Dave Combs wrote:
Good point!

Kitchen (in soffits) and adjoining "great room" (in vaulted ceiling). My
questions could be restated as follows:

Is there an advantage to reduced voltage lights vs. line voltage lights?

If using halogen lamps, reduced voltage bulbs are more common and are
far more easily obtained. I have halogens in recessed cans over my sink
and range and I thought I was being clever to install line-voltage lamps
but now I've discovered that replacements have to be special ordered and
cost 50% more than their 12V equivalents.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of halogen lights vs. incandescent
lights?


Halogen lights _ARE_ incandescent lights meaning simply that the source
of the illumination is an electrically heated filament. The halogen
variety features a high-temperature glass or quartz envelope
more-or-less equidistant from the filament and a filling of an inert gas
and a halogen such as iodine. These allow the filament to operate at
higher temperatures for a longer time. The upshot of all this is that
these lamps put out a "whiter" light than regular old-style incandescent
bulbs which are more yellow-red. Many people prefer the bright white
light from a halogen above kitchen work surfaces because the color
rendition is more true to outdoor daylight.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com