Recessed downlights can be a stylish and functional addition to your home, there are more and more products in global recessed downlights market. Whether you’re buying recessed downlights online or in the store, there are so many options. In this article, you will learn 6 basic technique tips for choosing recessed lighting, there are: size, type, color temperature, brightness, beam angle, color rendering index. This guide will give you the rundown on what you need to know about getting the right recessed lights for your needs.
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Size
Modern LED downlights range in size from 2-inches to 8-inches. Most homes use 4-inch and 6-inch downlights, while 8" and larger items are more likely to be used in commercial lighting.
So, when you are replacing an existing light fixture, you need to measure the hole or your existing fixture before making your purchase. You should consider whether you want to match its size to keep everything consistent. Surface mount downlights can either be installed with a J-box as a flush mount, where the fixture is visible on the ceiling or installed in a larger size recessed housing.
What size looks good? Consider the scale of the room. It’s been common practice to use large lights for general lighting and small lights for task and accent lighting.
Color Temperature
Consider what the space will be used for will help you pick the right color temperature. Lower Kelvin lights are warmer, giving off a yellow glow similar to incandescents or the glow from a fireplace. Higher Kelvin lights are a stark white or blue. This light is better for concentration, reading, and task lighting. The three most common color temperatures are warm white (K), soft white (K), and daylight (K or K).
Brightness
The brightness of LED recessed downlights is given in lumens, not watts like incandescent lamps of the past. Don’t make the mistake of comparing watts between LED lights to compare brightness. Some LEDs are more efficient than others and therefore use less watts to produce the same or more lumens.
Consider whether your space need a higher lumen light. In spaces where you want more light, please choose a high lumen light fixture and a higher wattage will usually give off more lumens.
Beam Angle
The beam angle is the amount of light that spreads from the downlight and can be measured in degrees. Most have a beam angle of 45° because they are recessed. By contrast, a regular light bulb would have a 360° beam angle.
Because they are recessed, we recommend selecting downlights with a wider beam (of 60°) if you want soft diffuse lighting in the living room. If you are looking at downlights for the kitchen, however, a narrower beam (of 25°) angle is preferable because it will give you a concentrated light, perfect for when you need to illuminate surfaces and focus on smaller details within the room.
Color Rendering Index
Referred to as CRI, it is the measurement of a light’s ability to display colors accurately in comparison to an ideal or natural light source. Using LEDs with a high CRI is important because it means that when the light illuminates a room or an object, the colors will appear as they were intended.
The LED lights you choose should have a CRI of 90 or higher.
Color rendering index (CRI) is the measurement of a light’s ability to display colors accurately in comparison to an ideal or natural light source. The index is measured from 0-100, generally, a CRI of 80 - 90 will be within the range of accurate colour rendering. If prefer to have your lights rendering beautiful, vibrant tones across the full-colour spectrum we recommend a high CRI (90+) or higher.
Type
LED recessed downlights usually go in ceilings, but you can stick them in walls and in the ground too. Do you want to buy recessed downlights for general or task lighting? Home lighting or commercial lighting? Then you will choose the right downlights easily.
There are many recessed downlights options from Goldsuno like slim panel downlights, commercial grade led downlights, anti glare downlights, led gimbal downlights, led linear downlights, modular led downlights and more.
I am building a new home and plan on using 4” recessed cans throughout as the décor and style is modern (not quite contemporary, but along those lines).
I would really appreciate some help deciding on the type and brand of lighting as my electrician will let me choose whatever I prefer. We have 10’ ceilings on the first floor and a very open floorplan (kitchen + adjacent family room + breakfast area + sunroom are all essentially one big space with partial wall dividers, measuring a total of about 35’ x 40’). Kitchen is about 15’x18, family room is about 18’x18’). So here are my main questions, I appreciate any and all suggestions:
1) Am I being crazy doing 4” cans everywhere, should I be doing 6” in the larger spaces even though I like the appearance of the lighting from 4”?
2) Should I be looking for housings for GU10 or PAR20 bases? My electrician recommends PAR20 because he feels the GU10 get loose over time and then have poor connections. That may be less of an issue now with LED bulbs lasting so long but then again with LED technology changing quickly I can see myself swapping out bulbs even if they haven’t died.
3) Should I be doing Halogen or LED for the ceiling lights in the large spaces?
