MR16 LOW VOLTAGE LED BULBS

"Are they the same type as the standard halogen dichroic bulb that you buy from Woolies?"

Yes - the standard versions of the MR16 are a direct replacement for the bulb that you buy from Woolies although there are some issues that are addressed below.

"Can I use 240v AC/12v AC transformers with these bulbs?"

LED bulbs are DC driven - this means that the LEDs themselves run on DC power only - so if LED bulbs are used in a 240v situation where there are long cable runs you would have to use a 240v AC/12v AC transformer.
Some LED bulbs simply won't run on 12v AC (like the new 3w units), although we do stock bulbs that carry a 12v AC/DC tag it's been our experience that they simply don't like being run on AC.
The new lineup of 3w MR16 single high power diodes are 12v DC only for example.
The conventional LED bulbs that we stock have small bridge rectifiers inside (this converts the 12v AC power to DC) - even though they have these recifiers we've experienced problems with conventional bulbs being overdriven when using transformers.
We suggest installing small bridge rectifiers at the bulb itself when using 12v AC power on long cable runs.
The main design use of the LED MR16 is for battery conscious and power budget low voltage sites using 12v DC power - although they can be used in domestic situations there are costs involved with installing power supplies, bridge rectifiers etc
There are some saving factors however - LED bulbs use next to no power - in certain situations you may be able to use 240v AC/12v DC power supplies if the cable runs aren't too long and the current draw isn't that great.
Your electrician should be able to calculate voltage drop in wiring based on current draw, cable size and length.
Keep in mind that the new 3w MR16 units are 8~15v DC - this gives greater ability to withstand voltage drop anyway.

"How bright are your new 8~15v DC 3w 10 degree and 60 degree units?"

The 10 degree spotlight when measured directly in front will rival a 40w halogen - we must qualify that by saying it will rapidly fade after that narrow spot beam - it's a spotlight - much like a torch.
The 60 degree units will altogether rival a 20w halogen - we settled on a multi-optic glass lens to diffuse the light out to a 60 degree angle.

"What is the difference between the 5500k and 3000k color range?"

The 5500k colour is about as close to daylight as we can get - daylight being about 5800k - anything after that and you start getting that blue tinge.
Most of the early white LED lights had that blue tinge because they actually were a blue LED with some doping phosphors added - as they aged they got more blue because it was the doping phosphors breaking down not the blue chip itself.
The 3000k has a soft ambient amber/amber vibe to it and is very much the same as your halogen amber light.

"Can you dim MR16 LED bulbs?"

The reported safest way of dimming LED bulbs is using pulse modulators - these devices keep the voltage stable whist switching the current on and off millions of times per second.
You can adjust the pulse rate - this creates a dimming effect and causes no lasting problems for the LED bulb.
They don't like voltage driven dimmers or touch lamps either - seems that the touch lamps send a spike into the LED lights and fry them fairly quick.

Why don't you sell LED deck lights?

With regard to recessed deck lights there are several types available these days but we highly recommend that if you are going to use a recess on deck light then you would need the type that has a replaceable bulb.
We've seen many LED deck lights that are one unit, the LEDs are actually sealed inside the fitting.
We don't like this type of idea because our experience has been that LEDs fail sometimes and often when LED bulbs fail only a couple of LEDs will actually stop working but this doesn't look very good and renders the bulb defective.
We've seen this many times and we see an even more so where there aren't enough quality controls over the production of the LEDs.
The company putting together the fitting will obtain their LEDs from any particular area.
We sell LED bulbs that have passed all the regulation standards and we highly recommend that if you are going to get any LED lights in the future make sure that the fitting can take a replaceable bulb.
The most common type of replaceable fittings are MR 16, these are the common recess downlights that you see in houses and garden fittings.

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MR16 -18 LED white & colour changing

"How do the color changing units operate?"

These color changing LED MR16 bulbs go through a cycle which actually combines the primary colours by fading in and out - so if you look at the bulb from behind a white shade you'll see purples, light blues in all the different combinations.
The whole cycle takes about 30 seconds to go through and at one stage it goes white for a second or two when all primary colorus come on.

