minimum the transformer needs to operate. In short, you either need to buy a different lamp, such as a 35w, or have the tranformer changed. If you want to go LED, my advice would be to have the whole light fitting(s) changed to 230v ones, thus removing the need for transformers completely.

 

[Wilko]

Hi and Welcome to the Forum.
Sorry you are having trouble with the new led lights. What King said . Also, those led ones are non dimmable.

 

[Octopus]

Also the ones you have bought will be a "whiter" white than the halogen you had.

Put the halogens back and they will work perfectly... then take the lights back to sainsburys if the packaging didn't warn you that you may need to change the transformers too!

 

[Ratchete]

MR16s use a tranformer to step the voltage down to 12v, and they usually need a minimum load on them to function. Your new lamp is an LED, hence is drawing far less than the old one, probably below the minimum the transformer needs to operate. In short, you either need to buy a different lamp, such as a 35w, or have the tranformer changed. If you want to go LED, my advice would be to have the whole light fitting(s) changed to 230v ones, thus removing the need for transformers completely.

Old thread I know but due to the current hike in electricity prices I have the same problem as Anna 86 when in the interests of saving money I replaced my halogen 20 watts with led's. I did vaguely remember that there was a maximum wattage for the transformer and deduced that there was probably a minimum. I have an Ikea suspension wire light system and had in the past increased the number of light fittings on the wires and reduced the wattage of each bulb from 50W to 20W to keep within the maximum wattage rating of the transformer. Might another solution be to further increase the number of light fittings on the suspension wires until the led bulbs work. This might be counter productive in the pursuit of saving money as each fitting costs around £20 and I might need a good number. Apart from incrementally increasing the number of fittings until the lights stay on and in the absence of the data sheet/instructions is there a way of working out the minimum load required for the lights to work?

 

[Aaron b]

Deleted, suggestion wasn't appropriate...

 

[SJD]

Change the transformer to an LED driver appropriate to the loading.

And since this is a suspension wire system, don't of course try fitting mains voltage GU10 lamps!

 

[Aaron b]

Change the transformer to an LED driver appropriate to the loading.

And since this is a suspension wire system, don't of course try fitting mains voltage GU10 lamps!

Sorry I clearly didn't read that properly, I was thinking of a bar type fitting...

 

[Ratchete]

Sorry I clearly didn't read that properly, I was thinking of a bar type fitting...

Sorry I clearly didn't read that properly, I was thinking of a bar type fitting...

Thanks for the suggestion but when I have the time (we're harvesting) I will be putting back the halogen MR16's for the short term until I decide whether to attempt modification or replace the whole bloomin thing; Ikea no longer sell this system so sourcing matching replacement fittings for the ones I have broken is problematic. Till then that room will be in the dark.

 

[davesparks]

Thanks for the suggestion but when I have the time (we're harvesting) I will be putting back the halogen MR16's for the short term until I decide whether to attempt modification or replace the whole bloomin thing; Ikea no longer sell this system so sourcing matching replacement fittings for the ones I have broken is problematic. Till then that room will be in the dark.

Try fitting just 1 halogen MR16 and put LEDs in the rest, you may find it works and if it does then you will be saving some energy costs over all of them being halogen.

 

[Ratchete]

Try fitting just 1 halogen MR16 and put LEDs in the rest, you may find it works and if it does then you will be saving some energy costs over all of them being halogen.

Great idea, that sounds logical. Not worried about differences in colour (K) as can put the odd one out in the 'office' (I use that word advisedly it's more like a tip) side of the room where it will look like a deliberate attempt to differentiate the uses of the room.

 

[Winchy1987]

Great idea, that sounds logical. Not worried about differences in colour (K) as can put the odd one out in the 'office' (I use that word advisedly it's more like a tip) side of the room where it will look like a deliberate attempt to differentiate the uses of the room.

Try fitting just 1 halogen MR16 and put LEDs in the rest, you may find it works and if it does then you will be saving some energy costs over all of them being halogen.

I've got an MR16 12v fitting (shower light and extractor fan combined), and it has a 3w LED Ice White lamp which works ok, but we want a Warm White lamp. I've tracked down a 3w LED Warm White lamp from Homebase (good on them!), but after fitting the Warm White lamp I get the flashing on/off/on/off, just like I had when I mistakenly used a 4.4w MR16. The Ice White works ok! Any answers please? Thanks. Colin

 

[DPG]

Sounds like the 12V driver (aka transformer) doesn't like the low wattage of the LED lamp. The other lamp may just have been enough for it. Probably need to replace the driver for one suitable for LED lamps.

 

[Ratchete]

Sounds like the 12V driver (aka transformer) doesn't like the low wattage of the LED lamp. The other lamp may just have been enough for it. Probably need to replace the driver for one suitable for LED lamps.

I know it's a while but I kept a couple of halogens in the office portion of the room that are a different colour but that's OK, the living/dining part of the room has led's; it's been working just fine ever since. Thanks to everyone.