I have a 40W fluorescent ring type for an 18x9 foot kitchen which is
nice and bright but perhaps a little OTT since I have an 11W energy
efficient bulb lighting a similar sized room, the down side being it's
very dim to start with.

So what do you use to power your kitchen?

In article ,
blackhead writes:
| I have a 40W fluorescent ring type for an 18x9 foot kitchen which is
| nice and bright but perhaps a little OTT since I have an 11W energy
| efficient bulb lighting a similar sized room, the down side being it's
| very dim to start with.
|
| So what do you use to power your kitchen?

3 x 5' 65W fluorescent tubes :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I have a 40W fluorescent ring type for an 18x9 foot kitchen which is
nice and bright but perhaps a little OTT since I have an 11W energy
efficient bulb lighting a similar sized room, the down side being it's
very dim to start with.
So what do you use to power your kitchen?

550W of halogen :-p (11*50W lamps)

In article ,
Colin Wilson o.uk writes:
|
| I have a 40W fluorescent ring type for an 18x9 foot kitchen which is
| nice and bright but perhaps a little OTT since I have an 11W energy
| efficient bulb lighting a similar sized room, the down side being it's
| very dim to start with.
| So what do you use to power your kitchen?
|
| 550W of halogen :-p (11*50W lamps)

For lighting or cooking?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In uk.d-i-y, blackhead wrote:
I have a 40W fluorescent ring type for an 18x9 foot kitchen which is
nice and bright but perhaps a little OTT since I have an 11W energy
efficient bulb lighting a similar sized room, the down side being it's
very dim to start with.

So what do you use to power your kitchen?

9 x 20W halogen for the surfaces, + 20W CFL for general lighting.

--
Mike Barnes

"blackhead" wrote in message
...
I have a 40W fluorescent ring type for an 18x9 foot kitchen which is
nice and bright but perhaps a little OTT since I have an 11W energy
efficient bulb lighting a similar sized room, the down side being it's
very dim to start with.

So what do you use to power your kitchen?

250w metal halide.

| 550W of halogen :-p (11*50W lamps)
For lighting or cooking?

Lighting - it's still a bit too directional for me, and there are a
couple of "dark" spots, but it'd probably be too hard to add a couple
more :-}

In article ,
blackhead writes:
I have a 40W fluorescent ring type for an 18x9 foot kitchen which is
nice and bright but perhaps a little OTT since I have an 11W energy
efficient bulb lighting a similar sized room, the down side being it's
very dim to start with.

So what do you use to power your kitchen?

I've done lighting in 3 different kitchens as follows.
Each line below is a separately switched circuit.

Kitchen 1.
4 x 16W T4 + 1 x 20W T4 fluorescent tubes on cupboard tops (general lighting).
3 x 16W T4 under cupboard + 11W TL in cooker hood (task lighting).
5W 12V halogen capsule as an emergency light on ceiling (mains fail only).

Kitchen 2.
5' 58W T8 + 21W 2D on cupboard tops, plus 26W TL wall uplighter (general).
1149mm 35W T5 + 8W T4 fluorescents under cupboard lights (task lighting).

Kitchen 3. (Constrained by someone else's requirements, not my ideal choices)
Central light designed for 100W GLS. Can now only just fit an 18W CFL[1].
3 10W downlighters [2] for worktop with no cupboard over (includes sink).
6 10W halogen capsules (task lighting), plus 11W TL fluorescent (cooker hood).

[1] Only in last few months have CFL's with enough light output got short
enough to fit this fitting. Tended to use GLS shaped 60W or 100W
halogens until then. CFL still not as bright as 100W GLS.

[2] Home made, see http://www.cucumber.demon.co.uk/lights/diy/
(The 13W T5 fluorescent on that page was an undercupboard light
in Kitchen 2 until it was refitted in 2002.)

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In article ,
Colin Wilson o.uk writes:
| 550W of halogen :-p (11*50W lamps)
For lighting or cooking?

Lighting - it's still a bit too directional for me, and there are a
couple of "dark" spots, but it'd probably be too hard to add a couple
more :-}

You'll probably find the room is better lit with a single bare 100W, or
even 60W, light bulb hanging in the middle of the room. Not that I'm
suggesting this, but it's a useful comparison to show how inefficient
downlighters are for general lighting.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In article ,
"dennis@home" writes:


"blackhead" wrote in message
...
I have a 40W fluorescent ring type for an 18x9 foot kitchen which is
nice and bright but perhaps a little OTT since I have an 11W energy
efficient bulb lighting a similar sized room, the down side being it's
very dim to start with.

