Downlights - What do I need?!

Risteard

FFHillbilly said:

grumbler said:

The one you linked is very odd:

This .... downlight fitting is ideal for installing a GU10 or MR16 LED lamp in a ceiling.

This makes no sense to me as GU10 and MR16 need different lampholders (and different voltage):

This is followed by

LED GU10 lamps only

MR16 just relates to the size of the bulb (or lamp if you're pedantic)
GU10 is a 240V base (bayonet, push in and twist)
GU3.5 is a 12V base (2 pins, push in)

16 eighths of an inch (i.e. 2")

Lamp is correct. Bulb isn't.

ChilliBob

ashe said:

ChilliBob said:

I'm just after a nice brushed steel or nkckle type one, which is easy to put the bulb in and out, stays right to the ceiling etc. I'll need 20 of them too!

And, gulp, 20 hue white ambiance 

I know you're after hue because you probably have hue but don't be afraid to look at alternates. I was big into hue against all others and how have a very mixed system. Hue has issues with the resources on bridges so gets complex once you hit 60 something lights, and while they're pretty solid, the cost and features is often poor value for money. Any zigbee bulb will work fine with hue so you could look at innr for example, or Ikea. Worth a thought at those volumes. 

Our house now has Nanoleaf, govee, hue, silver crest (was lidls hue compatible range), Onvis and a few others and it's all unified control
via home assistant / Alexa for automation and control. 

Do you definitely need 20? Gu10's tend to be very bright in white shades, imagine 20 in one room would be blindingly bright and need dimming. Have you considered less gu10's and having ambient lighting provided by light strips behind furniture etc? 

Yeah, Hue as we have Hue in the house for almost anything else that takes it, except the kitchen (14 spots!) as I'm waiting for a deal to come up!

The space is 35msq,5m by 7m essentially, so thinking probably 3 lights for each 5 m 'strip' and 5 strips, so probably 15, I did consider 24 though, but I couldn't face the cutting on to mist coat and twice paint the ceiling.. Plus the cost.

At the moment there won't be any furniture, it's a garden room/summerhouse which will be part shed, part gym part play type area!

I did have some no name bulls before which were a bit pants, so that out me off. Been tempted by the TP link ones though as I use a couple of their other bits like plugs and cameras. 

I tend to shout at Google most of the time, or use the hue dimmer switches as opposed the app really.

Edit: cheers for all the detail of alternatives, it has made me ponder for sure. The quote has some back, and whilst Hue bulbs is a drop in the ocean in comparison, every little helps!

Oh and I'm at about 50 bulbs now! 

ashe

ChilliBob said:

ashe said:

ChilliBob said:

I'm just after a nice brushed steel or nkckle type one, which is easy to put the bulb in and out, stays right to the ceiling etc. I'll need 20 of them too!

And, gulp, 20 hue white ambiance 

I know you're after hue because you probably have hue but don't be afraid to look at alternates. I was big into hue against all others and how have a very mixed system. Hue has issues with the resources on bridges so gets complex once you hit 60 something lights, and while they're pretty solid, the cost and features is often poor value for money. Any zigbee bulb will work fine with hue so you could look at innr for example, or Ikea. Worth a thought at those volumes. 

Our house now has Nanoleaf, govee, hue, silver crest (was lidls hue compatible range), Onvis and a few others and it's all unified control
via home assistant / Alexa for automation and control. 

Do you definitely need 20? Gu10's tend to be very bright in white shades, imagine 20 in one room would be blindingly bright and need dimming. Have you considered less gu10's and having ambient lighting provided by light strips behind furniture etc? 

Yeah, Hue as we have Hue in the house for almost anything else that takes it, except the kitchen (14 spots!) as I'm waiting for a deal to come up!

The space is 35msq,5m by 7m essentially, so thinking probably 3 lights for each 5 m 'strip' and 5 strips, so probably 15, I did consider 24 though, but I couldn't face the cutting on to mist coat and twice paint the ceiling.. Plus the cost.

At the moment there won't be any furniture, it's a garden room/summerhouse which will be part shed, part gym part play type area!

I did have some no name bulls before which were a bit pants, so that out me off. Been tempted by the TP link ones though as I use a couple of their other bits like plugs and cameras. 

I tend to shout at Google most of the time, or use the hue dimmer switches as opposed the app really.

Edit: cheers for all the detail of alternatives, it has made me ponder for sure. The quote has some back, and whilst Hue bulbs is a drop in the ocean in comparison, every little helps!

Oh and I'm at about 50 bulbs now! 

