LED Downlight spacings

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dickytim

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#196804 13-Jun-2016 12:52

I am in the planning stage of the lighting in our kitchen and lounge room.

I am looking at some LED Downlights 12W 110 degree spread in cool white.

The question is how do I work out how many I need? I know they will have a SHR but when working this out for my self how do I do it?

roof height x 110 degrees / ? = spacing.

Ideally I just want a nice even light coverage and don't want to get 6 months down the track and work out that we went wrong.

http://www.vynco-lighting.co.nz/userfiles/file/Classico%20Gen%203%20pamphlet.pdf

I am looking at the M4 version of these.

gregmcc

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#1570978 13-Jun-2016 12:55

the spec sheet should give you details on the lighting spread at difference distances, from there you should be able to work out how close they need to be spaced

tchart

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#1570997 13-Jun-2016 13:23

Are you doing it yourself? Our sparky helped us with placing/quantity.

We recently completed a new build. Our main living, dining and kitchen are is open plan (roughly 38m2)

The living area has 4 x 12W LED downlights

The dining are has 4 x 12W LED downlights

The kithcen has 3 x 12W LED downlights plus 3 pendants over the bench

If you want I can measure the spacings tonight if you want.

Update: Added area

dickytim

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#1571003 13-Jun-2016 13:35

Yes we are getting these installed by a sparky but i am purchasing them myself.

Just need to get a quote from the supplier.

Our room is kitchen and lounge only and quite small.

I was thinking 5 x would do the job but wanted to be a bit more scientific about it with a calculator of sorts.

tchart

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#1571005 13-Jun-2016 13:41

dickytim: Yes we are getting these installed by a sparky but i am purchasing them myself.

Just need to get a quote from the supplier.

Our room is kitchen and lounge only and quite small.

I was thinking 5 x would do the job but wanted to be a bit more scientific about it with a calculator of sorts.

Whats the area?

Unless the areas are clearly separate zones I'd probably go for an even number. The reason we have 3 in the kitchen is 1 over the oven, 1 over the cook top and 1 over the pantry. The kitchen island divides the area into a "zone".

BTW just some other thoughts. We have a walk in pantry, there are 2 LED's in there (no window). Our walk in wardrobe has 1 (but has a window). One 12W does give off a fair amount of light.

BTR

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#1571008 13-Jun-2016 13:45

We have 4 x 11w LED down lights in our lounge and 2 x 11w LED in our bathroom.

If you are buying them yourself here is a couple of things to bear in mind.

1. I would recommend buying lights with the "covered and abutted" rating that way you don't have to worry about your house setting on fire.

2. Some lights are dim-able and others aren't.

3. Some lights have internal drivers and others have external. External drivers are better because if the driver dies you won't have to replace the whole lights fitting which could be expensive if you have a whole room full and you can't find a matching replacement.

4. If you are buying them from a shop see if they have any on display, cool white can be harder on the eyes compared to warm white.

Good luck

dickytim

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#1571027 13-Jun-2016 13:56

The area is an L shape and eventally the Mrs wants a pendant light over the counter.

I was looking at 2 x kitchen and 3 x lounge.will measure up tonight.

timmmay

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#1571085 13-Jun-2016 15:21

110 degree spread isn't that much. I have two different types that have the frosted bottom, they're both more than that. In our 3.5 or 4m long bathroom we have three lights spaced evenly, it's nice and bright. In my approx 4x3m office I have four lights, probably most of a meter from the corners, also works well.

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mattwnz

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#1571098 13-Jun-2016 15:48

Some rooms such as Kitchens, need more light than other rooms. So you should work out how many lumens in the room you require based on the room size and the lux for the space. The voltage and wattage aren't a big reflection on the amount of light that is produced, and better quality LED lights tend to be more efficient, and produce more light per watt. It is all about the lumens produced by the light, and the spread of light it produces over a distance. I am designing a lighting layout at the moment for a house, and I think it is better to have more lights than less, as you can't install more later on very easily.. This pge can help to work out the lux required. http://pilux-danpex.gr/downloads/Required_Light_LevelsEN.pdf PS. Many houses in NZ are poorly lit, as they are built as cheaply as possible.

timmmay

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#1571318 13-Jun-2016 21:16

I went with one of those lighting calculators for my home office, and as a result had to put a dimmer in. If you plan on dimming get a unit that the electrician has used before, I've had a lot of hassle getting dimmable LEDs to work. Finally done it I think with the latest kiwi electronics dimmer made especially for LED lights.

tchart

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#1571563 14-Jun-2016 11:45

Measured mine - not scientifically (just pacing). Spacing is around 2.5m between downlights.

I'd agree with Timmay that the lights are very bright, wish I had a dimmer in the lounge. I usually have to turn them off and leave the pendants on if I want to want mood lighting to watch a movie.

timmmay

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#1571567 14-Jun-2016 11:49

Even with 4xCFL ceiling lights in our lounge we only ever have two on when watching TV, but most of the time we turn them all off and just have a tall lamp bouncing light off the ceiling, for less light, and indirect. I replaced the 500W halogen bulb with a 12W dimmable LED from ebay years ago, it's not quite bright enough all the time but it's great for $12.

dickytim

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#1571584 14-Jun-2016 12:17

tchart:

Measured mine - not scientifically (just pacing). Spacing is around 2.5m between downlights.

I'd agree with Timmay that the lights are very bright, wish I had a dimmer in the lounge. I usually have to turn them off and leave the pendants on if I want to want mood lighting to watch a movie.

Yes I agree, I used to work for an importer of the LED downlights, panels etc.

We are going to have a pendant between the lounge and kitchen, this is purely for show. We currently have lamps and they will be used for mood/TV/movie watching.

The units I am getting are dimable but probably wont in the short term

So my room measures

7.0m x 3.5m for the lounge area.

2.5 x 3.5 for the kitchen

I am thinking of getting 5 units with 3 in the lounge and 1-2 in the kitchen as I would like to have good lighting in the kitchen.