Please can someone talk to me about SPOTLIGHTS

[culturemulcher]

Sorry for in advance for super-boring thread, but can someone talk to me about spotlights.

We've got an electrician coming to put some in on a ceiling which is too low for pendant lights. Should I only be thinking about halogen lights? I'm not sure I like them (not sure I like spotlights at all tbh.

The ceiling is in a landing/hallway area, not a kitchen or a bathroom.

Any advice appreciated.

you can also have LED downlighters. they don't get HOT as halogens do, and apparently the bulbs will last for 30 years... we have just had some installed, and are really happy with it.

we have LED downlighters too, they are GU10 fittings the same as the halogen ones- they are great, VERY bright. However, if you don't like them why not have have wall lights, they can work well in halls.

Ooh LEDs - I hadn't thought of these. Are they scarily expensive? Is the light a bit, er, dazzley?

Wall lights won't work in the space, unfortunately.

Philips now offer an MR16 lamp (the bi-pin type for use with a 12 volt transformer) as well as GU10 lamps (230V) which are dimable.

I saw them at a recent presentation & was very impressed.

Make sure you pick 2700k colour if you don't like the whiter light.

They do get hot though, just not in the same place as halogen lamps.

30,0000 hours should be a minimum life expectancy.

Thanks - that's good advice.

Do you know if LEDs are more or less expensive to run (how much electricity they use) than halogens?

I think LEDs are more expensive to buy but much cheaper to run. I've had some dimmable ones fitted (much more expensive again) and I'm not convinced they are as bright as the non dimmable ones. That said, I wouldn't think you'd need dimmers in the hall.

That's good to know.

Can anyone tell me gulp what I should expect to pay for the spot light fittings and LED bulbs?

Can't give you a figure off the top of my head but apparently the lower running costs should pay for the extra expense within a couple of years

Good ones will be many times the cost of incandescent. Payback comes in two ways, energy saving & extended life.

If you have lights that are in use for 8 hours a day, energy saving will pay back much quicker than only an hour or two a day (15 months/8hrs vs 6yrs/2hrs).

I am about to change all the dichroics in my house with LED replacements (MR16 type).

I will report back with costs later.

if you have an older house, try to avoid downlighters which need holes cut in the ceilings.

Spotlights are good for illuminating a spot but are inefficient for evenly illuminating a whole room, as they give patches of dark and pools of light. You will find some people with spots in kitchens need more than a dozen of them.

PigletJohn thanks for the comment on spotlights but what's the alternative? We're about to put a new kitchen extension on an old house, the ceiling won't be very high because of restrictions on existing windows on the back of the house IYSWIM so I was going to use spotlights in the kitchen, sounds like a bad idea though?
(sorry for hijack OP)

In a kitchen, you need the work surfaces illuminated so you aren't working in your own shadow. Lights under the wall units are one way of doing it. I still like ceiling lamps for illuminating the room. Strip lights are actually effective but not popular domestically.

If the ceiling is too low for a pendant you can get various globes and opal or cystal ceiling-mounted lamps, like you might find in a bathroom.

Have a look at a good big display of lamps to see what appeals. John Lewis and Homebase usually have one. If you have a work island, or worktops with no wall units above, you can use small pendants as you won't bang your head on them.

No problem at all besmirched, I was about to ask the same question .

Piglet interesting point about the pools of light and dark, and it's something I'm worried about. Ours is an old house, but the ceiling is a more recent addition (not by us) and is lower. We can't raise it. It's in an attic space so the walls curve and we can't go with wall lights. So spot lights seem to be the only option.... unless you have another? .

Depending what you like the look of...

I have some 150mm CFL globe lamps. They have a big opal globe so there is no sharp point of bright light to hurt the eyes, and they give a good diffused light. This means I can use them in open lampshades, at home and in my commercial premises. A 22W one gives about as much light as a 100W old-fashioned filament lamp. I think they look quite nice, but opinions will differ. I use one in a batten bulbholder (i.e. tight to the ceiling with no pendant flex) in the bathroom and on steps where there is not much headrooom. They should last 5,000 to 8,000 hours.

I made the mistake of buying some Memolux ones from my wholesaler because the name made me think they were made by a well-known top-quality electrical manufacturer of a similar name, but they were very poor. GE and Philips ones are a bit dearer but probably worth it. Osram are usually very good. They last such a long time that I have not bought any recently.

You can get CFLs with a smaller bulb-shaped opal globe that doesn't look too bad, at ordinary prices. "Golfball" lamps look OK but are much smaller. If the lamp is visible (no shade or an open shade) then a big opal globe in "warm white" looks much better than a coil or stick lamp. I find LEDs too white and too bright.

If ordering, make sure you specify "Edison Screw" or "Bayonet Cap" depending on your lampholders. BC is most common in the UK.

Thanks. Unfortunately we just don't have the head-hight for any kind of sticky-downy thing.

I hate holes in ceilings and downlighters, so probably can't help

Maybe you could put something small in the corners of the ceiling where it meets the wall, both sides, where heads are unlikely to hit it?

I echo John's comments about holes in ceilings. I put some spots in an old ceiling (same problem as you... very low ceiling) and it was a pain in the arse. But, if you're putting them into a new extension you'll have plasterboard ceiling and it's dead easy to cut neat holes.

You can get halogen bulbs with different illumination angles, which can reduce the pooling effect of the light. I used bulbs with the widest angles I could find to give as much light as possible into the whole room.

It is a bit of a worry, yes. Luckily I've got electricians to fit the lights (and oodles of new plug sockets - hurray).

I've just ordered these . I'm hoping the tilt will allow us to bounce a bit of light around instead of having it straight down. I'm hoping that I can change the bulbs for a softer light as FacombeHall suggested when money time allows.

Gulp.

They're not beautiful, but I'm hoping they'll at least be unobtrusive.