Low Voltage LED Lamps vs GU10 LED lamps

Why use Low Voltage rather than GU10?

This is a bit of a thorny issue as there’s plenty of misinformation out there. To cut through the fog you need to understand a little of how an L.E.D light works. Basically almost all LED’s work at around 12v which means that a GU10 type lamp needs to have a transformer (240v – 12v) built into the body to operate properly. Now there’s nothing wrong with using a transformer – it’s a reliable and proven product BUT in this case you should consider something else and that’s the physical size.  A standard transformer will be approx 10*5*2 cm and yet the one in a GU10 lamp will be approx 2*1*1cm because of the physical size restraints of the casing – it is also being asked to operate in a relatively high temperature environment being placed just behind the metal heat sink used to keep the actual LED cool.

Now either the external transformer used on a low voltage system is unnecessarily large and inefficient or the internal GU10 unit is a seriously compromised design – remember that this component is being asked to provide power to what is a phenomenally reliable component (the actual LED) and consequently you, the customer, will expect that power supply to last the lifetime of the LED, I would prefer to put my trust in the larger, properly designed, thermally managed external power supply. – to illustrate the difference the photo on the right shows the transformer/driver from a GU10 LED next to the same thing in an external package!

The other advantage of an external supply is that in the unlikely event of failure, it can be changed and give it is much less expensive than a replacement LED lamp seems a better solution.

LED Drivers

Because high power LED’s need a constant current supply to operate reliably, it is not advised to use a standard halogen or electronic transformer as they produce a simple 12v supply which fluctuates and does not operate at a constant current – LED lamps might well operate initially with these transformers but the long term reliability will be impaired. If you are replacing cheap halogen lamps with expensive LED’s we would ALWAYS recommend that you change the transformer for the correct LED driver.

So there you are – the GU10 LED lightbulbs seems to be everywhere and is a simple solution but is you have a choice about low voltage of mains voltage we would always recommend low voltage as you can expect far greater long term system reliability. You can find out more about our 12v LED lamps here

GU10 LED lightbulbs