So what do you use to power your kitchen?

250w metal halide.

How are you using it? Upligher bouncing off ceiling?

I've got a 250W metal halide, but it's a 10,000K lamp
which does really horrible things to food (and most
other things too;-)

I have a halogen uplighter in the living room which I
don't think I've used for a good few years now. It was
designed for 500W lamps, but it's had a 225W (300W equiv)
lamp in it. I had thought about converting it to a 70W or
150W warm white metal halide.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

"blackhead" wrote in message
...
I have a 40W fluorescent ring type for an 18x9 foot kitchen which is
nice and bright but perhaps a little OTT since I have an 11W energy
efficient bulb lighting a similar sized room, the down side being it's
very dim to start with.

So what do you use to power your kitchen?

11' x 12'

15 x GU10 down lighters, fitted with 11w Megaman lamps
4 x 20w 12v under-cupboard lamps
4 x 10w 12v down lighters in the cooker hood

They are switched as follows

1 switch controls every other light over the worktop areas
1 witch controls the other set over the worktops
1 switch for any lamps not over worktops
1 switch for the under cupboard lights
1 switch on the cooker hood for those lights

We tend to have the non worktop ones on, and half of the over worktop ones
on, generally.

Possibly thinking of having a PIR sensor in there to turn them off when the
room is empty, as the get left on quite often!

You'll probably find the room is better lit with a single bare 100W, or
even 60W, light bulb hanging in the middle of the room. Not that I'm
suggesting this, but it's a useful comparison to show how inefficient
downlighters are for general lighting.

We used to have a couple of 4 foot fluorescent lamps in there - they
were "passable" but not particularly pretty.

There's something about single-source illumination I really dislike -
for instance I did away with the centre lamp in the living room, and
it's lit via 3 wall lamps (2 single 60W, one double 60W).

Colin Wilson wrote:

You'll probably find the room is better lit with a single bare 100W, or
even 60W, light bulb hanging in the middle of the room. Not that I'm
suggesting this, but it's a useful comparison to show how inefficient
downlighters are for general lighting.

We used to have a couple of 4 foot fluorescent lamps in there - they
were "passable" but not particularly pretty.

There's something about single-source illumination I really dislike -
for instance I did away with the centre lamp in the living room, and
it's lit via 3 wall lamps (2 single 60W, one double 60W).

central lights and especially ugly fluoros are much improved if you
block off all downward light, so all light is bounced off the ceiling.


NT

Kichen Diner,23ft x average 9ft.

One 8ft fluorescant tube, (kitchen area)

One 11W Fluorescant bulb (dining area)

No shadows, a very even light combination.

Don

On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:51:42 -0800 (PST), blackhead
wrote:

I have a 40W fluorescent ring type for an 18x9 foot kitchen which is
nice and bright but perhaps a little OTT since I have an 11W energy
efficient bulb lighting a similar sized room, the down side being it's
very dim to start with.

So what do you use to power your kitchen?

10' x 8'

2 x twin 70W 6' flouros with diffusers.

We have a kitchen not a designer kitchen and want light not expensive
/ subtle / up / down / side / mood lightING. [1]

All the best ..

T i m

[1] Else I wouldn't be able to see the motorbike panels I was working
on in there last night. ;-)

On Feb 24, 4:51*pm, blackhead wrote:
I have a 40W fluorescent ring type for an 18x9 foot kitchen which is
nice and bright but perhaps a little OTT since I have an 11W energy
efficient bulb lighting a similar sized room, the down side being it's
very dim to start with.

So what do you use to power your kitchen?

20 x 35W Decostar 51 Halogens (50W equivalent)
4 x 20W Halogens (in the cooker hood)
3 x 35W Halogens (in an uplighter)
3M + 4M length of cold cathode (above the soffit)
All run of a Lutron 4 channel lighting controller

About 1.2KW in total although we never, ever have any of it on at full
brightness.

It looks stunning and is shadow free... I know a lot of people who
post here prefer frugality over design - but in my case, I would have
rather eaten a bag of rusty nails than put CFL's in...

http://gallery.mac.com/loopylup#100003

Excuse the clothes and tools... Must take some better pictures at some
point.

Steve

On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 04:24:16 -0800 (PST), stevelup
wrote:

So what do you use to power your kitchen?

