Spotlight recommendations

[thecremeegg]

Looking to put some spots into the roof of our living room as currently it has two lights just hanging and the ceiling isn't that high so you hit your head everytime

Now I haven't a clue about spots but the room is about 4m x 4m and I was thinking perhaps 6-8 would suffice?

Is LED the way to go with these things? Don't want to spend a fortune on them if I can help it, and if they are dimmable that would also be a plus.

Has anyone got any that they use and are happy with?

Thanks

 

[Participant]

Can I first confirm you mean downlights rather than spotlights, i.e. flush to the ceiling? Not deliberately trying to be difficult, just want to make sure we're talking about the same thing .

Anyway assuming you meant flush downlights because you mention head space, I put these in our wardrobe about 6 months ago and replaced the bulbs with dimmable LED bulbs straight away. This version is fixed but you can get tilted for another £8 per set of three.

Looking around at the time, buying downlights then swapping the bulbs was cheaper than buying downlights marketed as LED.

They're good quality (made by Philips) and very cheap for what they are.

 

[Nightglow]

These.

Use a lot of them, found them very good, available in various finishes, plus they are fire rated.

Fixed:
http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p26353

Adjustable:

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p73671

With the size of that room, your looking at 12, minimum from my off the head calculations.


Base on lights set 700- 1200mm distance apart, if you take length of room 4000mm minus 1200mm (distance from wall 600mm x2) leaves 3000mm,divide by 4 (number of lights) gives a spacing of 750mm 4 per row, width, if you start 600mm from wall edge 1st row, middle row 2800mm, & 3rd row again 600mm from wall, total 4000mm.

You might need to tweak figure 600mm from wall, to anything up to 800mm depends on lamps beam angle used, i'm working on 60 degrees lamp, & room height 2400mm.
You would also need to change middle row figure as well.

 

[Maccapacca]

I'd definitely go for led we have a dozen GE 240v they are more expensive but create no heat.

 

[Nightglow]

I'd definitely go for led we have a dozen GE 240v they are more expensive but create no heat.

+1

Forgot to mention that, plus have them on a 2 gang dimmer, minimum but a 3 gang even better, as would allow you to use each row independently.


Dimmer needs to a be a trailing edge version to work with led lamps, the Varilight V-Pro are around the best, available in various finishes.

 

[Caged]

They're good quality (made by Philips) and very cheap for what they are.

Not really. Massive Lighting's LED products have Philips LEDs in, some retailers like to state that they are a Philips product and the manufacturer don't really seem to do too much to prevent this association. The bottom of their website states the following:

Disclaimer: We are not Philips or part of Philips we are independant lighting specialists as described above, if you require Philips or information based on Philips products we are unable assist you but if you require thier contact details we would be happy and able to assist you in this way.

To the OP - be very careful when looking at downlighters. If you buy a downlight fitting and a retrofit LED you will normally be limited to around a 40 degree beam angle. If you pick an actual LED fixture then you have a much greater selection.

Something like this for example - http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/LTFRD12WW.html starts with a 50 degree beam angle but you can change the lenses to up that to 90.

 

[Nightglow]

To the OP - be very careful when looking at downlighters. If you buy a downlight fitting and a retrofit LED you will normally be limited to around a 40 degree beam angle. If you pick an actual LED fixture then you have a much greater selection.

The downlighters, I linked to, is a compact fitting & the bulb sits well forward, & is only recessed by 6.5mm approx, so a 60 degree led lamp should work ok & I would think the beam spead unaffected.

I can't find a 60 degree bulb here to try, got everything else, except what I want.

A 60 degree lamp @ 2.40mtrs, should have a light spread of 2.77m2, give a coverage area is 6.03m2.

A 4.5 Watt GU10 COB Bulb (link below) has a 90 degree angle, so light spread should be 4.8 mtrs & area coverage of 18m2, I'm calculating using a halogen field spread slide rule.

So, figures might be slightly over estimated, but I have no led GU10 lamps available to compare the figures, got a selection on order, so should have them Tuesday.

http://www.ledhut.co.uk/spot-lights/gu10-led-bulbs/new-4-5-watt-gu10-cob-bulb-wide-beam-angle.html

 

[Caged]

I meant the retrofit lamps tend to stick to the same sorts of beam angles that the halogens they are replacing went with, not that the fitting gets in the way, if that makes sense.

 

[Nightglow]

I meant the retrofit lamps tend to stick to the same sorts of beam angles that the halogens they are replacing went with, not that the fitting gets in the way, if that makes sense.

Ah! Understand now.

Might be wrong, but I don't thinks there is a standard for comparing Halogen with LED lamps, covering beam angle, which can varied due to the way the reflector/led is designed, light output, etc, every manufacturer seem to have there own system, making the task of comparison between lamps impossible.

It's difficult working out how many fittings you require for a room with led lamps now, in the old days a 4x4mtr room, height 2.4mtrs, you need 8 downlighters for that size with a 50w halogen lamps, according to a slide rule I have for calculation that, but depending on the led lamp, you might need 12 fittings, or even 16 fittings to achieve the same light level as the halogens.

But, at least you can you use a dimmer(s) to give you more control over the lighting.

 

[Caged]

If you want to work it out precisely then assuming your luminaire supplier provides the relevant files you can map your room out with this:

http://www.dial.de/DIAL/en/dialux/download.html

You pick the height of the working plane (higher in a kitchen than an office for example), how bright you want that to be in cd/m2 and the details of the surfaces and what they are made of so it can calculate reflectivity, and then it tells you how to achieve it.

Personally I'd just do a little bit of fag packet calculations so that the beam angles from individual units cross over no lower than where you want the work plane to be and work from there. Buy a bit brighter than you need and dim it down so that degradation over time doesn't leave your room darker than you want it.

 

[Nightglow]

Personally I'd just do a little bit of fag packet calculations so that the beam angles from individual units cross over no lower than where you want the work plane to be and work from there. Buy a bit brighter than you need and dim it down so that degradation over time doesn't leave your room darker than you want it.

Exactly the same way.

I tend stick with one or two brands of led lamps now, makes it easier to get to know beam angle for each lamp & workout the number of lights needed.

 

[Jez]

Can I first confirm you mean downlights rather than spotlights, i.e. flush to the ceiling? Not deliberately trying to be difficult, just want to make sure we're talking about the same thing .

Anyway assuming you meant flush downlights because you mention head space, I put these in our wardrobe about 6 months ago and replaced the bulbs with dimmable LED bulbs straight away. This version is fixed but you can get tilted for another £8 per set of three.

Looking around at the time, buying downlights then swapping the bulbs was cheaper than buying downlights marketed as LED.

They're good quality (made by Philips) and very cheap for what they are.

Just to mention, those are not fire rated so you cant really use them anywhere other than top floor, unless he lives in a bungalow he shouldn't really use them without fire hoods in addition.