Picture for Lighting and Electrical

[woodenwookie]

On the front page of this site for the Lighting and Electrical section there is a picture of a lightbulb. It’s clearly an LED bulb but the reason I’m asking is, is this type of connector something that’s common in Australia? I ask because our house has these bulbs but I cannot find them anywhere including the electrical wholesalers. 

No one even knows what the fitting is called. It’s weird because the branding on the bulb seems to be a New Zealand company but they do t seem to sell those bulbs anymore.

If they are common in Aus can you tell me the type of fitting, and a good retailer that will sell to NZ?

Thanks all

[redracer01]

@woodenwookie 

Must be a first generation push pin type LED bulb. Any chance you can take a photo of the rating on the side ofthe bulb and post? We need to know if you have a 240volt or a 12volt. As long as your taking a photo please include a full shot of the bulb and what it might look like at the front as well.

[woodenwookie]

The current bulbs we have are CFL not LED but I would like to be able to change to LED so bulbs will most likely need to be 240v.

[MikeTNZ]

Hi there, Woodenwookie,

This sort of lamp is called a Dichroic lamp, it's normally used in Halogen lights, which are either 20 or 50 Watts per lamp.

Now, one thing to be careful of, is the fact that some run off mains voltage, whereas others run off of a transformer in the roof space above the fitting that steps the voltage down to 12V.

This type of lamp configuration is called an MR16 and the connector that this lamp plugs into, is known as a GU-5.3 base.

Halogen lighting in NZ is on the way out, mainly because of it's in-efficency and the fact that an LED lamp will give you a lot more light per watt and with next to none of the heat generated by Halogen Dichroics.

I'm an Electrician here in New Zealand, I'm more than willing to advise you on the way ahead, but it will more than likely require a local electrician to replace any transformers in the ceiling, as most LED lamps are 230V.

By all means, let me know if you need further advice.

Cheers,

Mike T.

[woodenwookie]

Thanks for that. I did know about the transformer thing but I have to say I’m not sure they actually have any, at least what I’ve seen.

The bulbs themselves are definitely CFL and I hate them because they take forever to warm up and provide any real light.

I’ll check to see if there are transformers but if not I should be able to plug in LED if I can find the right connector? I always thought it was LED that needed the transformer but then again I’m not an electrician. 😂 My brother in law however is.