There are so many kinds of lightbulbs nowadays I have no idea which type to buy. We are hanging 3 pendant lights over a bar in our kitchen. The ceilings are 10 feet high and the glass part of the pendants are kind of like a cone and about 6 inches long. I would like these lights to be possible to dim. The question is should I get mr16 halogen or xelogen and then what wattage?
From other questions in here I understand that haolgen bulbs are hot -- what other options are there except incandescent.
We have 60w bulbs everywhere else in the house but I understand halogen and xelogen wattage doesn't exactly correspond to incandescent wattage. Can anyone help or point to somewhere that can?
thanks

 

We just did the same exact thing in our kitchen, without the high ceiling. Yes the halogens are very hot, but they put out much more light at 50 watts than traditional bulbs. We have a mixture of pendants and moveable eyeballs hanging from track. All low voltage buitl into the lights themselves. If you want to look at options for this type of lighting try Juno Lighting company on the web, and Halo lighting I think. Or just type in a search engine and shop around at different lighting sites to get ideas. There are alot of options and a ton of different price ranges. The Pendant lights are very cool looking. We like them alot.

As to your MR16 wattage question, that will be determined by the fixture you buy. Check out the lights in person if possible, and it will tell you what type of bulb it uses and the maximum wattage for safety reasons. You may want to go to Home Depot or Lowes just to see and hold what they have, and for ideas. We ended up buying at Lowes, because the price was much more affordable for us, and they had what met our needs/requirements.

Also, I believe if you want to dim the pendants, and they are Low Voltage, this requires a special Low Voltage Dimmer Switch. (not positive) If they are regular 120v bulbs you just need a dimmer switch that is capable of handling the amount of wattage you have.

 

You are correct Hardhead. MR16 low voltage would require a dimmer capable of Electronic Low Voltage (ELV) dimming.

Try www.lutron.com for more info on dimming equipment.

As to the light levels of an MR16. a 50W MR16 halogen puts out just slightly less light than a 75W Par30 flood (1200 Candlepower Vs. 1500 according to GE.) They do get a bit warm, and the lamps are a bit pricy. But, the MR16 is the perfect lamp if you want a lot of light from a small fixture. I quite like them for pendant applications, in as much as I like the streamlined look of small profile pendants.

 

Thanks for the advice so far. My choices in bulbs for the pendant are - 12V 35W MR16 Halogen,
- 12V 35W Xelogen
- 12V 50W MR16 Halogen
- 12V 50W Xelogen

With all the other light we'll have in this room I think I would lean towards the 35W but what's the difference between a halogen and a xelogen? They're both low voltage I believe.

 

Both MR16 halogen and G4 Xelogen (Xenon as it were) are low voltage lamps.

As to the differences?

Xelogen is a warmer light (2800K Vs. 4200K) which is to say it has more of a red/orange to it, whereas Halogen is more of a blue tint.

Xelogen burns cool (per the manufacturer, you can touch a lit xenon lamp with your bare hands.)

Xelogen lamps last up to 10 times longer than halogen lamps (again per the manufacturer.)

Unfortunately, I can't give you a light level comparison, as my photometric software is a GE product, and GE doesn't make a xenon lamp.

The only real setback to Xelogen is availability. This is a lamp style that has been in use for years in marine applications and flashlights. in recent years it has made inroads in the automotive sector. But it has only recently began it's foray into the consumer lighting market. The fixtures are no problem, as the xelogen lamp is a direct replacement for mthe MR16 halogen. All you need do is find the lamps themselves. On a plus note, with a 20,000 hour life expectancy, they should be readily available in the consuer market by the time you need to replace one.