20 x 35W Decostar 51 Halogens (50W equivalent)
4 x 20W Halogens (in the cooker hood)
3 x 35W Halogens (in an uplighter)
3M + 4M length of cold cathode (above the soffit)
All run of a Lutron 4 channel lighting controller

About 1.2KW in total although we never, ever have any of it on at full
brightness.

It looks stunning and is shadow free...

I agree it looks modern and designer (I guess the .mac bit in the
following link gave it away g) but (respectfully) with the dark
floors and work surfaces and units it doesn't look 'bright' as I
understand it? Maybe you don't have all the lights on and that's in
'mood' mode?

I know a lot of people who
post here prefer frugality over design -

Functionality (not necessarily the most frugal) over design here yes.
It's also a function of size / space. With a small kitchen like ours
we couldn't have any lighting above the units or we would lose
valuable storage space. We don't have a cooker hood because we have a
free standing gas stove with eye level grill (my eyes are 6' from the
ground, not in my pelvis) and with under-worktop dishwasher, fridge
and freezer in there isn't an awful lost of space for 'fancy'?

Plus if I had a kitchen like yours I would feel bad about
fiberglassing my motorcycle panels or our Daughter turning a school
design project in there! ;-)

but in my case, I would have
rather eaten a bag of rusty nails than put CFL's in...

CFL's maybe not, and I guess in *that* style of kitchen even FL's
might look out of place unless 'concealed' but then there goes a lot
of light again .. :-(

http://gallery.mac.com/loopylup#100003

Excuse the clothes and tools... Must take some better pictures at some
point.

I can't see any tools or clothes, could you take some pictures with
the lights on please? I did expect to see a MacBook Air on the side
though? weg

All the best ..

T i m

It looks like nice work and equipment, do it all yourself Steve?

On Feb 25, 1:50*pm, T i m wrote:

I agree it looks modern and designer (I guess the .mac bit in the
following link gave it away g) but (respectfully) with the dark
floors and work surfaces and units it doesn't look 'bright' as I
understand it? Maybe you don't have all the lights on and that's in
'mood' mode?

I think the main lights were on at about 10% in that shot - it's like
an operating theatre with them at 100%. When cooking we have them set
to about 60%

I do need to take some more photo's though - they were done in a big
rush for someone else.

I know a lot of people who
post here prefer frugality over design -

Functionality (not necessarily the most frugal) over design here yes.
It's also a function of size / space. With a small kitchen like ours
we couldn't have any lighting above the units or we would lose
valuable storage space. We don't have a cooker hood because we have a
free standing gas stove with eye level grill (my eyes are 6' from the
ground, not in my pelvis) and with under-worktop dishwasher, fridge
and freezer in there isn't an awful lost of space for 'fancy'?

I'm a big fan of hidden lighting and have used it elsewhere in the
house too. Are you saying you have stuff stacked on top of your
units? If you don't, then you could put some fluorescent lights on the
top of the cupboards hidden behind a baffle. As long as your ceiling
is bright white, you will then get a large amount of pleasant looking
diffuse light which you could then supplement with task lighting.

Plus if I had a kitchen like yours I would feel bad about
fiberglassing *my motorcycle panels or our Daughter turning a school
design project in there! ;-)

Its not too bad to be honest - takes a good deal less looking after
than our old kitchen. I don't think I'd go as far as repairing a
motorbike in there though!

CFL's maybe not, and I guess in *that* style of kitchen even FL's
might look out of place unless 'concealed' but then there goes a lot
of light again .. :-(

The problem I have with CFL's is that I don't like the colour
temperature and I don't like the fact that they cannot be properly
dimmed. As soon as something comes out which is the right (in my mind)
colour temperature and can dim down to 5% without flickering, then
I'll be more than happy to adopt it.

Excuse the clothes and tools... Must take some better pictures at some
point.

I can't see any tools or clothes, could you take some pictures with
the lights on please? I did expect to see a MacBook Air on the side
though? weg

I was mainly referring to the clothes airer in front of one of the
windows. The pictures were taken before the MacBook Air was launched -
must take some fresh ones. I would certainly love an Air but at 1200
quid, it will need to wait until the house is finished *and* the
credit cards have been paid off

It looks like nice work and equipment, do it all yourself Steve?

Every last bit... Nearly killed me but I learnt lots whilst doing it!

