LED Replacement Guide for Halogen Bulbs

Replacing old light bulbs with new ones is a matter of saving energy, saving money, saving yourself the trouble of having to change these bulbs all the time and having a source of light on your premises that will be as close to the natural light as possible.

In recent decades, there’s been a notable shift in the world of light bulbs, so to speak, toward more energy-efficient models. This is possible, of course, thanks to the advancements in technology that allows for this sort of new breed of bulbs to come about.

To be precise, the light bulb models that seem to be the most popular nowadays would be the LEDs – and you can rest assured, these are popular for a good reason. Not only that they spend considerably less energy than their incandescent counterparts, but they also can be programmed to emit light of different colors without the need to change the diodes themselves.

In this article, we’re going to address the question of replacing your Halogen light bulbs with LEDs. Of course, replacing a light bulb is a fairly straightforward business, but here we’ll talk about energy efficiency, the price of such a replacement procedure, as well as about other parameters you’d need to pay attention to when LEDs are in question.

Right then folks, without further ado, here’s the deal.

Differences Between the Halogen Lightbulbs & LEDs

To start, it’s important to understand what the differences between the Halogen lightbulbs and LEDs are.

The thing is, while both of these can do the job of lighting a certain area fairly well, LEDs are far more efficient than their Halogen counterparts, even though they cost more. (But then again, these do last longer, too, so there’s the tradeoff right there for you.)

Energy Consumption

One of the biggest reasons people across the world are increasingly buying LED light bulbs would certainly be their low energy consumption rate.

The thing is, thanks to the semiconductor technology these are made using, LEDs only use a fraction of the power their incandescent counterparts require. This, in turn, means that the diodes that made up an LED bulb will also last longer, because they don’t have to endure as much wear ‘n’ tear as the thing Tungsten wires in the incandescent models do, so to speak.

So, if saving energy is your main motivation for making a switch to LED bulbs over Halogen models, you can rest assured you will make a sound decision if you decide to go for the LEDs.

Lifecycle

Another parameter that makes LEDs so attractive when pitched against other light models (including the Halogens) would be their longevity.

Let’s put this into perspective.

For example, a common incandescent light bulb can give you about 700 – 1,000 working hours, which is about a year’s worth of lighting – if we assume you use the lightbulb for about 3 hours a day.

Now, here’s the deal with Halogen light bulbs. When compared with the standard incandescent models, the Halogen ones tend to do better, but not that much better. For example, if a standard incandescent bulb lasts about 700 hours, a Halogen model will last 1,000 hours or a bit over that.

Now, as far as LEDs are concerned, there are many models out there that will give you 50,000 working hours, or even 100,000 hours. This means that once you buy one of these LED light bulbs, they will last you for years, so you won’t have to buy more – which justifies the steeper price the LEDs tend to have when compared with other models.

Potentially Harmful Emissions

… which mostly include mercury, Halogen, and UV light.

The thing is, while most of the time (if everything runs as it should), you won’t see the mercury in these light bulbs, if for whatever reason this metal gets out of the bulb (it breaks or is otherwise damaged), you run the risk of coming into contact with this metal, which can be poisonous.

Also, the fact that Halogen light bulbs run thanks to these gases also means that turning on the bulb will take longer than both the conventional incandescent models AND LEDs.

Swinging back to the question of lights, there’s the UV light, which emanates out of Halogen lights whenever you turn them on. As you probably know already, exposure to UV light can have negative health implications, mostly related to skin.

Now, as far as the LEDs and their potentially harmful gas and UV light emissions are concerned – there are none.

Thanks to the simple technology these are made with, LEDs use only a small amount of electricity and they don’t emit negative UV rays. Also, if an LED bulb gets broken or otherwise damaged, there’s no risk of poisonous gas leakage, either.

What to Pay Attention to When Making the Switch to LEDs

Lumen Value

A lumen is a unit of brightness, so if you want to see how much light a bulb is capable of emanating, what you want to look into would be the lumen value. You can find this piece of information printed on the bulb label.

For example, an LED bulb capable of generating 1,600 lumens will require only about 20 watts, which makes it about five times more energy-efficient than its incandescent counterpart.

Wattage

The wattage of a light bulb tells us how much power it requires to shine. This value is expressed in watts, of course.

The thing with this measurement is, that it doesn’t necessarily tell us how bright it is, because there are different types of light bulbs nowadays. So, you should first look at the lumen value and then also check out the wattage, so you can get an idea of how much energy that light bulb will use.

All things considered, replacing all of your Halogen light bulbs with LEDs is certainly a smart move – especially if you look at it in the long run. While the initial costs of such an undertaking may appear to be a bit rough, it will certainly pay off later on. We hope this article helped you understand the difference between the LEDs and Halogen light bulbs a bit better and we wish you a hassle-free purchase in case you do decide to go for it.