# Anyone here use led MR16 bulbs in landscape lighting?



## BababooeyHTJ (May 31, 2013)

I need to install some accent lighting outside of a house. I'm thinking of going with some hadco bl5016 with the built in LED bulbs. My only worry with those is that the beam angle is far more narrow than I would like to go with. I'm a little worried about using a retrofit in a sealed fixture to be honest. Any suggestions would be more than welcome.


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## Cletis (Aug 20, 2010)

BababooeyHTJ said:


> I need to install some accent lighting outside of a house. I'm thinking of going with some hadco bl5016 with the built in LED bulbs. My only worry with those is that the beam angle is far more narrow than I would like to go with. I'm a little worried about using a retrofit in a sealed fixture to be honest. Any suggestions would be more than welcome.


http://www.homeclick.com/lbl-lighti...3ALENSMR16LL&gclid=COSwooaWvbkCFUhgMgodBiMA7Q


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## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

It really depends on what you are trying to light. I am not sure of the beam spread of led's but I suspect they have different degree spread. Hadco makes a nice product. I have used some of Kichlers which look similar to Hadco that you show. I think they are less pricey if that is a problem.


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## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

I see on the *website here* that they have many different degree floods.


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## BababooeyHTJ (May 31, 2013)

Dennis Alwon said:


> It really depends on what you are trying to light. I am not sure of the beam spread of led's but I suspect they have different degree spread. Hadco makes a nice product. I have used some of Kichlers which look similar to Hadco that you show. I think they are less pricey if that is a problem.


Thanks for the info. I'm trying to light up the outside of a house. You know, the walls of the house itself. I'm figuring that a wide beam spread would be best for that.


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## svh19044 (Jul 1, 2008)

I've used customer supplied MR16 lv fixtures and led lamps before and overall, I was pretty happy with them (in that case, I could only work with what was given to me so it's not exactly how I would have liked to do it, more so how they pictured it). It's been a couple years now and they haven't had to replace any (the reason I HATE landscape lighting is the constant replacement of lamps). They were very comparable to a 12v MR16 halogen in terms of brightness, the spread was rather accurate, but the color was still not the best in terms of consistency. They were supposed to be 3000k but seems to range from 2700k (or even more yellow) to more like 4000k. 

As much as I hate replacing the lamps, on a nice big house, I still stick with halogen over LED for most applications do to the color consistency alone.


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## electricmalone (Feb 21, 2013)

I have had great luck with the Philips ones.
For the majority of my clientele, they care more about the light's appearance than energy savings so we just do straight halogen swap outs. A few of my nicer clients have me swap out with LED as they burn out. Thursday, I have to swap 230 50watt mr16s for LEDs. Nice subsidy from local power company making it cheap (relatively) for the customer, well just materials not my time with helper...


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## BababooeyHTJ (May 31, 2013)

electricmalone said:


> I have had great luck with the Philips ones.
> For the majority of my clientele, they care more about the light's appearance than energy savings so we just do straight halogen swap outs. A few of my nicer clients have me swap out with LED as they burn out. Thursday, I have to swap 230 50watt mr16s for LEDs. Nice subsidy from local power company making it cheap (relatively) for the customer, well just materials not my time with helper...


Yeah, I've heard nothing but good things about Philips LED bulbs. Having those built into a hadco fixture sounds ideal. They're pretty reasonably priced too. Have you had any complaints about the somewhat narrow beam spread coming from a halogen?


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## svh19044 (Jul 1, 2008)

BababooeyHTJ said:


> Have you had any complaints about the somewhat narrow beam spread coming from a halogen?


:blink:


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## BababooeyHTJ (May 31, 2013)

svh19044 said:


> :blink:


AFAIK, the widest option that they offer is a 26 degree spread. That sounds a bit narrow for a lot of applications.


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## svh19044 (Jul 1, 2008)

BababooeyHTJ said:


> AFAIK, the widest option that they offer is a 26 degree spread. That sounds a bit narrow for a lot of applications.


Do you mean the LED? Phillips offers up to a 36* LED MR16 (it could be a greater spread by now, that was 2 years ago). That is basically a standard flood, and there are often times that a wider degree beam is desired. But that's LED.

Halogens will go up to 60+*.


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## electricmalone (Feb 21, 2013)

BababooeyHTJ said:


> Yeah, I've heard nothing but good things about Philips LED bulbs. Having those built into a hadco fixture sounds ideal. They're pretty reasonably priced too. Have you had any complaints about the somewhat narrow beam spread coming from a halogen?


No complaints yet... Most of my stuff is landscapes not accenting homes. One job is supposed to be in Architect Digest in the next few months, ill see how the pics look at night.


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## bobbyho (Oct 15, 2007)

Brilliance LED is the one I use the most. Dauer is another good line more along the 3000K rather than the 2700 that Brilliance is. Different colors for different plant types and for that matter building finishes too. 60 degree beam spread is fantastic. Guys, Kichler sucks. Crap product, crap results geared toward marketing to the DIY guy. 99.9% of my landscape lighting installs are LED. I moved away from halogen about 2 years ago and will never go back.
The Brilliance lamp is designed to go in an enclosed fixture. It is built to withstand the humidity levels as well. Cheap lamps that are not designed or listed for this use will cause unhappy clients. Get good fixtures (Hadco is ok) and your lamps and projects will last. For what it is worth, I have Hadco fixtures (although not what I use now) in the ground at my house for years as well as some of my early lighting clients and they are doing ok in most scenarios. 
I have ALOT of Brilliance in the ground and very little failure rates. Plus there is a warranty on them too.


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