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MR16 - 36 LED warm white

 

 

 

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MR16 - High power 3 Watt

We are introducing new 3w MR16 versions with the new 20 degree 5500k (daylight white) units followed by the much anticipated wide angle 3w GU10 (240v AC) and 3w MR16.

These new wide angle units are the culmination of almost 2 years of experience with LED.

Firstly they'll have an 8~15v DC operating range - this is very critical due to the fact that ordinary (In gen) type LED bulbs are sensitive to variations in voltage, when a battery is run down to say 11.3v there is resistance incurred by the bulb trying to pull the right amount of voltage into itself while the "tank" is running down further.
Heat is generated by this process and usually shortens the life of the bulb considerably.

We worked on the lens and settled on a refracting glass lens, LEDs are forward directional in light output, ordinary reflectors tended to show an irregular light spread and glass lenses gave 100% results.

Our exhaustive testing of the wide angle 60 degree units has shown that to achieve a realistic consistent level of light at 60 degrees we must have a glass diffused lens on them.
This has shown perfect results and we therefore will standardize on the glass reflector lens on all subsequent wide angle units.

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We've been producing the 3 W diodes now for two years, currently we use the Luxeonics diodes in all our bulbs with considerable success.
We've found the Luxeonics units to be extremely reliable in conjunction with the constant current drivers now used.
We will however be using the Cree 3 W diodes in the MR 16 3 W 50° cool white units next production run and will be available late July.
Cree claim their new 3 W diode called the XR-E to be brighter and more reliable than any Luxeonics units which we find to be quite some claim.
In any case, in our endeavor to have the best available we will have both Luxeonics and Cree 3 W units available until we make a decision which way to go.

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"I've installed 12V downlights in my outdoor patio area and I've found that due to heat from the downlights I'm heating the timber frame. I've heard that next to no heat will radiate from the LED replacement globes, is this correct?"

The new diodes we run these days produce some warmth, nothing like the halogen type units. You can hold the 3w diodes in your hand easily.

"Can I expect to get the same brightness and quality of light from these replacements as in the past I have noticed that the LED light tended to have a bluish tinge to it and be quite dull."

With the new 3w single diodes - we have a choice of warm or cool white - the warm white have a halogen colour to them. You can expect these diodes to be significantly brighter than anything previously seen in LED - they will rival the output and far exceed the lifetime of a 20w halogen

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MR16 3 watt bike light 10 degree

 

 

 

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MR16 K2 5 Watt LUXEON 12 v

 

 

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MR11 1- 3 watt

What's about that label '1-3 Watt' for the MR11 light?

Sometimes with electronics it's damned if you do and damned if you don't !
When we first introduced the MR11 unit we stated the unit as being a 1w diode and quoted the lumens figures accordingly.
But when customers put them on a meter the bulb was consuming nearly 3 W (actually about 2.7 W) because of the electronics involved so we actually called the unit an MR16 or MR11 3w unit because that is what it actually consumes.
We then left it up to the customer if they were satisfied with the light output at 3w consumption.

So sorry that looks like it's deceptive it's really not, it's in the customer's favour more so than ours.
The lumens figures we quote for 3 Watt total consumption of the bulb more so than many rated wattage consumption of the diode without the electronics.

The speaker placed on the back of the bulb and the labelling on the box represents the wattage consumption of the diode and is in a sense the model number of the diode, not the actual consumption of the bulb.
What I think we will do is amend the descriptions on the MR11 Cree and Nichia 3w diodes to have mention of the 1w model.

 

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MR11 SMT

 

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MR16 sockets
fits readily MR16 bulbs

 

 

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LED Light bar 650mm , 300mm and 600 mm

Lightbar update:.
Our new 650mm lightbar uses elliptical LEDs.
These are wide angle LEDs and will distribute the light on a wider arc and is therefore more suited as a desk/work light.

the overall length is actually 700 mm - there's the end caps to count in.

Following on from the successful trial of the 1200mm light bar we've produced a 650mm version.
We originally produced the light bar in a 1200mm length but found that they were getting far too damaged in the mail system at that length.
We couldn't find tubes to fit and it became uneconomical to send them.

The longest and sturdiest mailing tubes we could find were 720 mm - so we standardised on that length.

"Can I use this lightbar outdoors?"

