Low energy downlighting choice

[Amp David]

Up to now haven't fitted many CFL or LED downlights, but have been asked to quote for a job in which the customer has actually asked for non halogen downlighters.

Can any of you guys who suggest some types to go for. Customer not to bothered whether they are LED or CFL. Had a quick look at the standard replacement low energy GU10 lamps, but they mostly seem to long for the fittings.

Cheers

 

[Adam W]

CFL lamps offer a very wide beam angle (about 53°) which will light rooms with lower ceilings better. LED lamps are the same size as halogen so can be used in the same fittings. They come in 'white' (which is quite a stark blueish light) and 'warm white' which is a similar colour to halogen.
Personally I would go for LED because I prefer the light output, there are less apparent health implications, wider choice of lamps and I envisage the technology to dim them being more reliable. In short, LEDs are the future.

 

[telectrix]

try diamondled.co.uk. i'd go for the 3watt LED at £8 each + vat. but go for the warm white, not cool white, as i think the latter are too harsh. another altenative is kosnic.

 

[Amp David]

My local whosaler has Diamond lamps in stock, but wondered id the 3 watt would give enough light.

 

[telectrix]

we have a 12ft x 7ft kitchen with 6 of the 3watt fitted. it's more than adequate. the 3 watt give similar light output to 35/50 watt GU10 halogens. by using GU 10 fit LEDs you have no problems with drivers, and i'm pretty sure they are dimmable with a suitable dimmer.

 

[Amp David]

we have a 12ft x 7ft kitchen with 6 of the 3watt fitted. it's more than adequate. the 3 watt give similar light output to 35/50 watt GU10 halogens. by using GU 10 fit LEDs you have no problems with drivers, and i'm pretty sure they are dimmable with a suitable dimmer.

Thats good to know. The room i'm lookinkg at is 9ft x 12ft with a ceiling height of 7 ft and was looking at putting 6 in

 

[telectrix]

should be spot on at that. try and miss the joists, LOL>

 

[Amp David]

New ceiling going in fortunately

 

[telectrix]

and don't forget. the downlights go in shiny side down.

 

[Adam W]

7ft isn't that high - with a 38° beam angle you'd be looking at a beam diameter of around 5.2' on the floor, so with 6 you'd have dark patches on the floor and as you walk around the room you'd just get the occasional moment where the room goes dark because you're standing directly under one of the lights, and it looks like you're being 'beamed up'.

With that in mind I reckon you'd be better off with CFL, purely for the wider angle, although you'd probably still need under cabinet lights.
... Unless the 'spots on the floor' effect is what you're looking for.

 

[Amp David]

Why do you mention under cabinet lights, they aint no cabinets in the room

What about with an angle of 60 degrees? This will be better surely

 

[telectrix]

or paint the floor white to get the reflected light effect

 

[Amp David]

Might get the painter in from the other thread, don't like painting!

 

[nickblake]

down lighter i use are the haler evo LED great little fittings installed about 30 now never a problem IP65 rated good light output and have a manufacturers warrenty of 7 years so its fit and forget no lamps to replace , they cost about £35.00 + VAT DL/SIL/F/WW EvoLED - Warm White WW

 

[Adam W]

Why do you mention under cabinet lights, they aint no cabinets in the room

What about with an angle of 60 degrees? This will be better surely

For some reason I assumed they were going in a kitchen
Yeah 60° would be better, especially if you can get LEDs with that angle.
IMO the only benefit of CFL is that I thought they had a wider angle.

 

[TPES]

These are standard GU10 aurora downlights with 11w CFL's, they fit in just nice and give a very impressive light

If you can't get 11w CFL's in your fitting you can get 7w which are shorter and should fit in most standard GU10 fittings.

 

[mogga]

HALERS 7w led with 7yr warranty when you register online no ****ing about with driver fitting lamp its a sealed all in 1 unit and quiet smart looking

 

[Amp David]

For some reason I assumed they were going in a kitchen
Yeah 60° would be better, especially if you can get LEDs with that angle.
IMO the only benefit of CFL is that I thought they had a wider angle.

Just a study room, the ones tel mentioned have a 60 degree angle

http://www.diamondled.co.uk/Resources/Product_PDFs/D1115.pdf

 

[Amp David]

HALERS 7w led with 7yr warranty when you register online no ****ing about with driver fitting lamp its a sealed all in 1 unit and quiet smart looking

Do these cost more than a standard fire rated fitting with a 10 quid led lamp fitted though.

 

[Adam W]

At £9.20 they're not too expensive either, bearing in mind you might never need to replace them.
Move over CFL, your position just became untenable.

 

[telectrix]

never liked the cfl ever since i had to use a torch to repair a connection on a fire alarm sounder with 3 cfl downlights all within 4 ft of the sounder.
( what i mean is i used the torch to see. used a screwdriver to do the repair )

 

[telectrix]

the LEDs i have are the opal 2, narrower, but with an all white kitchen they are OK for the purpose. you may prefer the 60deg. ones for your application.

 

[mogga]

Do these cost more than a standard fire rated fitting with a 10 quid led lamp fitted though.

cost around £40 ish but gaurenteed for 7years against wot for the tenner lamp?

 

[bomjac]

the LEDs i have are the opal 2, narrower, but with an all white kitchen they are OK for the purpose. you may prefer the 60deg. ones for your application.

Thanks for the insight on all this. I'd seen a few GU10s recently in one of the DIY stores, but they did not have 4 of any 1 type that I fancied using, and they were also unreasonably expensive. Probably have spent £25 on lamps alone for lamps in a new light in the last 6 month, so this really interests me.

Doing some net trawling tonight, LSimplyLED GU10s has a fair selection and none seem too expensive. The ones I like the look of (20 piece 5500 SMD) are somewhat unorthodox in their unlit appearance, but they claim to have a 120 degree angle, so should be spot on for downlighting as shown in the pic below.

 

[Mark_Burgess]

These are standard GU10 aurora downlights with 11w CFL's, they fit in just nice and give a very impressive light

If you can't get 11w CFL's in your fitting you can get 7w which are shorter and should fit in most standard GU10 fittings.

Yes like the part no:56569 from "screws fixs" only 58mm long like standard GU10's.

 

[mogga]

this link if it works is cost against halogen for halers fittings makes impressive reading even if you shorten the life to 5 years n not quoted 7 EvoLED Cost saving Calculator.xls

 

[paturback]

Found this handy little app for calculating how many lights

 

[telectrix]

looking at that, i'd say sod it and bung a twin 5' fluorescent in