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erwin123

[Beginner's Guide] What Lights To Choose

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When renovating your home, one of the big decisions you have to make concerns lighting. There are many guides on the internet to explain to you what T5, T8, PLC etc mean, so I won't try to duplicate them. My aim is to suggest the lighting arrangements you might find suitable for your home.

(1) Cove lighting.

Lights are placed in a gap in the false ceiling and the lighting lights the room by bouncing off the ceiling and possibly the walls. This is soft, indirect light. Most of my rooms have cove lighting as I like the effect.

Pros: Soft, diffuse, indirect lighting.

Cons: May not be bright enough by itself for task work and will have to be supplemented by other lights. Also, cove lighting is sort of "boring" as its very diffuse (frankly, I find a 100% PLC downlight arrangement even more boring than cove lighting), so other lights add interest.

Bulb to use: T5 fluorescent are idea. LED is a waste of money in this situation and is really not brighter than T5.

(2) PLC downlight

This term in renotalk is used to refer to circular/square downlights (see www.lightings.com.sg etc for example), using 2 x 13w or 2 x 18w bulbs in a single enclosure. If you want to light a particular area in the room with an unobtrusive ceiling fixture, this is "cheap" and "good"... but can be overused. If there are too many of these in the ceiling, you might get dazzled each time you look at the ceiling.

The double bulb fixtures are not particularly efficient (stuff 2 18w bulbs into a small enclosure with a small aperture for light to escape....) For 36w, you can get a lot more light with T5 bulbs (but ugly) or LED.

Pro: Cheap & Good

Con: Don't overuse them. Double bulb versions are especially inefficient in terms of wattage versus light output.

(3) MR16 LED downlights (12v GU5.3)

LED downlights have dropped in price and I have found one Ebay seller that sells good quality Cree LEDs (furthermore can choose 45 or 60 degree beam angle), so I'm happy. These are primarily spotlights meant to light a particular area. Their narrow beam means that they may not be so glaring unless the spot is pointed directly at you. I use them to add interest to a room that is lit by diffuse cove lighting. You can usually tilt and rotate MR16 ceilng fixtures so there's some flexibility in how to light your room.

Pros: Cool running, space saving, I prefer the colour rendition of warm white led to regular halogens which I find too yellow.

Cons: Needs transformer (240v versions super rare) - a transformer is never 100% efficient so it affects power consumption.

(4) GU10 LED downlights

230v GU10 LEDs (IKEA sells them as quite a few IKEA lights take GU10, but I don't like the IKEA bulb 38 degree beam angle - get 45 or 60 degree beam GU10 from ebay)do not need a transformer and perform similar to the MR16 GU5.3 LEDs.

GU10s appear to come in two heights, the shorter one is the one you see in IKEA in about 6cm, and the taller one is something like 9cm

Their fixtures need a bit more space (but not as much as PLC) so I do like GU10s. There is also a Philips fluorescent 9cm GU10 9w bulb that has a 120 degree beam angle that bathes the room in a warm glow. Aesthetically more pleasing and as bright as a single 13w PLC.

Pro: Same pros as Mr16 LED + separate transformer not needed.

Cons: takes up slightly more space

(5) Ceiling fixtures - hanging Lampshades / Pendants

The finishing touch to many rooms is the installation of a ceiling fixture like a lampshade/pendant lamp. It adds the little extra to the room and doesn't take up any floor space since it's ceiling mounted. But note that if you mount it too high up, it basically acts like a ceiling fixture but what's the point. The idea is to place the light lower (that's why they supply you so much wire...) so that you don't see the bulb but only the lampshade (unless you are seated/lying down). This of course means that you can't place the light on corridors where people's can knock into it. You can place it above your dining table, or in the corners of rooms.

Pros: Adds interest to the room, gives a bit of supplemental lighting, eg: over a dining table.

Cons: Not intended as a main light, so don't put in too bright a bulb.

(6) Wall mounted spotlights

I am a big fan of 2 of IKEA's wall mounted spotlights. I use these wall mounted spotlights as task lighting for reading/studying etc. Being wall mounted, they save desk space. The Beryl is so lightweight that I actually mounted one on the side of a Billy Bookcase, simply by driving in a small nail in the bookcase side and hooking the light on it (I also put some double sided tape to secure it further).

IKEA:

Beryll $35 MR16. Light enough to mount on bookcase side. Con is that it can only take smaller 3-4w MR16 LED, not the 7-9w ones which are a bit bigger.