You'll need to do two things:

Put a shroud over it to protect it from sunlight.
The plastic is a hardened acrylic and was designed originally for our car kits.
They're fairly impact resistant and will take a fair knock but they will need to be permanently shaded from the sun.

For wet or very humid conditions, sealing of the lightbar is essential.
Our trials have shown that moisture will appear inside the bar if not sealed in dry conditions.
Pick a dry day and put some silicone just around the end joins.
The wire assembly is waterproof but those tube ends need sealing for use in watery conditions.

"DO they come in any other size apart from 700mm, and can i connect them to a battery pack, if so how many batteries would i need and what type."


We're also working on a 300mm version using our 3 Chip Flux LEDs due February 07.
Our 1200mm version now using elliptical LEDs will be due for release in February 07.

These units operate at roughly 3w per bar - that's .25A at 12v or 250mA
For one lightbar running 6 hours a night with a daily recharge and 30% discharge?
6 (hrs) x .25 (Amps) = 1.5Ah at 12v DC
1.5 (Amp/hours) divided by .30 (the amount of battery you wish to discharge) = 5Ah battery.

The 8~15v DC operating range is great for those folk who regularly run their solar battery down to near flat.
This light will operate without dimming whilst the rest of your lights go down to candle brightness.
It gives you the time to go start your generator.....

"How does the 300mm 4 x 1w version compare with the 650mm light bar in light output?"
We've been producing the 36 LED 650mm light bar for nearly two years in its various forms and the last update to wide angle elliptical LED was in late 2006.
The 650mm lightbar spreads its light directly on the table and leaves a pleasant ambient light to the rest of the area.
The Cool White 300mm light bars are very similar in output and colour to a 600mm fluorescent tube.
We'd place the Cool White 300mm light bar about 30% brighter in total than the 36 LED 650mm light bar.
For remote homes RV's etc we'd recommend them for kitchen and bathroom areas.
The light completely spreads out so that there aren't any defined areas brighter than others.
As a camp light you'd want this to be a central light whereas the 650mm version should be placed over a table or desk.
The Warm White 300mm lightbar gives a very pleasant warm light and is best suited to the bedrooms and lounge areas and has a definate amber halogen tone.
It would be on a par woith the 36 LED 650mm light bar in total light output, keeping in mind the two white colours and viewing angles (the direction the light gets thrown) arent quite the same.
Any other questions please email us...

 

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LED light dome

How do I attach the Light dome ?

The mounting screws are situated around the outside of the dome light so it can be easily screwed to a flat surface from above.
The cover of the unit is screwed to the base so that the screw goes through both cover and base to give a more secure connection.

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240v AC-12v DC power supply

The new switching adaptor (lso called transformer, or power supply) works in a input voltage range from 100 to 240 volt - thus is suited for the US market too

"How many LED light can i run from one transformer?"

The transformer is capable of delivering 60 watts - but it is recommended to use 45 watts for continious usage

Depending which of our LED light you are using:

MR16 - 18 LED lightbulb uses 1.6 watts = You can use 28 of these
MR16 -38 LED lightbulb uses 3 watts = You can use 15 of these
MR16 - 3 watt LUXEON lightbulb uses 3 watts = You can use 15 of these
36 LED lightbar uses 4 watts = You can use 11 of these

"What is the maximum cable run distance from switching adaptor to lightbar with the normal cable?"

At approx 10 meters -
some of our gear runs on 8-15 volts (LED lightbar, BA15 3 chip FLUX, 3 watt MR16) so they will even go further - approx 15 mtr.
We had customer feedback of 50 metres and still bright light with our 8-15 Volt range products.

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240v AC-12v AC transformer

 

 

 

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LED mood candles (single white candle with AA batteries!)

The ON/OFF switch is on the bottom of the candle - so is the battery compartmet latch.

These LED candles look like real candles and when lit up only the 'wick' flickers - the body of the candle stays unlit.( like a real candle..)
The candles go inside the silicon holders and the wick lights up and shines through.
Do not pull off the white cap - that is the 'wick'!!

"Does the candle come out of the glass for battery replacement?"
Yes - but it won't be neccessary - the battery compartment is at the base of the candle and the ON / OFF switch too