need help with halogen downlighters

[Pandora]

How many downlighters do I need to install, roughly, per m. sq. of ceiling in living areas and hallways? Many thanks, Sarah

[Wheelbarrowbob]

It really depends on the size of the room and the size of lamps you are fitting, 6 x 60 W lamps will give you the same power out put as 9 x 40 W lamps. Or you could install low voltage lamps through transformers and have lots of spots without overloading your lighting circuit.

[Roger Mills]

Are you talking mains or low voltage? LV give a lot more useful light per watt than mains - so that will affect the equation.

I have got 12 x 50watt LV lamps in my L-shaped lounge, whose floor area is about 32 square metres - i.e. just under 20 watts per square metre. That gives plenty of light - in fact we rarely have them all one, but usually combine some of them (they are in 3 groups of 4) with the wall lights. With hindsight, 35 watt lamps would probably have been sufficient - giving about

13 watts per square metre. [I think there are some official guidelines somewhere - but I don't know where, off-hand].

Roger

[PoP]

A possible answer might be "how long is a piece of string?".

I know that's not what you are looking for, however it really depends on the use they are being put to. If there were emergency lights then you can get away with a fairly low light arrangement. But for normal use you'd probably need to keep the light level high.

I must admit that I wouldn't want to consider halogen lighting for normal office work - I fear it might be a bit too bright!

PoP