I bought a couple or MR16 lamps to use on my Bicycle. Enough light but too diffuse for riding fast. I bought an HID light system for the bike. I have these two mr16 lamps so I thought I'd install them in a couple of mostly decorative fixtures in my living room. I put them in and they just pulsed and went out. Dang I was sure i fried them. I thought DC lights on an AC electronic ballast. So I take the lamps back out and down to the garage to find out whether they were toast. Connected them to a 12 volt battery and they light up fine. I next tried a class 2 transformer and they worked on AC. What is going on I think? I then dug out a couple of low voltage lighting ballast and they won't light. The ballasts work on incandescent lamps but not LEDs. After a couple of conversations with various suppliers I discover these ballasts won't work with LED as the current draw is too small for the ballast to work.
A simple magnetic trasformer works or a special electronic ballast for LED bulbs would work. I don't know of a magnetic solution that would fit in the fixture so I need a ballast and the local suppliers want like $60 each. If I do the math it comes to nearly $100 per fixture to install LED lamps. At $0.06 per KWH i figure I can save enough electricity to pay for the Upgrade in like 100 years. I would pay $10 - $20 for a ballast so if someone knows of a LED specific low voltage ballast for that kind on coin let me know. I would be happy to have a place to use these lamps and these fixtures would work with the color of the Leds too. Dimmable would be a bonus too.
