A lecture on LED’s following some peoples ideas that they prefer the old wasteful lamps.
GU10 downlights were the worst electric lamp ever made, people removed a single 60 or 100w lamp from the middle of their rooms to replace them with usually 6 50w downlighters which still produced poor illumination. Some apparently use spotlights to try and light larger spaces, clue in the title (Spot)
Buying an LED version of these already useless lamps compounds the problem as all components are overheating in such a tiny space. Lets not condemn a technology through a lack of understanding though. Originally LED’s came with an A rating but some of you may see them with an F or G rating as these are old technology with a max performance of 100 lumens per watt of electricity. Newer versions with A rating must now be judged on 200 lumens per watt. Thus twice the light output of the old versions. There are some great lamps but not in the dichronic GU10 format, we have moved on to a more even spread of light and much more energy efficient. We have various kelvin temeratures 2700 yellow through 4000 and 5000 daylight lamps. Also old LED’s struggled to get to 80% CRI (colour rendition index) daylight being 100% many cheap offerings just lied and could be 60-70 CRI. Today we have up to 97 CRI lamps quite commonly available and these produce a high quality of light suitable for museums and art galleries. Add to this the RGB tunable and bluetooth dimmable lamps and there is control and scene programming capabilities like never before. The lamps I have purchased are only 12-14 watt LED’s replacing 80 watt halogens with longer life (10y) and far better quality of light with less UV or heat to catch fire.
Lecture over.
Nice write-up. We’re just in the process of buying somewhere and I’d be interested if you have any suppliers you would recommend. Cheers.
You seem to be ‘on one’ today - is everything OK?
Haha no not really, just not enough time to reply the other day when you tried defending poor lighting. Relaxing today I thought I would type a little lecture rant 
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Sadly lost a good friend yesterday just before the new year. Lovely lady, lots if fun but she had diabetes, heart trouble (naturally linked to her T2) been in hospital a week ago for some surgery and departed us too soon.
Although I hate to say it the Philips latest range are very good and one of the Co’s pushing the 200 lumes per watt.
And an endorsement for me about getting leds with a high Colour Rendition Indeed - CRI. Whatever colour temp you choose - daylight, tungsten or something in between - a high CRI means that the light is much easier to live with, much easier on your eyes, and colours will appear much more natural.
As s bonus high CRI bulbs tend to be well-made and use high quality components. And yes, they will be more expensive.
I can understand the anger.
I’m so sorry for your loss, and such a sad time to go.
Obviously, my “like” means that I do understand and commiserate… not actually “liking”.
Thanks everyone and excuse my rant please.
No need. In situations like this ranting is very appropriate. So sorry to hear your news.
Sorry to hear that. If getting ranty helps then go ahead.
The mind boggles. 
Thinks to self — So how do you turn on the light when you can’t find your smartphone in the dark ? 
I think I’ll stick with the switch on the wall, which, funnily enough, I have to pass right by when I walk into the room anyway.
In a more serious vein, I can see the advantage of remote controlled lights for the disabled, but for those of us still fortunate enough to be able to operate a good old fashioned switch on the wall, isn’t the bluetooth connected lightbulb a little bit of a gimmick.
Otherwise one option is to use Alexa (or MyCroft if you care about privacy) to control your lighting via voice commands.
Or pick up a dirt cheap PIR sensor and connect it to an equally dirt cheap Arduino that connects to Home Assistant to automatically control your lighting when someone gets up in the middle of the night.
Not at all, I still have the wall switch. I have the mesh wifi also and the app on the phone so allowing tuning of colour, brilliance and scene setting (certain lamps off or at different levels to the other ones) easier than using DMX or Dali controls for individual lights or 6 seperate wall switches/dimmers.
Is that the latest politically correct term for one’s spouse / partner / co-habitee ?
Let us not forget that everything has a carbon footprint, so perhaps we should be asking ourselves the question as to whether or not we really need this new fangled stuff that mostly serves to increase the gross domestic product of China.
As for getting up in the middle of the night, whatever happened to the traditional bedside lamp ?
Suppose you are right if you keep the traditional potty under the bed on your side.
I gave my husband a little torch so he wouldn’t need to wake up both dogs and me. Not much help because he still bangs into everything
