Home  5  Books  5  GBEzine  5  News  5  HelpDesk  5  Register  5  GreenBuilding.co.uk
Not signed in (Sign In)

Categories



Green Building Bible, Fourth Edition
Green Building Bible, fourth edition (both books)
These two books are the perfect starting place to help you get to grips with one of the most vitally important aspects of our society - our homes and living environment.

PLEASE NOTE: A download link for Volume 1 will be sent to you by email and Volume 2 will be sent to you by post as a book.
Buy individually or both books together. Delivery is free!


powered by Surfing Waves




Vanilla 1.0.3 is a product of Lussumo. More Information: Documentation, Community Support.

Welcome to new Forum Visitors
 Join the forum now and benefit from discussions with thousands of other green building fans and discounts on Green Building Press publications: Apply now.

The AECB accepts no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions in the content of this site. Views given in posts are not necessarily the views of the AECB.



General: Downlights - green options?

Bottom of Page

1 to 16 of 16

  1.  
  1.  
    I need to spec some lights for a new kitchen. I was horrified when I realised how much power is used by the average downlight set up.

    What are the alternatives? Are there any decent/prven LED kits out there? Is 12v better than 240v?

    Suggestions/feedback appreciated.
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeNov 5th 2007
     
    Fluorescent or compact fluorescent? HQI? LED even
  3.  
    I 've used 240v fire rated adjustables down lights with a 7 -11watt GU 10 compact fluorescent for a while now,
    and the customers seem happy, you cant dim them though
    also you have to be careful to find one deep enough to take the CFL GU10 bulbs as it a bit longer

    the GU10 LEDs I've tried aren't up to much and are a bit blueish , some electrians are using them for effect lighting.



    if the downlight is in the ceiling below a insulated loft ( no need to be fire rated)
    use a large 9"+ earthenware plant pot over the light , seal it for air tightness and insulate straight over the top


    a NICEIC inspector gave me that tip and its a lot cheaper than the various device you can buy to do the job
    •  
      CommentAuthornigel
    • CommentTimeNov 5th 2007
     
    flameguard make a downlighter to suit the megaman gu10 compact fluorescent.

    It can be used without a cover in insulated voids and it also has an airtight seal.
    •  
      CommentAuthorOlly
    • CommentTimeNov 6th 2007 edited
     
    I saw some fairly high power LED downlighters at Interbuild last week, they consisted of 3x3W LED's with a whopping great heat sink on the back, which does instinctively make you wonder how efficient they are, however they appeared to produce a decent light, but it's pretty hard to tell in the middle of the NEC. The down side is that they don't fit in a standard fitting, plus they didn't look too cheap. (The company was called "Kosnic", but they don't seem to list them on their website)

    Dimmable CFLs are available, but not in a GU10 fitting AFAIK.
  6.  
    I spotted some downlighters in B&Q the other day which use the Megaman GU10 bulbs. I'd have a look in your nearest B&Q Warehouse are see if they will do the job for you.
    • CommentAuthorPaul_B
    • CommentTimeNov 6th 2007
     
    I updated my kitchen downlights and went from Fluroescent to LED strips. Has gone from around 50W from Fluroescent to 40W LED, or more like 210W Halogen. Reason for this move from fluroescent to LED is no annoying buzz, immediate light level with no warm-up and I can turn them on an off without worrying about an initial in-rush current.

    Some of the new Cree LED's seem to give very good output at around 3 - 5W
    • CommentAuthorPeter A
    • CommentTimeNov 6th 2007
     
    Hi Rustychain,
    Smaclite do what you are looking for, low energy downlighters, fire rated, accoustically rated and good air leakage (they really surprised the BRE when they did an air leakage demo for me), they have just brought out a dimmable bulb for their fittings and and IP65 rated fitting to go over the shower/bath. They do a retro fit LED that fits into low voltage fittings and works with existing transformer (haven't tried this one out yet).
    Hope this helps
  9.  
    just been down the wholesaler megaman do a dimmable 11w GU10 CFL
    • CommentAuthorhowdytom
    • CommentTimeNov 7th 2007
     
    James
    isn't the dimmer going to use as much electric as the CFL, be better of fitting two smaller CFL's and turning one off when you want less light.
    tom
  11.  
    Thanks for all the tips - plenty of leads to follow up!
  12.  
    Tom
    I think your right
    a 100w dimmer uses 100w no matter what bulb you use, I'll have to check .
    Jim
  13.  
    No, a dimmer of a certain wattage has a capacity to dim a load of up to that rating. When the lights are at, say, 30% brightness, then the power consumed is around 30% of the light's rating (non-linearities in the brightness versus power curve notwithstanding). The dimmer's circuit does consume a bit of power, but it's somewhere around 5% of the load being supplied (depending on the type of dimmer).

    Paul.
  14.  
    thanks Paul

    its been a while since i went to college and most the time I wasn't really listerning just flicking elastic bands about

    cheers Jim
  15.  
    I can recommend Megaman GU10 CFLs. I have fitted these to two kitchens now and very pleased with them. Short warm up and good colour temperature.
    • CommentAuthorNeil K
    • CommentTimeNov 10th 2007
     
    To add to Olly's comment about the 3 cell LEDs: I saw these in a bathroom in a hotel in Dundee yesterday (APEX). These were set up with one over the shower and one over the bath. They worked for mood lighting, but were a fairly blue/grey light overall. To light the room I would suggest you really needed several lights in each location.

    Interestingly the LEDs seem to be held in a wire frame, suggesting there is a cooling need. Being a hotel I didn't feel I ought to take them to bits to find out!

    I have also recently bought a 4W single cell LED as a trial at work. Once again this works as a mood light, but I feel barely qualifies as a 'spot' light.

    At the moment I would still tend towards CFLs and look for a focussing reflector of some time to generate the pool of light effect.

1 to 16 of 16

  1.  
Add your comments

    Username Password
  • Format comments as
 
Back to Discussions Top of Page
   
The Ecobuilding Buzz
Site Map    |   Home    |   View Cart    |   Pressroom   |   Business   |   Links   
Logout    

© Green Building Press