LED Spotlight Advice

[quelquod]

Yet another request for help in finding some LED replacement lamps.

Our large lounge has (rather old-fashioned) R80 swivel eyeball spotlights in the corners of the ceiling. Not used much, but fine when we need a lot of light. We still have tungsten lamps in them, the last in our home, because I've not got around to finding suitable LED replacements. Can anyone recommend ES reflector R80s, warm white (c3000-3500 degrees), 100W equivalent or more, wide-angle lamps, preferably from experience?

Thanks

[csearle]

Never had to replace any of these for LED equivalents so unable to speak from experience. A not-so-quick Google revealed various lamps but these Philips branded ones might be suitable,

Chris

[AleisterCrowley]

I replaced all my R80 halogen spots with Sainsbury's LED versions which are great. Inevitably they seem to be discontinued, or at least not available online! Might be worth a quick look in Sains/Tesco etc as the Sainsbury's ones were c £5

[quelquod]

Mmm - 7 watts - not much chance of reaching 100W equivalent I'd say Chris. Also just 667 lumens claimed (though with a beam angle of 36 degrees probably OK as a spotlight). Nominally 100W incandescent is 1600 lumens or so but I think nearer 1000 would be OK for a LED. Around 15-18 watts seems to be in the right ball park.

Not many places you can see a wide range of these (none near me, I've searched) and aside from actual raw output I'm concerned about colour and beam angle and really seeing one is the only test or as second best, someone else seeing one .

Never had to replace any of these for LED equivalents so unable to speak from experience. A not-so-quick Google revealed various lamps but these Philips branded ones might be suitable,

Chris

[csearle]

...and really seeing one is the only test or as second best, someone else seeing one

Totally agree. Hope someone who has been in the same situation responds. C.

[Hardgrafter]

I bought two Bell Model HL-D16 22-240V LED 12W 3000K 800 LM lamps two years ago. Working fine.

http://www.belllighting.co.uk/lamps/LED ... pots/05682

[bungeejumper]

Not standalone swivelling spots as such, but I replaced all of our old low-voltage kitchen swivelling downlighters with new mains-voltage units from LED Hut last year, and it was a complete doddle. The quality was fine, and I had a wide choice of bulb specifications I could choose from. Mine were the so-called fire rated lamps, which I think you need if there are bedrooms above.

The model range was called Lumilife, and they were only about a fiver each. If your present lamps are mounted into holes in the ceiling, you do need to check the diameters of the barrels - swivelling units need slightly bigger holes than fixed ones. The other thing will be if you intend to use a dimmer switch, because some switches don't like some bulbs. Worst case scenario would be that you might need a new dimmer.

HTH

BJ

[AleisterCrowley]

...Mine were the so-called fire rated lamps, which I think you need if there are bedrooms above....


BJ

??? New one on me. So if there are no bedrooms above, you can fit ones that burst into flames occasionally?
The Sainsbury's ones in my flat have 'bedrooms above' and not sure the are fire rated

[bungeejumper]

??? New one on me. So if there are no bedrooms above, you can fit ones that burst into flames occasionally?
The Sainsbury's ones in my flat have 'bedrooms above' and not sure the are fire rated

I think it's all explained here: https://www.lyco.co.uk/advice/what-are- ... ownlights/ . It only applies to downlights, though - not to other types of lighting units.

As a landlord, I couldn't sleep at night unless all our flats were electrically 110%. We're a bit fussy about up-speccing.

BJ

[csearle]

New one on me. So if there are no bedrooms above, you can fit ones that burst into flames occasionally?

Nothing to do with bedrooms. Any liveable space above requires fire rated downlights below. At least that's my understanding.
Chris

[AleisterCrowley]

Well I've just replaced yer bog standard R80 incandescents with LED versions - the holes were already there so to speak...
I guess the people below do the same ...

[AleisterCrowley]

Understood, as per BJ's post
I'm in a conversion of an old Victorian building and the plasterboard (I think) ceilings have recessed sockets to take R80 ES bulbs.
I would hope that they took fire regs into account when they did the conversion and fitted the sockets. I doubt the bulb type will make any difference - never seen a 'fire rated' R80 LED bulb, and it would be asking for trouble to assume tenants would replace bulbs with correct type (the incandescent R80s only lasted me about 6 months on average...)

[AleisterCrowley]

Yes, so I'm in the clear

[SteelCamel]

The point of "fire rated" fittings is that you normally fit spotlights by cutting a hole in the ceiling. This means that the ceiling is no longer fire-resistant - the plaster (which is fire-resistant) now has a big hole in it, exposing the woodwork above. Non-fire rated spotlights are open at the top for ventilation, so there's still a big hole. Fire rated lights have a closed top with only small vents, and so the ceiling is about as fire resistant as it was before.
If there's nothing above but a loft or roof, it doesn't really matter if the ceiling is fire-resistant or not. If there's another floor above, using non-fire rated lights allows fire to spread upstairs quickly.

[quelquod]

I have a bungalow so no bedrooms (or any rooms) above but I have fire resistant hoods in the loft over the eyeballs. Don't know whether these are still sold but it used to be common to fit them.

Probably a bit of a waste of time seeing as both the bathroom and en-suite have umpteen non-fire-rated downlighters anyway .

[csearle]

I have a bungalow so no bedrooms (or any rooms) above but I have fire resistant hoods in the loft over the eyeballs. Don't know whether these are still sold but it used to be common to fit them.

Probably a bit of a waste of time seeing as both the bathroom and en-suite have umpteen non-fire-rated downlighters anyway .

Yes they are still sold, and are relatively expensive. If you're in s bungalow then they are unnecessary*.

Regards,
Chris
* I suppose they help keep dust and other combustible bits off hot fittings.

[csearle]

I may be wrong, but if I understand correctly, fire rated light fittings are no more or less likely to combust than non fire rated ones. The difference will be they can contain the fire for some time specified in building or other fire regulations. For example, fire rated doors are made from wood. They will burn. But hold back the fire for some pre specific time as per regulations.

Yes that's my understanding too. C.

[quelquod]

Yes they are still sold, and are relatively expensive. If you're in s bungalow then they are unnecessary.

Well, what you possibly meant to say is that the regs do not require them - not the same thing as unnecessary (or even inadvisable) though. A fire in my lounge would likely be tackleable whereas one in the roof would likely destroy the building. I feel that the risk of a fire in the bathrooms is low so the downlighters there don't worry me.

<edit> Thinking about it again, ISTR fitting them where there was a shared loft, bungalow or not. Mine is detached so irrelevant and I'm out of date on the regs by quite a bit.</edit>