Lighting a room in the LED age?

[ericmark]

There was a thread 15 years ago about down lights which has been added to from China today.

But the loss of the fluorescent fitting does seem to be causing a problem, be it a 2D or a long tube, we could, with nearly no skill required, swap a failed unit for a new one. No wiring required, unplug one unit, and plug in new.

So I like I am sure many others, want to continue with this method. But my house was designed in the tungsten age, and my living room had a single 150 watt bulb, I would have thought, and in real terms there is little that can simply replace it, OK these

at 60 watt may work, I have one in an up lighter, but can't fit the shade. So we need in the main some sort of chandelier able to take multi-bulbs, but this hangs down a bit too much, so tall people hit their head on it, but it is over a chair, so I can get away with it, and it does unplug, so I can swap it with the 6 bulb version in dining room which does not drop so much, but we are left with very few methods to light our rooms unless we use LED units to fit the old fluorescent lamps, so there has been a move to GU10 lamps. Fitting a light bar

we can direct light into dark areas, but the down light also seems to be gaining popularity, my comment to son, why didn't you arrange to show the great bear did not go down well, but the ceiling is high as can be seen with the full size bike as decoration. In most houses, the ceilings are too low to get a reasonable spread, and he fitted 14 lamps at 3.5 watt, so 49 watt to replace what had first a 65 watt fluorescent which was changed to 58 watt, and then a 22 watt LED tube, so may look better, but room no better lit than before, and actually using a lot more power.

The GX53 seems to be the largest down light which will simply plug in, unless using fluorescent 2D fittings, it just seems every lamp I look at needs hard-wiring.

Mood light is certainly more essential but downlights do add a nice touch to the overall lighting effect.

he has a point, in my living room we supplement the lighting, with 60 watt if turned up full, of cabinet lighting, and we use Google Nest Mini's to control the lighting, so we can turn multiple lights off when leaving the room, be they be from lighting or socket supplies. You can also see two up-lighters (Ikea) in the picture, as to put it simple, our house was not designed with LED lighting in mind.

I suppose wall lights were originally used in many homes

before we had electric, as easier to reach a wall lamp to light it, don't want to return to these

but even they did not require hard-wiring to change the wick.

So what ways are there to light the home, where if the LED fails, no hard-wiring is required?

 

[Sureitsoff?]

Candles?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

So what ways are there to light the home, where if the LED fails, no hard-wiring is required?

BC, SBC, ES, SES LED lamps, in suitable fittings, which allow them to run suitably cool for long life? In our kitchen, I have two more specialised light fittings, where if and when they fail, the entire fitting just slide out of it's ceiling socket, and a replacement slide in.

 

[ericmark]

where if and when they fail, the entire fitting just slide out of it's ceiling socket, and a replacement slide in.

Link would be handy, I will likely use lighting track and GU10 spotlights, but looking for a long lamp to give the spread I want.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Link would be handy,

Such a long time since I bought them, I can no longer provide a link. They are just a flying saucer shape, providing a well diffused, very practical light.

I will likely use lighting track and GU10 spotlights, but looking for a long lamp to give the spread I want.

Highly directional lighting, as you should know, is the very worst possible light, from a practical point of view.

 

[Scally-Ho]

This old luddite has 2 x 5ft 3000k prismatic fluorescent battens in his kitchen and to avoid future problems, I bought a box of new tubes before others had beaten me to it. I'm not overly keen on the colour and colour rendering of most LED's so hence my decision to hold a stock of tubes.

 

[ericmark]

This old luddite has 2 x 5ft 3000k prismatic fluorescent battens in his kitchen and to avoid future problems, I bought a box of new tubes before others had beaten me to it. I'm not overly keen on the colour and colour rendering of most LED's so hence my decision to hold a stock of tubes.

This is a method even without using fluorescent, the LED replacement may have a lower lumen output, but they are a plug and play device.

At some point, either Alzheimer's disease or death will likely mean I am not able to change fittings in my own home, and so would like, for my wife's sake, for it to be in the main plug and play. She has never even wired a plug, why should she, with husband and son both electricians? But he lives 40 miles away, so want it, so any bulb failure is simple, so hard-wired lamps without bulbs I avoid, I do have two, I blame the wife, she bought them, OK she got the outside carriage lamp new for £4, and I hate to say it, but it's the best outside lamp we have. But still easier if they have bulbs.

 

[cdbe]

Having struggled with lighting throughout my open plan lounge/diner/kitchen extension I'm amazed that there isn't a healthy profession/business in lighting design (for ordinary people, I'm sure the super rich have something).

