Wondering where to buy your first LED spotlight for home improvement projects?
LED spotlights are swiftly becoming one of the most popular lighting options for homes and commercial establishments. Due to their versatility, spotlights can provide directional lighting solutions for workspaces and adequate ambient lighting for a room.
You can also use LED spotlight bulbs to highlight features and artwork or to improve the lighting in just one section of the room. This means that they serve as a fantastic option for both domestic and commercial purposes.
There are also multiple forms of lighting with a variety of colours, beam angles and finishes - this means that you are guaranteed the perfect lighting for your purposes. You can make your lights as dim or bright as possible. In addition, LED light bulbs are energy-efficient and long-lasting - especially when compared to halogen bulbs.
How Do You Change A Spotlight Bulb?
When you’re using LED spotlights for home makeovers and commercial upgrades, you’ll notice they are often paired with LED downlights to be used for ambient lighting. Depending on the type of fitting, there are different ways to change the spotlight bulb.
Firstly, it is advisable to turn your light fixture off and give the bulb time to cool down. Due to LED lamps creating a beam of light, they can produce a fair amount of heat. We recommend that you give it at least five to ten minutes to cool down before attempting to remove it.
Spring Clip Fittings:
Should the bulb have a spring clip, all you will have to do is undo the clips that hold the bulb in place and gently pull the bulb out of the socket. There are some situations where you will need to turn it anti-clockwise. Afterwards, reverse the process to replace the LED spotlights.
Twist Face Fittings:
Should the LED spotlight bulbs have twist face fittings, you need to twist the plate anti-clockwise until it detaches carefully. Then, unscrew the LED bulb and replace it. After this, secure the bulb with the clips and put the plate back onto the fixture.
Removable Faceplates:
Should the faceplates be removable, you may need to use a small flathead screwdriver, which will allow you to gently pry the fitting away from the ceiling. After this, unclip the bulb and replace it with the new bulb before reattaching the faceplate in the same way that you removed it.
How Many LED Spotlights Do I Need?
How many spotlights you need will depend on what you need them for. Additionally, other factors are the type of spotlights that you’re using and the size of the room or the area in which you might need them.
Non-dimmable or dimmable LED spotlights work by using concentrated beams of light, so you should plan where you place them. For instance, if you plan to use them to highlight some of the art on your walls - we recommend that you use smaller spotlights directly above the artwork.
However, this means if you’re using spotlights for ambient lighting, they can still draw focus to certain areas of the room. You can use this to your advantage, as areas of the room that require more light can be highlighted - without overly lighting the entire room.
Highlighting lights should always be planned first. Afterwards, the rest of the ambient lighting can be put around them. However, certain rooms will require extra LED spotlights, like kitchens or workrooms, where you want to be able to see better where you are working.
Calculating How Many LED Spotlights You Need:
Before purchasing LED spotlights for home upgrades, you need to plan first. In essence, you can determine the number of spotlights required by measuring the square footage of a room (multiplied by the depth and width). After which, multiply the square footage by 1.5 to determine the wattage needed to light up a space.
Your lights should be placed roughly 2 feet away from the walls and between 3-4 feet apart from each other, depending on the height of your ceiling. You can work out the exact spacing by dividing the height of your ceiling by 2.
This is a fairly general rule, although you may need more or fewer LED spotlights. This can be determined by what you use the room for. If you are unsure, it may be an idea to overlight a particular space and then implement a dimmer switch, which will allow you to control the light levels in the room better.
How To Wire LED Spotlights?
After purchasing your lights, the next thing you will do is installation. How do you wire your LED spotlights for home installations?
First things first, if you’re unsure about how to wire a light, then you should contact an electrician to do it safely. Wiring spotlights can be tricky if you don’t have an understanding of home electrics and electrical lighting.
It is important to take note that electrics can be extremely dangerous if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing. However, if you do have an understanding of electrics and would prefer to wire the spotlights, then take care to
- Switch off the voltage on your power supply before installing your LED spotlights.
- These types of lights have a closed circuit, meaning that the connection goes in one direction. All but the final spotlight in the circuit will have two cables, while the final spotlight will have one cable.