Here are a handful of work in progress pictures:-

http://gallery.mac.com/loopylup#100026

After I finished the kitchen, I attacked the living room. This was
completed the day before Christmas. It has some nice hidden
lighting...

http://gallery.mac.com/loopylup#100011

Shower room is next, then I am hanging my DIY hat up for the
forseeable future! It's quite draining when you can only do it on
evenings and weekends although I have saved an absolute fortune by
doing it all myself.

Steve

"T i m" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 04:24:16 -0800 (PST), stevelup
wrote:

So what do you use to power your kitchen?

20 x 35W Decostar 51 Halogens (50W equivalent)
4 x 20W Halogens (in the cooker hood)
3 x 35W Halogens (in an uplighter)
3M + 4M length of cold cathode (above the soffit)
All run of a Lutron 4 channel lighting controller

About 1.2KW in total although we never, ever have any of it on at full
brightness.

It looks stunning and is shadow free...

I agree it looks modern and designer (I guess the .mac bit in the
following link gave it away g) but (respectfully) with the dark
floors and work surfaces and units it doesn't look 'bright' as I
understand it? Maybe you don't have all the lights on and that's in
'mood' mode?

I know a lot of people who
post here prefer frugality over design -

Functionality (not necessarily the most frugal) over design here yes.
It's also a function of size / space. With a small kitchen like ours
we couldn't have any lighting above the units or we would lose
valuable storage space. We don't have a cooker hood because we have a
free standing gas stove with eye level grill (my eyes are 6' from the
ground, not in my pelvis) and with under-worktop dishwasher, fridge
and freezer in there isn't an awful lost of space for 'fancy'?

Plus if I had a kitchen like yours I would feel bad about
fiberglassing my motorcycle panels or our Daughter turning a school
design project in there! ;-)

but in my case, I would have
rather eaten a bag of rusty nails than put CFL's in...

CFL's maybe not, and I guess in *that* style of kitchen even FL's
might look out of place unless 'concealed' but then there goes a lot
of light again .. :-(

http://gallery.mac.com/loopylup#100003

Excuse the clothes and tools... Must take some better pictures at some
point.

I can't see any tools or clothes, could you take some pictures with
the lights on please? I did expect to see a MacBook Air on the side
though? weg

All the best ..

T i m

It looks like nice work and equipment, do it all yourself Steve?



8 x 60 watt flush spot lights - bulbs last ages, much better light than
halogen spots !

On Feb 25, 5:02*pm, "john" wrote:

8 x 60 watt flush spot lights *- bulbs last ages, much than
better light halogen spots !

I *think* you might be joking. At least I hope you are

I question that on every count! The lamps don't last as long, are less
efficient and have much poorer light quality.

They are also:-

a) Big
b) Ugly as sin
c) A disasterous throwback to the 70's

Can you even still buy them?

Steve

On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:51:42 -0800, blackhead wrote:

I have a 40W fluorescent ring type for an 18x9 foot kitchen which is
nice and bright but perhaps a little OTT since I have an 11W energy
efficient bulb lighting a similar sized room, the down side being it's
very dim to start with.

So what do you use to power your kitchen?


SWMBO said, when it was time to put lights in a new ceiling after a fire,
that she didn't want anything fancy. I wanted to play - so we have a
compromise!

2off 2D 18W surface fittings in circular glass shades - 1 at each end of
the long, narrow kitchen. Those are on 2-way switches so we can use them
from both ends of the room.

2off LV halogens in downlighters in the ceiling over a small breakfast
bar. Operated from an electronic transformer & dimmer.

8off LV halogens in downlighters in the ceiling, distributed above the
rest of the work surfaces, including 2 over the sink (works very well!).
These are spread over 2 more electronic transformers from a common
dimmer. The 2 dimmers & a 2D light switch are all within easy reach of
the breakfast bar so it's dead easy to change the whole mood of the
lighting.

The halogens are all fed via a "flying saucer" style PIR in the centre of
the room to give automatic switch-on & off.

In addition to that lot, there are another 6 low-wattage LV halogens
under the cupboards over the main worktops down one side.

Most of the time the dimmers are switched off or kept quite low, being
very good for making a brew first thing in the morning! SWMBO is quite
happy with the 2Ds and the under-cupboard lights for most of the time.
It's nice to just have the breakfast bar lit though.

