led lighting

[apec15]

anyone help please. Our kitchen is 22 x 9 and i am replacing lighting. at the moment i have 2 x 3 halogen spots on 2 x switches. thinking of putting 1 x 5 and 1 x 6 6watt leds in. would the light output be better or similar? what would be the best led lights to use? any help appreciated. robbie

 

[Iggifer]

light output all depends on what LED lamps you put in.

Are they 12v or 230v?
Two transformers or 6?
Dimmed / not dimmed?

I always recommend Philips LED lamps as I've found them to be the best, other people recommend different brands, it's all down to personal preference / experience

 

[apec15]

Hi Iggifer. 240v with no transformers. not dimmed. tried working it all out regarding wattage etc but it can be a bit baffling. think i will need the ip 65 fire rated ones in the kitchen. there will be 11 in total and was thinking of 6 watt bulbs. cheers robbie

 

[Iggifer]

I'm a little confused now, I thought this was a case of swapping existing lamps for LED's but you make it sound like you have different fittings now.

Do you have spot bars and intend to swap for downlights?

I wouldn't recommend and odd number of spots unless there's a specific reason for it.

A lot of people here will advise against downlights, but it's up to you, I personally, like them in the right situation.

BAS will come along soon enough to lament about 11 lights is too much to light a room when one pendant would do the same job, but in my eyes 11x6w LED's will use no more power than one pendant, so if it's what you want, go for it.

And, I find the 4w philips GU10 LED's are bright enough, so you'd only be talking 44w

 

[apec15]

At the moment I have 2 x fan lights each with 3x 60 spots. I want to change and getting ceiling skimmed and have flush fitting down lights . The room is 22ft x 9ft. LEDs will certainly save money with the electricity bill. Thinking of putting 11 x 6 watt down lights in. Everybody seems to have a different opinion on how to light a room but the opinion of my missus is the only real opinion unless there are really good reasons not to change. Sorry for the confusion. Robbie

 

[foxhole]

Have led down-lighters in my kitchen, would suggest always using the [daylight] white lamp as apposed to the warm white, better light output for same wattage and better light to work under.

 

[Iggifer]

Have led down-lighters in my kitchen, would suggest always using the [daylight] white lamp as apposed to the warm white, better light output for same wattage and better light to work under.

I tend to agree, I wouldn't go too white though. I installed some Aurora 4w 4000k LED's the other day, and I only really got to see them in the daylight, but they seemed to give a nice spread and seemed bright enough, had an odd half second delay between flipping the switch and them lighting though

http://www.aurora.eu.com/ProductPages/LampProductDetails.aspx?g=8471&c=393&b=110&oc=393

 

[ericmark]

I have an 11 Watt 2D down lighter in one bedroom and the light is well over what I really wanted for reading in bed but the 11W GU10 Cold cathode lamp fitted to the other bedroom was well under what I wanted.

Physical size does matter compare an 11W 2D lamp with a 11W CFL and likely you will get more from the 2D just because of the area the tube covers on the ceiling but they are basically the same things.

Lighting is complex as it's not just the output of the lamp but what surfaces the light bounces off so a white kitchen needs less light then a dark wood kitchen.

Spot lights are not designed for general lighting however bouncing the light off white surfaces can be used but floors are not normally white so small spot down lighters are not likely to work too well. The larger 2D down lighters will work far better for the same wattage.

Today LED does seem to be gaining ground but it's not the light source but the area and I was looking at the LED street lights on the walls at Chester which seemed to be bulb less lamps at first glance just a flat square of light. The light from them was very good but the point is they were designed for that job.

These

are down lighters but clearly not 50mm and you have said down lighters without saying what type and the type will make a huge difference to what is required.

 

[Iggifer]

I think the OP is referring to traditional downlighters

http://www.jcc.co.uk/catalog/produc...50w-halogen-twist-lock-downlight/category/11/

is a pretty damn good fire rated one, doesn't need to be IP rated as not above a shower

 

[ericmark]

I think the OP is referring to traditional downlighters

http://www.jcc.co.uk/catalog/produc...50w-halogen-twist-lock-downlight/category/11/

is a pretty damn good fire rated one, doesn't need to be IP rated as not above a shower

I am sure I read "LED" in the post! The link you give is not "LED". As to traditional down lighters used in suspended ceilings were for years 4 florescent tubes all 2 foot long however these traditional down lighters would not really be much use in most homes the beams are too close.

I like the idea of getting rid of the flex used to suspend the traditional bulb and shade, but not the idea of making ceiling look like a planetarium. I feel the 2D round surface mounted florescent fitting was a good compromise, but the guy wants LED not florescent. There are similar surface mount LED units which are like the old florescent reasonably easy to clean.

The question has to be is there enough room between the beams to fit larger units? If not would surface be good enough? Although the 50mm lamp was orignal designed as a spot lamp there are some quite wide angle lamps now made. There will be a huge difference with 40 degree lamps and 12 degree lamps and there are just too many variables to give anything but a general answer.

 

[Iggifer]

No i'm aware it's not an LED fitting, and JCC of course do Fireguard LED fittings, however a combo of the Fireguard 2 and a retrofit LED is a acceptable (often cheaper) solution.

Gives you flexibility over time to change the lamps / fittings to suit your needs, you don't have this choice if you spring £440+ for LED fittings.

As I've said before, I've yet to see a 2D fitting, LED or otherwise, that does not look gash

 

[ericmark]

Companies look at both the corporate image and efficiency and will select lighting that best fits both.

There for to select sensible lighting it will look like an office as you are like the office looking for sensible lighting. There is little difference between lighting a kitchen and an office after all.

So if you don't want the kitchen to look like an office the rule is if it's sensible don't do it. However this guy seems to want to go down the sensible route so he will use office type lights.

The difference is ceiling type. Most offices have suspended ceilings with services above them. In the home often the ceiling is nailed direct to the beams. This limits the space to fit any sunken lamps plus the fire impactions of having holes in the plaster board.

So sensible in the home often means surface mounted rather than down lighter type. The 4 foot florescent tube does a good job but does not look very good just too clinical. So each person has to decide how far to move away from the most sensible and make it look reasonable acceptable.

To me having 50W 50mm spot lights in the ceiling says to all that look at them "Look I am an idiot and spend a fortune on lighting and cook in a extremely hot kitchen as I am that thick I can't see how silly it is." That is not the impression I would want to give to visitors. However neither do I want to say to them "I could not care less what my home looks like." so we all want to hit some middle road.

May be just a local thing but here in North Wales we do like to show people we have some sense. Maybe it's a Welsh thing?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

BAS will come along soon enough to lament about 11 lights is too much to light a room when one pendant would do the same job, but in my eyes 11x6w LED's will use no more power than one pendant, so if it's what you want, go for it.

My lamentations are unrelated to power consumption.

 

[MickyP10]

Just converted my GU10 50 watters in the kitchen ceiling to LED bulbs and they're a better light and cost sod all to run. They also give a much better spread of light than a single point bulb or, heaven forbid, a tube. Try it!