Recess lighting
The ceilings in our garden apt are very low so we need to install recess lighting; however, I have no idea what to use. Can someone help me please… The apt is dark so I definitely want enough to light it, but I would like them to blend with the ceiling as much as possible….
The ceilings in our garden apt are very low so we need to install recess lighting; however, I have no idea what to use. Can someone help me please… The apt is dark so I definitely want enough to light it, but I would like them to blend with the ceiling as much as possible. Also, what kind would you use in a kitchen? Thank you.
I have 6.5′ ceilings in my kitchen, dining room, and living room. What recess lights would you recommend that I use?
Difficult to suggest without the knowing height of your ceiling. Low voltage halogens are a brilliant light source as they make colours appear very viabrint plus as mentioned you can use different angles to give a greater flexability in your lighting:
60 degree for ambiant lighting
36 degree for task lighting (ie onto painting)
12 and 24 degree for focus lighting.
This is only broad advice based on a 2.4m stud height. With Standard downlights (which allow greater coverage then halogens) bring them 400mm – 600mm out from your walls to allow light to wash down and (to often to far out and leaves walls dark) with 2400mm apart usualy in a symetrical pattern. If you are planning on using low voltage halogens bring out from wall 600-1200mm out from the wall (suggest using tilting downlights) and 1200mm to 2400mm apart.
When doing a lighting plan for someone I usualy opt for low voltage 2light downlights as the give the flexability and control, while also reducing the quantity required. For example a room which would require 8 halogen downlights looks and performs better with 4 double downlights. Then you can get real creative, playing around with switching and dimming options
My understanding is that for low voltage lights dimmers do save power — another reason to go low voltage as oposed to line voltage. I also understand that low voltage lights use less power. Even tough both, for example, use 50W light bulbs, the wires that connect those bulbs use less power because the resistance in the wires is lower (because the voltage is only 12V not 110V). Apparantly, this make a big difference to total power consumption.
I am not sure dimming saves you money. I think dimmers increase resistance, rather than lowering electricity usage. Anyone know for sure on this?
Of course, it is still a great feature to have, for aesthetic reasons. But I don’t think it saves you money.
MR16 are the low voltage bulbs, but you will also need the low voltage housing and trim. It is also worth putting the lights on a dimmer switch which allows you to dim the lights to get the right mood and also saves you $$$$.
Be sure to put them on a dimmer.
Are M16 lights low voltage hallogens?
I would recommend low voltage hallogens. Line voltage hallogens and normal spot lamps produce way too much heat which may be of concern when you have low ceilings.
We have small halogen recessed lights, which provide a nice quality of light and are fairly inconspicuous. The problem with recessed lights for general lighting purposes is that they create pools of light that can be harsh in places and not provide enough light in other spots. For the halogen bulbs, there are several options for the “spread” of the light, which helps that problem somewhat. For general lighting, I use the bulbs that have a 60 degree spread. For spot lighting, one might use the 40 degree spread or the 20 or 25 (?) degree spread.