• We will be performing upgrades on the forums and server over the weekend. The forums may be unavailable multiple times for up to an hour each. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to make the forums even better.

Retrofit 6 inch can with LED light/trim - 12 ft ceiling and require task lighting for kitchen

Status
Not open for further replies.
V

vrema01

New User
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
Occupation
Carpenter / Woodworker
Retrofit 6 inches can with LED light/trim - 12 ft ceiling and require task lighting for kitchen.

I am researching and testing out different retrofit kits to replace the LED spot bulbs I have in a kitchen, and I am challenged with getting an equivalent output to the lights in place. I have tried HALO retrofit from HD, but it doesn't throw enough light down from 12 feet, and any other retrofit unit I have tried has the same issue. I want to replace the trim if possible, but after my research, I think retrofit with trim might not work if I can't get the light beam to travel far enough.

I am looking for advice. The client wants a 4,000K color, but I need to get the beam to travel to the floor for task lighting.
 
R

retirede

Senior Member
Location
Illinois
If LED bulbs in the existing cans provide the desired illumination, what’s the reason for replacing them?

That may influence answers to your query.
 
James L

James L

Senior Member
Location
Kansas Cty, Mo, USA
Occupation
Electrician
If you want the light to throw, you need a COB with reflector. Look at this 6-inch trim from WAC

It's 1200 lumens, and should be awesome from.12 feet


It's a gimbal, which means you can pivot it - although you don't have to
 
W

wwhitney

Senior Member
Location
Berkeley, CA
Occupation
Retired
Isn't this just a question of picking the correct number of lumens and beam angle per light?

E.g. if this is a row of lights over a counter, and you just want to illuminate the counter, then a narrow beam angle would put more of the light on the counter, less farther out. That would need to be balanced against the spacing of the lights in the ceiling, as you don't want dark spots along the run of the counter.

Then once you have that figured out, you know what fraction of the light's output will end up on the work surface. That lets you figure out how many lumens per light you need to get the desired level of foot-candles at the work surface. Unless there's something I'm missing.

BTW, for applications like this, are there products available that would put out a non-radially symmetric pattern, more like a rectangle, so you could put more of the light on the work surface?

Cheers, Wayne
 
mopowr steve

mopowr steve

Senior Member
Location
NW Ohio
Occupation
Electrical contractor
I’ve seen some retrofit manufacturers that offer “ high out-put “ led trims. Look into those, I think they are mor on the range of being equivalent to 90-120 watt bulbs.
 
F

farmantenna

Senior Member
Location
mass
James L said:
If you want the light to throw, you need a COB with reflector. Look at this 6-inch trim from WAC

It's 1200 lumens, and should be awesome from.12 feet


It's a gimbal, which means you can pivot it - although you don't have to
Click to expand...
those look good for $24 and would be bright enough at 12'. They're 3k though but 4K might be available
 
T

tthh

Senior Member
Location
Denver
Occupation
Retired Engineer
What's wrong with pain ol' Philips 65W equiv or 100W equiv R30's in the can?
 
James L

James L

Senior Member
Location
Kansas Cty, Mo, USA
Occupation
Electrician
farmantenna said:
those look good for $24 and would be bright enough at 12'. They're 3k though but 4K might be available
Click to expand...
Last month I finished a whole house with that same style in Utilitech from Lowes. The were color selectable 5cct, but only about 700 lumens

 
Flicker Index

Flicker Index

Senior Member
Location
Pac NW
Occupation
Lights
Filament PAR lamps were costly since the conical shaped back is actually parabolic shaped precision optics. The coned part of LED lamps are only for aesthetics and its only function is to provide internal space to host the ballast.

Today's BR LED floods just have a disc with a bunch of 1/2W LED elements and a frosted plastic cover over it. A PAR equivalent would have a lens insert that looks like a blister pack bubbles that go over each LED element to collimate the light. What you're likely looking for is the recessed bugeye or swivel spotlight which uses an egg-yolk sized COB (an LED element made up of a cluster of flea sized LED chips grouped together in a circle of fluorescent phosphor blend). It's basically a corded flashlight on a swivel so you can aim it at the task.
 
T

tthh

Senior Member
Location
Denver
Occupation
Retired Engineer
Most of the Feit's I have tried have an unacceptable turn on delay. I just can't.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top