Our builder/electrician suggests we use mains voltage lighting and not low voltage. What is best?
Builders and electricians tend to promote the use of mains (GU10) lamps over low voltage (MR16) lamps for a number of reasons. GU10 – mains lamps are easy to dim and do not require a transformer (a savings cost of £5) at time of installation. However mains lamps are more expensive to purchase, they often trip MCBs (fuse box) or blow fuse wire when they fail. They also direct all the heat forward in the light beam and are restricted in the number of beam angles available. Using mains lamps is therefore often a false economy. Some customers who use mains lamps because of pressure from the builders/electricians often come back and purchase transformers to change their existing down lights to use low voltage lamps.
