Track lighting.

[Russell griffiths]

Anybody got any

any good makes, complete crap, ones that fall apart

 

vaulted ceilings with only a service void to install lights into, I think a track system could answer a lot of problems. 

[ProDave]

You can get a lot of LED flat panel lights that literally fit into the thickness of a bit of plasterboard, some small ones that just look like downlights, only ultra slim.

 

Only tip would be buy plenty of spares because in 5 or 10 years when one fails you probably won't buy one the same.

[ragg987]

Earlier post from me. No experience with other track systems.

 

[Alexphd1]

+1 on what prodave says. Folks had track lighting in kitchen, one by one they failed so buy spares.

 

I don't know if it will work but we have notched in (think 6mm) led ribbon into a ceiling with a little aluminium profile and a plastic diffuser (also run same up wall on staircase but lower watts per m than ceiling)  Haven't got system up and running yet to report.

[rbw]

You could use 3 phase track as used mainly in commercial and retail settings. You can fit luminaires from any manufacturer as it’s pretty much a universal standard plus you get the advantage of up to 3 circuits on the same track and are able to reconfigure luminaires to a different circuit by just unclippping them and flipping a switch. Can be recessed or surface mounted. Price ranges vary but definitely worth looking at. 

Edited December 22, 2020 by rbw

[SuperJohnG]

Following with interest. Id been thinking abouy this as seems a good idea for vaulted areas. Not feeling the downlighters in a big vaulted space. 

[Mr Punter]

I am keen on lights that do not puncture the ceiling other than the wire.

 

I love the idea of LEDs that last 100 million years but in my experience they often fail within 2 years and they are not repairable and often not replaceable.

[Nickfromwales]

47 minutes ago, Mr Punter said:

I am keen on lights that do not puncture the ceiling other than the wire.

 

I love the idea of LEDs that last 100 million years but in my experience they often fail within 2 years and they are not repairable and often not replaceable.

Flat panel led’s are a standard size across the ranges ( 3-6-9-12W etc ) so yes, they will fail eventually, everything does, but, the lamp life is ridiculously long, the heat waste is tiny, and swapping them out takes minutes. And they’re cheap as chips. 
Flat panels for me every time for a LOT of the different lighting needs in my lighting design packages / proposals. 
110o dispersion also makes for a very even spread of light vs spots which are on average 25-38o dispersion on a good day. 
I still use spots, mostly Aurora ( reduced depth plus acoustically dampened ), for instances where I do want pockets of light vs flood of light. 
Lighting design needs a LOT of thought and someone with experience who can say what did / didn’t work well in xyz instances.
 

Another benefit of this forum where many opinions can be filtered and cherry-picked to suit.  

[Russell griffiths]

9 hours ago, rbw said:

You could use 3 phase track as used mainly in commercial and retail settings. You can fit luminaires from any manufacturer as it’s pretty much a universal standard plus you get the advantage of up to 3 circuits on the same track and are able to reconfigure luminaires to a different circuit by just unclippping them and flipping a switch. Can be recessed or surface mounted. Price ranges vary but definitely worth looking at. 

Do you mean 3 phase as in power supply, or that they have 3 circuits?

the ones I looked at had 3 circuits and could be flush mounted. 

[Russell griffiths]

12 hours ago, ProDave said:

You can get a lot of LED flat panel lights that literally fit into the thickness of a bit of plasterboard, some small ones that just look like downlights, only ultra slim.

 

Only tip would be buy plenty of spares because in 5 or 10 years when one fails you probably won't buy one the same.

The thing I’m not liking on the flat panel idea is that the ceiling is sloped so the lights will sit at an angle, I have briefly looked at a gimbal type fitting. 

[Onoff]

7 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

110o dispersion also makes for a very even spread of light vs spots which are on average 25-38o dispersion on a good day. 

 

My Aurora Enlite spots have a 60deg spread. 

[Mr Punter]

I have found that pendants can work well with a sloped ceiling.  You can adjust the cord length to suit.  Some have special cords, ceiling roses etc.  You need to plan carefully where to fit them.  Have a look at John Lewis for ideas.

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, Onoff said:

My Aurora Enlite spots have a 60deg spread. 

Yes, they have a non replaceable lamp which is front loaded, and anything with a replaceable lamp usually sit deeper in the fitting so the dispersion decreases with that. Cheers  

[Nickfromwales]

3 hours ago, Russell griffiths said:

The thing I’m not liking on the flat panel idea is that the ceiling is sloped so the lights will sit at an angle, I have briefly looked at a gimbal type fitting. 

110o dispersion means that doesn't matter. They're only really for generic 'flood' lighting and feature / accent / low level / wall lights etc should always compliment them for a good lighting scheme.

[Russell griffiths]

1 minute ago, Nickfromwales said:

110o dispersion means that doesn't matter. They're only really for generic 'flood' lighting and feature / accent / low level / wall lights etc should always compliment them for a good lighting scheme.

Why are you not working 

[Nickfromwales]

27 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

Why are you not working 

4 kids bouncing off the walls, and heads shot trying to find new things for the chuffing Elf on the shelf to do each day. ?

 

[Onoff]

26 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

4 kids bouncing off the walls, and heads shot trying to find new things for the chuffing Elf on the shelf to do each day. ?

 

 

Girl on the radio the other day said she'd run out of things for her kid to do so sat him down in the garden gluing stones together with PVA...

[Nickfromwales]

2 hours ago, Onoff said:

 

Girl on the radio the other day said she'd run out of things for her kid to do so sat him down in the garden gluing stones together with PVA...

Poor kid lol. Better than breaking them I suppose.

[Carrerahill]

On 22/12/2020 at 19:22, Russell griffiths said:

Anybody got any

any good makes, complete crap, ones that fall apart

 

vaulted ceilings with only a service void to install lights into, I think a track system could answer a lot of problems. 

Eutrac is about the best, distributed by SLV and is sometimes just called SLV track, used domestically and commercial, galleries and retail etc. I have 2.8m in black you can have if you want it.