--
Mick (Working in a M$-free zone!)
Web: http://www.nascom.info http://mixpix.batcave.net

On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 09:02:45 -0800 (PST), stevelup
wrote:

On Feb 25, 1:50*pm, T i m wrote:

I agree it looks modern and designer (I guess the .mac bit in the
following link gave it away g) but (respectfully) with the dark
floors and work surfaces and units it doesn't look 'bright' as I
understand it? Maybe you don't have all the lights on and that's in
'mood' mode?

I think the main lights were on at about 10% in that shot - it's like
an operating theatre with them at 100%. When cooking we have them set
to about 60%

Ah, ok.


I'm a big fan of hidden lighting and have used it elsewhere in the
house too.

We only have a couple of hidden lights, it's a 20W CFL sitting on a
high shelf on a bit of reflective foil. Lights this smallish lounge up
sufficiently for TV viewing etc.

Are you saying you have stuff stacked on top of your
units?

Yup. Small cooler bags, seldom used food storage boxes etc.

If you don't, then you could put some fluorescent lights on the
top of the cupboards hidden behind a baffle. As long as your ceiling
is bright white, you will then get a large amount of pleasant looking
diffuse light which you could then supplement with task lighting.

We are quite happy with the std flouros Steve. We retain the storage
space and also get easy to maintain efficient lighting. I'm also not
sure 'hidden lighting' is in keeping with a house over 100 years old?

Plus if I had a kitchen like yours I would feel bad about
fiberglassing *my motorcycle panels or our Daughter turning a school
design project in there! ;-)

Its not too bad to be honest - takes a good deal less looking after
than our old kitchen. I don't think I'd go as far as repairing a
motorbike in there though!

Ah, well I am old and remember when it was perfectly normal to drag
your whole motorbike in the kitchen to work on it, not just the panels
(and have done so round my Uncles with his Scooter).

CFL's maybe not, and I guess in *that* style of kitchen even FL's
might look out of place unless 'concealed' but then there goes a lot
of light again .. :-(

The problem I have with CFL's is that I don't like the colour
temperature and I don't like the fact that they cannot be properly
dimmed.

shrug Light goes on, light goes off ... ;-)

The only dimmable lamp in here is a small bedside light with a 25W
incandescent.

As soon as something comes out which is the right (in my mind)
colour temperature and can dim down to 5% without flickering, then
I'll be more than happy to adopt it.

Light goes on, light goes off .. ;-)

Excuse the clothes and tools... Must take some better pictures at some
point.

I can't see any tools or clothes, could you take some pictures with
the lights on please? I did expect to see a MacBook Air on the side
though? weg

I was mainly referring to the clothes airer in front of one of the
windows.

Meh, I'm an engineer, would even 'see' them .. now if you had piston
on the worktop ... ;-)

The pictures were taken before the MacBook Air was launched -
must take some fresh ones. I would certainly love an Air but at 1200
quid, it will need to wait until the house is finished *and* the
credit cards have been paid off

1200 quid for a Mac with a single USB, no optical drive or Firewire
Steve?

It looks like nice work and equipment, do it all yourself Steve?

Every last bit... Nearly killed me but I learnt lots whilst doing it!

I bet. I've been there with most of the stuff. This place had gas
lighting in when I bought it and a chimney in the kitchen etc.

Here are a handful of work in progress pictures:-

http://gallery.mac.com/loopylup#100026

Nice. It's amazing how something so clean can come from such a mess
eh. It's also amazing that the whole space could be illuminated by a
4' flouro while you were doing it! ;-)

After I finished the kitchen, I attacked the living room. This was
completed the day before Christmas. It has some nice hidden
lighting...

http://gallery.mac.com/loopylup#100011

Very integrated.

We have a 19" TFT and a Pro Logic surround sound system (MS fronts /
centre, Celestion Little Ones rear, Yamaha active sub all via a
Sherwood R 125RDS) and in spite of my Arcam'd mate getting annoyed
because this 'cheapo' setup sounding better than his it hasn't been
used for years .. (we aren't film watchers).

Shower room is next, then I am hanging my DIY hat up for the
forseeable future!

You say ... ;-)

It's quite draining when you can only do it on
evenings and weekends although I have saved an absolute fortune by
doing it all myself.

Yup. When I was buying this place on my own some 30 years ago whilst
working for BT it was all I could do to buy the place and afford the
materials. Hours and hours of evenings and weekends disappeared in new
floors and removing chimney breasts, rewiring (well wiring as there
wasn't much in here), running gas, water etc etc left me pretty
d-i-y'd out.