TRAL $29 GU10. More solidly built and more rotation options. Can take 9w GU10 LED.

added (7) LED lighting strips

I'm sure you've seen shops selling strips of LED lights with a sticker backing that you can stick anywhere. Of course, they look quite ugly, you can see the chips and soldering, so you want to put these in places where they cannot be seen.

I have a wall mounted TV console (for my amp and speakers - the TV is wall mounted), so the TV console is supposed to be 'floating'. I put an LED strip under the console. When the room lights are off, and watching TV, the LED strip sort of makes the console 'float' (if you have a good imagination) and gives the room some light.

I've seen quite a few shops, eg: Sim Lim Tower, selling them, and they can also be purchased from Ebay. You can purchase IR remote controllers for less than $10 (often bundled together) to control the lights and even change colours.

The 2 terms you have to learn when buying this are "5050" and "3528" which refers to the LED chipset, 5050 strips are brighter and use more electricity. Also note the strips may have different numbers of chips per metre. If you see something in ebay that looks cheaper, maybe it has fewer chips per metre.

Pro: very slim strip, easy to mount. dimmable, remote controllable.

Con: Ugly, used in 'hidden application', 5m of 5050 (300 chips), uses 50w. T5 is still brighter watt for watt.

(8) Final tips.

Always ask your contractor for more light switches, not just one switch turn on every single living room light.

Take photographs of the wiring arrangements of the false ceiling before they close up the false ceiling. Make sure the wiring arrangement makes it easy for you to add additional lights. My contractor wired the false ceilings so nicely that it was simple for me to DIY add extra lights where I needed them. (Using a holesaw is not difficult :) )

Edited by erwin123
 

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I use cove lighting with fan, is there a shadow?

A: I have cove lighting in a few rooms including living room. There is no noticeable shadow whether the fan is on or off. As long as you give the cove light "space" to bounce off the ceiling then there shouldn't be a shadow.

Q: Do you need to clean the "cove"?

A: Dust may gather there, so occasional vaccuming/wiping may be necessary. I don't think that dust gathering in the cove makes the room any dirtier (I have a Dylos Air Quality meter to measure room dust levels http://www.dylosproducts.com/ - those with allegeries/respiratory problems may want to measure their room dust levels)

Edited by erwin123
 

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hi guys, im new here. My family is currently planning for renovation of our current EM. I have some questions on lighting as its very new to us. Our ID brought us to this shop at Tradehub 21 and the salesperson quoted us $198 for each LED 6" downlight. Is the price unreasonable because it seems pretty steep to me. Hope to hear some feedbacks from experienced users or experts.

 

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Manufacturers, suppliers and distributors of plastic caps, end caps, pipe caps, grommets and industrial components. Features company information, over 10,000 standard products, free samples and free Master Catalogs.

 

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When renovating your home, one of the big decisions you have to make concerns lighting. There are many guides on the internet to explain to you what T5, T8, PLC etc mean, so I won't try to duplicate them. My aim is to suggest the lighting arrangements you might find suitable for your home.

(1) Cove lighting.

Lights are placed in a gap in the false ceiling and the lighting lights the room by bouncing off the ceiling and possibly the walls. This is soft, indirect light. Most of my rooms have cove lighting as I like the effect.

Pros: Soft, diffuse, indirect lighting.

Cons: May not be bright enough by itself for task work and will have to be supplemented by other lights. Also, cove lighting is sort of "boring" as its very diffuse (frankly, I find a 100% PLC downlight arrangement even more boring than cove lighting), so other lights add interest.

Bulb to use: T5 fluorescent are idea. LED is a waste of money in this situation and is really not brighter than T5.

(2) PLC downlight

This term in renotalk is used to refer to circular/square downlights (see www.lightings.com.sg etc for example), using 2 x 13w or 2 x 18w bulbs in a single enclosure. If you want to light a particular area in the room with an unobtrusive ceiling fixture, this is "cheap" and "good"... but can be overused. If there are too many of these in the ceiling, you might get dazzled each time you look at the ceiling.

The double bulb fixtures are not particularly efficient (stuff 2 18w bulbs into a small enclosure with a small aperture for light to escape....) For 36w, you can get a lot more light with T5 bulbs (but ugly) or LED.

Pro: Cheap & Good

Con: Don't overuse them. Double bulb versions are especially inefficient in terms of wattage versus light output.

