Please help: Halogen MR16 conversion to LED

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

Hi guys,
We recently bought a beautiful house and would like to convert all the halogen low voltage MR 16s with rusted/yellowed waffle trims - to LED lighting with new trims.
I"m a total newbie when it comes to lighting. I see many retrofit kits for edison base type bulbs, but not for MR16 bulbs. My understanding is to buy bulb and trim separately. I did some research and see that CREE 90+CRI MR16 LED bulb gets good reviews. It's not sold at big box stores, cheapest I found it is for $21.
How do I go about buying trim that looks good but does not cost an arm and a leg? ones I like cost $20+. That makes it a $41+ conversion per light! Is there a better way to go about it? For upstairs, I had flourescent bulbs, so it was easy and cost effective to convert? just got a retrofit kit from Cree....for $14 on sale at Home Depot. But downstairs, with these MR 16 bulbs, it seems so costly. Is there a better, cheaper method to convert?

THANK YOU in advance!

Featured Answer

homepro01

8 years ago

MR16s are expensive. The good ones with different angles, better CRI rendering over 85 and 2700k or 3000K with trims to change the angle and color of the lights are even more expensive. SORAA is a well liked brand for MR16 but can run anywhere from $25 to $40 a bulb. MR16s really do cost more. I assume you are looking for GU10 bases? I purchased some cheaper MR16 but the SORAA blows them away in terms of intensity and color rendering. These were Phillip MR16 and did not provide the light coverage that I needed. I use the MR16 for my exteriors lights. I have 8 recessed lights in my master bedroom that I will convert to the SORAA later this summer.

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Comments (13)

A U
Original Author
8 years ago
Hi, Yes, I did research and see that Cree and Soraa make great bulbs, but what about the trims? Trims run $17+. Is there a less cost prohibitive way to convert without paying $25-30 for a bulb and another $17-25 for trim? thank you
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Are xenon 35w MR 16's interchangeable with Halogens in track?
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LEDs don't have the same amount of light. If you need light, you should stay with the bulbs that you have. I realize that most of the time you will need the light. However, there are times when you can dim them down. This not only helps to cool off the area, but also extends the life of the bulb. LEDs are not the answer as they will not give you anywhere near the light that you now have. Not knowing the track system that you have makes it difficult to make recommendations. However, if your bulbs have a black or really silver back that pushes the light out of the front of the bulb, you can probably change to a different type of MR16 that will lessen (not much) the amount of heat being felt. If this track system was not a set (bought completely together in a package), you can check on different heads that use different type of halogen lamps. Let us know what you have and maybe we can be of some assistance to you on that. I hope this helps -- a little anyway.
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You might want to consider LED lamps. While the lamps themselves are more expensive than halogen lamps, they use about 1/6th the amount of power, last many times longer, and current ones are quite bright. The photo below is one I took comparing a 50 watt Sylvania halogen (left side) to a Philips 10 watt LED lamp (right side). The LED beats the halogen in a number of ways. I must note though that the halogen lamp probably had 1-2k hours on it, so was probably not as bright as a new one. I bought the Philips at Home Depot. At the time, they were rated at 435 lumens. Current ones are rated at 500 lumens, so are even brighter. If I were looking today, I would also consider the new Cree LM16. But they are a bit pricier than the Philips lamps. Here is a link that might be useful:
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Mdod, you may be referring to my post. What wattage are the MR16s in your cabinet? The Philips 10 watt AmbientLED MR16s at Home Depot, which are rated at 435 lumens, are a fine replacement for 50 watt halogens - at least in my application. (Wall washers. I now have six of them, with two lower priority ones to go.) Their color temp is a bit 'whiter' than the halogens and they don't dim as low. Philips actually offers both warmer and cooler color temps under their EnduraLED line. But they need to be purchased from a lighting store. It is interesting to me that the AmbientLED 3000k MR16 is rated at 435 lumens, while the seemingly identical (both have the little built-in fans) EnduraLED 3000k is rated at 485 lumens. Guess they must do some 'binning', and sell the lower bin ones to Home Depot under the AmbientLED name. There are a number of other LED MR16s around. Most draw in the neighborhood of 3-4 watts, but have much lower light output (130-200 lumens). Cost wise, they are all in the $20-35 range. The above 10 watt Philips is $25.
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Well, magnetic doesn't really have a bearing on this as far as I know. The only issue is not all transformers are created equal. I know guys who really enjoy designing and winding their own transformers. I prefer to buy mine ready made for the application (I like to build tube amps). but it does mean you are dealing with low volt AC and not DC. So the LED has to deal with the AC/DC conversion. I could also suffer from just cheaply made LEDs with my range hood. That said, getting back to a previous point, I wouldn't disconnect the transformers and run all the lights off of one. Magnetic transformers like to be close to the target, so you have line length limitations. And kind of in general, unless I plan on going back to rewire everything, I am not a big fan of modifying household electrical equipment. If you forget and sell the house, chances are someone will have to go back and back trace your handy work. Yeah, a safety issue. I'm not a recessed lighting fan, so I don't keep up with the gear, but I know there are companies that sell retrofit replacements and systems. I don't imagine there would be any drywall ripping needed (though, having ripped out drywall myself, still an easy fix). But I would only look at that if I needed/wanted dimming. You need electronic dimming, not electrical dimming. Maybe someone else can chime in on that. Joe
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homepro01
8 years ago
Not that I am aware of. Are you dealing with track lighting or recessed lights from Jesco? Trims for my recessed units start around $20/each if I needed to replace them. You are looking at $50/fixture minimum. How many do you need to convert?

