Please help: Halogen MR16 conversion to LED

11 years ago

last modified: 11 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

11 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)

N B
Original Author
11 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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homepro01
11 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!
N B
Original Author
11 years ago
I need to convert almost 70. Unfortunately. Is there a trim you recommend? I'm confused between gimbal choices.
N B
Original Author
11 years ago
I also don't understand why this metalic piece costs so much. Shouldn't be more than $10
homepro01
11 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
N B
Original Author
11 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!
N B
Original Author
11 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
11 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
11 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
N B
Original Author
11 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
11 years ago
Glad you were able to narrow down your choices. Post back when you make your final selection.
russ_capone
11 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