Now it's just a matter of keeping things working and enjoying
ourselves outside the house!

All the best ..

T i m

On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 20:55:34 GMT, mick
wrote:


The halogens are all fed via a "flying saucer" style PIR in the centre of
the room to give automatic switch-on & off.

How well does that work Mick? What sort of time delay do you have them
on? Have they ever turned off while you were actually in there and
working?

All the best ..

T i m

On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:25:48 +0000, T i m wrote:

On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 20:55:34 GMT, mick wrote:


The halogens are all fed via a "flying saucer" style PIR in the centre
of the room to give automatic switch-on & off.

How well does that work Mick? What sort of time delay do you have them
on? Have they ever turned off while you were actually in there and
working?


It works very well, thanks. I had the same concern at first (especially
as the ceiling is quite low), but I've not had any problem. The PIR has
several settings:

There is about 2 secs fixed delay on switch-on.
LUX = max brightness (30) (I think I should probably have set this
lower, but it works!)
TIME1 = 3min
TIME2 = 30min hold-on time after being triggered for TIME1 (IIRC!)
METER = 6m range sensitivity

I've not had any accidental switch-offs so far. I was a bit worried about
IR from the cooker preventing it from switching off, but that hasn't been
a problem either.

--
Mick (Working in a M$-free zone!)
Web: http://www.nascom.info http://mixpix.batcave.net

On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:28:26 GMT, mick
wrote:

On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 22:25:48 +0000, T i m wrote:

On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 20:55:34 GMT, mick wrote:


The halogens are all fed via a "flying saucer" style PIR in the centre
of the room to give automatic switch-on & off.

How well does that work Mick? What sort of time delay do you have them
on? Have they ever turned off while you were actually in there and
working?


It works very well, thanks. I had the same concern at first (especially
as the ceiling is quite low), but I've not had any problem. The PIR has
several settings:

There is about 2 secs fixed delay on switch-on.
LUX = max brightness (30) (I think I should probably have set this
lower, but it works!)
TIME1 = 3min
TIME2 = 30min hold-on time after being triggered for TIME1 (IIRC!)
METER = 6m range sensitivity

I've not had any accidental switch-offs so far. I was a bit worried about
IR from the cooker preventing it from switching off, but that hasn't been
a problem either.

Excellent. ;-)

Thanks Mick,

All the best ..

T i m

T i m wrote:

We are quite happy with the std flouros Steve. We retain the storage
space and also get easy to maintain efficient lighting. I'm also not
sure 'hidden lighting' is in keeping with a house over 100 years old?

I can understand that.

1200 quid for a Mac with a single USB, no optical drive or Firewire
Steve?

Yes but it's pretty... Same argument really as the one between a
single 4ft fluorescent and multiple halogen downlighters

Nice. It's amazing how something so clean can come from such a mess
eh. It's also amazing that the whole space could be illuminated by a
4' flouro while you were doing it! ;-)

Hey - it was 2' actually! To be fair, the only thing it achieved was
us not falling over each other1

Very integrated.

We have a 19" TFT and a Pro Logic surround sound system (MS fronts /
centre, Celestion Little Ones rear, Yamaha active sub all via a
Sherwood R 125RDS) and in spite of my Arcam'd mate getting annoyed
because this 'cheapo' setup sounding better than his it hasn't been
used for years .. (we aren't film watchers).

The front room at this house is half the size of the one where we
lived before which is what prompted my to bury everything in the
walls. It cost twice as much as it would have done with everything in
the room but we've saved an awful lot of space.

Yup. When I was buying this place on my own some 30 years ago whilst
working for BT it was all I could do to buy the place and afford the
materials. Hours and hours of evenings and weekends disappeared in new
floors and removing chimney breasts, rewiring (well wiring as there
wasn't much in here), running gas, water etc etc left me pretty
d-i-y'd out.

Sounds a lot more challenging than my projects!

Now it's just a matter of keeping things working and enjoying
ourselves outside the house!

That will come before too long hopefully... Garden next after the
inside of the house!

Steve

mick wrote:

It works very well, thanks. I had the same concern at first (especially
as the ceiling is quite low), but I've not had any problem. The PIR has
several settings:

There is about 2 secs fixed delay on switch-on.
LUX = max brightness (30) (I think I should probably have set this
lower, but it works!)
TIME1 = 3min
TIME2 = 30min hold-on time after being triggered for TIME1 (IIRC!)
METER = 6m range sensitivity

Which PIR have you used?

