LED ceiling light fixtures. All in one vs replaceable bulb?

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › LED ceiling light fixtures. All in one vs replaceable bulb?

kiwijunglist

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#239654 28-Jul-2018 13:07

Hi

We've put in a new kitchen so will replace the dangling single bulb with recessed led ceiling lights. Have reasonable attic access. Will probably install them myself then have an electrician sign them off. Will probably have 4-6 ceiling lights for the kitchen. Undecided if i will also redo the rest of the house at the same time.

Don't require dimming.

Unsure if i should look at the all in one fixtures and buy a couple of spares or fixtures with a removable replaceab LL e bulbs.

Might end up buying from m10 as i have a friend's trade account which is at the highest turnover of discount.

Anyone have any recommendations or things i should avoid?

I have home automation with sonoff behind the light switches allowing remote control of lights and automations. Possibly wouldn't mind having a dinner for the lounge for movies. Have zigbee, zwave, 433mhz and 313mhz RF and use home assistant (hass.io) on a raspberry pi with Google Voice control.

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#2064087 28-Jul-2018 13:17

I prefer the integrated type, with a couple of spares.

kiwijunglist

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#2064089 28-Jul-2018 13:19

Why do you prefer integrated?

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gregmcc

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#2064098 28-Jul-2018 14:03

kiwijunglist: Hi

We've put in a new kitchen so will replace the dangling single bulb with recessed led ceiling lights. Have reasonable attic access. Will probably install them myself then have an electrician sign them off. Will probably have 4-6 ceiling lights for the kitchen. Undecided if i will also redo the rest of the house at the same time.

Don't require dimming.

Unsure if i should look at the all in one fixtures and buy a couple of spares or fixtures with a removable replaceab LL e bulbs.

Might end up buying from m10 as i have a friend's trade account which is at the highest turnover of discount.

Anyone have any recommendations or things i should avoid?

I have home automation with sonoff behind the light switches allowing remote control of lights and automations. Possibly wouldn't mind having a dinner for the lounge for movies. Have zigbee, zwave, 433mhz and 313mhz RF and use home assistant (hass.io) on a raspberry pi with Google Voice control.

all in one, they is absolutely nothing wrong them, and a much wider range of styles of fitting avalaible

As far as getting an electrician to signoff your (home owner)work, this cannot be done, only an Electrical Inspector can sign off home owner work

kiwijunglist

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#2064100 28-Jul-2018 14:05

Ahh ok. So i would just fit the fixtures and then let the electrician run the cable and switch over.

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JeremyNzl

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#2064182 28-Jul-2018 15:54

I redid my kitchen roof in 2015, put 9x13w dimmable candybar downlights + 3x7w over the bench,

Sparky I knew recommended 4x13 with no dimmer. I don't regret using the extras at all.

Its great to have extra light for a project on the kitchen table, and also a soft light for entertaining.

https://www.lpled.co.nz/product/tradetec-arte/

I also used a lighting calculator to get some idea

https://www.lpled.co.nz/how-many-lights/

I paid 13nzd on a good trade discount xgst

scuwp

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#2064191 28-Jul-2018 16:24

We recently upgraded our entire house. Regret not doing it sooner...incredible difference.

Went for the complete units. Larger range and with the expected lifetimes, a 5 year warranty, and only slightly more expensive that decent bulbs, was totally worth it.

I looked at the usual suspects (Bunnings M10)but ended up getting from Lighting Plus. They have better products, cheaper, and more range.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

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mattwnz

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#2064422 29-Jul-2018 01:51

timmmay:

I prefer the integrated type, with a couple of spares.

