Replacing undercabinet halogen bulb with xenon bulb

gabbie14

We were about to replace our hard-wired under cabinet halogen puck lights with xenon lights, when I read that one can simply use xenon light bulbs in the halogen fixtures, saving the hassle and expense of changing the lights. I bought bulbs from Lowe's to do this with, but on looking at the package more closely it says "halogen bulb, new xenon technology, do not touch lamp". Since I know you can touch a xenon bulb and not a halogen bulb, as well as this having the "halogen bulb..." (which I overlooked when picking them up) I am assuming I do not have a true xenon bulb. Is this correct? Home Depot had the same thing. Do I need to purchase the real thing from an electrical supply company? And, is what I read about simply changing from one bulb to another without changing the fixture correct? Thank you for your help!

gabbie14

Any advice, anyone? I would greatly appreciate it!

gregzoll

LED's will save more electricity, and last longer, then a Halogen or Xenon.

HouseHelper

Those are still halogen bulbs, only with xenon as the inert gas instead of argon. A true xenon incandescent bulb will not have any halogen gas present.

As far as replacing a halogen bulb with a xenon, it depends on the fixture and if the bulb will fit (same base as the halogen).

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gabbie14

Thanks, HouseHelper, you confirmed my suspicion about the bulb itself. As to the fixture itself, it uses a G-8 base bulb and I have seen G-8 base xenon bulbs. These are puck fixtures originally from Home Depot (I think). Any idea on whether I can use a G-8 xenon bulb in this fixture?

HouseHelper

I have never tried it, but I would think that as long as the base matches and the wattage and voltage are the same, you could swap them out.

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"Life is hard. Life is harder when you're stupid." John Wayne

gabbie14

I did some research based on your recommendation and decided to stay with Xenon, primarily for dimming capability as well as brightness of Xenon. Thank you so much for your suggestion - I had not considered that and it was worthwhile to do so.

gabbie14

I will confirm with wherever I purchase the bulbs that this can be done (which won't be the big box stores). Thanks again for your help.

joaniewoanie

how do i replace an under cabinet puck light bulb???

AllanJ

Note a difference between xenon filled incandescent lamps and xenon arc lamps. The former works with all kinds of dimmers and can be interchanged with halogen (not "halide") lamps subject to socket fit, voltage, maximum wattage rating of the fixture, and amperes rating of the circuit.

The former has a thin wire (filament, usually coiled) between the two thicker support wires inside the bulb,, all of similar appearance to the same items in a halogen lamp. The xenon arc lamp has two electrodes not resembling uniformly thick wires and with no wire connection between them inside the bulb.

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mpoulton

This thread is two years old. Joanie: please start a new thread with your question - and include as much information as possible.