Integrated lighting housing units or GU10s

Originally with halogen, there was about 10 beam angles, then only 3, then suddenly narrow beam lamps virtually dissapeared, wide beam became the norm and suddenly they were called downlights, one big manufacturer brags in there ads how you can save time and money by fitting less lights than there competitors for the same amount of light, due to the wide beam they claim to give out
Given that, as you say, most lamps are now at least moderately wide-angle, I rather suspect that many people install far more downlighers than is really necessary.

Kind Regards, John
 
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I am if you like half way between you two. Having a small circle of light aimed at a white area works well. But same small circle of light aimed at a dark floor does not work. If I get a bowl of translucence material I used a lamp shade off an ikea lamp and place it over the spot lamp then I found the room was better lit using a 7W GU10 however same experiment using a 3W GU10 then the shade caused a decrease in the light.

There is an area effect on how well the light works. As to the point when increasing the lumen output of a GU10 it starts to fail to be able to use the lumen it produces is likely some one thesis written to get him or her their doctorate, and believe me I am not that clever I struggled to get to level 5 in academia. However area does make a difference.
 
I am if you like half way between you two. Having a small circle of light aimed at a white area works well. But same small circle of light aimed at a dark floor does not work.
Yes, of course - although I have to say again that we are not, generally, talking about a 'small circle of light'. Everything depends upon what one wants the light for. There is often not a requirement (or even a desire) for an entire room to be blindingly bright - moderate 'background lighting' supplemented by specific 'task lighting' is often preferable, and more pleasant.
There is an area effect on how well the light works. ... However area does make a difference.
The area illuminated obviously matters a lot, but that has not got a lot to do with the size of the source. As I've said (e.g. with endoscopes) a tiny light source can produce a very dispersed beam, hence a large illuminated area.

Kind Regards, John
 
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I bought rather cheap GU10 units. They are fitted in my shed, mainly as my wife had bought a Ikea lamp unit which I hated so it was installed in the shed, in the bedroom again another one of the silly Ikea lamps but the original light did not light the corners so adding a pair of spots reached those corners missed by the original lamp. Also same bedroom two this time selected by myself wall mounted spots to allow reading in bed. At the door three switches one for pendent and two spots, one for spot left of bed, and one for spot right of bed. At the bed to right double switch main lights and spot to right and to left double switch main lights and spot to left of bed.

So in the shed better than touch, but not really much good, but can read labels on my bottles of beer, so good enough.

In the bed room the bed side lamps are great, but the ceiling spots improve things, but really not well placed.

So when the spot light debate started I did an experiment. I aimed the bed side spots at the ceiling rather than where normally set to read a book. The results were very good, in fact these two lights aimed at the ceiling gave me a better spread of light than the 11W CFL and two spots. Reflecting the light off the ceiling (white) worked very well.

However to do this one needs to be able to direct the lights to a white or near white surface. If one can't adjust where the spot lamp or flood lamp is aimed at then their use is some what limited. Until the experiment I had never thought of aiming the two ceiling mounted lights at the ceiling however after the test I tried it. Yes it worked, the dark corners were at long last lit up.

But to get this illumination I needed to be able to aim my pods at the ceiling. These were not fixed lights shining at the floor but pods which could be aimed at anything I selected.

It did however change my view of GU10 lamps. I have to admit aimed correctly they work well. However the pair in the shed will never work well as there is no white area to reflect the light from.
 

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