Fitting New Downlights

[steveoelliott]

Hi Folks,

 

I am in the process of considering options for new down lights on our landing (10 in total). The reason for the change is the non removable bezel is white and over years has gone a yellow colour. It is m intention to swap with chrome ones.

 

Firstly, I am not a fan of the design of down lights in that when removed, even if careful they tend to damage the ceiling which then needs rectifying. I'm not sure if there are any secrets to avoiding this but not that I am aware.

 

Secondly, which type of down light should I go for. I've been looking at either going for a standard GU10 fitting where I can change bulbs when they blow etc or a fixed downlight with a 7 year warranty from Collingwood (The H2 Pro). I hear so many differing opinions on this... Some say stick with GU10 as you can swap bulbs when they blow rather than the whole downlight etc; others tell me I'm stuck in the past.

 

What is the consensus on here?

[Temp]

I think if I was doing it again I'd look at something like this...

https://www.ledkia.com/uk/buy-basic-ultraslim-led-downlights/218-round-6w-ultraslim-led-panel.html

Not used that company before but there are lots of similar out there.

[joth]

4 hours ago, steveoelliott said:

Firstly, I am not a fan of the design of down lights in that when removed, even if careful they tend to damage the ceiling which then needs rectifying. I'm not sure if there are any secrets to avoiding this but not that I am aware.

I've been annoyed by this too. Feels like it'd be fairly easy to have a standard protective ring to place over the plasterboard.

Ah yes, this does exist: https://c-fix-downlighter.com/pages/c-fix-liner pretty good idea?

(They also do a repair kit)

 

In lieu of using that, I was going to postulate whether coating the plasterboard opening with PVA prior to inserting the DL would help.

 

 

4 hours ago, steveoelliott said:

Secondly, which type of down light should I go for. I've been looking at either going for a standard GU10 fitting where I can change bulbs when they blow etc or a fixed downlight with a 7 year warranty from Collingwood (The H2 Pro). I hear so many differing opinions on this... Some say stick with GU10 as you can swap bulbs when they blow rather than the whole downlight etc; others tell me I'm stuck in the past.

 

 

I was discussing exactly this with a lighting designer today, and for me the summary was, GU10s are great for the reasons you mention if generally aiming to wash an area in downlighters set-out in a grid. Integrated LED fittings come more into their own if used for very specific focused purposes as they offer a lot more control (beam angles, quality of dimming, high CRI, etc) but tend to be overkill in simple flooding an area with light sort of designs.

 

[MJNewton]

11 hours ago, steveoelliott said:

Firstly, I am not a fan of the design of down lights in that when removed, even if careful they tend to damage the ceiling which then needs rectifying. I'm not sure if there are any secrets to avoiding this but not that I am aware.

 

My trick - which admittedly is yet to be proven to work as it's my first time with downlighters - is that I put some thinnish (~10mm thick)  pieces of wood up inside the hole for the downlighter spring wings to sit on. My thinking was that when it comes to pulling any lights down/out the stress will be on those pieces of wood (and distributed across the board) rather than the delicate edges of the hole. I secured them in place with a couple of small blobs of silicone just to stop them moving around in the process whilst not preventing removal should the need arise. Should work I think?

Edited September 24, 2020 by MJNewton