Mixing low voltage MR16 Halogen and mains GU10 LED bulbs in a circuit

[yimpster]

Good morning chaps,

I stumbled upon this forum and seems to be a good source of experts. I'm not an electrician so hope i'm not breaking any rules by posting here.

We have a house full of low voltage MR16 halogen bulbs. I wanted to slowly change the ones in my kitchen and hall to LED as the bulbs or transformers died. These are all non dimmable.

I picked up a couple of Luminus GU10 EXTLED Soft white 3.5w at costco yesterday to try. I realise this may not have been the best way round of doing things

I wondered what I need to do to get them installed? I ideally want to mix them into my existing circuits without having to replace them all at once.

Is it just a matter of removing the low voltage transformers from one of the MR16 then changing the connector to suit a GU10?

Am I better getting a different type of bulb?

Thanks for your help/advice in advance.

Adam

 

[telectrix]

Is it just a matter of removing the low voltage transformers from one of the MR16 then changing the connector to suit a GU10?

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that's basically it. whether you change just the lampholder or the whole fitting is up to you. downlight fittings are so cheap now, it may pay you to replace them.​

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[yimpster]

Is it just a matter of removing the low voltage transformers from one of the MR16 then changing the connector to suit a GU10?

​

that's basically it. whether you change just the lampholder or the whole fitting is up to you. downlight fittings are so cheap now, it may pay you to replace them.​

Wow - thanks for the quick response. Do I need to change the fitting too? I thought they would just fit the old one. I haven't unboxed the new bulbs yet as they are in a sealed package.

 

[telectrix]

you don't need to change the fitting. most fittings will accept either the GU10 or MR16 lampholders. what LED lamps have you bought?

 

[yimpster]

you don't need to change the fitting. most fittings will accept either the GU10 or MR16 lampholders. what LED lamps have you bought?

I bought 2 x Luminus GU10 EXTLED Soft white 3.5w at costco. They have an excellent returns policy - so wasn't too worried if i wasnt happy with them.

Do you have a link/image of the kind of adapter i need to join the mains to the bulb?

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[Richard Burns]

You will need something like this a GU10 lampholder with tails

You do not necessarily need the stand off part if you already have them on your down lights and they can take the new tails.
3.5W LEDs will be dimmer than the lamps you have at the moment, if they are cluster lamps then they are going to be very dim.

.
try them and see how they seem.

 

[yimpster]

You will need something like this a GU10 lampholder with tails

You do not necessarily need the stand off part if you already have them on your down lights and they can take the new tails.
3.5W LEDs will be dimmer than the lamps you have at the moment, if they are cluster lamps then they are going to be very dim.

.
try them and see how they seem.

Apologies for the delay I just wanted to thank you guys for your help. I have installed 3 led bulbs so far without any problems. The 3.5w were dimmer than i expected but were fine for where i put them. I installed a 6w auroraglow in my kitchen which was very very good. Just ordered a 7w to see if I can tell the difference.

It was really very easy and glad i didn't go through the expense of getting a pro in to do it for me.