What percentage of spares is recommended? The problem is if one doesn't buy spares, and some units fail prematurely , say after 8 years, how easy will it be to get one that matches? Eg one my buy some stain chrome donwlights, but the store may have ceased selling that model or colour, which would result in needing to change all the lights in that room so they match, as having one that is different would look terrible. Apparently the all in one units are more reliable, but not sure if that is just marketing hype.

andrewNZ

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#2064425 29-Jul-2018 07:04

Get plug in one's, they are all connected ready to go. The electrician just installs a regular socket in the roof space.
Next time you need to replace them, you won't need an electrician.

As for spares, I'm not sure of the need. Led lights are getting cheaper all the time. A complete fitting is often under $20.
Then consider the advances in lighting in the last 10 years, an ask yourself, what are the odds you're going to want the same lights in 10 years.

kiwijunglist

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#2064427 29-Jul-2018 08:00

I think you are allowed to replace like for like for light fittings switches and plugs so you probably don't have to buy one with a plug the terminal ones are probably replacable by the home owner that is armed with a screw driver and common sense (for a single write terminal you usually bend the wire over but if putting two wires into a terminal you don't)

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gregmcc

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#2064436 29-Jul-2018 08:37

kiwijunglist: I think you are allowed to replace like for like for light fittings switches and plugs so you probably don't have to buy one with a plug the terminal ones are probably replacable by the home owner that is armed with a screw driver and common sense (for a single write terminal you usually bend the wire over but if putting two wires into a terminal you don't)

Which would be fine if you were replacing a batten light with another surface fitting, but fitting a recessed, fitting a 3 pin socket to existing wiring (most LED down lights come pre-fitted with a cord and plug), does the existing wiring have a earth with it? a good chance that it may not if it's an older house, pretty soon this kind of things exceeds the knowledge most homeowners have about home wiring.

kiwijunglist

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#2064437 29-Jul-2018 08:45

I'm taking about buying a spare light fixture and replacing an identical light fixture with the spare light fixture if the led fixture dies prematurely. That would be very easy to do and i think i recall reading you are allowed to do that.

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robjg63

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#2064452 29-Jul-2018 10:26

I think this has gone a bit off topic.
Pros of ordinary led bulbs - can relatively easily replace if one fails.

Cons of all in one fitting - if one unit craps out in a year or two, you almost certainly won't be able to find an identical replacement.

I know the argument about theoretical life of an led unit, but they do have a failure rate like anything else.

All in ones look very nice - how many are you likely to install? How much will a couple of spares cost you?

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

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#2064458 29-Jul-2018 10:46

I'm going to go find out how much they cost on trade and how they look like today. I think i want to put dimmable in the lounge and standard in the dining and kitchen. They sell hpm ones that you can tilt and i might get those for the kitchen as i want to use one of the existing ceiling holes so i can't line them directly over the kitchen bench or dining table might be nice to get an adjustable one.

https://hpm.co.nz/products/lighting/indoor/downlights

https://hpm.co.nz/products/dli-tilt-downlight-dimmable-warm-white-light

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FineWine

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#2064481 29-Jul-2018 11:26

Next weekend I'm assisting my brother who is a retired electrician to install these throughout the my entire house. Robus Taylor LED Downlight Taylor 10W CCT, these are all-in-one and dimmable. He still gets trade from https://www.ideal.co.nz/ so they are costing me $20 ea plus $69 for a dimmer in the lounge. I believe these lights they have a type of snap-shut connection clip box.

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

Aredwood

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#2064492 29-Jul-2018 11:53

robjg63: I think this has gone a bit off topic.
Pros of ordinary led bulbs - can relatively easily replace if one fails.

Cons of all in one fitting - if one unit craps out in a year or two, you almost certainly won't be able to find an identical replacement.

I know the argument about theoretical life of an led unit, but they do have a failure rate like anything else.

All in ones look very nice - how many are you likely to install? How much will a couple of spares cost you?

Get units with the driver circuit separate from the actual LED fixture. As worst case, if you run out of spare fittings. You can just replace the drivers.

Assuming that the LEDs themselves are not being run right at their limits. The drivers will be dead long before the LEDs fail.

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