Replacing 50W Halogen GU 5.3 / MR16 with LEDs... unanticipated problem

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Replacing 50W Halogen GU 5.3 / MR16 with LEDs... unanticipated problem

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surfisup1000

5288 posts

Uber Geek

#2319040 17-Sep-2019 10:45

CrashAndBurn:

I just bought some of the Philips MR16 and found out they are not compatible e.g. it flickers the minute you turn it on. Unfortunately I live in an apartment and could not check as to what transformer it currently have. Any recommendation on brand replacement for the 50w 12v halogens.

Why could you not check the transformers? Quite possibly they are not LED compatible, so it doesn't matter what brand of LED you buy.

eg, i just replaced the halogens in my house... i used philips MR16's dimmable LED's. These LED's were incompatible with the halogen transformers so I also replaced the transformers .

You also need to be beware of any dimmers. The dimming control/transformer/and LED light must all be compatible with LED dimming. LED dimming is pretty crap compared to halogen though. I like the way halogens dim to a dull orange glow.

CrashAndBurn

668 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2319061 17-Sep-2019 10:57

^The current light fixture only have enough sized hole and I am not keen of yanking the wire out to see if it would show me the transformer. I don't believe the apartment have any dimmers. I read somewhere that dimmable LED's would be the fix but based on your statement then it seems not to be the case.

aros71

122 posts

Master Geek

#2319063 17-Sep-2019 11:01

Resuscutating an old thread. I did a bit of research on this back at the time, and concluded the only suitable solution was to replace all the transformers. Going back to my original post, the ones in my kitchen were straight old linear transformers, outputting 12vac, which is why they had no problem with the LEDs. The rest of the house had switching power supplies that didn't like the low load imposed by the LEDs.

I ended up replacing them all with LED-compatible transformers. That was a bit of an undertaking.

Now, four years later, the expensive Philips-brand MR16 LEDs are beginning to fail, several have died already. While the cheap ones from the box-load of 50 I got from AliExpress are still going strong.

CrashAndBurn

668 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2319065 17-Sep-2019 11:03

^What brand and spec did you replace the transformer with?

timmmay

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#2319066 17-Sep-2019 11:04

I'm not really very impressed by Philips LEDs. I've had more failures than I'd expect, for a device that should last something like 25,000 hours. I guess the electronics in the bulb are made cheaply.

aros71

122 posts

Master Geek

#2319070 17-Sep-2019 11:09

CrashAndBurn:

^What brand and spec did you replace the transformer with?

Exactly this one from this supplier: https://www.nzlightingltd.co.nz/shop/Transformers+12+volt+Halogen/Electronic+Transformer+0-70W/x_sku/01629.html

CrashAndBurn

668 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2319085 17-Sep-2019 11:38

aros71:

CrashAndBurn:

^What brand and spec did you replace the transformer with?

Exactly this one from this supplier: https://www.nzlightingltd.co.nz/shop/Transformers+12+volt+Halogen/Electronic+Transformer+0-70W/x_sku/01629.html

Thanks. I will try and see if I can yank the cable and access the transformer on my one.

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bfginger

1268 posts

Uber Geek

#2319092 17-Sep-2019 11:43

timmmay:
I'm not really very impressed by Philips LEDs. I've had more failures than I'd expect, for a device that should last something like 25,000 hours. I guess the electronics in the bulb are made cheaply.

Philips isn't a brand I trust. They can make good products but they don't hesitate to outsource and rebadge once margins become thin. Unfortunately their LEDs don't last too much longer than their 240v halogens on a 230v power supply. I got an R63 Philips and it isn't as good as generics.

Panasonic LEDs seem to be better although nothing is as good as the early 30,000-50,000 hour bulbs from back when they cost as much as $50.

neb

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#2319548 18-Sep-2019 06:28

aros71: So I moved to a new house in Jan and instead of the usual screw-in downlights, each room is full of incredibly power-hungry 50W halogens. In some cases, eight in one room!

This offends my inner greeny, and my wallet when it comes time to pay the power bills. This is the 2010s... no electrical device has any business getting that hot unless it's a heater!

So I decided to replace them with LEDs; I bought an experimental pack of four and ran them in the kitchen. The LEDs I bought are 5.5w and to my delight the light they gave was just as strong as the halogens they replaced, and a pleasing colour.

Encouraged, I bought a bunch more (not cheaply either!) and set about replacing them.

Then I hit a problem. The 12v transformers need a suitable load to switch on properly, meaning that some of them work well, while some of them flicker intermittently as the switch mode power supply - which is expecting to power 50w - gets asked to power 5w.

Had the same problem at the Casa de Cowboy, as much as 400W of 50W halogens in one room. It's a pity you've already got the MR16s (unless you can return some of them), because replacing them with LED MR16s is always going to be a kludge. What I did with mine was get recessed LED lights and replace the whole lot with those rather than trying to reuse the sockets for the MR16s. That way you can put in ICF-rated ones - the MR16s will have had a giant gap in the insulation around each one - and do it properly.

Oh, and this being the Casa de Cowboy, they'd put dichroic MR16s into the ceiling sockets...

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