Ceil light - Halogen to LED conversion

[Easy-X]

I have this fancy ceiling light, 10x 12V 3W Halogen G4 pin bulbs. It's literally the last light in the house that isn't energy efficient LEDs. I ordered a set of 12/24V AC/DC LED G4 bulbs of approximately the same light output and they sorta work...

All LEDs: turn on, LEDs come on for a fraction of a second and cut out. Note: not a fuse or general RCD condition on the consumer unit.

Replace one LED with an old halogen: all lights come on.

Seems to me like a safety feature in the transformer. The load is different with all LEDs and so it cuts out "nope, I suspect a short". The question is: is it safe to leave it with one halogen, should I try a different transformer or maybe add a dummy load resistor? (~same resistance as a halogen bulb)

<addendum> halogens start out at ~0ohms and quickly warm up to ~3ohms so if the transformer is "smart" it's allowing a momentary short while the bulbs warm up. Hence why the LEDs come on for a moment.
____________________
Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[WD Forte]

Bad transformer
I've been using an old ATX PSU for multiple 12v leds for years and never had a problem with one or many MR11/16 leds

MTFU and knock a ferkin big hole in the ceiling and bung one o' them in
____________________
bikers smell of wee

[Freddyfruitba...]

Yeah, been there, done that... it's pretty standard.

If you have an original power supply from the old halogen lamps, they are likely not to work with new LED types, because the power supply needs a minimun load to work. It's currently not reaching that threshold, so nothing's happening. New LED-compatible transformer needed.

I took the opportunity to change to mains LED lamps, actually.
____________________
KC100->CB100N->CB250RS--------->DL650AL2->R1200RS->R1250RS

[Easy-X]

I'm going to give swapping the transformer a go as apparently having one of the ten bulbs left as halogen "looks stupid" according to the wife
____________________
Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Raffles]

[Easy-X]

Fret ye not. My father-in-law's a retired electrician so anything tricky I give 'im a call
____________________
Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[blurredman]

Still got these throughout my house (bar the toilet for immediate brightness (standard 100w incandescent there). 10 years later and none of them have blown despite being installed 'upside down'.

https://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/albums/userpics/13232/normal_75A6354A-9449-450C-ACFC-822D33329FCB.jpeg
____________________
CBT: 12/06/10, Theory: 22/09/10, Module 1: 09/11/10, Module 2: 19/01/11
Past: 1991 Honda CG125BR-J, 1992 (1980) Honda XL125S, 1996 Kawasaki GPZ500S, 1979 MZ TS150.
Current: 1973 MZ ES250/2 - 18k, 1979 Suzuki TS185ER - 10k, 1981 Honda CX500B - 91k, 1987 MZ ETZ250 (295cc) - 39k, 1989 MZ ETZ251 - 50k.

[Freddyfruitba...]

[blurredman]

I still use a variery of CRT's so consumption isn't an issue for me. I have boxes full of new incandescent bulbs ready to install whenever they're needed.

But importantly: In the bedroom in winter mornings I don't want full brightness light in my face. Plus my patented flailing around technique to dress my upper half has blown two bulbs in the past few years - the CFL is reasonably robust in the regard of being knocked.
____________________
CBT: 12/06/10, Theory: 22/09/10, Module 1: 09/11/10, Module 2: 19/01/11
Past: 1991 Honda CG125BR-J, 1992 (1980) Honda XL125S, 1996 Kawasaki GPZ500S, 1979 MZ TS150.
Current: 1973 MZ ES250/2 - 18k, 1979 Suzuki TS185ER - 10k, 1981 Honda CX500B - 91k, 1987 MZ ETZ250 (295cc) - 39k, 1989 MZ ETZ251 - 50k.

[Easy-X]

One of the best things I ever did was dump the tube in the kitchen for an LED strip light. Not only energy saving but safer: instant daylight in the room of sharp implements
____________________
Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Easy-X]

Fitted a new transformer. Worked marginally better... now the lights come on and only flicker occasionally Fuck this, just going to get a new LED ceiling light.
____________________
Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[WD Forte]

Four candles mate, four candles
____________________
bikers smell of wee

[BanditsHigh]

Why not get 240v LEDs ... that's what I use, no messing about with transformers

[Easy-X]

[WD Forte]

240v leds each have their own 'transformers' in as much they have
inbuilt voltage and current circuits to run the low voltage leds

Transformers have windings and are simple but bulky
Most modern power supplies use flyback/buck/boost convertors
240V led bulbs have a wee flyback converter in the base and thus are more expensive than single led type bulb.
The units that power multiple leds are usually flyback convertors

Its hard to say which is the more reliable as
the quality of the psu can determine the life of LEDs because
over voltage or current will increase heat and any electronic device that cannot easily dissipate the heat it's creating in use will fail earlier then one that can.
I just had a 240V led bulb fail and I'm pretty sure It didn't get anywhere near the stated 10,000 hour life cycle which equates to
just over a year of continuous use.
(1 year = 8760 hours)
Did I keep the receipt? fuck no!
____________________
bikers smell of wee

[Easy-X]

Yeah, my father-in-law has a fancy LED bulb in his front room going wonky. Pretty much said the same thing: it'll be the "driver" in the base not the LED part.

These G4 halogen-to-LED replacements also have a tiny electronics package in the base so they can handle 12~24V AC or DC. AC/DC mainly because you can't be getting into the bother of polarity for such a tiny package.

From my days in CCTV, I think 24VAC is "a thing" 'cos in the old days you'd just need a very simple 10:1 winding transformer.
____________________
Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter