http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/9W-LED-Downl ... b7a&_uhb=1
Would somebody be able to let me know if these led lights would be any good, or just a waste of money?? Thanks
Browse Forums Lighting + Lighting Design 1 May 14, 2013 10:23 pm http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/9W-LED-Downl ... b7a&_uhb=1 Would somebody be able to let me know if these led lights would be any good, or just a waste of money?? Thanks Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66238&p=1053710#p1053710 Re: Advice on these led lights please? 2May 14, 2013 10:46 pm I think if you check the various LED lighting threads on here you will find there are much better lights with better output for price than these. Try this one for a start viewtopic.php?f=8&t=58265 Settlement 1/2/12 New Shed 23/3/12 Slab poured 27/3/12 Frame complete 4/5/12 Roof complete 1/6/12 LOCKUP 29/6/12 Our new build blog http://kareenhillsownerbuild.blogspot.com/ Re: Advice on these led lights please? 3May 16, 2013 8:51 am Not a bad deal, less than $20 for the whole kit, however usually hard to deal with warranty through eBay, just my personal experience. Re: Advice on these led lights please? 5May 16, 2013 9:30 am thanks for your advice everyone! Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66238&p=1053710#p1053710 Re: Advice on these led lights please? 6May 18, 2013 8:24 pm Specifications wise the unit looks very good. The issue is of course whether or not you can trust the accuracy of what is being quoted on eBay. When dealing with unknown brands there is little to no regulation in regards to testing and certification. Consumers have little recourse when dealing with warranty claims on top of risk that said merchant is even still around if you do need help down the line. We have heard from many consumers who have gone down this path only to be burned time and time again. One particular customer installed lights without SAA certification and landed himself in hot water from a regulations perspective. There are many fine products being sold on eBay from reputable merchants. As others have said, with such a large choice it would be advisable to stick to known brands and rather be safe than sorry. Kind Regards, Kristin Lighting Expert Phone -1300 798 220 Email - service@golights.com.au Website - http://www.golights.com.au Re: Advice on these led lights please? 7Jul 17, 2013 4:42 pm GoLights Specifications wise the unit looks very good. The issue is of course whether or not you can trust the accuracy of what is being quoted on eBay. When dealing with unknown brands there is little to no regulation in regards to testing and certification. Consumers have little recourse when dealing with warranty claims on top of risk that said merchant is even still around if you do need help down the line. We have heard from many consumers who have gone down this path only to be burned time and time again. One particular customer installed lights without SAA certification and landed himself in hot water from a regulations perspective. There are many fine products being sold on eBay from reputable merchants. As others have said, with such a large choice it would be advisable to stick to known brands and rather be safe than sorry. Just realised i never saw the last reply!! thanks for the information. I've been told if i get "the larger" down-lights then i won't need as many, but of course they will be more expensive... (trying to keep costs down in the contract hence not needing too many to be installed) Does anybody know what they mean by "larger"? i didn't know there were big sizes, i know there are smaller sizes......... Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66238&p=1053710#p1053710 Re: Advice on these led lights please? 8Jul 17, 2013 5:27 pm "larger"= "more powerful" and perhaps more of a "spread" of the angle of the light. In any case, it pays to consider the spread of the beam* when considering downlights. Not only can you make do with fewer, but at a given luminosity the light in the room becomes more even. Obviously, if you truly want spotlights with a narrow beam, you will need more of them if you use them for area lighting. This tend to not only make the ceiling like a supernova star ceiling, holing the ceiling everywhere, but it also makes for a poor room to be in, in my opinion. With that said, two lights, one with narrow beam and one with a wider beam may have the same power/lux/candella or whatever way you want to measure them, but all else equal, the narrow beam will have a longer throw, simply because the light is more narrowly focused. I don't like that kind of light as area lighting. I think it's a misappropriation of narrow beam lighting/spotlights. Think of narrow vs. wide beam lights as the difference between a spotlight and a floodlight, or a hard beam vs. soft beam. *You need to take the height of ceiling into account when doing this. Super high ceilings can make do with a narrower beam to cover the same floor area as a wide beam spot installed in a low(er) ceiling. Re: Advice on these led lights please? 