Hi all,

I'm planning to replace some outdoor spotlights that are installed on the sidewall as they are fairly old and of the replaceable bulb kind. Rain water or condensation went into some of them and short circuited the power supply when we tried to turn them on, so we have not used them for a few years now. Does anyone have good experience with any reliable LED outdoor spotlights that are more likely to last at least 4 years or longer? We feel it doesn't make sense to change if we have to keep on replacing them every few years. 

go to taobao and search. plenty of choices at much lower price. you might even want to consider having solar powered ones which can auto come on at night when the sun goes down. then don't have to worry about short circuit the house electrical network anymore.

5 hours ago, snoozee said:

go to taobao and search. plenty of choices at much lower price. you might even want to consider having solar powered ones which can auto come on at night when the sun goes down. then don't have to worry about short circuit the house electrical network anymore.

Solar powered ones may not be suitable as we get very little sunlight at the wall. It's shaded by the bamboo plants right next to the wall, unless cables for the solar panel is long enough to place it at the front porch area. I'm using solar powered ones (bought fr Lazada) for the front of the house but the cable fr the solar panel only runs 3 or 5m. Thanks for your suggestion and I'll look at taobao and see if there's anything suitable.

Can I check if you guys encountered this… I’m installing ceiling down lights in living and bedroom and I can see gaps between the downlight and the false ceiling, probably cos the hole for the downlight wasn’t cut properly. The contractor said they will clean up by applying silicon around the downlight. Do u see that before? Want to know if that is usual.

1 hour ago, Topline said:

Can I check if you guys encountered this… I’m installing ceiling down lights in living and bedroom and I can see gaps between the downlight and the false ceiling, probably cos the hole for the downlight wasn’t cut properly. The contractor said they will clean up by applying silicon around the downlight. Do u see that before? Want to know if that is usual.

the workers messed up by cutting the hole in the ceiling board too big which is why there is a gap. by right the hole should be just big enough for the downlight to fit into it such that the frame of the light is covering the hole.

silicone/culk is like a band-aid which will settle the issue now but when you need to replace the downlight, the silicone/caulk will likely come off so you will end up with the same problem unless silicone/caulk is applied again to fill the gap.

stopping compound can be used to make the hole smaller but a proper backing needs to be added behind so that the stopping compound has something to adhere to. Of cos in future if the downlight is removed, this patched part may also break off and you're back to square one.

more extreme solution is to cut out a bigger portion of the ceiling board and then replace it with a new piece of board and cut a new hole for the downlight. this new board should be secured at least on 2 ends with proper frame and screws to the rest of the ceiling board so that it will be stable. The downside is that if the ceiling board expands/contracts over time due to temperature change, you may end up seeing the seams of the replacement board due to the plaster cracking.

Most extreme solution is just replace the entire big piece of ceiling board.

of cos you can always change to another downlight with a bigger frame which can cover up the gap nicely.

Changing to a bigger light with a larger diameter is probably the cheapest option 

Thanks - I decided to ask him to use plaster to touch up the gap instead of silicon. Hope the contractor can do it. This main con also said that he will silicon the edges of my glass top stove mounted on my kitchen counter top. I have not really seen silicon so near to fire ... do you guys have the glass top stove siliconed around the edges too?

18 minutes ago, Topline said:

Thanks - I decided to ask him to use plaster to touch up the gap instead of silicon. Hope the contractor can do it. This main con also said that he will silicon the edges of my glass top stove mounted on my kitchen counter top. I have not really seen silicon so near to fire ... do you guys have the glass top stove siliconed around the edges too?

if your down lights is using separate bulbs which can be removed without removing the whole enclosure then should be fine. else as mentioned, the plaster patch may break off in future when you need to change the downlight.

I'm using ceramic cooker and I installed it myself without applying any silicone around the edges.  Not sure why you want to add silicone around the edges. if you're concerned about the heat affecting the silicone sealant, then ask the contractor to use high temperature silicone sealant instead.

Buy a good ones not those cheaper one. Else you need to replace once the housing of the light cracks in our Singapore weather. Mine fold light crack approximately every 3 yrs, then it short circuit the DB box.