Replacing downlighters with pendant lights, anyone done it?

[MM]

In an earlier comment I remarked that I've never been a fan of downlighters, having grown up in the 1950s to the dim, but welcome glow from a pendant lamp hanging from the ceiling. Downlighters are too harsh. I don't think they are the right kind of light for domestic dwellings. More suitable for shops, or light industrial premises perhaps.

Then while I was having my usual soak in a warm bath I pondered and thought, why couldn't I just fit pendant lights instead? I would disable all but two of the downlighters in the kitchen (where the lights are on more than anywhere else in the house), then convert the two remaining ones, one at each end of the kitchen, to pendants.

I would disconnect the 12V transformers and connect a ceiling rose direct to the brown terminal box. So I wouldn't need much at all. A couple of ceiling roses, bulb sockets and cable (I've got plenty of suitable cable).

The henceforth unused downlighters: They would just be disconnected and the bulbs left in place in case a future owner wanted to revert back to downlighters.

Sounds like a plan?

MM

[Judith]

How many children do you have

When are you moving to Germany

[ARW]

I assume the the unused downlighters will also have the transformers disconnected and not just the lamps disconnected:-) If so then go for it.

[Andrew Gabriel]

In a friend's rented flat which was all downlighers (50W MR16), they had a pendant they wanted to use in the children's bedroom. It was a mains lamp which took an ES globe bulb (which formed the head of a cartoon character). I couldn't get to the mains supply without damaging the ceiling - only the 12V transformer output was accessible.

I converted the pendant to 12V, but with a view to not making any permanent changes as it was likely to be moved again, and the MR16 would need to be reinstated on moving out of the flat. I found a dead ES CFL, and removed the tube and electronics, leaving just the lampholder attached to the plastic gear case. I bought a small glass globe shade and made a fitting for it on the plastic gear case, and put a halogen capsule lampholder on a stalk to position it in the middle of the globe, and fitted a 20W halogen capsule. To suspend it from the MR16 hole, I got a metal bar about 4" long, with the flex coming through a hole in the middle, and threaded it through the MR16 hole, resting on the back of the bezel.

For the other MR16's which weren't needed, I just left dead lamps in them (with 8 of these per room, there were no shortage of dead ones;-).

[MM]

Well, I would have just left them connected until I read your post now! Of course, there would be no need to leave them connected. However, they won't consume much if anything if the bulbs are disconnected, or...?

It would make it a lot easier for a future owner to reinstate the downlighters simply by reconnecting the bulbs. But I'm open to suggestions!

Meanwhile I Googled a bit and found that this idea of mine is shared by a lot of people, although they are mainly talking about replacing can lights with pendants.

MM

[Judith]

when are you moving to Germany.

How many children do you have.

[Judith]

Learn how to snip posts

[MM]

Unfortunately, I've thrown my dead ones away as they were replaced, so I'd have to just disconnect the bulbs and leave them in situ.

I don't understand why the mains outlet to the transformer was so inaccessible, because you'd need to access it to replace the transformer (which I've done four of by now, although four in 10 years from approx 25 downlighters in total ain't bad, I suppose).

When I pull the bulb holder from the ceiling, it comes out, then the transformer and finally the connector block (pic4):

MM

[Judith]

learn how to snip post mitchell

[Tim Streater]

I take it the connector block is the little brown round thing with the screw in the middle. Doesn't it use any strain relief? Looks like where the cable coming through the ceiling enters it, I can see a tiny bit of the individual wires in pic4. Are these just held on the grub screws inside the block?

[MM]

Yes. There is no other fixing. Mind you, there's no weight pulling down at the bulb end, and the transformer just rests on the surface of the plasterboard. The brown, round connector block just dangles on the end of the 240V house wiring. It's the same throughout the house, which was built in 2004.

MM

[ARW]

Andrew Gabriel is far better qualified than me to say if transformers use any power when there is no lamp attached.

Anyway it's only 25 you have to deal with so get on with it and get them disconnected. It will give a retired (but not old) git something to do:-)

I hate downlights, I have fitted thousands of them just because that is what customers and builders want fitted.

[Tim Streater]

Well I'll be hornswoggled. There's no strain, of course, until you do what you're doing, namely having everything dangle while you fiddle with it. So there's no strain until there's a strain. Hmmm, well if that's SOP then I can dismantle all the loos in my house - there's no shit until there's shit, after all.

[ARW]

But the OP did not fit the downlights. I don't think he likes downlights.

And can we call the brown, round connector block a junction box?

[Tim Streater]

Oh, I'm not blaming the OP, just as it might be the builders, electrical code specifiers, or whoever allowed or installed something where you screw wires into it with no strain relief.

[tim......]

And I thought it was just me

Oh dear, I've agreed with MM, better go and lie down for a while :-)

tim

[MM]

Tim Streater wrote in news:171120131928541443% [e-mail]:

There is NO strain to relieve. The mains wiring comes off the joist near where the downlighter is installed. On the end of the mains wiring the electrician has fitted the brown, round connection box (BRCB). The mains wiring itself has plenty enough stiffness to "support" the BRCB. The transformer is wired into the BRCB and rests on the plasterboard, so no strain there. The transformer is also connected to the bulb holder, which sits in the ceiling recess and retained by a spring clip, so no strain there either.

You seem to be desperately looking for a problem where there is none.

MM

[Tim Streater]

There's no strain while it's installed, certainly. There is when it's all hanging down. Not much, perhaps, but some. As I said above, there's no strain until there's a strain. Most strain relief is, most of the time, doing nothing. Does that mean it shouldn't be there?

[Judith]

Tim Streater wrote in news:171120131928541443% [e-mail]:

when are you moving to germany

how many children do you have

[John Rumm]

This really sounds like a non issue to me. Transformers themselves rarely have any strain relief clamps etc anyway - relying on layout / cable clips to do the job.