I want to put cove lighting in my family room. "Cove lighting is a form of indirect lighting built into ledges, recesses, or valences in a ceiling or high on the walls of a room." (Wikipedia)
I am going to build a 50 foot ledge around 3 walls. I have considered the following lighting:
LED
Xenon strip lights
Florescent lights
Incandescent lights
My wife and I figure it would take about 6 x 100 watt light bulbs to light the room normally. That's about 10,000 lumen. We also want the light to be dimmable.
Incandescent produce a fair amount of heat. Also it is hard to find lights that are small and evenly spaced (4 to 6 per foot) so hot spots are not created on the ceiling.
Xenon strip light seem good but expensive. The cheapest I could find was:
http://www.affordablequalitylighting.com/docs/indoor/rope/cove/index.html
Xenon Method 1:1 strip of 50 feet: $1092 for 8523 lumen
lights every 2 inches on 1 strip
Xenon Method 2: $1476 for11364 lumen
lights every 3 inches on 2 strips
Florescent lights are out because they are not dimmable. You can do some tricks but dimming is hard for florescence.
LED lighting is a real search for good pricing and a method that would be bright enough.
The cheapest I could find was:
http://www.affordablequalitylighting.com/docs/indoor/rope/led/led/index.html
Use the cool white 150 foot rope at $399, I would double it back on itself so 3 strands are go around the 50 foot ledge. The site claims the rope outputs 80 lumens per foot.
That comes to 12,000 lumens. I would like to make or buy a PWM dimmer but that is a question for later.
I found many other LED solutions but they ranged from $800 to $4000. The $399 is a stretch for us, especially if you consider having to get a dimmer and mount a ledge.
I could have done the same plan with incandescent rope lights but I would need more that 3 strands to go around the 50 feet to make it bright enough. They are a lot cheaper but I worried about the heat from all those strands.
So does my LED rope solution seem reasonable? Will I really get as much light as 6 x 100 watt incandescent bulbs?
Is there another comparably priced solution?
I am going to build a 50 foot ledge around 3 walls. I have considered the following lighting:
LED
Xenon strip lights
Florescent lights
Incandescent lights
My wife and I figure it would take about 6 x 100 watt light bulbs to light the room normally. That's about 10,000 lumen. We also want the light to be dimmable.
Incandescent produce a fair amount of heat. Also it is hard to find lights that are small and evenly spaced (4 to 6 per foot) so hot spots are not created on the ceiling.
Xenon strip light seem good but expensive. The cheapest I could find was:
http://www.affordablequalitylighting.com/docs/indoor/rope/cove/index.html
Xenon Method 1:1 strip of 50 feet: $1092 for 8523 lumen
lights every 2 inches on 1 strip
Xenon Method 2: $1476 for11364 lumen
lights every 3 inches on 2 strips
Florescent lights are out because they are not dimmable. You can do some tricks but dimming is hard for florescence.
LED lighting is a real search for good pricing and a method that would be bright enough.
The cheapest I could find was:
http://www.affordablequalitylighting.com/docs/indoor/rope/led/led/index.html
Use the cool white 150 foot rope at $399, I would double it back on itself so 3 strands are go around the 50 foot ledge. The site claims the rope outputs 80 lumens per foot.
That comes to 12,000 lumens. I would like to make or buy a PWM dimmer but that is a question for later.
I found many other LED solutions but they ranged from $800 to $4000. The $399 is a stretch for us, especially if you consider having to get a dimmer and mount a ledge.
I could have done the same plan with incandescent rope lights but I would need more that 3 strands to go around the 50 feet to make it bright enough. They are a lot cheaper but I worried about the heat from all those strands.
So does my LED rope solution seem reasonable? Will I really get as much light as 6 x 100 watt incandescent bulbs?
Is there another comparably priced solution?
