LED strip coving

[gort]

Have been looking at getting something like this coving to use at opposite ends of our 3m x 5m living room. Having it sit 6-8" or so down from the ceiling. However I don't know how how bright for the LED strip to be in order for us to have the light as useful ambient light rather than just decorative.
I have a cheap strip light that I bought for under our kitchen cabinets (2.4 WPM) and can see that clearly would be underpowered.
Would I be looking at 10+ Watts per meter or more. I know it's difficult to say for my specific situation but maybe someone else has done something similar?

Cheers

 

[Havana_UK]

Hi @gort

I work in the lighting industry and can probably help you out with some ideas, but I first want to issue a warning!

If you want to get useful ambient light from this you'll need to direct the light across the ceiling in order to get reasonably even reflected light over the room (especially as I interpret your question as having the two light indirect light sources 5m apart). This will show up any small imperfection in your ceiling plaster in a big way. When we moved into our brand new house a couple of years ago I added lighting above the kitchen cupboards to create exactly this effect and I ended up removing it because even after I had the builders out twice to improve the finish in the ceiling it simply wasn't good enough.

With the above said, indirect lighting is a really nice way to illuminate a space and can create a really comfortable environment to spend time in.

You would probably want a light source that is around 8-10W / metre (assuming it's reasonably efficient) and this would require some form of aluminium housing to manage the heat it will generate to ensure long-lasting operation. I would also suggest you either look at some form of tuneable white (so you can adjust between a very warm white and very cold white) to suit the time of day you are using it and also to complement any other lighting you have in the room which might also be on at the same time. Nothing looks worse (IMHO) than clashing lighting colours! This is turn would necessitate some form of wireless lighting control system to allow you to easily adjust the colour temperature, or define pre-set scenes that can be either controlled with a switch or via your phone.

To check your plaster finish, I'd recommend getting up a ladder with a torch and shining it across the ceiling. This will highlight any imperfections and you can decide whether this is a route you want to go down or not, before spending any money!

Hope this helps

 

[gort]

Thank you Havana, that is of great assistance!
I could do it a tad lower and get a style that does allow the light to flood the ceiling better. Hadn't even thought of the surface of the ceiling being picked up.
Plenty of food for thought there.

Cheers