Hello to everyone.I have in my living room 4 fixtures which use 40W E14 incandescent lamps.I thought to replace them with LEDs when they go out.What you think should I buy halogen bulbs or LEDs are fine ?

Hit or miss on LED reliability.  If they last then you'll be fine. 

I've just thrown out an LED retrofit bulb that's lasted 10 years, but that's a rarity. Most of the others we've had here have failed miserably in only a few months, a year at best.

Personal opinion; if you can't or don't want to use normal incandescent lamps (we're stocking up while we can..!) then go for halogens.

Be aware though, normal incandescent dimmers don’t suit LED, you would also need a special LED dimmer switch along with the lamps 

Dimmers and lamps fail to work (or get damaged) if a leading edge dimmer (most old dimmers) is used with a load that have significant input capacitance, as this will cause the TRIAC to close each half cycle into a "short" (the discharged capacitor), or if a trailing edge dimmer is used with magnetic transformer or ballast, as this will cause the switching component to get a high voltage impulse when it opens on each half cycle

Many dimmers will work ok with LED filament lamps since many of them dont have input filtering capacitors, however those are also the lamps that make the most 100Hz flicker. The dimmer must be sufficiently loaded to power its inside electronics. With incandescents its not a problem. With LEDs you can leave one lamp incandescent for this purpose

LED light does have its health risks resulting from the Blue light (which is how LED lamps generate White light). This is the worst with 6000K-ish LED lamps, much lower extent with 3000K-ish lamps, and probably not a problem with filtered lamps ("vintage" lamps filtered to 2500K or lower by colored glass etc)

Be aware though, normal incandescent dimmers don’t suit LED, you would also need a special LED dimmer switch along with the lamps 

I will check is my dimmer desinged to run with LEDs.Special ones are dubiously expensive.

Dimmers and lamps fail to work (or get damaged) if a leading edge dimmer (most old dimmers) is used with a load that have significant input capacitance, as this will cause the TRIAC to close each half cycle into a "short" (the discharged capacitor), or if a trailing edge dimmer is used with magnetic transformer or ballast, as this will cause the switching component to get a high voltage impulse when it opens on each half cycle

Many dimmers will work ok with LED filament lamps since many of them dont have input filtering capacitors, however those are also the lamps that make the most 100Hz flicker. The dimmer must be sufficiently loaded to power its inside electronics. With incandescents its not a problem. With LEDs you can leave one lamp incandescent for this purpose

LED light does have its health risks resulting from the Blue light (which is how LED lamps generate White light). This is the worst with 6000K-ish LED lamps, much lower extent with 3000K-ish lamps, and probably not a problem with filtered lamps ("vintage" lamps filtered to 2500K or lower by colored glass etc)

Generaly in kitchen and bath I use 6500K LED bulbs.In living room and bedroom 3000K bulbs are used.

I've just thrown out an LED retrofit bulb that's lasted 10 years, but that's a rarity. Most of the others we've had here have failed miserably in only a few months, a year at best.

Personal opinion; if you can't or don't want to use normal incandescent lamps (we're stocking up while we can..!) then go for halogens.

I think so.I have bulbs from France and they lasted quite long (5 years).Philips is worst when quality is in question.In Serbia in 2019 you can still buy incandescent ,HPL,SBMV,HPS,MH and many many other bulbs.

I have noticed from tests that LED lamps dont work that well on old dimmers but if I place an incandescent lamp with the LED on the dimmer it works properly.

Ultimately it is up to you. Incandescent lamps become more orange as you dim them. The LEDs do not change colour. Personally i like the incandescent because i can make the mood more warm and inviting by dimming.

Do not recommend using halogen on dimmers. They will die faster because they are designed to work at full power to allow the halogens to preserve the filament for longer life. The filament in halogen lamps is driven harder to make whiter and brighter light. If you dim them the lamp will blacken fast

There must be some dimming range in which the cycle still works correctly ?

Do not recommend using halogen on dimmers. They will die faster because they are designed to work at full power to allow the halogens to preserve the filament for longer life. The filament in halogen lamps is driven harder to make whiter and brighter light. If you dim them the lamp will blacken fast

That explains why my halogen uplighter (with dimmer) went through lamps at a prodigious rate. 

In the USA, the LED bulbs we get here and the old-school cheap Leviton wall dimmers we have seem to work just fine. I get great dimming, and most LED bulbs I have from a variety of manufacturers dim smooth and can go very low (not as low as incan though)

I rarely have a dimmable-LED issue when using my basic wall dimmers and have NEVER needed to use an "LED" dimmer.

It's up to the LED manufacturer to design an LED bulb that dims on the lowest-common dimmers made.


As for Europe, I'm not in a position to speak on dimmers and LED bulbs in European market.

Hello again and thanks for answers and tips.I will keep incandescent lamps because LED dimmable bulbs can be hardly found and LED dimmers are expensive (about 45-50$).Most of cheap ones which I found on internet have CRI 70.From my experience ultra cheap and unknown brand bulbs have buzzing like CFLs,too much blue light (has violet/blue peak in eye) and of course short life span of 6 months or at best 1 year.

Glad to hear it, Jovan 

Are incandescent lamps still readily available in your country..? There are virtually none on general retail sale here any more, it's occasionally possible to find small shops that still have stocks, but most of the large retailers are only selling LED now, with a rapidly dwindling number of halogen lamps 

We're stocking up on incandescents from eBay at the moment, there are still plenty to be had at reasonable prices.

Glad to hear it, Jovan  

Are incandescent lamps still readily available in your country..? There are virtually none on general retail sale here any more, it's occasionally possible to find small shops that still have stocks, but most of the large retailers are only selling LED now, with a rapidly dwindling number of halogen lamps  

We're stocking up on incandescents from eBay at the moment, there are still plenty to be had at reasonable prices.

Yes.You can buy in Serbia incandescent bulbs.Tungsram and Philips are the most common on Serbian market and they are dubiously cheap.They are still available because Serbia is not EU member.All shops have incandescent lamps in stock from 2018/2019.CFLs are ultra cheap (Philips ones are less than 3 Euro.GE is also available with same price).