I am wavering about filling my kitchen with halogens, but I might
be able to square it with energy use if I include a PIR.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:41:09 -0800 (PST), stevelup
wrote:

snips

The front room at this house is half the size of the one where we
lived before which is what prompted my to bury everything in the
walls. It cost twice as much as it would have done with everything in
the room but we've saved an awful lot of space.

I like the idea though. Does it work well? I was given a 42" Plasma
recently [1] but there is nowhere in this 3 bed Victorian cottage to
put it!

Yup. When I was buying this place on my own some 30 years ago whilst
working for BT it was all I could do to buy the place and afford the
materials. Hours and hours of evenings and weekends disappeared in new
floors and removing chimney breasts, rewiring (well wiring as there
wasn't much in here), running gas, water etc etc left me pretty
d-i-y'd out.

Sounds a lot more challenging than my projects!

Well, not really, just more of it maybe. Like when we built the Kit
car. Many people (at that time) had done the various bit's involved in
building a car when repairing one, they just hadn't done them all at
the same time! ;-)

Now it's just a matter of keeping things working and enjoying
ourselves outside the house!

That will come before too long hopefully... Garden next after the
inside of the house!

Garden, noo, we aren't *that* old g! No, motorcycling, cycling,
boating, power kite flying / bugging, RC modeling, clay shooting,
archery, camping .... ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

[1] A chippy mate was given id from a trendy clothes shop when doing
some shop fitting in there and gave it to me when he replaced it with
an LCD jobby. I think there is some slight burn-in on the screen but I
thought it might make a good Wii screen. ;-)

"blackhead" wrote in message
...
I have a 40W fluorescent ring type for an 18x9 foot kitchen which is
nice and bright but perhaps a little OTT since I have an 11W energy
efficient bulb lighting a similar sized room, the down side being it's
very dim to start with.

So what do you use to power your kitchen?

4X 35 GU10 halogen, with a dimmer and turned down to just glowing
when I'm not in the kitchen.

On Tue, 26 Feb 2008 10:44:12 +0000, Chris J Dixon wrote:

mick wrote:

It works very well, thanks. I had the same concern at first (especially
as the ceiling is quite low), but I've not had any problem. The PIR has
several settings:

There is about 2 secs fixed delay on switch-on. LUX = max brightness
(30) (I think I should probably have set this lower, but it works!)
TIME1 = 3min
TIME2 = 30min hold-on time after being triggered for TIME1 (IIRC!)
METER = 6m range sensitivity

Which PIR have you used?


That's a very good question... :-) I can't see a maker's name anywhere
on it, it was fitted over 4 years ago and it isn't shown on my original
supplier's web site now. I've probably got the info somewhere, but it'll
be in the "somewhere safe". :-(


I am wavering about filling my kitchen with halogens, but I might be
able to square it with energy use if I include a PIR.


It has to be better than without, doesn't it? :-)

I'm not sure about them now. They look *very* impressive, but if you are
looking for a "working" kitchen then IMHO they are not really the way to
go if you are also looking for efficiency. We seem to get as much, if not
more, usable light from the 2off 2D fittings than we get from the main
downlighters - but the under-cupboard lights are good (if rather bright -
they are 20W halogens). OTOH a few halogens work very well with some
flourescents as they help to "fill in" the colour spectrum.

My particular arrangement was done for a specific reason - a low ceiling.
Normal tube types look stupid in there (we used to have some). The
halogens look so much better, and the 2Ds don't look out of place. I
haven't attempted to light the central floor area with halogens, just put
the light where it is needed. That means that the 2Ds are pretty
important for cleaning up, really.

--
Mick (Working in a M$-free zone!)
Web: http://www.nascom.info http://mixpix.batcave.net

On Tue, 26 Feb 2008 11:09:15 +0000, T i m wrote:

I was given a 42" Plasma
recently [1] but there is nowhere in this 3 bed Victorian cottage to put
it!


Here's my address....

;-)


--
Mick (Working in a M$-free zone!)
Web: http://www.nascom.info http://mixpix.batcave.net

On Feb 26, 11:09*am, T i m wrote:
On Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:41:09 -0800 (PST), stevelup

wrote:

snips

The front room at this house is half the size of the one where we
lived before which is what prompted my to bury everything in the
walls. It cost twice as much as it would have done with everything in
the room but we've saved an awful lot of space.

