MR16 led lamp

[oldtimer]

Guys I am going to look at a job tomorrow as I put in under cupboard led lights and they worked fine the customer enquired about LED MR16 lamps as I had to repair 4 standard halogen MR16 light due to the fact that he used dichrioc lamps so I recommended he change to either aluminium reflector or LED and advised that he buy a couple from the LED shack to make sure they were ok as he has got 30 lights. Anyway he bought a couple and reports they are not working ? I phoned LED shack and they said it was just a straight swap from halogen to led .

So has anyone had any problems with these ie they only work with certain transformers or should no be mixed with halogen lamps on the same ?

 

[SirKit Breaker]

I would give the manufacturer a call, some of these things need drivers, and the odds are that you were dealing with a numpty on the trade counter, whose only interest is flogging lamps, and they are all the same to him.

I appreciate that not all trade counter staff are numpties.

Cheers..............Howard

 

[telectrix]

better ton rip out the trannies and fit GU10 LEDs.

 

[oldtimer]

I would give the manufacturer a call, some of these things need drivers, and the odds are that you were dealing with a numpty on the trade counter, whose only interest is flogging lamps, and they are all the same to him.

I appreciate that not all trade counter staff are numpties.

Cheers..............Howard

I can understand this when I fitted the under counter lights ie they had to be lined up for polarity yep but these MR16 just have 2 pins which says they are not polarity minded plus it will be a smaller load on the tranny

 

[SirKit Breaker]

I can understand this when I fitted the under counter lights ie they had to be lined up for polarity yep but these MR16 just have 2 pins which says they are not polarity minded plus it will be a smaller load on the tranny

Go with tels suggestion, job sorted.

 

[oldtimer]

Go with tels suggestion, job sorted.

Cant do they were fitted in to a sealed ceiling ie no access plus its lathe and I thought this would cut the heat down and he wanted energy saving

 

[arkin]

most trannies are say 20 to 50 va your led's may be 10watt and if they are cheap trannies they wont run the led's . you can run two or three led's from one trannie and they should work

 

[Richard Burns]

Normally if you have one tx per lamp then arkin is correct the minimum wattage for standard 12V tx is 20W so the tx will never start up.
If you have multiple lamps per tx you may get away with it.
However the manufacturers normally recommend using LED specific tx instead and that the use of standard tx will reduce the life of the lamp.

 

[arkin]

the latest phillips mr16 leds are awesome imo and according to phillips spose to work on any trannie ,but this is not true and they wont work on some of the cheap nasty ones as i have found out

 

[SparktAU]

Better of saving yourself time and ultimately money, going to your local LED store and getting a dedicated LED tranny, even a dimmable one too future proof it.

 

[MarkieSparkie]

Some of the cheaper transformers, particularly those of far eastern origin, require a minimum load. With halogens this is rarely an issue, but the LEDs may not be loading the transformer sufficiently to initiate start-up.

 

[oldtimer]

Better of saving yourself time and ultimately money, going to your local LED store and getting a dedicated LED tranny, even a dimmable one too future proof it.

I am a bit new to this and the under cupboard lights were polarity driven by an led driver so I got that so these MR16 led lamps are set up for 12vac (yes) so what type of tranny should you be using or I take it you can wire 5 4w led lamps to one transformer

 

[La Poste]

Why not ditch the tranny and get 230 Volt LED's.

I'm also new to this to but 230V LED's seem less hassle, if you want them dimmable you can buy dimmable then all you have to do is find a low power dimmer that can work with the mains LED's.

 

[Mark_Burgess]

Could you put a resister in line with the LED to see if this kick starts the tranny?
Would be the cheap solution overall if it worked.

 

[SparktAU]

I have yet to find an old iron core to give me issues with LED's, but i have heard some do, but rare. I would suggest going to 230V also, but i think you have limitations preventing this. I'm now in Au, so not familiar with brands in the UK now, but Osram put a tranny out that is LED compatible, then you have your dedicated LED trannies ( electrical wholesaler will carry these, especially if they stock led flexible strip. Speaking of which, would probly be better then mr16 ( flexible strip ) or even LED rigid strip with the defuser.
The problem as i see it , is the LED lights are something like 350 milliamps and the electronic tranny wont initiate start up like mentioned above, or may just pulse/flicker.

 

[arkin]

I am a bit new to this and the under cupboard lights were polarity driven by an led driver so I got that so these MR16 led lamps are set up for 12vac (yes) so what type of tranny should you be using or I take it you can wire 5 4w led lamps to one transformer

yes you can wire them up to one transformer and they should work provided they are speced for 12vac ,these mr16 led's are designed to be retro fitted without any changes to control gear though as above this does not allways work .they are being fitted in a lot of commercial premises lately with no probs .