I'm redecorating the bedroom and en-suite and was thinking of putting in low volatge halogen downlighters.
Bedroom is about 18ft*12ft and currently lit by 2*60w mains spotlights I was wondering how many 12v 20w lights I would need to give rough light equivalent? say 2 of these kits (6 lamps in total)? or more?
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could one of these kits be used in the bathroom? (away from the bath).. Finally ... whats the life expectacy of these bulbs comapred with ordinary mains voltage filament bulbs?
I have just fitted low voltage in my kitchen and bathroom. I also removed one of those screw fix kits that was used to illuminate my stairs and landing. I found that it was quite dim so personally I would opt for 35w or
50w fittings.
I have 4x50w in my kitchen/diner to illuminate the kitchen area (normal pendant over the dining area). The kitchen is around 9ft*11ft and those provide ample light.
In my bathroom which is similar dimensions I have 4x35w (low voltage) and these also provide ample light. For some reason (might be lamp type) it actually feels brighter than the kitchen. In any case its plenty enough light.
My rooms aren't as big as yours so this info is for illustration only.
Hmm, any other lighting? sounds like you like a lot less light than me.
Your room is what maybe 20 sq metres? In our bathroom I put in 5 - the room is about 3x2.5 m - about 7-8 sq metres. i wouldn't want less, and if fact may yet put another one in there. But the light level is higher than you have I would guess. I have heard a rule of about i lamp per 1-
1.5 metres, which goes along with my experience.
Even so 6 x 20W LV downlighters is not going to be enough in that space IMO. Remember the light is directed mostly downwards, there isn't so much light reflected back from the ceiling, and you can get dull areas away from the spots. I would use at least 9 I think - actually, if it was me I'd use a lot more...... Though actually, even though I like LV downlighters, I wouldn't use them for sole/main space lighting in such a room. They are much better used as additional lighting I think, task, lighting, highlighting things, giving light in specific areas.
I just redoing out bedroom (about 4.5 x 3.5 m), there is going to be a central light (to replace the 2x100W fittings we had. there will be two wall spots over the bed as reading lights, I am using LV downlighters as well, but in specific areas, 2 lots of 3 lights in front of the fitted wardrobes (fitted into the 'cornice' bit.) both to highlight the wardrobes and to give some lighting into them without having to turn the main lights on. Also we have a lower ceiling in the bay which tend to make that area bit dim - so 3 more are going into there.
However, you can use higher wattage bulbs, though 50W IME is a rather bright in a normal height room, 35 W might be better though, and you can get bulbs with differing beam spreads, the standard ones are I think about 38 degrees,. Though you might not be able to use this kit.
You can use them in the bathroom, including over the bath if you wish
However, I'd suggest not using the kit, but buying the lamps and the transformers separately. The kits comes with prewired lengths of cable with little plugs on, fine, but you may lose flexibility in placing the lamps and transformers. You also get the flexibility to have the possibility of higher wattage bulbs. The cast metal downlighters from Screwfix are also much better than the pressed ones.
Quoted life I've seen is 1000 -4000 hours, so similar to mains bulbs
-born out by my experience. Of course with lots more bulbs you have to replace them more often......
Homebase now do not sell any LV lights. they are all mains. It appears it is all going that way. Homebase still sell the lamps, but after so many years demand will drop off.
My bedroom's around 17' x 12' and I've got 5*50W Dychrotic Halagons (GZ10 bulb) in the ceiling and 2*40W in the wall lamps for the bedsides. With all lights on the room is very bright but not eye straining. I've got 2 halagons over the desk & PC and 3 in front of a long wardrobe. The 2 wall lamps are opposite the robe so there is even light around the room.
Did I make a point? Not sure but I think I'm trying to say that 6 * 20W would be a bit dim for my liking especially as the spots are usually quite focused. My beam angles are 40 degress IIRC.
Thanks to all for the replies.... I guess I'll have a rethink...
I made a mistake in the original append ... we currently have 3*60w mains spotlights (r80?) (on quite an ugly, chunky bar arrangement about 3ft long) which lights the room adequately... (and 2*40w bedside reading lamps... ).... I guess I was wanting to replace the chunky spotlights with something more modern, less chunky... maybe downlighters are not the best thing after all?
in the bathroom I currently have 2 small white glass globes (60w max each)... in which I had some compact fluorescent lamps ... which gave out the equivalent of 100w each... light from these was good... but compact fluorescent lamps started to take a long time to "warm up" then failed after 6 months... 60w ordinary bulbs don't give out enough light... maybe I should supplement with the 3*20w LV downlighters... or maybe just keep buying the compact fluorescent lamps?
My local B&Q had a sale special on some lights but not downlighters - spotlights. Anyway, not the question.
I wouldn't have thought that was enough watts.
Also, I'm very confused about bathroom lights. I'm going to fit a strip but whilst it's not above the shower/bath, it's only about a foot away. That said, the ceilings in my house are pretty high.
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