I like the idea though. Does it work well? I was given a 42" Plasma
recently [1] but there is nowhere in this 3 bed Victorian cottage to
put it!

It's a great way of hiding something that is large and would be
otherwise out of place. For more inspiration and loads of pictures of
other peoples work, have a look he-

http://www.avforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=59


Sounds a lot more challenging than my projects!

Well, not really, just more of it maybe. Like when we built the Kit
car. Many people (at that time) had done the various bit's involved in
building a car when repairing one, they just hadn't done them all at
the same time! ;-)

Something I have always fancied doing but never had a garage until
now. It's on my 'list of things to do before I die'...

Garden next after the inside of the house!

Garden, noo, we aren't *that* old g! No, *motorcycling, cycling,
boating, power kite flying / bugging, RC modeling, clay shooting,
archery, camping .... *;-)

I don't mean planting pansies... Big rugged things involving diggers,
rocks and wood

[1] A chippy mate was given id from a trendy clothes shop when doing
some shop fitting in there and gave it to me when he replaced it with
an LCD jobby. I think there is some slight burn-in on the screen but I
thought it might make a good Wii screen. ;-)

The nice thing about Plasma's is that they are pretty Wii-proof
compared with LCD's!

On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:51:42 -0800, blackhead wrote:

I have a 40W fluorescent ring type for an 18x9 foot kitchen which is
nice and bright but perhaps a little OTT since I have an 11W energy
efficient bulb lighting a similar sized room, the down side being it's
very dim to start with.

So what do you use to power your kitchen?

Our kitchen's a sort of L shape, and we have 4 * GU10 CFLs (7W or 9W each -
I forget which) in a bar-type fitting over the worktops, hob & sink which
are in the 'foot' of the L, and a single 20W CFL in a pendant in the
less-used 'leg' part of the L. The GU10 types are infinitely better than
50W halogens in width of beam and colour (they're "warm white" and a lot
nicer than the yellowish colour of halogens) but take forever to warm
up, don't last particularly long and cost a lot. And when you replace them
you're throwing away a bunch of electronics as well as the glass bit.

However the other day I saw some rather nice fluoro downlighters about
100mm dia (including flange) and 100mm depth, cost about £17 each,
replacement lamps (glass only - electronics in the fitting) about £3-4.
Masses of light output - I think they're about 10W. Just got to go and
drill a hole in the ceiling while SWMBO's out, to see if I've got 100mm
clearance to fit them before I buy any.

--
John Stumbles

Procrastinate now!

"John Stumbles" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:51:42 -0800, blackhead wrote:

I have a 40W fluorescent ring type for an 18x9 foot kitchen which is
nice and bright but perhaps a little OTT since I have an 11W energy
efficient bulb lighting a similar sized room, the down side being it's
very dim to start with.

So what do you use to power your kitchen?

Our kitchen's a sort of L shape, and we have 4 * GU10 CFLs (7W or 9W
each -
I forget which) in a bar-type fitting over the worktops, hob & sink which
are in the 'foot' of the L, and a single 20W CFL in a pendant in the
less-used 'leg' part of the L. The GU10 types are infinitely better than
50W halogens in width of beam and colour (they're "warm white" and a lot
nicer than the yellowish colour of halogens) but take forever to warm
up, don't last particularly long and cost a lot. And when you replace them
you're throwing away a bunch of electronics as well as the glass bit.

However the other day I saw some rather nice fluoro downlighters about
100mm dia (including flange) and 100mm depth, cost about £17 each,
replacement lamps (glass only - electronics in the fitting) about £3-4.
Masses of light output - I think they're about 10W. Just got to go and
drill a hole in the ceiling while SWMBO's out, to see if I've got 100mm
clearance to fit them before I buy any.

They look interesting, got a link to them!?

On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 23:21:04 +0000, Sparks wrote:

They look interesting, got a link to them!?

fraind not. It was at GFE http://www.gfegroup.com but they don't seem to
have individual products on their wibble.

--
John Stumbles

I forgot to take my amnesia medecine again

central lights and especially ugly fluoros are much improved if you
block off all downward light, so all light is bounced off the ceiling.
NT

Couldn't agree more - so designed lighting to be all aimed at the
walls. Recently changed from 60W spots to 11W replacements with
reasonable results - biggest downside is 2 - 5 second delay from
darkness.

Only exception is under cooker hood where she insists - rightly -
lamps are up under the front, thus illuminating toward the rear and
not reflecting toward the user.