Follow the trend – Thumbs Up to LED Recessed Lights
For a long time now Recessed lighting fixtures also known as CAN lights or pot lights or downlights have been enabling people to illuminate their homes, cast off shadows, and spread light around their homes. Recessed lights are down lighting fixtures that can be conveniently installed into an opening in the ceiling as opposed to general ceiling lights that typically use conventional incandescent or fluorescent light bulbs and are great alternatives for minimalistic lighting in any space. .
Adding on to this, in recent years LED lights have just about reinvented the recess lighting market, by virtue of their value performance, cost efficiency and their versatility. They provide substantially more light than the standard halogen flood bulb CAN light and are more energy-efficient, which can save money over the life of the fixture.
The higher-end LED recessed light available in the market now has a number of new features that make installations that were previously impossible, possible. There are certain things that you can do with LED Lighting that you can’t do with traditional pot lights or incandescent bulbs.
Thus, if you are looking to renovate your house or if you are wanting to upgrade your existing lighting without getting into a whole lot of mess, consider installing LED CAN lights or recessed lights or downlights. Recessed lights give an added advantage of raising the aesthetic value of your room or the entire home.
Here are some tips from our end that you can keep in mind while installing LED CAN light/LED recessed lights.
Spacing and Placement of the Recessed Light is Pivotal:
- CAN lights are meant to be used in fairly higher numbers, as a single CAN light seldom has the power to illuminate a whole room. On the contrary, multiple luminaires work together to blanket a room with light. Thus, when creating a recessed light array, lights should be placed 4 -6 feet apart from each other on a linear path for general room lighting. Even with the larger 6 inch lights, the spacing remains equivalent as the illumination may fail to effectively reach beyond this distance.
- The spacing may vary from room to room. If you are placing it in the kitchen you might need lights closer than what you would need in a dining room or a living room and it would depend upon the discretion of the house owner. For lighting over countertops or other workspaces, the lights can be installed closer, at probably 1 to 2 feet distance. For studios and rooms that need focussed lights, the recessed lights can be kept in an angle to minimize the glare and to direct it to the center of the artwork. A 30 degree angle is optimal in such scenarios.
- A minimum distance of 2 feet from the walls to the lights is also suggested. This distance produces better wall washing or effective light coverage on the wall. Going closer than this can result in wall grazing or sharp light that picks out contours and defects and fails to maximise broad illumination.
- Additionally. projections and obstructions should be taken into consideration like an open top cabinet that can encroach on downlights. Hence, recessed lights should be placed relative to the cabinet fronts to avoid interference. Ceiling fans can also play a factor. Recessed lights if placed too closely together, fan blades can generally chop the cone of illumination inflicting a mild but disconcerting stroboscopic effect.
It is important to work with your electrician to avoid errors and get the best out of downlights.
Colour Temperature of the Recessed Lights for Optimal Brightness
- Choosing the right colour temperature is significant. Typically incandescent lights emit soft yellowish light with some whiter tone options also available, but across the board, LEDs are capable of producing colour in a much wider range.
- When buying recessed LED lights, pay attention to their specifications. Every product will have an indication on where the bulb’s colouration falls in the Kelvin spectrum. The 3000 kelvin range will give yellowish light similar to incandescent which is best for bedrooms, living rooms, and places apt for their coziness, where you would want to relax. LEDs in the kelvin range 4000-5000K will produce whiter light which are perfect for bathrooms, kitchen and work areas where you want to focus on the work that you do and concentrate more on what you are seeing and doing. This would be a good option for garages as well.
- But note that lights with low yellowish and high blueish range can interact adversely with the colour of your walls. Like installing yellowish lights in a room that is painted with brown or beige shade can turn the colour of the room to a pinkish shade, if that’s not what you want then consider changing the light to a more lighter shade with higher kelvin range to give the best effect from the recessed light and the wall colour.
LED Recessed Lights Work Better with Dimmer Switches:
- Even while taking the kelvin range into account, many people find their LED recessed lights a little too bright and more than actually required. So in order to have control over the intensity of the CAN lights, they need to be installed on dimmer switches which allows the user to adjust the light intensity to a level that suits them.
- Dimmer Switches can add versatility and ambience to your space raising it up to an extra notch.
- But since LEDs draw a lesser wattage than the incandescent bulbs, you should be ideally looking for dimmer switches that are compatible with LED lights. To be on the safer side, understand the manufacturer’s guidelines on the compatibility of your LED bulb with the dimmer light switch.
LED Recessed Lights have Incredible Maneuverability:
- In the past, recessed lights used to require a sizable casing making it way trickier to install them in some houses but thanks to newer LED technologies, ultra thin recessed lights can now be installed anywhere.
- These lights are only as thick as the dry wall or the plaster that they need to be mounted onto, which indicates, they can be positioned directly beneath any framing obstructions and because they are so light weight they hold themselves in place just by means of spring loaded clips.
- The ultra thin models do carry heavier price tags but with more and more production of engineered models they are getting widespread popularity these days.
Recessed Lights for Varied Architecture:
- Recessed lights are a great choice for sloped structures and ceilings. They can be positioned in any angle to provide optimum lighting.
- Covered outdoor spaces can also avail the benefit of recessed lights as they are specifically designed so as to protect the internal electronic components from exposure to moisture or temperature variations. And that makes it an ideal pick for showers.
So we recommend you to follow the trend and give thumbs up to Recessed LED Lights!