On Jan 11, 9:21 am, Chris wrote:
On Wed, 9 Jan 2008 09:45:25 -0800 (PST), Adam Aglionby



wrote:
On Jan 9, 5:00 pm, Chris wrote:
My house is full of 12v down lighters and is really dark because all
the light is in the ceilings. When changing a bulb recently I left
the bulb hanging thru the ceiling for a bit and the light levels went
up significantly.

My question is can you convert down lighters to some sort of surface
mount that spreads the light.

Chris

All the light is probably on the floor...

The reflector on 12V lamps is usually a dichroic coating that lets
most of the infra red straight through but reflects most visible
light.

When you had the lamp dangling would have been refelcting off the
walls rather than a beam getting buried in the carpet.An adjustable
`eyeball or similar fitting woul allow you to aim the light to more
useful areas.
Cut out is probably slightly larger than straight downlighter ring,
its easier using a solid holesaw than a tank cutter to enlarge the
cutout.

Adam

Thanks for that

Is there such a thing as an eyeball which is non focused so the light
goes in all directions.

Chris

12V lamps come in a wide range of beamwidths, wide angle, typically 38
degrees in LV lamps down to 10 degree narrow spot. And a range of
wattages, depending on transformers fitted can use 50W lamps rather
than 35 or 20W lamps.

Narrow is fine for highlighting a picture or object and creating a
point of interest, combined with wide angle lamps as area lighting
possibly reflected off light coloured walls or furnishings should give
more of a glow.

Table and floor lamps also help give a general wash, even with dreaded
CFL lamps in them.

Ceiling fittings with glass cylinders, prisms , cubes etc are for
effect rather than illumination.

HTH
Adam