Good luck!
A U
Original Author
8 years ago
I need to convert almost 70. Unfortunately. Is there a trim you recommend? I'm confused between gimbal choices.
A U
Original Author
8 years ago
I also don't understand why this metalic piece costs so much. Shouldn't be more than $10
homepro01
8 years ago
The trims are unfortunately manufacturer specific do you have a retailer for Jescolites? With such a large order maybe they can give you bulk pricing my recessed lights are by Contrast lighting. They run anywhere from $12 to $50 depending on the trim style and color
A U
Original Author
8 years ago
I had no idea that I had to buy the same brands trim as my lighting housing, Jesco. That narrowed things down! I will call some places on Monday to see what bulk prices I can get. thank you!
A U
Original Author
8 years ago
I got a great deal on the Jesco gimbal trim specified for my housing. $11. All others were offering it for $13-14. Now I need to buy led bulbs. Though I was at first considering CREE TrueWhite MR 16, per your recommendation, I looked into Soraa MR16. So I have a few questions:
1) Soraa makes a 7.5W (50w replacement) and a 9w (60W) replacement. My housing specifies 12v 50W bulbs only. But since LED is only 9w, is it ok for me to get the 9w one (60W replacement)?? THanks so much!

2) I'm figuring for normal use (not spot lighting), I shoould be getting the 36beam, not the 25 beam angle. Am I right?

3) Should I get a 2700k or 3000k for normal household? Thanks!!!
homepro01
8 years ago
Alinka,

great you got a deal on the trims. I would get the 60w LEDs. You can never have too much light. You can always dim the lights if they are too bright. Consider ordering a few bulbs to try first.

I struggled with the beam spread too. How tall are your ceilings? If you have tall ceilings, use the narrow beam spread. I like the 2700 for normal house hold use but the 3000 I used outside.

Consider ordering a few bulbs to try first. I ordered a few bulbs and used the bulb I did not like outside! Who are you buying from? I bought most of my Soraa from Lightology. You may want to call them to see if there is a discount on the large order. They also offered great advice. Will your lights be on dimmers? I forgot to ask if your current lights are line voltage or low voltage? This will make a difference in the Soraa bulbs you can use. For MR 16 bulbs you need an electronic dimmer. I use the Lutron Maestro and the switch was about $100 but it dims the LED lights to 10%.

good luck!
PRO
Inspired LED
8 years ago
Hello,
We might have some MR16's that you can use for your project!

This is a bit of a specialty item for us, so it won't be found on our website but we sell them for $27 ($22 for the light and $5 for the housing) . You would have to contact our design team directly for information regarding the product specifications, color temperature available, as well as ordering this item!

Design: design@inspiredled.com

Please let me know if you have any further questions!

-Erica, Inspired LED
A U
Original Author
8 years ago
Homepro01, thank you, your response was very useful and I was able to eliminate the 50w bulbs as well as 3000w. I finally settled on Soraa 00963 (2700k 60w, VIVID CRI95 as well as CREE MR16 (they only have 3000). I'll check both out to see the difference. Thank you again!
homepro01
8 years ago
Glad you were able to narrow down your choices. Post back when you make your final selection.
russ_capone
8 years ago
Has anyone had a problem fitting the Cree MR16 Led into an existing Trim Kit. The face of the Cree Led is 1 and 5/8 inches vs 2 inches on a typical/ my old halogen LED. When I put the Cree Led's in the existing Trim Kit, the bulb is 3/8th's inch off center. If I take the glass cover, whcih goes in front of the MR16 bulb, out of the Trim Kit it is pretty much on center.

I'm not sure if I should remove the Glass cover or return the bulbs for the Soraa bulbs, which appear to be more of a traditional design.

Any comments or suggestions would be grealty appreciated.

BTW, this is for a Great Room/ Kitchen with approximately 35 MR16's, so I want to make sure I have the best alternative

Please help: Halogen MR16 conversion to LED

homepro01

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Please help: Halogen MR16 conversion to LED

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