"John McGaw" wrote in message
...
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.


To which I would only add that working directly under line voltage halogens
can be HOT.