Not just the ceiling lights (I've pepper potted it with downlights every metre) but focal lights (eg over a table, around a media unit etc. In the kitchen area I have downlights, the cooker hood in the ceiling has its own lights, I've got plinth lights, led strips for all the handleless rails, an led strip light under the cupboard above the sink etc - I've (for the moment at least) drawn the line at drawer lights! Being a kitchen you don't necessarily want the same level of lighting when getting a beer from the fridge as you do when baking a cake.

I've only got 3 circuits so I'm relying on WiFi control and trial and error to operate it all at an individual level.

 

[ericmark]

I have lost my beer fridge, when I moved house, so at the moment I only brew when it's cool. I find only the first few days really matters, after day 3 the temperature can rise over the 20ºC, so now I am only heating my beer.

Once bottled, cooling does help to stop it erupting when I take off the cap, but taste wise not sure cooling the beer helps.

Yes hey google turn on fridge which only turns on one GU10 lamp is enough, but the lights are on for such a short time, the saving must be a decimal point of a p. So why bother.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I do have two, I blame the wife, she bought them, OK she got the outside carriage lamp new for £4, and I hate to say it, but it's the best outside lamp we have. But still easier if they have bulbs.

A fitting, complete with the lighting element, can be designed as a unit for best performance, better than a fitting with mismatched lamps, even worse, a fitting designed for tungsten lamps, which have a compromise LED fitted.

Not just the ceiling lights (I've pepper potted it with downlights every metre) but focal lights (eg over a table, around a media unit etc. In the kitchen area I have downlights, the cooker hood in the ceiling has its own lights, I've got plinth lights, led strips for all the handleless rails, an led strip light under the cupboard above the sink etc - I've (for the moment at least) drawn the line at drawer lights! Being a kitchen you don't necessarily want the same level of lighting when getting a beer from the fridge as you do when baking a cake.

KISS works best for me/us. The more lights sources, the higher the likelihood of one failing. We have a large kitchen/dinner, which used to need a 6 foot florescent to light it up. When I modernised, I installed down lighters, which looked great, but they were hopeless as effective, usable lighting. I reverted that, several years ago, to just two 8w LED's, ceiling mounted, like a flying saucer shape. They just slip into a socket, provided with the lights, and I bought two spares. They light the room well, except for an slightly enclosed preparation area, tucked between oven, microwave, and fridge, so I added a 10w florescent, under the microwave. The cooker, has a hood with LED's too.

The room was so dim with the downlighters, that as a temporary fix for it, I added a 6 foot tube on top of one of the cupboard units, invisible, but bouncing light down from the ceiling. That fitting is still up there, and would simply need to be plugged in, in an emergency.

 

[JohnW2]

KISS works best for me/us. The more lights sources, the higher the likelihood of one failing.

I guess that there are some 'swings and roundabouts' there, since the more light sources one has, the less will be the impact of the loss of one.

However, in general I am 'with you', and generally steer well away from 'multiple light sources'. One or two (adequate) ones is usually enough to produce 'general lighting', to which one can, if necessary, (as you have done) add specific lighting for 'difficult' or important places in the room.

 

[Sureitsoff?]

I don't understand the current trend for downlights everywhere. Perhaps I am just old fashioned!

 

[JohnW2]

I don't understand the current trend for downlights everywhere. Perhaps I am just old fashioned!

I wouldn't call it all that 'current'. It seemed to become fashionable two or three decades ago but, in more recent times, I think increasing numbers of people have been starting to 'see the light' ( ) and get rid of them, in favour of a more sensible form of lighting.

One disincentive to 'getting rid of them' is, of course, all those holes in the ceiling that need to be 'remedied' !.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I wouldn't call it all that 'current'. It seemed to become fashionable two or three decades ago but, in more recent times, I think increasing numbers of people have been starting to 'see the light' ( ) and get rid of them, in favour of a more sensible form of lighting.

They can actually work effectively, if the ceiling is high enough. A certain banking hall, in my care, was completely remodelled, refurbished, and down lighter set in the ceiling, 50 feet above. I was sceptical at first, until they were switched on, but they provide a good, even spread of light throughout.

 

[JohnW2]

They can actually work effectively, if the ceiling is high enough. A certain banking hall, in my care, was completely remodelled, refurbished, and down lighter set in the ceiling, 50 feet above. I was sceptical at first, until they were switched on, but they provide a good, even spread of light throughout.

Agreed - and, indeed, having a large number of light sources spread around is obviously a good way of getting 'even spread of light'. I think the main problem has been that people tend (or, at least, tended) to put very narrow-beam-angle ('spotlight') lamps/bulbs into them, resulting in multiple 'small circles of light' at useful heights (often compounded for the tendency for modern ceilings to be lower than they used to be). However, one can now get very wide beam-angle lamps/bulbs, which should largely avoid that problem.