Unless anyone has any better ideas, I'm going to replace the horrible
light fitting in my bathroom with some halogen downlighters.

The room is 3.2m x 1.7m. I'm thinking of fitting three lights, equally
spaced down the middle of the room. Most of the bathroom type fittings
seem to be 35w - I want the room to be fairly bright and I guess 105w
overall is probably enough. However, 35w bulbs only seem to be available
in 36º beam widths and smaller. Although I'm using downlighters (because
I prefer "hidden" fittings for a bathroom) I don't really want a
"spotlight" effect. I'm concerned that such a narrow beam might leave
parts of the room in shadow - although I have no real experience on
which to judge it. What do you think?

60º beam bulbs are available at 50w. This is too much for TLC's
fire-rated bathroom fitting, although I still haven't established
whether I actually need fire-rating upstairs. I also wonder whether
3x50w will be too much for a fairly small room. As I said, I have no
experience of these lights.

I note that the fire-rated fittings also need "cool fit" bulbs, which
further limits the choice.

Another variable in the choice of lamps and fittings is that my ceiling
is 2.5 metres high. I believe this puts it outside the zones, so I could
choose a non-IP-rated fitting. Not sure this is sensible though in a
steamy bathroom.

Finally, is there any particular reason to prefer either a single
transformer powering all three lights, or an individual transformer for
each light?

Cheers,

Pete

On 6 Nov, 00:37, Pete Verdon
d wrote:
Unless anyone has any better ideas, I'm going to replace the horrible
light fitting in my bathroom with some halogen downlighters.

The room is 3.2m x 1.7m. I'm thinking of fitting three lights, equally
spaced down the middle of the room. Most of the bathroom type fittings
seem to be 35w - I want the room to be fairly bright and I guess 105w
overall is probably enough. However, 35w bulbs only seem to be available
in 36º beam widths and smaller. Although I'm using downlighters (because
I prefer "hidden" fittings for a bathroom) I don't really want a
"spotlight" effect. I'm concerned that such a narrow beam might leave
parts of the room in shadow - although I have no real experience on
which to judge it. What do you think?

60º beam bulbs are available at 50w. This is too much for TLC's
fire-rated bathroom fitting, although I still haven't established
whether I actually need fire-rating upstairs. I also wonder whether
3x50w will be too much for a fairly small room. As I said, I have no
experience of these lights.

I note that the fire-rated fittings also need "cool fit" bulbs, which
further limits the choice.

Another variable in the choice of lamps and fittings is that my ceiling
is 2.5 metres high. I believe this puts it outside the zones, so I could
choose a non-IP-rated fitting. Not sure this is sensible though in a
steamy bathroom.

Finally, is there any particular reason to prefer either a single
transformer powering all three lights, or an individual transformer for
each light?

Cheers,

Pete

My bathroom is remarkably near the same size in all planes - just a
tad longer. It's north facing with a single window, so needs to be
lit well. The lighting was all installed before any of this IP rating
malarky came along.

I would be concerned about the narrow beam width of the halogen
downlighters giving you pools of dark and light - ie the lack of
general light spread. In the days of incandescents this was never a
problem and who wants CLFs in a bathroom.

At some point I'm going to have to face the same quandary as I have a
60W incandescent downlighter near the door, and a similar one in an
uplighter on the wall above the bath. At some point I will run out of
replacements ! The basin at the far end from the door is lit with a
cluster of 10 x 10w halogens which also spread light well.

Rob

On 6 Nov, 12:55, wrote:
On 6 Nov, *
* * *Pete Verdon d wrote:

The room is 3.2m x 1.7m. I'm thinking of fitting three lights, equally
spaced down the middle of the room. Most of the bathroom type fittings
seem to be 35w - I want the room to be fairly bright and I guess 105w
overall is probably enough. However, 35w bulbs only seem to be available
in 36º beam widths and smaller. Although I'm using downlighters (because
I prefer "hidden" fittings for a bathroom) I don't really want a
"spotlight" effect. I'm concerned that such a narrow beam might leave
parts of the room in shadow - although I have no real experience on
which to judge it. What do you think?

Fit a 2D or similar IP rated fitting to the ceiling. It will give a much
better light and last longer, and be cheaper to run.

--
* B Thumbs
* Change lycos to yahoo to reply

2D fluro gives better light than halogen, for a totally new value of
better perhaps.

2D lamps are pretty good efficiency wise but feel they should really
be restricted to stairwells and carparks, personally.

