You are reading a single comment by @NotThamesWater and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
-
Are they on dimmer swithes?
I got rid of all our MR16s and replaced with GU10 LEDs. Needed faffing around with changing wiring a bit, but was easy enough.
Then it was just a matter of matching the right bulbs to the right dimmer switch - they don't all play nicely.
You can buy resistors to wire in, but that's a faff in itself.
Getting very confused trying to settle on what to do about about 35 halogen (MR16 - the ones with two thin pins) downlighters needing changed to LEDs.
I've changed almost all of the bulbs already but several of them started flickering which resulted in my removing them. Weirdly it only seems to happen to about a third of them about a third of the time but i'me fed up with the issue and want it sorted.
Googleresearch tells me that its due to the (magnetic) transformers between the 240v AC mains cables and the 12v fitting , which have a minimum rating of 20w. So a 3-5w LED isn't enough load which causes the transformer to continually cut out and re-start which causes flicker.
Solutions seem to be, replace all of the transformers with suitably rated LED drivers, which involves disconecting wires either side of the transforer and wiring a new one, or replace the whole fittings with ones with pre-wired driver. This might halve the amount of wiring work as i'd only have to disconnect the mains connection and rewire the new one which is attractive when there's so many to do. The price for either of these solutions looks to be similar at around £8 per light. It's a chunk of money either way.
All of which seems like a massive ballache and considerable expense. All i really need is an efficient LED bulb that (somehow?) shows the transformer more than a 20w load? Am I missing anything obvious here? Does such a thing exist?