(3) MR16 LED downlights (12v GU5.3)

LED downlights have dropped in price and I have found one Ebay seller that sells good quality Cree LEDs (furthermore can choose 45 or 60 degree beam angle), so I'm happy. These are primarily spotlights meant to light a particular area. Their narrow beam means that they may not be so glaring unless the spot is pointed directly at you. I use them to add interest to a room that is lit by diffuse cove lighting. You can usually tilt and rotate MR16 ceilng fixtures so there's some flexibility in how to light your room.

Pros: Cool running, space saving, I prefer the colour rendition of warm white led to regular halogens which I find too yellow.

Cons: Needs transformer (240v versions super rare) - a transformer is never 100% efficient so it affects power consumption.

(4) GU10 LED downlights

230v GU10 LEDs (IKEA sells them as quite a few IKEA lights take GU10, but I don't like the IKEA bulb 38 degree beam angle - get 45 or 60 degree beam GU10 from ebay)do not need a transformer and perform similar to the MR16 GU5.3 LEDs.

GU10s appear to come in two heights, the shorter one is the one you see in IKEA in about 6cm, and the taller one is something like 9cm

Their fixtures need a bit more space (but not as much as PLC) so I do like GU10s. There is also a Philips fluorescent 9cm GU10 9w bulb that has a 120 degree beam angle that bathes the room in a warm glow. Aesthetically more pleasing and as bright as a single 13w PLC.

Pro: Same pros as Mr16 LED + separate transformer not needed.

Cons: takes up slightly more space

(5) Ceiling fixtures - hanging Lampshades / Pendants

The finishing touch to many rooms is the installation of a ceiling fixture like a lampshade/pendant lamp. It adds the little extra to the room and doesn't take up any floor space since it's ceiling mounted. But note that if you mount it too high up, it basically acts like a ceiling fixture but what's the point. The idea is to place the light lower (that's why they supply you so much wire...) so that you don't see the bulb but only the lampshade (unless you are seated/lying down). This of course means that you can't place the light on corridors where people's can knock into it. You can place it above your dining table, or in the corners of rooms.

Pros: Adds interest to the room, gives a bit of supplemental lighting, eg: over a dining table.

Cons: Not intended as a main light, so don't put in too bright a bulb.

(6) Wall mounted spotlights

I am a big fan of 2 of IKEA's wall mounted spotlights. I use these wall mounted spotlights as task lighting for reading/studying etc. Being wall mounted, they save desk space. The Beryl is so lightweight that I actually mounted one on the side of a Billy Bookcase, simply by driving in a small nail in the bookcase side and hooking the light on it (I also put some double sided tape to secure it further).

IKEA:

Beryll $35 MR16. Light enough to mount on bookcase side. Con is that it can only take smaller 3-4w MR16 LED, not the 7-9w ones which are a bit bigger.

TRAL $29 GU10. More solidly built and more rotation options. Can take 9w GU10 LED.

added (7) LED lighting strips

I'm sure you've seen shops selling strips of LED lights with a sticker backing that you can stick anywhere. Of course, they look quite ugly, you can see the chips and soldering, so you want to put these in places where they cannot be seen.

I have a wall mounted TV console (for my amp and speakers - the TV is wall mounted), so the TV console is supposed to be 'floating'. I put an LED strip under the console. When the room lights are off, and watching TV, the LED strip sort of makes the console 'float' (if you have a good imagination) and gives the room some light.

I've seen quite a few shops, eg: Sim Lim Tower, selling them, and they can also be purchased from Ebay. You can purchase IR remote controllers for less than $10 (often bundled together) to control the lights and even change colours.

The 2 terms you have to learn when buying this are "5050" and "3528" which refers to the LED chipset, 5050 strips are brighter and use more electricity. Also note the strips may have different numbers of chips per metre. If you see something in ebay that looks cheaper, maybe it has fewer chips per metre.

Pro: very slim strip, easy to mount. dimmable, remote controllable.

Con: Ugly, used in 'hidden application', 5m of 5050 (300 chips), uses 50w. T5 is still brighter watt for watt.

(8) Final tips.

Always ask your contractor for more light switches, not just one switch turn on every single living room light.

Take photographs of the wiring arrangements of the false ceiling before they close up the false ceiling. Make sure the wiring arrangement makes it easy for you to add additional lights. My contractor wired the false ceilings so nicely that it was simple for me to DIY add extra lights where I needed them. (Using a holesaw is not difficult :) )

Hi erwin123,

Thks for your sound advise!

Can you pls share the link for the led downlights from eBay ? Any reliability problems for your eBay purchase? Delivery lead time?

Thks,

Luxray

 

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