Which flush ceiling lights for paintings?

[CampingLED]

Been to a painting gallery and loved the way they displayed the paintings. Nice little spotlight with a warm colour that made the paintings look alive. Only disadvantage was that they dissapated a lot of heat on the paintings. I would like to add 3 x ceiling lights in my living room that will have the same or better effect on the paintings. I am biased towards LED, but anything goes as long as it will not fry the paintings.

Your suggestions will be appreciated. Tks :candle:

 

[Stromberg]

Edit:
Oops, you wanted to know about flush, not recessed lights.
Well, I guess you could use for example GU10-base 230VAC led replacement bulbs in normal halogen fixtures like these:

http://www.dotlight.de/shop/product..._Seoul-Spot-warmwhite---160-Lumen---GU10.html
http://www.dotlight.de/shop/product...a-Spot-Warmwhite-120----240-Lumen---GU10.html

But I haven't found good replacements which I could really recommend. I bought some time ago this Solarox Cree spot but it got so hot during use that it can't be good in long run:
http://www.led1.de/shop/product_inf...0-p-727&cName=highpower-p4xre-led-spots-c-168

 

[BIGIRON]

I know it's sooo 70's, but track light are hard to beat for this stuff. The corkscrew CFL's seem to work well - but might not satisfy a really critical eye.

And a good place to hang Christmas decorations........

 

[CampingLED]

I know it's sooo 70's, but track light are hard to beat for this stuff. The corkscrew CFL's seem to work well - but might not satisfy a really critical eye.

And a good place to hang Christmas decorations........

Do you have more info / details for me? Much appreciated. Flush mounted is not a killer criteria, but will fit in better with the rest of the decorations.

 

[BIGIRON]

Home Depot, Lowe's, Google. There's a huge variety.

 

[2xTrinity]

Been to a painting gallery and loved the way they displayed the paintings. Nice little spotlight with a warm colour that made the paintings look alive. Only disadvantage was that they dissapated a lot of heat on the paintings. I would like to add 3 x ceiling lights in my living room that will have the same or better effect on the paintings. I am biased towards LED, but anything goes as long as it will not fry the paintings.

It is possible to buy incandescents that use a dichroic reflector -- basically the reflector is glass with an optical coating that transmits the IR, but reflects the visible light only, specifically so they DON'T dissipate a lot of heat on things like paintings. UV filters are often included as well to prevent damage to the paintings. Many museums already use these.

 

[VegasF6]

I used simple retrofit can lights and halogen. They run off mains power, have a swivel lens and a IR filtering lens to help protect my art. Run wire, cut hole, push light into hole, series to next light, viola. Simple.

Keep in mind if you have insulation in your attic or sofit, you need to keep in mind to either clear it away from your can, or buy one that is designed for direct touch. Also, if into an attic, you want insulated fixtures, in my case, it was a soffit and I went non-insulated.

3" bezels, 50 watt GU10 bulbs (with filter) and swivel trim. Reason I didn't go low voltage was I wanted to use an existing cheap dimmer rather than the expensive electronic dimmer.

Look like THESE but wrong trim rings.

*edit*
Huh, I found the same one's I put up.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Utilitech-3-GU1...VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

Plus, I suppose you could always try out some GU10 led's if you were so inclined.

Otherwise, I have seen some pretty modern looking low voltage track lighting on ebay. They have flexible wire track and look pretty cool.

 

[CampingLED]

The reasons why I prefer LED are:
1) Heat
2) Life of blobe

Tks to some replies I realize that the heat problem can be overcomed by an IR filter. Life of globe if I go halogen vs. LED in my setup?

I have 50mm thick fibreglass running directly above my ceiling boards (white plastered ceilings under a tiled roof). More to keep it cool in summer than cool in winter.

 

[gnarly]

For paintings or any art, I'd think the CRI would be really important. That's probably why art galleries use halogen almost exclusively.

