2023 Author: Philip Bishop | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 22:24
- How to install spotlights
- How to connect spotlights
Spotlights are sources of directional radiation. The design of spotlights is simplified as much as possible, it is a body with a front surface, two clamps and an electric socket with outgoing wires. Sometimes the design is complicated by the use of hinges designed to change the direction of lighting. For the functioning of such lamps, special incandescent lamps have been created with a flattened bulb and a reflector inside, and halogen lamps, they are enclosed in an additional glass case.
The dimensions of the luminaires designed for the functioning of halogen lamps are almost halved. Halogen lamps typically last two to three times longer than ordinary incandescent lamps. But due to the huge spread of cheap counterfeit products, it can be much shorter. Now the global industry has begun to produce LED lamps designed to replace both. The base, dimensions and shape of the body of these lamps are similar to outdated incandescent lamps, only powerful LEDs are located inside, in place of the tungsten filament. In terms of energy efficiency and lifespan, LED lamps are simply out of competition, and it seems that the future belongs to these light sources. And if you are for the "classics", then see how to install a chandelier with your own hands. In order to understand how many lamps you need in a room and what power, use the online calculator.
How to install spotlights
Spotlights can be easily installed on metal, plasterboard, wood and polymer surfaces. In addition to the ceiling, they are installed in bathrooms and kitchen sets, in various designer plasterboard interior elements. The main condition for a successful installation is that there is sufficient space behind the surface of the panel. Halogen lamps will require at least sixty millimeters of depth, and incandescent lamps - up to one hundred and twenty millimeters. It is to this height that the stretch, rack or plasterboard ceiling must be lowered.
Installing spotlights is extremely simple, the installation scheme is also simple - electrical wires are routed in advance to certain places, even before the ceiling is installed. After the ceiling is mounted, holes of the required diameter are cut or drilled in these very predetermined places. Here, a rational solution would be to use a circular saw (crown), the photo below shows an example. Then the wires are connected, and the lamps themselves are inserted into the surface holes, with the clamps compressed and brought to the top. When the clamps are in free space, they are released - that's it, the lamp is installed.
This is followed by the installation of light bulbs. If they are simple incandescent bulbs with a screw base, they simply screw in. If these are halogen lamps, then you must first install the plug-in connectors, after which the lamps are inserted into the luminaires and fixed using the locking rings included in the luminaire kit.
It is better to work with fabric gloves. Touching with bare hands to the glass of halogen lamps leads to premature loss of their performance.
How to connect spotlights
When illuminating large areas, point light sources are much inferior to ceiling lamps of diffused light, and their energy efficiency is almost three times lower. When illuminating narrow, long corridors, energy efficiency improves, but only slightly. A natural question arises: if spotlights are an integral part of the "European-style renovation", then what about the well-known European trend of omnipresent economy, including electricity? The thing is that the original idea was to create separate control of each such lamp. People, doing some business in the dark, should turn on the light only in a certain area of the room they need. This, of course, leads to an increase in the cost of the installation, because much more cable is consumed and the installation itself becomes more complicated. Instead of simple switches at the entrance to the room, controllers are installed - touch control panels of electronic switching devices, which very often, in addition to alternative switching from the remote control, can be connected to a computer local network and the subsequent implementation of the “smart home” concept.
The topic of saving electricity due to its low cost is not so relevant in Russia. And the topic of the cost of repairs is very relevant due to the lack of extra money. And therefore, spotlights are connected in a loop - in parallel, and, accordingly, everything is turned on at once. When a lot of them are divided into two parts and are switched on separately through a double switch. See how to install the switch correctly in our article. When connected in parallel with a loop, two wires are supplying, and the third is the grounding of the luminaire body.
This connection diagram for spotlights takes place in "new" apartments, where ground wires are initially present in the lighting system. In old apartments, there is no grounding in the lighting system, and only two supply wires are connected.
Do-it-yourself apartment renovation especially for the site.
