Replace Your MR16 Halogen Track Lighting Bulbs with Energy-Efficient LEDs
UPDATE (5/22/2008): WE CAN NO LONGER RECOMMEND THESE BULBS. After about two months, over half of the LEDs have stopped working in all bulbs tested. Cyron has ignored emails requesting a refund or replacement.
In trying to make our home more energy-efficient, we have replaced most of our incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. The remaining challenge was to do something about the various track lighting fixtures around the house. Most of them use 4-5 20W MR16 halogen bulbs. At a total of 80-100 Watts on average, each of these fixtures can use a significant amount of electricity.
We found LED replacement lamps that fit a standard MR16 fixture on Amazon.com (link removed). There are several options available, but specifically, our criteria were:
- Warm white light
- Flood or wide-angle bulb (as opposed to a narrow “spot” beam)
- Approximately equivalent to a 20W halogen in light output
We decided on the following product:
- LED Light bulb, MR16 32LED 12V Warm White by Cyron (link removed)
Testing the Bulbs
We used two LED replacement lamps in this test, mixing them with two halogen bulbs in a 4-light IKEA track lighting fixture.
MR16 LED Lamp from Cyron
Closeup of the bulb, showing the 32 surface-mounted LEDs.
MR16 halogen and LED bulbs sharing the same IKEA fixture
The LED bulbs use only 1.5W each, yet are supposed to be approximately equivalent to a 15W halogen bulb. Our subjective observations confirmed this - the light was somewhat dimmer than the halogen bulb, but not significantly so. The color cast of the LED light was also very close to that of the halogen. The “warmness” of the LED seemed to be slightly more pale and yellow than the halogen bulb, but just slightly.
With the prices on MR16 LED replacement bulbs dropping rapidly, they are becoming very cost effective to use as your old halogen bulbs burn out. At 1.5W vs. 20W, they will pay for themselves in approximately one year. Add to this their expected longer life, and the case for LEDs becomes even stronger.
You can get the bulb here:
- LED Light bulb, MR16 32LED 12V Warm White by Cyron (link removed)
My understanding has to do with AC and DC. From what I’ve seen, sites do not recommend drop in replacement of halogen. Some specifically mention that you need DC track lighting, vs AC found in many systems.