Electrical – Switching to LEDs: 12v LEDs on existing transformer or remove transformer and use 240v LEDs – Which is better

electricalledsolar

I have +/- 50 10w halogen lights running on transformers at 12v. I want to switch these to LEDs.

Some quotes are coming in with keeping the 12v transformers and getting 12v LEDs and some are on removing the transformers and installing 240v LEDs.

Mains is 240v here. I also plan to possibly go off the grid with solar electricity in future.

Which is better from an energy efficiency perspective? Other things I should consider?

Best Answer

There are multiple ways of looking at this, high quality 12V LEDs are hard to find and can be quite expensive... however some people are very satisfied with the 12V LEDs that are available. Transformers also waste energy but the efficiency can vary greatly. As long as you are on the grid, I would use higher voltage LEDs since they're cheaper and you'll use less energy. But if you do go off grid, you can run the 12V right off your batteries. This can be a nice advantage, especially if you use a 12V battery bank; however, most quality off grid systems use 48V as a first preference or 24V as a second choice, so you would most likely need a DC to DC converter (or power supply) in order to run 12V anyways.

I guess that is really is a matter of preference but I would go for the simplicity of easier to find, high quality, higher voltage LEDs, with no transformers wasting your energy unless it is important to be able to use it straight off a battery

Thanks, Maxfield Solar