LED Recessed lighting for my house

[SSDriver]

I haven't done any residential lighting in 15+ years and can light options has changed quite a bit. I'm in escrow for a house that has almost no ceiling lights in most rooms. The kitchen and Den will be getting some recessed lighting first and I'm not sure what the best route is. I'm not a fan of wafer light installation, I would rather change out a trim kit when lights go out than anything going trough drywall directly after everything is painted. The kitchen has a 5x8 dropped section in the middle with florescent lights that will be removed.

I see my two options as.

1. Retrofit can like the HALO ultra-shallow IC rated can that will fit in a 2x4 ceiling. And then installing an LED trim kit.

2. Junction box at each location with an LED trim kit that work with JBs.

My questions:

1. Am I missing an option other than wafers (not a fan).

2. Will gimbal style trim kits fit in a junction box? If so what junction boxes do you guys use for these?

4. What spacing would be ideal for 8-10' ceilings in rooms about 12' wide?

5. 4" or 6" lights for kitchen and Den?

6. What brands/models are good at a reasonable price without having issues while dimming?

Assume this is your house for quality, price and options. I'm sure wafers are a big plus on cost and time for a customers house, but I don't like pulling the idea of pulling them out of the drywall/ceiling each time one goes out.

 

[AC\DC]

If you only have 2x4 clearance than either https://rexel-cdn.com/Products/Halo/H245RICAT.pdf?i=9D22303F-BC1C-4C0E-89AA-B29390119F94
Or the wafers you mentioned.
These trims fit in the housing

https://www.cooperlighting.com/global/brands/halo/870675/lt4-led-4-all-purpose-baffle-trim-downlight

https://www.cooperlighting.com/global/brands/halo/875463/ml4-led-4-recessed-downlight-system

https://www.cooperlighting.com/global/brands/halo/977125/rl4-deep-baffle#ESS

Here is your gimbal

https://www.cooperlighting.com/global/brands/halo/851498/ra4-led-4-inch-gimbals-narrow-very-wide-flood

For brand
Copper/Juno/lithonia, plus all the others depends on what you like.

I linked 4” down lights cause 4” will make your room feel larger than 6”.

Spacing all depends on what the room will be used for and what obstruction you will come across.

My 2 cents

 

[James L]

Spacing also depends on beam angle.

Most standard looking can light trims have SMDs and have beam angle around 90-100 degrees.

Edge lit panels have a beam angle of 120-130 degrees

Gimbals come 2 ways - SMD (with frosted lens) and COB with a reflector inside and clear lens.

SMD style has same beam angle as SMD mentioned about. COB style are really spots, with beam angle of 50-60 degrees

If you use junction boxes with some disk kind of light, pick your lights first - then buy the boxes that work. But usually deeper is better.

 

[LarryFine]

But usually deeper is better.

That's what she said.





I couldn't resist!

 

[brantmacga]

I don’t like the look of wafers either.

I’ve recently used some of the Commercial Electric brand that have a 1” baffle and remote driver. They look nice. Also they have a switch for CCT that goes from 2700K up to 5000k.

But mostly I’ve been using Nicor brand recessed lighting for residential. I really like their small aperture recessed lights.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[James L]

I don’t like the look of wafers either.

I’ve recently used some of the Commercial Electric brand that have a 1” baffle and remote driver. They look nice. Also they have a switch for CCT that goes from 2700K up to 5000k.

But mostly I’ve been using Nicor brand recessed lighting for residential. I really like their small aperture recessed lights.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The slim panels (wafers) are really nice for lower ceilings, such as basements, because they're edge lit. That makes the beam angle very wide. Narrow beam angle in low ceilings makes a spot effect

 

[AC\DC]

Best thing about them is you can pretty much place them were you want. Rafter in center no problem! Until you hit a double rafter.

 

[James L]

Best thing about them is you can pretty much place them were you want. Rafter in center no problem! Until you hit a double rafter.

