It used to be you could look at the watts on a light bulbs packaging and determine the brightness of the light. This is still the case for halogen and fluorescent lights, but for LED lights the wattage is generally always low because of the energy saving technology. As a result, we now use lumens lm to understand the brightness of the LED lights.
Lumens measure the total amount of visible LED light from a bulb. The higher the lumens the brighter the LED light. When choosing downlights the LED option is a balance between efficiency watts and brightness lumens. For example, if you usually use a watt incandescent bulb, you now probably want to choose a LED downlight that uses 8 to 12 watts and has a lumen rating of for the same amount of illumination. However, if you're confused about lumens don't worry! Below is a chart that gives you a guide to the brightness of lumens per watts as compared with incandescent bulbs.
The beam angle is the amount of light that spreads from the light and can be measured in degrees. Whatever the room size it always looks better with pools of light instead of glaring light in your eyes, it will create much more ambience in your space. Generally, if you're unsure about which beam angle to choose, anything from 60 to degrees works fine in the majority of cases.
Below is a photo to help you visual beam angle. Before installing, make sure you think of beam angle when considering how far apart to space them. If you are using a wider beam you can generally space the downlights 1. If you are using a concentrated beam light, try spacing them 1 metre away from each other. When you install the recessed downlights in your room, calculate the total needed then space them exactly the same apart throughout the room.
CRI means the light source's ability to reveal the colour of objects faithfully in comparison with natural sunlight. The index is measured from , with a perfect indicating that colours under light appear the same as they would under natural sunlight.
Generally, a CRI of 80 - 90 will be within the range of accurate colour rendering. This, of course, depends on the type you invest in. Halogen downlights last for 2, hours on average. Many find that they replace the majority of their halogen globes within a month period. For LED downlights , the lifespan is 50, hours, which is around 27 years if it's switched on 5 hours a day.
As you can see these are far more cost-effective in the long run. We still get asked a lot in store how do you change a LED downlight? Most these days are built in with a fixed light and driver separate with a plug like the picture below, when the light is built in you can only replace the whole fixture including the downlight driver.
The driver is engineered to run with this light only, you can't just buy another driver to run the light you must replace the whole downlight kit. If your downlight has a globe like the picture below then you can change the LED downlight globe by pulling the centre ring out by twisting the centre ring, the globe now can be taken out from the back and replaced.
The IC rating is used to determine whether a recessed downlight is suitable to come into contact with your building insulation. Lights with an IC rating can come into direct contact with building insulation and ceiling timbers without being a fire hazard. When choosing IC rated lights make sure the warranty is for a minimum of 3 years. Never buy halogen downlights that don't have an IC rating and place them near insulation or timber. It's a long list but choosing and installing downlights is a big decision.
Here are some of our final tips to consider. Lightly coloured walls appear brighter and better lit than darker, light-absorbing surfaces.
Keep that in mind when considering light spacing, brightness, and beam angle. Use light level dimmers with your downlights to further save on electricity. However, note not all dimmers and dimmable LEDs are compatible. Look to reputable LED suppliers to provide compatibility charts listing dimmer brands and types. This site uses cookies to provide and improve your shopping experience.
If you want to benefit from this improved service, please opt-in. More Info. I opt-in to a better browsing experience Accept Cookies. Before you rush out to buy a new set of dimmable LED bulbs , this short guide will arm you with five useful nuggets of information that'll help you buy with complete confidence. Unlike traditional lighting such as incandescent, dimmable LED bulbs don't rely on voltage to dictate their level of brightness.
Instead, they essentially rely on a cycle of being on and off. These cycles operate in a matter of milliseconds, so you won't be aware of them actually turning on and off. For analogue, the process is more straight-forward. This is where the current is controlled to either dim or brighten the lights — increasing or decreasing accordingly. The main cause of flickering with dimmable LED light can usually be traced back to the dimmer switch.
Dimmer switches come with a minimum compatible load in short, the amount of Watts it can process. Popular leading-edge dimmer switches are mainly designed for older bulbs on a higher wattage, so their minimum load will be high. In a lot of cases, you won't be powering enough LED bulbs to meet that minimum requirement as they consume such a low amount of energy and fewer Watts.
That's why it's important that you get a compatible LED dimmer switch to avoid any potential flickering. The quality of the dimmer switch you install will also have a bearing on the performance of your lights. A good quality dimmer switch will have different modes and ranges of dimming capability.
Most of the time, flickering dimmable LEDs can be remedied by simply changing the mode on the dimmer switch, or resetting the dimmer to its factory settings.
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