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Quality LED down light advice sought

(8 posts) (5 voices)

Started 10 years ago by munter
Latest reply from decerebrated

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munter
Member

We are extending our house and are looking at lighting options. In some areas we are planning on using down lighting. We have discounted GU10 CFLs because they seem to struggle to get to the same light output as something like a 50W halogen. Instead we are looking to use LEDs. There are heaps on the market but our requirements are a little specific. We will have a high, sloped ceiling and so are looking for quality gimbaled LEDs. I have been told that a narrow beam angle is preferable for high fixtures to ensure adequate light intensity at ground level. The LED fittings that we have considered so far are:

Brightgreen D900
Thinkwise Genesis 16
Cree LR6
Osram 15W LED

Each of these has drawbacks though. The Brightgreen only gimbals 15 degrees and I need closer to 30.
The Thinkwise has a beam angle of 40 degrees but anecdotally it is a bit wider than this
The Cree is very expensive and doesn't appear to be gimbaled
The Osram is only gimabaled 15 degrees.

For the fittings above the floor price seems to be about $90 which adds up to quite a bit for the whole project.

Are there any other quality LED downlight units should I consider?

Posted Monday 15 Aug 2011 @ 7:02:01 am from IP #
ghostgum
Member

Are you planning an array of downlights to get close to uniform light on the floor, or just bright light in a few areas?

Are you doing some uplighting as well?

Posted Monday 15 Aug 2011 @ 9:59:03 am from IP #
munter
Member

The lounge area is about 5 x 5 m. We were planning on using a central fan and having downlights (either 4 or 6) around the perimeter. We were also thinking of using uplighting reflecting off the ceiling. Our builder has warned that uplighting will be very unforgiving to any rough finishing in the ceiling as it would cast shadows.

Posted Monday 15 Aug 2011 @ 11:56:46 pm from IP #
ghostgum
Member

Our builder also warned us about uplighting. Fortunately the plasterer did a good job, and the only obvious spot is in a bedroom, not the living areas. It's not the uplighting off the ceiling that is the problem, but more the light shining along a wall or ceiling showing up the bumps in the surface. With care you could light the ceiling but not the wall. We used fluorescents for uplighting 4 years ago. Now I would use LEDs.

If you have exposed beams, you could use spot lights that are below the ceiling. You could also mount these on walls. I'm not sure what is available, nor what you think of seeing a big heatsink on a gimbal sticking off a wall or beam.

Posted Tuesday 16 Aug 2011 @ 4:32:45 am from IP #
Littlehouse18
Member

Munter, did you ever choose an LED product and how have you found it? We are trying to sort out lighting design in our new build with tricky lighting challenges like wood panelled cathedral ceilings or low-ish brick or wood ceilings. We are currently looking at installing dimmable up and down LED lights on the walls to provide indirect lighting along the ceiling and down the walls. If anyone has had any experience in this, I would love to hear about it. (Just for a bit of extra fun, we are also looking at a DALI automation system for the lighting - but that is probably a subject for another post).

Posted Thursday 21 Feb 2013 @ 1:49:35 pm from IP #
sandystone
Member

Re the downlighting- I installed the (2 x) Brightgreens over the kitchen counter and have found them excellent in every respect. Chosen partly because of the high CRI (colour rendering index) which I wanted because (food) colours show up better.

Re the uplighting- While the builder has a valid point about showing the imperfections in the ceiling, there would be few ceilings with more uneven plaster than ours, but we don't spend anytime at all considering the ceiling, but rather really enjoy the beautiful glow of ambient lighting from the uplights. The uplights are 2 x separately switched T-5 fluorescent.
The main issue with uplights is the necessity to periodically clean the lamps and surrounding surfaces of bugs and dust that inevitably build up over time.

The entire combined kitchen living area of around 6 x 7 metres is lit by these 4 lamps and each one provides a different lighting quality/ effect. All this is mounted on a suspended console unit mounted 1 metre over the kitchen bench (with integrated rangehood) and a top surface is about 800 below the (2700ht) ceiling.
The console allowed allowed downlighting without puncturing the ceiling and insulation.

So very happy with the uplights and downlights... hope this experience assists.

ps DALI is great , but expensive and suites commercial installations very well where lights are used during the day, so perhaps overkill in most domestic situations?

Posted Thursday 28 Feb 2013 @ 11:20:15 pm from IP #
munter
Member

We ended up with a mix. Thinkwise g16 gimbaled LEDs for the lounge and brightgreen d900s in other areas. Cost for each was about $90. Both give out nice light but I probably slightly prefer the d900s. The fitting feels of better quality. I did have a couple of issues with the springs in those not being strong enough so we had to chock the bulbs up a bit. No great drama though.
I looked at a couple of other Chinese eBay alternatives. Nothing I bought from there came close in terms of light output or quality. They will get there at some point though so its worth keeping an eye on.
Overall I'm very pleased with the two brands of LEDs that we have and would recommend them. Our extended house still only uses 7 kwhr/day even though the lit area, number of rooms and number of inhabitants has increased from our I renovated house.

Posted Tuesday 5 Mar 2013 @ 9:36:09 pm from IP #
decerebrated
Member

Wagner Electronic Services have some really great LED lights. Not cheap and as I've found you have to be careful picking ones that are dimmable as to whether or not you have leading or trailling edge dimmers installed.
The new dimmable GU10 Leds globes I bought for around $40 were based on Cree MTG LEDs and had an output equivalent to a 50watt halogen globe

Posted Wednesday 6 Mar 2013 @ 12:05:16 pm from IP #

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