Or if you have 3-inch panels and hit a joist in the middle. Ope, that j-box won't go in

 

[Flicker Index]

I don’t like the look of wafers either.

I’ve recently used some of the Commercial Electric brand that have a 1” baffle and remote driver. They look nice. Also they have a switch for CCT that goes from 2700K up to 5000k.

But mostly I’ve been using Nicor brand recessed lighting for residential. I really like their small aperture recessed lights.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You ought to be careful with those, especially with house brands like Commercial Electric with short product life cycle. I don't remember the model but there was one that failed consistently when used on the 3000 or 5000 setting. The reason. The fixture was made with equal number of 3,000K and 5,000K LED elements and when it was set to 4,000, every element fired at half power. When set to 3,000 or 5,000, only half the elements were powered up, but at double the power per element. They were not designed conservatively enough and when set to 3K or 5K, many fixtures experienced LED element failures in a matter of months.

 

[SSDriver]

Thanks for all the replies. I still have about 2 weeks until escrow closes. I ended up ordering HALO ultra thin 4" retrofit cans
that will fit in a 2x4 ceiling with an IC rating. And HALO selectable LED baffle trims 2.7k to 5k, RL4 915 lumens. Ceilings are 8' high. I was planning on putting the cans about 2.5' off the walls and 4-5' apart depending on framing .

I'm still trying to figure out what smart dimmers I will be installing. I have experience with the Lutron Caseta but I do like how large the dimmer buttons are on the physical switch. When it's dark and you go to turn them on you often hit the dimmer up/down button. Anyone have experience with the Leviton Decora SmartDimmers that do not need a HUB?

H245RICAT​

RL4099S1EWHR​

 

[James L]

Thanks for all the replies. I still have about 2 weeks until escrow closes. I ended up ordering HALO ultra thin 4" retrofit cans
that will fit in a 2x4 ceiling with an IC rating. And HALO selectable LED baffle trims 2.7k to 5k, RL4 915 lumens. Ceilings are 8' high. I was planning on putting the cans about 2.5' off the walls and 4-5' apart depending on framing .

I'm still trying to figure out what smart dimmers I will be installing. I have experience with the Lutron Caseta but I do like how large the dimmer buttons are on the physical switch. When it's dark and you go to turn them on you often hit the dimmer up/down button. Anyone have experience with the Leviton Decora SmartDimmers that do not need a HUB?

H245RICAT​

View attachment 2558211

RL4099S1EWHR​

View attachment 2558212

The only experience I have with Leviton smart dimmers, is that I have a box full of them sitting in my garage. A guy wanted me to swap out all of his switches about 3 years ago, and he bought all of them and brought them to my house. Then out of nowhere, he sold his house and moved out of state.

 

[infinity]

The slim panels (wafers) are really nice for lower ceilings, such as basements, because they're edge lit. That makes the beam angle very wide. Narrow beam angle in low ceilings makes a spot effect

To each his own regarding wafers. For existing ceilings I like the Halo wafers. I've installed about 60 of them in my house of various sizes. In one room with 6 lights 4 of them ended up on a joist. That was no problem. Moving them to avoid the joists would have made the layout spacing look horrible. I just installed 16 of them in a coffered ceiling in the living room and with the ability to go directly under a joist it made the layout flawless in the center of each coffer box. Traditional cans for that application just would not work.

 

[jmellc]

Whatever you choose, buy a few extra if you can afford it. The stores may not have them 6 months later. I’ve seen this many times, even before Covid.

 

[ProjectDelta]

Hello All, I'm basically in the same situation with the new house my wife and I are in the process of buying. I love the idea of being able to adjust the color temperature but I don't like that I would have two remove each can from the fixture to move the switch to change light temperature. Anyone have success with smart lights with this capability? I honestly thought about buying tunable lights with the selector switch and field modifying them by taking the switches apart and running a control circuit to a selector switch hidden in a closet that would allow me to simultaneous change the light temps of all the lights but I think it would end up being too much of a hassle.

