Light Only Accepts "MR16 LED Retrofit Bulbs", Not Normal LED Bulbs. Is That "LED Compatible"?

Make it so on 13/01/2015 - 19:02

I recently bought a light fitting which according to the shop's website was "LED Compatible".

I paid an electrician to install it, only to find that with my new LED bulbs it would flicker, and my older ones (which I had successfully used in another MR16 light fitting for a year) it would start blinking after half an hour. I contacted the shop, and they said it requires Philips MR16 lights. These are expensive "retrofit" lights, designed to be used in light fittings which have a transformer that is technically not LED compatible (typically a first-generation electronic transformer).

In your opinions, is a light-fitting LED compatible if the only LED globes it can take are retrofit ones (intended for use in light fittings which are technically not LED compatible)?

I can send it back for a refund, but obviously paying close to $200 to an electrician to install it, and the same to take it off again, is not really worthwhile.

Would love your opinions.

Electrical & Electronics LED MR16

Comments

  • SchnishSchnack on 13/01/2015 - 20:29
    +1

    I am assuming that the MR16 fitting you bought has an integral transformer, as opposed to your electrician having connected a 'new' one to it that they provided separately from a dusty part of their van?!

    Either way, the transformer component is intended for halogens, and should NOT be described as 'LED compatible'.

    A few of the more exe LED brands, like Philips, have special circuitry that simulates particular load characteristics that allows them to work without obvious flicker when used with non-ironcore halogen transformers. Probably with a shortened life, though.

    If transformer is integral to the fitting, it sound like the shop you bought from got 'creative' with their description, in order to flog off some old stock.

    • Make it so on 13/01/2015 - 20:32

      Yes, it is integral. I have other fairly new lights with an integral transformer intended for halogen, but they take LED ones just fine.

      • SchnishSchnack on 13/01/2015 - 21:00
        +1

        I think that at the very least, I'd be threatening them with a complaint to Fair Trading, if they don't offer a refund (without any need for removal of the fitting, given expense already incurred).

        I assume that they sell Philips MR16's 'to suit'. I would also insist that they send me a couple for free, in order that I not 'go apeshit' on Facebook, et al. But that's just me…

  • PVA on 13/01/2015 - 21:08

    well it is LED compatible, just not the brands of LED lights you wanted to use.

    • SchnishSchnack on 13/01/2015 - 21:35
      +1

      'Compatible' implies 'designed to be', and in this case, 'generally'.

      Development of the circuitry in some LED brands to allow them to 'play nice' with old gear is quite a recent development.

      Unless it's dodge from the manufacturer or distributor of the fitting, intent by the seller to deceive seems pretty clear in this case.

  • endotherm on 13/01/2015 - 23:46

    Do you have dimmers wired to the light switch? These can also cause the lights to flicker, even when wound up to full. Newer LED globes require a special circuitry to simulate the traditional load of a normal light globe. Even with this, some older dimmers don't function well and will cause flicker. You will need to change the dimmers to newer LED-compatible models, also known as universal dimmers.

    • Make it so on 14/01/2015 - 00:14

      Nope, don't have dimmers…

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