best overhead reading light

[idiotboy]

hello all, first post, (from ireland)
can someone please answer me a few lighting questions

i want to add a task reading light over my fathers reading chair, maybe change about some of the main lights in his room also. so first question first.

if all the other lights were off, what dedicated task light(s) is best in the ceiling over their chair ?

ceiling to seat is 7 foot, i guess i want about a 4 foot diameter well lit at this seats height, (for his old school broad sheet newspapers .)

halogen 12v/mains(230v here), cfl/led/incandescent ?

pragmatic function over form choice please, i'll green up all the other lights after

cheers

 

[LEDninja]

:welcome:
I do not get the concept of a light fixed to the ceiling for reading purposes. What if father wants to move his chair across the room at a future date. I suggest looking for a Floor/ reading lamp. (Hint: the linked lamp is not a good one. The bulb does not face into the room, can not upgrade to a good LED bulb later.)

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You did not indicate if the fixture will be recessed ceiling light or below ceiling/track mounted light. If recessed ceiling how much air space above the can for cooling?

CFLs do not work well upside down. Fire hazard in ceiling fixtures.
LEDs do not work well in enclosed fixtures. Need a lot of ventilation. Better in below ceiling fixtures unless they are specially designed for recessed ceiling fixtures. Most are not very bright especially for a 7 ft. distance. Some don't last very long.
incandescent are being phased out, you may have problems getting replacement bulbs soon. (If not already - the phase out is supposed to happen 2009 your side of the pond, 2012 over here.)

 

[idiotboy]

firstly thanks for the welcome LEDninja .

i should of explained the situation better, the room is a shared tv room, his chair is the nearest to the tv of all the chairs and never moves its position. i'm looking for a task light for his reading that wont put a direct glare on the tv or be a distraction in the corner of the eye of other tv viewers from the other chairs around the room.

there is a paneled roof so a ceiling rewire will be quite an easy job, i was thinking of something like -> halogen(s), bellow the ceiling, directional, with some type of shade so the bulb is recessed a few inches hiding a direct view from other occupants. and rig it up to a on/off remote control, or ideally a dim-able one, ...then once his reading light is optimum i can start to green up all the other lights around pops .

i have read all types of opinions of what type of light (halogen 12v/mains/cfl/led/incandescent) is best for reading under (a lot say halogen, although it seems halogen folk seem to be the slowest to go green, i guess its a very big change for them) .....having only ever lived with incandescent golf ball bulbs and r63 spots myself, i dont know who to believe and what to choose . .......(...for example for reading, are 2 halogen 12v 20w better than 1 halogen 12v 35w, ...are halogen 12v better than mains, ..is light 'additive', so if a task led said a replacement for a 35 watt would 2 close together and directed at the same spot be a replacement for a 70watt) .
also im not even sure if halogen is being phased out here , ...if it is and it is the best light i could stock pile for one fixture.

sorry for the long post and thanks for your help:twothumbs.

 

[blasterman]

I'm glad idiotboy has given this some thought because he's trying to accomplish several goals here, and make a nice comfortable light for pops.

One thing that I can't stand with reading lights is when they are very specular in nature. For this reason I can't stand LED retrofits or MR16 halogens for worklights because who wants to feel like they are on a bus trip at 3am in their own living room? It's one thing to accent the room. Another thing trying to read a newspaper when every object casts a harsh shadow on the reading material. The trusty old table lamp is still popular for this reason.

Because of the ambient light concern an upfiring torche style is likely out of the question.

Easiest solution is a tall floor lamp with a large, 27watt warm-white CFL. Get a black lamp shade, which most big box stores sell. Problem solved.

there is a paneled roof so a ceiling rewire will be quite an easy job, i was thinking of something like -> halogen(s), bellow the ceiling, directional

You're talking track light right? If so, cool, because you can get a line voltage one for cheap along with some basic fixtures.

In that case, just mount the track a bit in front of where your dad has his favorite chair, and the lights will point down and back. Use big cans like this and they'll baffle the light from the rest of room. Use big incan spots like an R30, and they'll project down with a soft yet directional light, and also be dimmable. Also incredibly cheap to go this route and you can get those cans anywhere.

Halogen is of course brighter, but larger directional incans like the R30 tend to have softer light.

Sidebar, but this this is another type light that's on my 'concept' list for designing with LED. Basically, a metal foot'ish square box or cylinder with LEDs mounted inside, and the inside of the box painted glossy white so it acts as a mixing box. Light fires either down (or up- none to the sides), and is nicely diffused. A minimum of 1k lumens of course.

 

[LEDninja]

The naming conventions in North America and Europe are slightly different.
Here is a picture of an R30 bulb:

The 30 stands for 30*8ths of an inch or 3.75" wide.

Did not see one this big on Amazon.co.uk. Biggest I saw there was R80

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In North America bulb width is measured in 8ths of an inch.
In Europe bulb width is measured in mm.
So a North American A-19 globe style bulb works out to a G60 in Europe.
Or an R30 in North America would work out to a R95 in Europe.