Old school but needs repairing (possibly)

[chris day]

A client of mine has requested that I repair some old MR 16 spotlights which have heat damage cabling around the surrounds.
I did try to convince the client to upgrade to GU 10 LED however they do not want to do this and they want me to repair the existing lighting system which is fine.
The existing lighting system has what I can only describe as a centralised transformer system, now the transformers work fine however I don't want to repair something then later find out the client wont ever be able to replace the transformer should they go wrong, so the question is can you still get hold of these transformers .

 

[DPG]

Pictures are going to be useful here I think. Include any rating plates, etc.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

You can still get pretty much any kind of transformer. If the existing ones are wirewound, and I expect so as most electronic HF ones are limited on wiring length, then they will probably outlast all the fittings anyway. They are more expensive in first cost but provided they are not overloaded or restricted in their cooling, they last almost forever. By comparison electronic types have a finite life even under good conditions.

 

[buzzlightyear]

The existing lighting system has what I can only describe as a centralised transformer system,

do you mean these puppy's .

 

[Strima]

You've given them the options and they have decided what they want, their problem when it goes ---- up.

As you can see my sympathy has run out, I blame it on the time of year...

 

[buzzlightyear]

o well nearly xmas !

 

[chris day]

Ow yes of course these are the beasts, they are wore wound not HF.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

If they're not overloaded they should outlast the availability of MR16s and 10 sets of LEDs.

 

[Pete999]

A client of mine has requested that I repair some old MR 16 spotlights which have heat damage cabling around the surrounds.
I did try to convince the client to upgrade to GU 10 LED however they do not want to do this and they want me to repair the existing lighting system which is fine.
The existing lighting system has what I can only describe as a centralised transformer system, now the transformers work fine however I don't want to repair something then later find out the client wont ever be able to replace the transformer should they go wrong, so the question is can you still get hold of these transformers .

A day work job then?

 

[GeorgeCooke]

A client of mine has requested that I repair some old MR 16 spotlights which have heat damage cabling around the surrounds.
I did try to convince the client to upgrade to GU 10 LED however they do not want to do this and they want me to repair the existing lighting system which is fine.
The existing lighting system has what I can only describe as a centralised transformer system, now the transformers work fine however I don't want to repair something then later find out the client wont ever be able to replace the transformer should they go wrong, so the question is can you still get hold of these transformers .

This is very confusing.

MR16 refers to the size of the lamp multifaceted reflector in eights of an inch. GU10 refers to the type of base. Most GU10 lamps are in fact MR16s.

Then you talk about transformers so are you actually referring to GU5.3 lamps?

 

[Lucien Nunes]

It didn't confuse me. Clearly he is talking about changing from ELV (LED or halogen) to LV LED and doing away with the transformers. Or not, in this case, as the client doesn't want to. I would always call an MR16 lamp on a GU5.3 base an MR16; in my field of work (theatre) that would be understood on all continents whereas GU5.3 probably wouldn't, or might be referring to an A-class projection lamp on GU5.3 (such as A1/259) instead of an MR.

 

[Toneyz]

What was the reason they still want to keep halogen as you can get LED with the same colour output.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Almost! You can get a reasonable approximation to the colour temperature but the spectrum is different and in some situations the difference in colour rendering is important. I have LED general illumination over my precision electronics bench but my articulated task light is halogen, for this reason.

 

[GeorgeCooke]

I would always call an MR16 lamp on a GU5.3 base an MR16; in my field of work (theatre) that would be understood on all continents whereas GU5.3 probably wouldn't, or might be referring to an A-class projection lamp on GU5.3 (such as A1/259) instead of an MR.

In that case you and the others need educating (and manufacturers also) as MR16 has nothing to do with the base.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

We appreciate that MR16 has nothing to do with the base. You will appreciate that the question posed in this thread has nothing to do with it either - it was about transformers!

 

[Toneyz]

Almost! You can get a reasonable approximation to the colour temperature but the spectrum is different and in some situations the difference in colour rendering is important. I have LED general illumination over my precision electronics bench but my articulated task light is halogen, for this reason.

I remember at my previous employment some LED GU10 were fitted to can downlights and I had to have a closer look at it as the lamp colour was identical to standard GU10/MR16.