It’s important to know what are the differences between the most common tracking lights at the time to select it for your illumination. The most common bulbs on track lighting are the MR11 and MR16, but what are the differences between them?

Let’s see the most important differences of these lights

Size

Different MR lights have different sizes, in MR lights the size of the diameter is measured with a number following the “MR” representing units of eighths of an inch. For example MR16 have a diameter of 16⁄8 or 51 mm, and MR11 have a diameter of 11⁄8 or 35 mm, and it is the same with every MR bulb, so if you try to plug a MR16 on a socket for a MR11 you won't be able to connect it, or you will break the pins of the bulbs, and the same if you try to connect a MR11 on a MR16 socket. So the size is one of the most important facts to have in mind at the time to choose it.

Bases (or sockets)

Apart from the size of the bulbs, the bases have different sizes for different bulbs. In the case of the sockets the sizes are measured in millimetres, for example the base GU5.3 is a bi-pin base with 5.3 millimetres between the two pins. MR11 usually uses GU4 base, meanwhile MR16 usually uses the GU5.3 base and normally 12 volt bases. If the base is for more wattage, you can use a wattage adaptor. There are more bases like GU10 or other sizes.

So you have to buy the right base for your bulb.

Voltage

The voltage is also really important, if you don’t know the voltage of the bulb or the base it can be dangerous for the bulb, having too much voltage on the current or too low voltage.

MR bulbs usually work at 12 volts but if you have a 120 volt or anything higher than 12 volts, nowadays, there are a lot of applications specifically to allow using low voltage on fixtures of higher voltage, eliminating the need to step down the voltage through a transformer and saving time, money and energy wasting.

Dimmable or not

Another thing to consider is the dimmable factor. Maybe you want a dimmable light to regulate the light for different times of the day or activities, but with MR bulbs you won’t have any problem because there are dimmable options or not dimmable depending on what you want.