Currently ACTEW have a deal installing LED bulbs for free, just saw it in the house rules ad break. It will be interesting to see how this goes as we have had nothing but problems with LED downlight bulbs/globes. To the point where we do not replace just the bulbs in downlights, we remove the entire old downlight + transformer and replace with a completely new sealed LED downlight light kit. I will go over the issues we have been having later on.

Interested in bulbs/globes

I had an idea something like this was coming as it was only last year I had a call from ACTEW seeing if I would like to meet up as they were interested in seeing what our business was about. The meeting went well, they were primarily interested in what lights we were using, any problems we have come across, how much the LED lights we use cost and how many lights we could replace in a day.

The LED lights we use didn’t really work for what they wanted as we were using the some of the best LED lights on the market. ACTEW was also only interested in bulbs/globes as the price was much more affordable at around the $2.00 mark. Where as a M-elec LED downlight kit costs anywhere upwards of $40. For us we aim to solve lighting problems, improve the overall lighting installation and complete upgrades are the only way to reach this standard for the long term.

Bulb replacement is the easiest with a gu10 type bulb where the electronics are hidden inside, so not existing transformer compatibility issues (see below image *1). The MR16 bulbs however, need to work with the existing transformer and this is where we have had a lot of compatibility issues. Sometimes dimmers can give you trouble but worst comes to worst you can disconnect the dimmer and the flicker will be gone.

Popular sealed LED downlight kits

The main issues we came across when replacing LED bulbs happened generally when clients had bought their own LED bulbs and just wanted us to install them. They would flicker slightly or flash non stop and this could be fixed generally by installing a OSRAM Redback transformer (Image below *2).

The next issue we would have, was with dimming the bulbs. A lot of cheap $1 LED bulbs do not have the extra electronics needed to dim smoothly. So if a dimmer is on that switch all the lights would flicker or just not turn on. The easiest way to fix this was to disconnect the dimmers.  I don’t recommend this especially when you can get free LED bulbs from ACTEW! but they sell for around $1 on ebay. I just want to confirm, I do not recommend buying lights from ebay.

The new LED bulbs?

The other issue we had, was with a motion sensor not picking up the small load on the circuit and the lights just would not turn on. We ended up not being able to use the bulbs supplied by the clients and just replaced with new complete downlight kits. The new lights were 10 times brighter and in my ‘biased’ opinion were a lot better. They also cost more and unfortunately were not free.

I am planning on getting a few bulbs from ACTEW to do some tests and see what dimmers work best, the brightness and if they work on common transformers. I would still take ACTEW up on the free LED bulb/globe replacement because… well, they are free and see how they go. Then, if you ever feel like you want more light or just want to seal the holes into your roof space we will be here to help:)

If I was organising to get the replacement, two good questions I would ask about the free LED bulb replacement would be –

1. What is the lumen output of the new LED bulbs? Halogen 50W bulbs have a lumen output of around 800 lumens anything under 650 lumens is noticeably dimmer.

2. Are the bulbs dimmable?  This is important as non dimmable bulbs will flicker.

See what they say. If anyone reads this blog and has had the free replacement done I would like to hear how it went send me an email at info@ledsolutionsaustralia.com.au. In the meantime I will try and get my hands on a FREE bulb and do some tests on it and get back to you as soon as possible.

Thanks for reading.

PS. Overall I think this is a great move for ACTEW as it will drastically reduce the bills of many households. I just hope the quality of the bulbs is high as problem lights may tarnish LED lights.  Some manufactures are producing extremely high quality lights, that will last years and years and it’s a shame when I hear people say LED lights are rubbish. If you are in the market do your research, check the manufacturer is a member of the Lighting Council of Australia and you will ensure a quality product.

Kind regards,

Kieran.

LED Solutions.

Canberra

Some LED Downlights we use and are happy to recommend, see below.

Times Have Changed

Gone are the days where you could just duck down to the shops and grab either a B22 or a E27 and the job was done. Now we have warm white, cool white, neutral white and daylight.

What I find even more frustrating is that the names sometimes don’t match up with the colour temperature. Its best not to go off the name and work off the number. 3000K is the colour of a halogen bulb and the higher the number the whiter the colour, 4000K, 5000K, 6000K and 7000K is almost blue.

The colour temperature is important especially at home where we spend a lot of our wind down time. Some smart fellows in a lab have carried out some test and have found that high colour temperature late at night has an effect on our sleep patterns.  The reason is the high colour temperature 6000K and up simulates the sun at midday and this confuses our brain especially at night.

Pretty easy to get around this, install lower light te,pretures in all the areas you hang out in before bed like bedrooms, lounge rooms and everywhere else. I would also recommend 3000K in the dunny, nothing like a flash of 6000K at 2am in the morning to kick start the day. I install 3000K standard in every home unless specified otherwise and even then I recommend a lower colour.

Dimmers as well as low 3000K colour are even better. The later it gets you should start to dim the lights slightly through out the living areas works a charm slowing down the kids ready for bed. If the lights are on 100% and are especially bright they may effect your brain from realising the put me to bed chemicals.  Conclusion – 3000K plus dimmers are the best in my opinion for residential purposes. If you are interested in seeing the different colour temperatures in action I have put together a short video below. Thanks

When a new LED light comes onto the market and it has been approved by The Lighting Council of Australia we will have a look and see if it stacks up with the rest. Its always good to try before you buy, if you have any questions regarding what lights to install or anything LED lighting related feel free to get into contact with us and we will do our best to help you out.

Kind regards,

Kieran.

LED Solutions Canberra