Low-voltage recessed lights - what are the advantages?
 

Hi,

I can't quite figure out the advantage of low-voltage recessed
lighting over the line voltage variety. I *have* noticed that they are
more expensive and that dimmers for them are much more expensive. But
what the advantages to consider?

Thanks!

Aaron Fude

Low-voltage recessed lights - what are the advantages?
 

According to Aaron Fude :

I can't quite figure out the advantage of low-voltage recessed
lighting over the line voltage variety. I *have* noticed that they are
more expensive and that dimmers for them are much more expensive. But
what the advantages to consider?

I'm not altogether sure of them myself, however, they do have
the advantage that if you're doing large and complex systems
with common transformers, they are cheaper, and since you don't
have to follow the same rules for 120V for 12V, a lot less
trouble to install.
--
Chris Lewis,

Age and Treachery will Triumph over Youth and Skill
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

Low-voltage recessed lights - what are the advantages?
 

On Nov 26, 1:12 pm, (Chris Lewis) wrote:
According to Aaron Fude :

I can't quite figure out the advantage of low-voltage recessed
lighting over the line voltage variety. I *have* noticed that they are
more expensive and that dimmers for them are much more expensive. But
what the advantages to consider?

I'm not altogether sure of them myself, however, they do have
the advantage that if you're doing large and complex systems
with common transformers, they are cheaper, and since you don't
have to follow the same rules for 120V for 12V, a lot less
trouble to install.
--
Chris Lewis,

Age and Treachery will Triumph over Youth and Skill
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

If you mean the small bulbs, MR16, the Halogens have a whiter light
and can be purchased in maybe 5 different beam spread configurations
and different wattages.

Low-voltage recessed lights - what are the advantages?
 

On Mon, 26 Nov 2007 10:30:24 -0800, Aaron Fude wrote:

Hi,

I can't quite figure out the advantage of low-voltage recessed
lighting over the line voltage variety. I *have* noticed that they are
more expensive and that dimmers for them are much more expensive. But
what the advantages to consider?

Thanks!

Aaron Fude

Voltage kills bulbs. I would expect that they would last longer. Barring
that they should be cheaper to make for lasting the same length of time.
They should produce less heat and can be put into smaller packages. But
for a recessed light I can't see the benefit.

Low-voltage recessed lights - what are the advantages?
 

In article , dnoyeB wrote:
On Mon, 26 Nov 2007 10:30:24 -0800, Aaron Fude wrote:

Hi,

I can't quite figure out the advantage of low-voltage recessed
lighting over the line voltage variety. I *have* noticed that they are
more expensive and that dimmers for them are much more expensive. But
what the advantages to consider?

Thanks!

Aaron Fude

Voltage kills bulbs. I would expect that they would last longer. Barring
that they should be cheaper to make for lasting the same length of time.
They should produce less heat and can be put into smaller packages. But
for a recessed light I can't see the benefit.

One advantage of low voltage incandescents and halogens is that the
shorter, thicker filaments operate more efficiently. Thicker filaments
can be operated at a slightly higher temperature for the same life
expectancy.

Thicker filaments in gas filled incandescents, halogen or otherwise,
also result in a lower temperature gradient in the immediately surrounding
gas, so heat conduction from the filament to the gas per unit area of
filament is less.

- Don Klipstein )

Low-voltage recessed lights - what are the advantages?
 

According to ransley :
On Nov 26, 1:12 pm, (Chris Lewis) wrote:
According to Aaron Fude :

I can't quite figure out the advantage of low-voltage recessed
lighting over the line voltage variety. I *have* noticed that they are
more expensive and that dimmers for them are much more expensive. But
what the advantages to consider?

I'm not altogether sure of them myself, however, they do have
the advantage that if you're doing large and complex systems
with common transformers, they are cheaper, and since you don't
have to follow the same rules for 120V for 12V, a lot less
trouble to install.

If you mean the small bulbs, MR16, the Halogens have a whiter light
and can be purchased in maybe 5 different beam spread configurations
and different wattages.

You can get essentially the exact same configurations of halogens at 120V
in GU10 bases. The same fixture in MR16 (including voltage conversion
hardware) costs about double that of the GU10 version. Further, the
MR16 fixture will probably fail (the transformer) long before the GU10
fixture does. The only thing other than wire in a GU10 fixture (at
least in the ones I just installed) is a overtemp cutoff switch.

MR16 makes more sense if you're using fixtures that don't have
their own transformers, and use a centralized one.

[Two fixtures, identical other than MR16 vs. GU10 cost $35 in
MR16, and $14 in GU10 a few days ago.]

I've been doing some research, and the really interesting bulb coming
down the pike are GU10 base bulbs that only draw about 5W of
power and throw as much light as a 60W bulb would - done with white
LEDs. Right now they're rather pricey tho. Like $50.
--
Chris Lewis,

Age and Treachery will Triumph over Youth and Skill
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.