Hi all,
My wife wants me to convert all the pot-lights in the house from halogen to LED. The problem is finding the right size to fit in the pot-light housing.
The dimmable bulb is a screw type PAR-16 or MR-16. It has a clip in the housing so the dimension is restricted to 2” diameter x 1” with and overall length of 2.25”.
Any suggestion where to buy at a budget cost?
Thanks in advance.
Does anyone know if these are dimmable? It is a 85 to 265 volt unit but I don’t know if these will be dimmable.
Help anyone!!!
The input voltage has nothing to do with the ability do proper dimming. Some of the standard bulbs work with the same brightness if dimmed and then abruptly get to total darkness.
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Now which socket do you need?
Mr16 is just 12V
The screw sockets are 110/240V
You also have to watch out because some higher wattage bulbs are longer, this could be an issue in some applications.
If you need some mr16 I have found a nice selection on banggood which says it is dimmable.
I have some GU10 bulbs bought locally(over 10$ per bulb)which are dimmable but they tend to flicker with low load so I used 2 LED bulbs and one halogen in each lamp(3 spots each lamp) that gives a nice colour temperature no flicker and still saves more than half the power. So I have started to have an eye on the Chinese bulbs…
This 9W dimmable Gu10
looks good and costs just a fraction of what I paid for it…
And even cheaper in a ten pack 10xGU10 3*3W dimmable
For standard e27 pear shaped bulbs, I have some osram and some from ikea, both types dimmable.
The ikea ones are cheap and have a very nice colour temperature, I recommend them. The osram one is a 12W type and has a more neutral light and is too bright for a 40W replacement. I will probably use them outside.
So if you need some of these e27 I would recommend to just try some ikea bulbs if you have an ikea locally.
Thanks Werner, great information. I am replacing PAR 16 bulbs with E27 connectors. I think I will go with the 9W with warm white. This should be equal to a 150W incadescent bulb…i think.
I will check Ikea.
Why do you use adapters? I don’t see the advantages.
I guess I could use adapters but it would add the cost to converting to LED. The cost of the adapter will be 1/2 of the cost of the bulbs and the bulb will stick out of the recess housing.
Ah now I have understand you…
I was confused of the “par16” thing, I thought it was a synonym for GU10 and wondered why someone would use an adapter…
Now I have googled par16 and learned something new like always here…
The brightest PAR16 bulbs are Sylvania 10 watt bulbs… around 450 lumens… equal to a 40-50 watt halogen.
See my thread: My adventures in LED home lighting
Also, the dimensions that you posted are totally unreasonable. A PAR16 bulb is at least 3 inches long (with a 1.75” envelope).
Hmmm, I have been doing some research on the equivalent and some of the Chinese website says 9W is roughly equal to 150W incadescent. I guess they are blowing up the numbers.
The PAR16 I taken from the fixture measures 2” diameter and 2.25” long from base to tip of the E27 connector.
A good rule of thumb is an incandescent bulb puts out 10 (usable) lumens per watt. A typical LED bulb puts out around 50-60 lumens.watt. The largest PAR16 incandescent is 40 watts. The brightest PAR16 LED bulb is the 10 watt/450 lumen Sylvania bulb… it is 3.5” long.
I do have available (for cheap) a bunch of 6 watt PAR16 bulbs that put out around 200 lumens. They are 60 degree beam width, 3000K, dimable 120V bulbs. They are 2 15/16” long. They were the best bulbs out there before the Sylvanias came out (Sylvania’s original price was $239 each!!!, They’ve sive come down to around $40 each)