What is an LED Downlight?
An LED downlight can be a completely integrated unit, or it can come in two parts. Ultimately, it's a low energy LED light source fitted inside a downlight housing.
Are LED Downlights as Reliable and Long Lasting as They Say?
Throughout our history, we’ve maintained our relationships with premium branded lighting manufacturers such as Aurora, Collingwood, JCC and Philips Lighting. Even these top-quality brands have had problematic versions of downlights.
The most consistent and reliable downlight of all-time is the Halers H2 Pro. This product was a game-changer for integrated LED technology. We’ve experienced the fewest failure rates with this product, its successfully outlasted its 7-year guarantee period and still remains a market leading product.
The least reliable downlights we’ve sold have been the Aurora I9 and possibly the JCC FGLED6. These particular downlights had a few ‘bad batches’ and unusually high failure rates. However, these brands have learned from their mistakes and gone on to develop more reliable products with the Aurora MPRO and JCC V50.
The truth about integrated LED downlights is that some models come and go quite quickly. This can be a problem if you get a failure and need to replace it. If your particular product has been discontinued then the latest version won't fully match the others.
On occasion, integrated downlights do fail and do need replacing but they are more reliable than the traditional GU10 LED and fire can combination which is the housing of the downlight structure shown in the image above.
If you buy downlights that don't have a wiring cable connector block you'll also have to disconnect them by rewiring them which will mean getting an electrician involved. If you've got downlights with proper plug-in wiring connectors shown below, you can easily disconnect them. Then you can usually reconnect the new one as it should have the same plug-in connector.
These connectors make integrated LED downlights work in a similar way to GU10. Instead of removing the lamp from the fitting, you're removing the fitting from the ceiling. No additional tools required!