Currently the leaders in CRI are Cree's LR6 downlight (but not directional so probably not best suited to art) which combines several colors of LED giving a CRI of 92. I have some of these and the light is really high quality, much better than a CFL.

Nexxus (Array lighting) announced some new spot bulb replacements
http://www.arraylighting.com/products/

The warm white ones have high CRI (90)

You certainly don't want to be buying cheap "LED bulbs" since these often have poor CRI (70) and bad heatsinking so don't last anywhere near their stated lifetime.

Hopefully there will be some exciting high-CRI & high-efficiency products in the future!

 

[CampingLED]

Thank you gnarly. This is exactly the type of info that I was looking for. The search now begins for the best local supplier/s. Now I can ask the right questions in my quest. :candle:

 

[LED-FX]

Solux low voltage halogen lamps are very nice, their distributors often cheaper than Solux direct,they should be available in SA

http://www.solux.net/cgi-bin/tlistore/infopages/index.html

Standard LV MR16 lamp that will fit in any fitting designed for LV lamps.

Most modern Low Voltage lighting transformers will dim even on standard cheap wallplate dimmer.

Adam

 

[VegasF6]

Solux low voltage halogen lamps are very nice, their distributors often cheaper than Solux direct,they should be available in SA

http://www.solux.net/cgi-bin/tlistore/infopages/index.html

Standard LV MR16 lamp that will fit in any fitting designed for LV lamps.

Most modern Low Voltage lighting transformers will dim even on standard cheap wallplate dimmer.

Adam

I believe that is only true with an electronic ballast, but not a magnetic. The point is moot since the OP has decided he wants LED.

 

[CampingLED]

What will the typical life of a globe be if I go for the Solux halogens? I.e. flush installed with fibreglass insulation running directly above it. I liked the photos that I saw when they are in use at a gallery.

A few years ago (7 to 8 years) I replaced the globes in my ceiling fans with CFLs. In one case I still use two of the three originally installed CFLs. Before that the old spot globes only lasted a year at max.

I would rather spend a bit more and only do the job once than keep on replacing globes or other parts.

Thanks for the info so far.

 

[VegasF6]

I see the FAQ says rated at 4,000 hours.

How exactly do you mean flush mounted? Cutting a hole in the ceiling so that the majority of the light is above the surface, and the bezel and bulb face are flush with the ceiling, or mounted to the ceiling and hanging down?

 

[CampingLED]

I see the FAQ says rated at 4,000 hours.

How exactly do you mean flush mounted? Cutting a hole in the ceiling so that the majority of the light is above the surface, and the bezel and bulb face are flush with the ceiling, or mounted to the ceiling and hanging down?

Flush like your first option where a hole is cut in the ceiling. Although not solid concrete the ceilings look like concrete (plastered ceilings) and I feel this will look the best.

 

[LED-FX]

I believe that is only true with an electronic ballast, but not a magnetic. The point is moot since the OP has decided he wants LED.

Electronic dimmable low voltage lighting transformers seem to be a relatively new thing to the US, had other Americans gasp that there is such a thing, here in Europe we have had them for years.

On other hand we have very few dimmable CFLs, where as the US is spoilt for choice.

LED is less than ideal for lighting paintings, CRI and Spectral Power Distribution is very uneven and will boost some colours and mute others.

Really want some ventilation around dichroic lamp, standard dichroic has a cold mirror that reflects visible and just lets Infra Red through, Solux lamps are similar with some fine tuning to the visible reflection portion.

Heat from lamp goes backwards so allowing circulation is important, if it means cutting glass fibre back from rear of fitting wear gloves and mask.

Recessed mounting into the ceiling dosen`t give optimum positioning for lighting work on the wall though, would consider track or surface mounted fittings as a better alternative usually.

Adam

 

[CampingLED]

Adam, after some searches and following some links that you have directed me to I agree that the solux's are the best way to go. Notice that they are 3500K. For fun I may just try to play around with one 3000-3500K LED as well for comparison. Seems like I will not go flush mounted anymore. Tks to all for replies and valuable info. :thumbsup:

Johan