A while back I wrote an article about Halogen vs. LED bulbs, based on my thoughts surrounding replacing some of my own lights. Well, last week I finally bit the bullet, and I must say, I’m very impressed.
Two of the halogen bulbs above my hob had blown (again), and faced with the prospect of paying through the nose for another set from T*SCO, I went online to LightingMarket.co.uk and bought two G4 fitting LED ‘bulbs’.
Each ‘bulb’ is actually a round piece of circuit board with 12 LEDs soldered onto it. When inserted into the fitting above the hob, all 12 of the LEDs light up instantly, and the light is just as bright as the original halogen bulb. However, the LEDs use a fraction of the power of the halogen (0.8 Watts), and the lifetime is expected to be 50,000 hours.
The LED ‘bulb’ is somewhat bigger than a halogen bulb, but still fits into the holder – but only just! Luckily, it’s possible to trim the pins down so that the ‘bulb’ slides further back into the fitting, which for me was just enough. Once the glass ‘cap’ is fitted back on top of the LED ‘bulb’, you really can’t tell that it’s not a haolgen bulb – it’s just as bright.
So I’ve been converted to the way of LED bulbs. I’m going to replace all of the halogens around my house with their LED equivalents, and I look forward to saving energy and money over the coming years!
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