# Forum Home Renovation Lighting  Are LEDs bright enough?

## Melanie B

My husband and I are deciding on lighting for our new home. We don't want CFLs but are concerned LED lighting will not be bright enough after living with halogen for so long. Can anyone recommend a bright LED light? Im particularly interested in having enough light in my kitchen and bathroom.

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## Boeing777

Hi Melanie, 
I tried replacing the halogen downlights with firstly some cheapie LED units off ebay, which were hopeless (they were more blue than white), I moved onto some of the superbright 5w LED ones from bunnings ($30 a bulb or so), they were better but still no match for the halogen. In the end I just changed the kitchen ones to the slightly more energy efficent 20w halogens and swapped out to CFL downlights in the halls/living room- but only use the cool white ones so everything doesn't look yellow. 
Hope thats helpful!

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## applied

Cree brand are one of the best and what we use for energy star compliant jobs but I wouldn't waste the time with led lights in standard downlight fittings they just are too small if your serious you will need to go up to 4" fittings atleast or triple the number of fittings you use.

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## petersemple

From what I looked into, to give approximately the same light output as a 40W halogen, you will need a 9 - 10 W LED.  They are available for standard down light fittings, but are not easy to find or cheap.  You can find them in 240V and 12V globes.  You will also need to make sure that transformers are suitable for LED's as a lot of modern 12v down light transformers apparently won't drive LEDs well. 
Peter

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## Wombat2

We have cree 9watt (3x3) in a fitting same as the 50w halogen downlight. Using 4 in the kitchen and although the cool white is a little stark they are nearly as good as the halogen - certainly all 4 are plenty bright enough - 3 are on one switch and 1 on another - the single is bright enough to see OK but if you are working in the kitchen you need all 4 on. 
We have the 3 off one transformer specially designed for LEDs and all 3 pull less than 10 watts but the single is on the old halogen transformer and pulls 20 watts on its own - all transformer losses. 
We have a warm white one in the dinning area and will get around to adding 3 more warm white on the other circuit in that area - also on the newer efficient electronic transformer.  
They are not cheap to buy and really only suitable for areas that get left on for long periods - I am not going to bother in areas that are turned on for short periods (Bathroom and hall) 
These are they 12V 9W MR16 CREE LED SPOT DOWN LIGHT GLOBE COOL/WHITE (eBay item 250764349433 end time 27-Feb-11 03:38:09 AEDST) : Home

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## Godzilla73

G'day, 
I've had good service from this place Specialised Lighting Solutions 
They have a good range of LED downlight products, quite a few they source themselves. Have you also considered under cabinet LED lights as well, these have improved 100% in performance and ease of installation. They take up very little space and don't have the heat probs of halogen globes.  
Don't forget you have the Warm White/Cool White choice too... :2thumbsup:

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## olfella

Phillips have a new 35w halogen bulb - near same light output (I cannot tell the difference) for a bit less cost.

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## SilentButDeadly

LED lamps are spot lamps....just like those stupid halogen spot lamps. In other words they are work lamps. They are not (yet) suitable for general lighting unless you are prepared to spend big money on commercial luminaires (light fittings). 
Personally, I'd be more than happy to use the new generation of LED lamps but I would spend some money engaging a lighting designer to make sure that my new build ended up with a lighting setup that did it justice without excessive light, energy use or disappointments rather than risk it with my own limited knowledge.

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## sundancewfs

:Iagree: 
LED's are very bright, but very directional, very.

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## sparkie12

Cheap leds will not match the light output of halogen and will have an increased chance of overheating/malfunctioning. Brightgreen is the only LED company I know that makes reliable LEDs that matches a 50W halogen in brightness. There products are guaranteed for 5 years and will last up to 30 years, basically you won't have to change them once they are installed.  
Their website is www.brightgreen.net.au 
Goodluck

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## Melanie B

Thanks, you're the second person to inform me about Brightgreen's lights, I'll have a look at their website now.

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## Black Cat

Not sure what brand mine are, but the tips i was given was to ensure you have a good radius of beam. Mine are 60 degree. I did have 20 degree ones but they were too focussed. I use them for task-ligting over the kitchen benches with great results.

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## Smurf

> LED lamps are spot lamps....just like those stupid halogen spot lamps. In other words they are work lamps. They are not (yet) suitable for general lighting unless you are prepared to spend big money on commercial luminaires (light fittings).

  Strongly agreed. Unless you have very high ceilings (unusual in a residential situation) then there is no way I'd recommend using any form of downlights unless you only want to highlight a specific area or object.Otherwise, to get an evenly lit room you'll end up with a lot of downlights and a resultant lighting intensity that's more than enough for an old fashioned drawing office (you know, with old fashioned drawing boards not computers). 
Many people end up with 300, 500 or even 600 watts of these halogen downlights in one room. And yet nobody would install 6 x 100 watt bulbs in the same room.

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