Rewiring lighting in house, have some questions.

[Basil Katakuzinos]

We currently have GU5.3 down lights in our house and they are starting to frustrate me.

1) None of the lights are LED (which needs to change)

2) The whine of the DC converters in the roof is driving me insane, nearly every room's transformers buzz unbelievably loud.

3) Seems to be more variety of GU10 LED's on the market.

 

I have a few questions though. 

First of all, is it worth the upgrade? I am just thinking, considering i am going to through the process of replacing the bulbs, i might as well spend the time to change the fittings and connectors to GU10 and avoid those noisy DC converters. 

Secondly can I do it myself? Seems I can DIY it quite easily, am i overextending myself and capabilities? I would imagine i just need a few of these Lamp Holder - GU10 Lamp With Earth Term – Brite Lighting and i should be good to go.

Currently the connectors are not earthed, so i do need to sort that out when I connect them , I think.... Do they need to be earthed, or can i use Lamp Holders without an earth terminal?

Then also, will dimmable LED's work with the current dimmers or not, dimming is really not a priority but i guess it is nice to have in some rooms.

 

Edited September 19 by Basil Katakuzinos

[Basil Katakuzinos]

3 minutes ago, Basil Katakuzinos said:

We currently have GU5.3 down lights in our house and they are starting to frustrate me.

1) None of the lights are LED (which needs to change)

2) The whine of the DC converters in the roof is driving me insane, nearly every room's transformers buzz unbelievably loud.

3) Seems to be more variety of GU10 LED's on the market.

 

I have a few questions though. 

First of all, is it worth the upgrade? I am just thinking, considering i am going to through the process of replacing the bulbs, i might as well spend the time to change the fittings and connectors to GU10 and avoid those noisy DC converters. 

Secondly can I do it myself? Seems I can DIY it quite easily, am i overextending myself and capabilities? I would imagine i just need a few of these Lamp Holder - GU10 Lamp With Earth Term – Brite Lighting and i should be good to go.

Currently the connectors are not earthed, so i do need to sort that out when I connect them , I think...

Then also, will dimmable LED's work with the current dimmers or not, dimming is really not a priority but i guess it is nice to have in some rooms.

 

Oh one more questions, the bulbs appear to have the same dimensions, can the existing lamp holder be used?

[Chris Louw]

6 hours ago, Basil Katakuzinos said:

We currently have GU5.3 down lights in our house and they are starting to frustrate me.

1) None of the lights are LED (which needs to change)

2) The whine of the DC converters in the roof is driving me insane, nearly every room's transformers buzz unbelievably loud.

3) Seems to be more variety of GU10 LED's on the market.

 

I have a few questions though. 

First of all, is it worth the upgrade? I am just thinking, considering i am going to through the process of replacing the bulbs, i might as well spend the time to change the fittings and connectors to GU10 and avoid those noisy DC converters. 

Secondly can I do it myself? Seems I can DIY it quite easily, am i overextending myself and capabilities? I would imagine i just need a few of these Lamp Holder - GU10 Lamp With Earth Term – Brite Lighting and i should be good to go.

Currently the connectors are not earthed, so i do need to sort that out when I connect them , I think.... Do they need to be earthed, or can i use Lamp Holders without an earth terminal?

Then also, will dimmable LED's work with the current dimmers or not, dimming is really not a priority but i guess it is nice to have in some rooms.

 

I am busy planning to install 12v 4 Watt LED strip lights in most off the rooms. These lights give a beter light than the 220 volt 4 Watt LED down lights. Using a single 12v power supply with inline fuses. These lights costs is than a LED globe and holder. They are also not Chinese quality. 

[Gerrie]

7 hours ago, Basil Katakuzinos said:

The whine of the DC converters in the roof is driving me insane, nearly every room's transformers buzz unbelievably loud.

I also had the transformers making a noise and have changed all of them to the GU10 230V Led’s.

7 hours ago, Basil Katakuzinos said:

First of all, is it worth the upgrade?

Definitely those old 12volt lights draw quite a bit of current and is not energy efficient, The LED’s are the better option as you can even get them as low as 3W.

7 hours ago, Basil Katakuzinos said:

Do they need to be earthed, or can i use Lamp Holders without an earth terminal?

Earthing is always the better option, some will say if they are out of arms reach they need not be earthed, but when you need a COC you might find the earthing is non-compliant, the bright light fitting looks correct and should pass a COC if installed correct.

7 hours ago, Basil Katakuzinos said:

, will dimmable LED's work with the current dimmers or not

My old dimmers does not dim although the lights do switch on but I did not get the dimmable GU10’s because they are very expensive and I have just too many to replace, so for now they are good enough. I think eventually I will just replace the dimmers with normal switches.

[Basil Katakuzinos]

16 hours ago, Gerrie said:

I also had the transformers making a noise and have changed all of them to the GU10 230V Led’s.

Definitely those old 12volt lights draw quite a bit of current and is not energy efficient, The LED’s are the better option as you can even get them as low as 3W.

Earthing is always the better option, some will say if they are out of arms reach they need not be earthed, but when you need a COC you might find the earthing is non-compliant, the bright light fitting looks correct and should pass a COC if installed correct.

My old dimmers does not dim although the lights do switch on but I did not get the dimmable GU10’s because they are very expensive and I have just too many to replace, so for now they are good enough. I think eventually I will just replace the dimmers with normal switches.

Thanks for your reply, i guess its time to change them.... not as expensive to do as i was fearing.