Downlighters Advice wanted
 

I have an office with a ceiling of 4.5 m x 3.5 m and room height of 2.5
m

I would like advice on the no and rating of downlighters reqd to give a
good light to work by. Also I would like to dim them if reqd and
wondered if there was any particular dimmer charateristics to be aware
of And does a dimmer reduce the power consumption?


Many thanks

Downlighters Advice wanted
 

Mike Saunders wrote:
I have an office with a ceiling of 4.5 m x 3.5 m and room height of 2.5
m

I would like advice on the no and rating of downlighters reqd to give a
good light to work by. Also I would like to dim them if reqd and
wondered if there was any particular dimmer charateristics to be aware
of And does a dimmer reduce the power consumption?

Incandescant lights dimmed to 50% visible output will use more than
50% power.
Dimmed to 20%, and they'll use lots more.

Typical office lighting is in the range of 2-3W/m^2 (fluorescant), so
multiply that by 6 to get incandescant, to 12-18W/m^2, times the area
works out to some 2-300W total.

This'll work out to some 50 quid a year in electricity costs.

I'd strongly consider dimmable fluorescants of the appropriate wattage
(say 3*18W tubes) with the appropriate colour temperature.

Downlighters Advice wanted
 

In article ,
"Mike Saunders" writes:
I have an office with a ceiling of 4.5 m x 3.5 m and room height of 2.5
m

I would like advice on the no and rating of downlighters reqd to give a
good light to work by.

What sort of downlighters, halogens?
My advice would be to avoid them if you are expecting normal office
lighting levels. You need ridiculous numbers to get up to home
lighting levels, and office lighting levels are normally much higher.
Also, their colour temperature is rather low for an office.

Also I would like to dim them if reqd and
wondered if there was any particular dimmer charateristics to be aware
of

You'll need an industrial sized dimmer if you are really going to
light a room that large to office lighting standards, and possibly
aircon to take the heat out of the room too.

And does a dimmer reduce the power consumption?

Not by much, as they become very much less efficient when dimmed.
Dimming a 500W halogen down to similar light output to a 40W lamp,
and it will still be drawing something like 300W. A better way is
to have several separately switched circuits, and switch some off
to dim them.

Now there are downlighters designed for general lighting in offices,
and these (often called "cans", particularly in the US) usually take
a couple of compact fluorescent lamps. They are much bigger than the
halogen downlighters of the MR16 type often used at home. They are
available in dimming versions, but this is going to get expensive,
as you are now talking about a product only used in rather expensive
offices.

--
Andrew Gabriel

Downlighters Advice wanted
 

In article ,
Ian Stirling writes:
Mike Saunders wrote:
I have an office with a ceiling of 4.5 m x 3.5 m and room height of 2.5
m

I would like advice on the no and rating of downlighters reqd to give a
good light to work by. Also I would like to dim them if reqd and
wondered if there was any particular dimmer charateristics to be aware
of And does a dimmer reduce the power consumption?

Incandescant lights dimmed to 50% visible output will use more than
50% power.
Dimmed to 20%, and they'll use lots more.

Typical office lighting is in the range of 2-3W/m^2 (fluorescant), so
multiply that by 6 to get incandescant, to 12-18W/m^2, times the area
works out to some 2-300W total.

You will probably need to multiply this by another 4 or so to allow
for all the general lighting coming from reflections from the floor,
desktop, etc. This is where halogen downlighter efficiency is all lost;
the light source is at the best end of filament lamps, but the delivery
is completely wrong for general purpose lighting, and most of the light
is lost into the floor.

This'll work out to some 50 quid a year in electricity costs.

I'd strongly consider dimmable fluorescants of the appropriate wattage
(say 3*18W tubes) with the appropriate colour temperature.

--
Andrew Gabriel

Downlighters Advice wanted
 

"Mike Saunders" wrote in message
...
I have an office with a ceiling of 4.5 m x 3.5 m and room height of 2.5
m

I would like advice on the no and rating of downlighters reqd to give a
good light to work by. Also I would like to dim them if reqd and
wondered if there was any particular dimmer charateristics to be aware
of And does a dimmer reduce the power consumption?

I would not recommend downlighters for general office lighting, particularly
if you will be using computers in the office. You will get a much better
working light from fluorescent lights fitted with anti-glare diffusers,
designed specifically for areas with computer use. If you are still using
CRT screens, high-frequency fluorescents are a very good idea, but I like
them anyway for the instant start and longer lamp life.

If you decide you really must have downlighters, you would do better to use
them for circulation lighting and to use local task lighting to bring the
workstations up to an acceptable light level. I suppose that, unless they
are low energy types, one advantage of using downlighters to achieve office
lighting levels is that you probably won't need to use any heating in the
winter.

Colin Bignell

Downlighters Advice wanted
 

If you decide you really must have downlighters, you would do better
to use them for circulation lighting and to use local task lighting
to bring the workstations up to an acceptable light level. I suppose
that, unless they are low energy types, one advantage of using
downlighters to achieve office lighting levels is that you probably
won't need to use any heating in the winter.


From yours and the other threads this seems to be the right idea.
Actually the office is simply a room in my house which I use as an
office (mainly computer) so I may have mislead re the reqts. Assuming
a 'normal' genaral purpose reqirement plus task lighting for the
computer What would you suggest for the downlighter rating and numbers

Thanks

Mike

Downlighters Advice wanted
 

"Mike Saunders" wrote in message ...

I have an office with a ceiling of 4.5 m x 3.5 m and room height of 2.5 m

I would like advice on the no and rating of downlighters reqd to give a
good light to work by.