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4) Is 12W (60W equivalent) currently the max available at a reasonable price for the LEDs? I am having a hard time finding anything more than 12W…
5) If 12W if the max then what would be a reasonable spacing for bulbs in a 10’ ceiling? I know that may vary based on bulb angle, but at the same time a wider bulb angle will mean more light dispersion as well. I read somewhere that you should have wattage equal to 1.5x the sq ft of the space, so for a 20 x 35’ space Im looking at close to W, at 60W per bulb that would be approximately 17 bulbs. Right now I have planned 10 for the kitchen (plus pendants but I don’t count those), and 8 for the family room. Technically the family room is larger at 18x18 so maybe I need to bump that up?
6) If you buy X brand housing do you have to use trims from the same company, or are they interchangeable? That may partially guide our decision as well.
Well, I don’t know what your budget is, but if you’re interested in LEDs, the best results are going to come from a recessed kit rather than a bulb—more room for heatsinking, to mix colors, house driving equipment, and the like. EcoSmart (sometimes called Lighting Science I believe) offers a few can retrofits that might be of interest to you. The nice thing about these is they use a standard can housing box…thing.
They have both a 6-inch and a 4-inch available. I’ve installed some in my dad’s home, and they’re really nice. He has the Lutron Maestro CL dimmers, and these bulbs dim beautifully on those switches. Because the chamber mixes light from red and white LEDs, it can adjust the ratio when dimming so the color doesn’t get “weird” the way it does when dimming other kinds of LED bulbs. But they’re expensive. And I get that. I won’t be able to afford anything like this in a home for years and years. But you may be able to get some credits from your power company or local/federal government that could bring the cost down significantly—I know my dad did when he had the roof sprayed with insulating foam. So long story short, I am not the one to ask about financial kickbacks for these expensive bulbs, but there are people who will be able to help you, and that could change the game.
I for one dont like the LED trims, because if you decide to change the light type/pattern, you have to change the entire trim, not just the bulb.
1) You like the appearance of the 4” trim, or the LIGHT from the 4” trims? Because you can get the exact same light from a 6” trim by using the same bulb. It really depends on how much light you want. 6” cans can accept up to PAR38s, which can put out up to lumens. PAR20s will be closer to 500 lumens.
2) I would definitely go with E27 sockets (PAR20, etc) over GU10, for the same reason I dont like the all in one trims. It gives you options. If you want to change the type of bulb, the light output, the beam pattern, etc, you can.
3) This is pretty subjective. Personally I prefer LED when there are no dimmers involved, and still stick to halogen when there is dimming. Again, if you go with E27 sockets, you can buy different bulbs, try them, and determine what light you like best.
4) Are you talking about PAR20s? Generally speaking LED PARs match equivalent halogens. Halogen PAR20s are generally 50 watts, so most LED PAR20s are 8-10 watts.
5) Sorry I cant help with spacing. I generally eyeball it based on the room.
6) Yes, you are supposed to buy the cans and trims together.
Though they’re not my favorite, lately I’ve been using these from Menards simply because they are cheap and readily available:
Can:
http://www.menards.com/main/lighting-fans/indoor-lights/recessed-lights/6-ic-non-ic-new-construction-housing/p--c-.htm
Remodel version:
http://www.menards.com/main/lighting-fans/indoor-lights/recessed-lights/6-ic-non-ic-remodel-housing/p--c-.htm
We use the black baffle trims because our ceilings have black accents:
http://www.menards.com/main/lighting-fans/indoor-lights/recessed-lights/6-black-baffle-recessed-trim/p--c-.htm
Or all white:
http://www.menards.com/main/lighting-fans/indoor-lights/recessed-lights/6-white-baffle-recessed-trim/p--c-.htm
The great thing about using the baffle trims is that it doesnt matter what size bulb you use, it looks OK regardless. Give me some time and I will take some pictures.
One thing I didnt mention: If you are using eyeball trims— i.e. you want to direct the light at the wall rather than straight down— then you’re more limited. 6” eyeball trims are designed for PAR30s and 4” eyeball trims are designed for PAR20s. You can put a PAR20 in a 6” eyeball trim and it wont look BAD, but it might bother the more OCD among us.
Give me some time and I will take some pictures of the various different examples in our building.
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