I need to replace some 12V downlighters in the shower room ceiling and am trying to make sure I source the correct fittings. Could some kind soul verify I've interpreted the zones and regs correctly?
The ceiling is 2.20m high.
Light #1: immediately above the shower - Zone 1
Light #2: 45cm away horizontally from the shower cubicle, so I reckon that's Zone 2?
Light #3: 70cm away horizontally from the shower cubicle, and 17cm away horizontally from the sink - outside the zones?
And I can use 240V downlighters (of appropriate IP rating) in all 3 locations?
>>>>>>>> with an LED lamp - it describes iself as a "showerlight" and is >>> IP65-rated. >>
Also have a think about whether you really want mains halogen's in that circumstance, since shower lights etc are harder to disassemble for lamp changes - and GU10s mean you will be doing far more often! ;-)
That particular location might be a prime location for an LED fitting - either an all-in-one, or a GU10.
However, if GU10, it is worth buying a fitting designed for LEDs which are a bit longer to accomodate more LED lamps. You can get LED GU10 lamps which are the same dimensions as a regular GU10, but are limited to around 4W or less.
On another tack, these are what I have in my shower area:
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SELV (so even better safety wise), easy to change - unscrew the "glass" and pull the bulb out. Not too bright though - I run 5 in my 3m2 bathroom off one transformer, but the distributed light is quite nice, no shadows...
have *had it* with bloody LV halogens; SWMBO decreed the we fitted them about 10 years ago at home in the kitchen, bathroom and shower room during a refurb, and despite having experimented with different brands/wattages etc, and putting them all on their own PSUs, we've got through lamps at an unbelievable rate over the years and I've never got to the bottom of why.
As I mentioned though I've decided to have a crack at LED GU10s (nothwithstanding Mr Wadsworth's reservations), at least for the showerlight, so *hopefully* it will last a reasonable time. Not sure about the other lamps yet, but ideally if they're bright enough I would like to use LEDs there too... and SWMBO prefers 'mood' over 'clinical' lighting in the ensuite, and there's already a bright, fluorescent mirror-light anyway
Odd... I wonder if there were some local condition that caused this?
I personally have found that the LVs last significantly better than the mains - although it does depend on where you get your bulbs. Decent branded ones that have not be juggled by a muppet seem to last much better.
I used to have mains GU10s in my previous kitchen (a set of 4) and generally speaking could look at relamping each spot at least once a year, and probably more often. I have a tracklight in the current kitchen, with 4 LV GZ10s and have so far replaced 2 lamps in 4 years.
In the shower room I did at the last place, I used 35W LV lamps. I found I had a couple of lamps go fairly quickly, but then the replacements lasted all the time I was there (so at lest 3-4 years)
Yup, sorry missed the bit about the LED. That *may* help on the lamping frequency - it depends a bit on the type of LEDs...
I have seen some "white" LEDs that are very blue, have a narrow beam angle and produce little light. However I have also seen a kitchen done in some very high output LEDs (4 per GU10 sized lamp) and they genuinely did appear to be as bright as mains halogens. However they suffered two problems. The minor one was the light quality was very like a warm white CFL, and the second more noticeable problem was premature LED failure. Several lamps had lost one LED in the space of the first couple of months use.
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