9Jul 17, 2013 8:39 pm Danois "larger"= "more powerful" and perhaps more of a "spread" of the angle of the light. In any case, it pays to consider the spread of the beam* when considering downlights. Not only can you make do with fewer, but at a given luminosity the light in the room becomes more even. Obviously, if you truly want spotlights with a narrow beam, you will need more of them if you use them for area lighting. This tend to not only make the ceiling like a supernova star ceiling, holing the ceiling everywhere, but it also makes for a poor room to be in, in my opinion. With that said, two lights, one with narrow beam and one with a wider beam may have the same power/lux/candella or whatever way you want to measure them, but all else equal, the narrow beam will have a longer throw, simply because the light is more narrowly focused. I don't like that kind of light as area lighting. I think it's a misappropriation of narrow beam lighting/spotlights. Think of narrow vs. wide beam lights as the difference between a spotlight and a floodlight, or a hard beam vs. soft beam. *You need to take the height of ceiling into account when doing this. Super high ceilings can make do with a narrower beam to cover the same floor area as a wide beam spot installed in a low(er) ceiling. Hi, thanks for that! Our ceilings will be 8'6" and the area we want them in is about 5x8m (kitchen/meals/family) along with 3 pendants over the kitchen bench. I'm not looking for fantastic lighting just so long as we can see do you think those lights I posted will suffice? Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66238&p=1053710#p1053710 Re: Advice on these led lights please? 10Jul 17, 2013 9:08 pm I think they're a bit on the "low" side when it comes to angles. They are at 45 degrees (=22.5 degrees either side of vertical). And whether or not they will work as area lights instead of flood lights depends on the distance between. As an extreme example, 2 downlights will definately not cover much area, and 30 downlights is way over the top. However, it depends on how many you want. I think that when it comes to downlights which are almost by definition something that is installed into the building, it pays to do a lot of homework, and it pays to pay for quality. Now, they seem pretty powerful. But the problems with lumens as a measurement is that say, a 9w narrow beam light will measure higher at that 1m distance than the same 9w light with a wide beam. As such, it can be quite difficult to compare them directly. My suggestion, instead of rules of thumb, would be to draw the angles on a piece of paper in between two lines representing the floor and the ceiling, and then draw two other lines, representing the diner table and the kitchen table at appropriate heights (probably 73 and 95cm respectively). This way you will be able to tell the illuminated "spot" at the most important heights. When that is done, and with a drawing (from above) of the area, you can see how close they have to be in order to overlap a bit. You definately want overlap at the floor level to work as area lighting, but at kitchen table level, although you want some overlap, you don't need a huge amount of overlap. This way of doing it, may seem a bit amateurish, but it allows one to take nooks, crannies, and dividing walls into account (i.e. lights over kitchen island won't illuminate the floor next the the island). And if you clip out the circles, you can see where there's overlap. Again, I'm not keen on too narrow a beam as it often results in reflections and the light themselves seem pretty harsh if you look at them directly (or catch a reflection). I'm not a light designer by any stretch of the imagination. What I know is borne out of my geekiness and my annoyance in poorly lighted areas/houses etc., but I hope you can use the suggestions somewhat. Re: Advice on these led lights please? 12Jul 22, 2013 1:14 pm It is very important to remember that the beam angle stated (if correct) is only 50% of the light. Danois points out: They are at 45 degrees (=22.5 degrees either side of vertical). This is only where half of the light is measured. The other half is outside of this beam angle and is usually an unknown angle. I would advise to test out the diameter of the "circle" the bulb/light creates at 1m. Then you can draw up a picture as mentioned. Re: Advice on these led lights please? 13Jul 22, 2013 1:53 pm Yes, it depends on how well-defined the beam is. Some lights are very floody (i.e. not accurate), and others aren't. You can't say it's "50% of the light", as that depends on the quality of the light. Some have "halos" (for want of a better word) too, which is annoying to look at, to be honest. If you do what I suggested, and give it a bit of overlap, even with a fixture giving halos, it will soften up the effect, and you will have proper lighting without feeling you're going from one light beam to another when traversing the living room. Re: Advice on these led lights please? 14Jul 22, 2013 3:00 pm The beam angle "should" be measured at half lux which is 50% of the light. Since a lot of companies are using lenses now the light is quite controllable, which can give all sorts of distribution. Quite a few being the halo variety Re: Advice on these led lights please? 15Jul 23, 2013 6:14 pm Thanks everyone for your advice! I think we will stick with the larger led lights. in the long run they will be better for us and also will save a little more on installation as there won't be as many to install Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66238&p=1053710#p1053710 |