At 2.5m throw, 36 degree will be fine, will also gain from reflectance
off the walls. Lamps are liable to be still available for at least the
life of the installation

Seperate trafo for all lamps keeps the 240V out of any of the hazard
zones, Mode are a good brand.

Might consider seperate wall mounted light by mirror.

Cheers
Adam

Adam Aglionby wrote:
On 6 Nov, 12:55, wrote:

Fit a 2D or similar IP rated fitting to the ceiling. It will give a much
better light and last longer, and be cheaper to run.

2D fluro gives better light than halogen, for a totally new value of
better perhaps.

It's immaterial, as I don't like that sort of fitting. I have something
similar at the moment (although with a single incandescent inside it)
and don't like it.

At 2.5m throw, 36 degree will be fine, will also gain from reflectance
off the walls.

OK. Bear in mind I'm not especially interested in illumination at floor
level - if the bottom of the cone only just covers the floor, presumably
there will be quite a lot of space outside it at, say, chest level. It's
true that there will be reflection from the walls.

Seperate trafo for all lamps keeps the 240V out of any of the hazard
zones, Mode are a good brand.

I'm not sure I understand. The transformer(s) will be above the ceiling
in any case; the question is whether to have one next to each light
fitting, or a single one next to the central fitting (since that's where
the power is) and 12v cables to the fittings either side.

Might consider seperate wall mounted light by mirror.

The mirror itself incorporates a pair of small fluorescent tubes, so I'm
covered there.

Pete

On 6 Nov, 00:37, Pete Verdon
d wrote:

I also wonder whether 3x50w will be too much for a fairly small room.

3 x 50W will not be too much, I have a room 5 x 2m with 10 x 50W, it's
nice and bright but not over-bright.

wrote:
On 6 Nov,
Pete Verdon d wrote:

The room is 3.2m x 1.7m. I'm thinking of fitting three lights, equally
spaced down the middle of the room. Most of the bathroom type fittings
seem to be 35w - I want the room to be fairly bright and I guess 105w
overall is probably enough. However, 35w bulbs only seem to be available
in 36º beam widths and smaller. Although I'm using downlighters (because
I prefer "hidden" fittings for a bathroom) I don't really want a
"spotlight" effect. I'm concerned that such a narrow beam might leave
parts of the room in shadow - although I have no real experience on
which to judge it. What do you think?

Fit a 2D or similar IP rated fitting to the ceiling. It will give a much
better light and last longer, and be cheaper to run.


Well I don't like protusions in bathrooms. Of all the bogs and baths
here, all have 50W KV spots, and all are to an extent shadow casters
unless you put in about 25W/sq meter, except one room that has a central
60W incandescent luminaire. Its fairly low profile, and does a better job.

..
When the bulb goes it WILL get a CFL, as its a bugger to change and the
light quality is adequate to read Tolkien in the bath with ;-)

On Nov 6, 12:37*am, Pete Verdon
d wrote:
Unless anyone has any better ideas, I'm going to replace the horrible
light fitting in my bathroom with some halogen downlighters.

The room is 3.2m x 1.7m. I'm thinking of fitting three lights, equally
spaced down the middle of the room. Most of the bathroom type fittings
seem to be 35w - I want the room to be fairly bright and I guess 105w
overall is probably enough. However, 35w bulbs only seem to be available
in 36º beam widths and smaller. Although I'm using downlighters (because
I prefer "hidden" fittings for a bathroom) I don't really want a
"spotlight" effect. I'm concerned that such a narrow beam might leave
parts of the room in shadow - although I have no real experience on
which to judge it. What do you think?

60º beam bulbs are available at 50w. This is too much for TLC's
fire-rated bathroom fitting, although I still haven't established
whether I actually need fire-rating upstairs. I also wonder whether
3x50w will be too much for a fairly small room. As I said, I have no
experience of these lights.

I note that the fire-rated fittings also need "cool fit" bulbs, which
further limits the choice.

Another variable in the choice of lamps and fittings is that my ceiling
is 2.5 metres high. I believe this puts it outside the zones, so I could
choose a non-IP-rated fitting. Not sure this is sensible though in a
steamy bathroom.

Finally, is there any particular reason to prefer either a single
transformer powering all three lights, or an individual transformer for
each light?

Cheers,

Pete

If I were lighting the bathroom anew I'd go for linear fluorescent as
the main source. These work great _if and only if_ the many common
gotchas are avoided.
http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Fluorescent


NT