I'd definitely suggest looking into home assistant as you can automate all sorts, it's compatible with hue etc. we have temp/humidity sensors in most rooms, and zigbee switches wired into things like extractor fans to automate them. I've even got a tilt sensor on the letterbox so I know when the post has come 😂

Govee are great for lighting as well for things like light strips, the cost and functionality is far better the hue for me. I still like hue don't get me wrong, but I always consider the best product for the job and I'd be probably on my third bridge now if I stuck with hue 😂 

ashe

Btw our living room is 6mx5.5m and we have 8 GU10's and it's pretty bright when lights are on white, although we usually have then on colour. We have them on about 40% brightness in colour. 

Hue and Govee both do freestanding light strips and other concealable lights which could also
help 

ChilliBob

ashe said:

ChilliBob said:

ashe said:

ChilliBob said:

I'm just after a nice brushed steel or nkckle type one, which is easy to put the bulb in and out, stays right to the ceiling etc. I'll need 20 of them too!

And, gulp, 20 hue white ambiance 

I know you're after hue because you probably have hue but don't be afraid to look at alternates. I was big into hue against all others and how have a very mixed system. Hue has issues with the resources on bridges so gets complex once you hit 60 something lights, and while they're pretty solid, the cost and features is often poor value for money. Any zigbee bulb will work fine with hue so you could look at innr for example, or Ikea. Worth a thought at those volumes. 

Our house now has Nanoleaf, govee, hue, silver crest (was lidls hue compatible range), Onvis and a few others and it's all unified control
via home assistant / Alexa for automation and control. 

Do you definitely need 20? Gu10's tend to be very bright in white shades, imagine 20 in one room would be blindingly bright and need dimming. Have you considered less gu10's and having ambient lighting provided by light strips behind furniture etc? 

Yeah, Hue as we have Hue in the house for almost anything else that takes it, except the kitchen (14 spots!) as I'm waiting for a deal to come up!

The space is 35msq,5m by 7m essentially, so thinking probably 3 lights for each 5 m 'strip' and 5 strips, so probably 15, I did consider 24 though, but I couldn't face the cutting on to mist coat and twice paint the ceiling.. Plus the cost.

At the moment there won't be any furniture, it's a garden room/summerhouse which will be part shed, part gym part play type area!

I did have some no name bulls before which were a bit pants, so that out me off. Been tempted by the TP link ones though as I use a couple of their other bits like plugs and cameras. 

I tend to shout at Google most of the time, or use the hue dimmer switches as opposed the app really.

Edit: cheers for all the detail of alternatives, it has made me ponder for sure. The quote has some back, and whilst Hue bulbs is a drop in the ocean in comparison, every little helps!

Oh and I'm at about 50 bulbs now! 

I'd definitely suggest looking into home assistant as you can automate all sorts, it's compatible with hue etc. we have temp/humidity sensors in most rooms, and zigbee switches wired into things like extractor fans to automate them. I've even got a tilt sensor on the letterbox so I know when the post has come 😂

Govee are great for lighting as well for things like light strips, the cost and functionality is far better the hue for me. I still like hue don't get me wrong, but I always consider the best product for the job and I'd be probably on my third bridge now if I stuck with hue 😂 

What's home assistant?

Your place sounds awesome! I laughed out loud at the tilt sensor when my wife was about to put our daughter down. I explained chuckling to myself, she rolled her eyes lol - just like when I bang on sbout my motion sensors from Hue!

I looked at Tapo bulbs, they don't seem that much cheaper, unless you want just white - seems £11 for colour tapo vs 15 probably for white ambience. (which is what I want). 

ChilliBob

ashe said:

Btw our living room is 6mx5.5m and we have 8 GU10's and it's pretty bright when lights are on white, although we usually have then on colour. We have them on about 40% brightness in colour. 

Hue and Govee both do freestanding light strips and other concealable lights which could also
help 

Interesting, we have 14 in our kitchen (just the food prep bit, not eating, which I guess must be 5*4 perhaps. I gusss you need it brighter in a kitchen though. If I may be doing painting or something in there the brighter the better probably! 

ashe

Home assistant is a home automation platform which links into various connection technologies and API's. Pretty much any smart tech will be compatible, and you can use zwave, zigbee, WiFi, Bluetooth etc 

you can build complex automations with conditions (e.g we have bathroom humidity sensors that set the fans off, but adjusts what that value is based on weather outside and avoids quiet hours), almost all our lights are operated by motion sensors or conditions 

it also logs data and you can make custom dashboards. Monitor power usage by linking to smart meter and smart plugs that will report cost of power used per device 

all sorts you can do with it. I chucked a temp/humidity sensor in the loft and then set up a routine to turn the heating on if it drops
below a set amount to prevent pipes freezing as our boiler is in the loft 

Money_Grabber13579

20 GU10 spotlights with white Hue bulbs seems excessive for a space of that size… My lounge is about 4 x 6 metres and I have 6 spotlights which is plenty.