- After exposing the ends of your cables, use a connector box to connect the correct wires of your spotlight to the exposed ends of the cables easily. It holds them in place and keeps them secure.
- Once the spotlight is wired, simply insert it into the correct place.
Should you be unsure, it is best to call an electrician.
How To Pick The Right LED Spotlight?
Such lights come in a wide variety of finishes, including white, chrome, or brushed chrome. It’s just a matter of choosing the one that best suits your style and dècor. You can also pair the fixtures with different types of LED spotlight bulbs.
LED lighting is a great replacement for halogen ones. Swap them and enjoy longer-life bulbs with more energy efficiency. GU10 LED bulbs are the most common type to pair with a downlight, and they fit directly to the mains without the need for a transformer or a LED driver.
You can also find light bulbs with dimmable or remote control functions, giving you greater freedom and control over your property's lighting.
Below are a few factors to consider when choosing your LED spotlights for home or commercial use:
Beam Angle:
Spotlight bulbs come with different beam angles, which determine how wide or narrow the light emission is. The narrower the angle, the more concentrated the light on a smaller area will be. A GU10 wider beam spotlight doesn’t mean more light - this simply means the same amount of light is further spread.
If you want to highlight a certain feature in the room, such as artwork, then a bulb with a narrow beam angle of around 20°- 40° would be ideal. Bulbs with a wider beam angle are better suited for general lighting or lighting workspaces.
Colour Temperature:
When installing LED spotlights or LED downlights the colour temperature of the lights is possibly one of the most important features to consider when choosing bulbs. Colour temperature can completely transform the ambience of a room with a particular look and feel - or a ‘warm’ or ‘cool’ lighting.
A warm white bulb can offer a softer light, which is best suited for relaxing areas such as your living room or bedroom. A cool white bulb is a more intense bulb that features a bluish tone - which works best in kitchens and bathrooms.
Brightness:
Just like colour temperature, the brightness of LED spotlight bulbs can make a huge difference to the look and feel of a room. With the older incandescent bulbs, it was possible to roughly determine the brightness by looking at the wattage - even though watts are a measurement of power used and not brightness.
To determine the brightness of your LED lights, you should consider the lumens - this is the measurement of total light output.
Why Choose LED Spotlights?
Whether you wish to create a soft glow of ambient lighting or highlight special interior items, you can find LED spotlights for home applications that will allow you to create the mood and the effect you want. They are ideal for accent lighting and displays, and their focused beam also makes them an excellent choice for task lighting in areas such as the kitchen.
Their minimalist design means they fit seamlessly into any style or decor and in any room.
More Eco-Friendly:
LEDs use much less energy than the standard incandescent, halogen, or CFL bulbs, making them the greener lighting choice. This is helpful for those wishing to lower their carbon footprint and especially for commercial properties aiming to meet governmental energy ratings.
Not only this, but LED lighting is also kinder to the environment when they finally reach the end of their lives. Other energy-saving bulbs, such as compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), contain traces of mercury, making disposal difficult. LEDs, on the other hand, are non-toxic and can be recycled safely.
Cost-Effective:
Being energy-efficient also means lower energy bills. By switching to LED spotlights, you can reduce your annual electricity bill by hundreds of pounds. Not only are they cheaper to run, but their long life span means you’ll also save money on replacement bulbs.
Longer-Lasting:
The advanced technology of LED spotlight bulbs means they can remove heat through heat sinks, which helps prolong life expectancy way beyond that of any other light bulbs. The average rated lifetime hours (ARL) of LEDs is approximately 50,000 hours, compared to just 750-2000 hours of incandescent bulbs.
It’s also worth knowing that they don’t burn out, but instead, they slowly depreciate in lumens (brightness) over time. They won’t ‘blow’, but you will find they get dimmer, and it will happen so slowly that you’ll barely notice until it reaches a certain point. It is worth noting that this could take a couple of decades.
Discover More About LED Spotlights:
If you wish for more information about our LED spotlights for home and commercial use - we would love to hear from you. At Simple Lighting, customer satisfaction is of the utmost importance. We want you to be fully satisfied with your shopping experience, and as a result - we only offer products that come from renowned and established manufacturers.