Not possible, halogen downlighters will never give you a decent light
to work by. By their nature theyre contrasty and glarey. Theyre used
for the look but are anything but ideal practical lighting. Dont
worry, theyre a fashion that will pass once people wake up.

Halogen downlighting is also one of the most energy inefficient
methods in current use.


Also I would like to dim them if reqd and
wondered if there was any particular dimmer charateristics to be aware
of And does a dimmer reduce the power consumption?

Whatever light type you use, use a switchbank not dimmers. The result
is:
with filaments: way more energy efficient, and more reliable
with fluoros: way cheaper and slightly more energy eficient


Regards, NT

Downlighters Advice wanted
 

"Mike Saunders" wrote in message
...

If you decide you really must have downlighters, you would do better
to use them for circulation lighting and to use local task lighting
to bring the workstations up to an acceptable light level. I suppose
that, unless they are low energy types, one advantage of using
downlighters to achieve office lighting levels is that you probably
won't need to use any heating in the winter.


From yours and the other threads this seems to be the right idea.
Actually the office is simply a room in my house which I use as an
office (mainly computer) so I may have mislead re the reqts. Assuming
a 'normal' genaral purpose reqirement plus task lighting for the
computer What would you suggest for the downlighter rating and numbers

What sort of downlighter do you want to use? The alternatives are broadly -

Halogen downlighters - small, but highly directional. Likely to create
strong pooling of the light and to make the ceiling look dark. Ratings
available from 10W to 50W. Using lots of low power ones will give a better
spread of light than a smaller number of high power ones. Flood types will
also give a wider spread of light than spot types. IMO the suitable only use
for halogen downlighters is display lighting, or where you need a very local
light.

Mirror spot reflector lamps, usually around 50-65mm diameter. Ratings
available from 40W to 60W. These can be used in much the same way as halogen
lamps, but they give a light that is not so strongly directional.

PAR 38 spot or flood lamps. Rather old fashioned now, but the large diameter
does give a much better spread of light, particularly if you use the flood
version.. Ratings available from 60W to 120W. I have used four to light a 3m
x 4m kitchen.

Low energy downlighters. Usually the largest diameter fittings (the ones I
have are 135mm), but they are the only lamps that do not also produce
significant heat and they normally have the most diffuse spread of light.
Ratings available from 9W to 35W.

Colin Bignell

Downlighters Advice wanted
 

Mike Saunders wrote:

I have an office with a ceiling of 4.5 m x 3.5 m and room height of 2.5
m
This is approx the same size as my kitchen, it's got 12 50W mains halogen
downlighters. It's very bright and I might change them to 30W once it's
finished. Anyone know where I can get hold of a 600W dimmer?

Cheers,
Tim.

Downlighters Advice wanted
 

Tim Phipps,,, wrote:
Mike Saunders wrote:

I have an office with a ceiling of 4.5 m x 3.5 m and room height of 2.5
m
This is approx the same size as my kitchen, it's got 12 50W mains halogen
downlighters. It's very bright and I might change them to 30W once it's
finished. Anyone know where I can get hold of a 600W dimmer?

That's 600 watts, doesn't it get hot?

--
Chris Green

Downlighters Advice wanted
 

In article , Tim Phipps,,,
writes
Mike Saunders wrote:

I have an office with a ceiling of 4.5 m x 3.5 m and room height of 2.5
m
This is approx the same size as my kitchen, it's got 12 50W mains halogen
downlighters. It's very bright and I might change them to 30W once it's
finished. Anyone know where I can get hold of a 600W dimmer?

CEF do a 1kW dimmer, which will fit a single back box. I just bought one
yesterday.

--
Frank Erskine

Downlighters Advice wanted
 

nightjar wrote:


"Mike Saunders" wrote in message
...

If you decide you really must have downlighters, you would do
better to use them for circulation lighting and to use local task
lighting to bring the workstations up to an acceptable light
level. I suppose that, unless they are low energy types, one
advantage of using downlighters to achieve office lighting levels
is that you probably won't need to use any heating in the winter.


From yours and the other threads this seems to be the right idea.
Actually the office is simply a room in my house which I use as an
office (mainly computer) so I may have mislead re the reqts.
Assuming a 'normal' genaral purpose reqirement plus task lighting
for the computer What would you suggest for the downlighter rating
and numbers

What sort of downlighter do you want to use? The alternatives are
broadly -

Halogen downlighters - small, but highly directional. Likely to create
strong pooling of the light and to make the ceiling look dark. Ratings
available from 10W to 50W. Using lots of low power ones will give a
better spread of light than a smaller number of high power ones.
Flood types will also give a wider spread of light than spot types.
IMO the suitable only use for halogen downlighters is display
lighting, or where you need a very local light.

Mirror spot reflector lamps, usually around 50-65mm diameter. Ratings
available from 40W to 60W. These can be used in much the same way as
halogen lamps, but they give a light that is not so strongly
directional.

PAR 38 spot or flood lamps. Rather old fashioned now, but the large
diameter does give a much better spread of light, particularly if you
use the flood version.. Ratings available from 60W to 120W. I have
used four to light a 3m x 4m kitchen.

Low energy downlighters. Usually the largest diameter fittings (the
ones I have are 135mm), but they are the only lamps that do not also
produce significant heat and they normally have the most diffuse
spread of light. Ratings available from 9W to 35W.

Colin Bignell

Tbe honest I was not aware there were all these alternatives but at
least now I will be able to have a meaningful conversation with the
local stockists THe low energy look favorite I will need to see how
they look what they cost etc

Thanks

Mike