 

[AC\DC]

I stay away from anything with WiFi-smart bulbs. Read a article about how they listen on your conversation .
Here’s one I found https://www.smarthomepoint.com/can-...u/#can-smart-lights-even-be-used-to-spy-on-us
Not the In depth one I read though.
I like my private life to be kept private.
If you know the kelvin you want just buy those bulbs.
I feel adjustable lights are only for when I sell a light to a homeowner that does not know anything so I can match whatever color they think they want.

 

[ProjectDelta]

I stay away from anything with WiFi-smart bulbs. Read a article about how they listen on your conversation .
Here one I found https://www.smarthomepoint.com/can-...u/#can-smart-lights-even-be-used-to-spy-on-us
Not the I depth one I read though.
I like my private life to be kept private.

My phone already seems to listen to my conversations. My wife and I will discuss buying something without actually searching the web for it, low and behold we will start seeing targeted ads in our apps for the thing we talked about an hour later. Its getting ridiculous

 

[hillbilly1]

My phone already seems to listen to my conversations. My wife and I will discuss buying something without actually searching the web for it, low and behold we will start seeing targeted ads in our apps for the thing we talked about an hour later. Its getting ridiculous

Yeah, even with the voice assistance turned off. I was at a post office last year, a Subaru Brat was sitting in the parking lot, I said to my wife “I haven’t seen one of Subaru Brats in a long time, never searched for it before, and all the sudden, an ad for used Subaru parts popped up the next time I opened my browser! My tech’y friend said it was nothing but an algorithm that just “happened” to load the ad……….

 

[Fred B]

Yeah, even with the voice assistance turned off. I was at a post office last year, a Subaru Brat was sitting in the parking lot, I said to my wife “I haven’t seen one of Subaru Brats in a long time, never searched for it before, and all the sudden, an ad for used Subaru parts popped up the next time I opened my browser! My tech’y friend said it was nothing but an algorithm that just “happened” to load the ad……….

But if you have the Alexa app.....

 

[jmellc]

My phone already seems to listen to my conversations. My wife and I will discuss buying something without actually searching the web for it, low and behold we will start seeing targeted ads in our apps for the thing we talked about an hour later. Its getting ridiculous

Siri is reporting on you.

 

[garbo]

I haven't done any residential lighting in 15+ years and can light options has changed quite a bit. I'm in escrow for a house that has almost no ceiling lights in most rooms. The kitchen and Den will be getting some recessed lighting first and I'm not sure what the best route is. I'm not a fan of wafer light installation, I would rather change out a trim kit when lights go out than anything going trough drywall directly after everything is painted. The kitchen has a 5x8 dropped section in the middle with florescent lights that will be removed.

I see my two options as.

1. Retrofit can like the HALO ultra-shallow IC rated can that will fit in a 2x4 ceiling. And then installing an LED trim kit.

2. Junction box at each location with an LED trim kit that work with JBs.

My questions:

1. Am I missing an option other than wafers (not a fan).

2. Will gimbal style trim kits fit in a junction box? If so what junction boxes do you guys use for these?

4. What spacing would be ideal for 8-10' ceilings in rooms about 12' wide?

5. 4" or 6" lights for kitchen and Den?

6. What brands/models are good at a reasonable price without having issues while dimming?

Assume this is your house for quality, price and options. I'm sure wafers are a big plus on cost and time for a customers house, but I don't like pulling the idea of pulling them out of the drywall/ceiling each time one goes out.

I only purchase & install hi hats made in USA. Had too much truoble with lack of quality control lying cheating made in communist china. I never wear glives and got tired gettjng cut with sharp edges on china garbage luminares. Years ago I would tell homeowners if they purchase a hi hat not made by Lightolier it would be at least $10 more just to deal with inferior products. Every hi hat in last 6 to 8 years that I looked at in big box stores were made in cheating china. No thanks.