Lighting is the electrical work people notice every day. It is also the area where cheap fittings and casual installation cause the most long-term annoyance — flickering, buzzing dimmers, colour that does not match from one room to the next, and downlights that fail years before they should.
Getting it right is mostly about specification and planning rather than difficulty: the correct fitting, a compatible dimmer, sensible zoning, and a consistent colour temperature throughout. Replacing old halogen downlights with LED is still one of the better-value jobs going, both for running cost and for heat.
Signs worth acting on rather than waiting out.
They run extremely hot, consume roughly ten times the power of an equivalent LED, and are a known ignition risk where insulation has been disturbed around them.
Nearly always an incompatible dimmer rather than a faulty lamp. LEDs need a dimmer rated for LED loads.
Indicates a load or compatibility mismatch, and it will not improve with time.
Usually heat, an unsuitable fitting for the space, or poor ventilation above the ceiling.
A specification problem — easy to avoid up front, tedious to correct later.
Frequently a layout issue rather than a brightness one.
Lighting a kitchen for cooking is a different problem to lighting a lounge room for the evening. Layout comes before fittings.
Colour temperature, beam angle, output, dimmability and IP rating where moisture is involved — decided deliberately rather than by what is on the shelf.
Insulation clearances, joist positions and existing wiring all determine where a downlight can actually go.
Positions get marked and agreed. Holes in a ceiling are unforgiving.
Clean, level, evenly spaced, with the roof space left tidy.
Including dimmer behaviour across the range, so you find out in front of me if something is not right.
Lighting work is carried out to AS/NZS 3000, including the clearances required between recessed luminaires and thermal insulation, and the IP ratings required for bathrooms, outdoor areas and other wet locations. Work is performed under Licence No. 221442C. Where the work requires certification, a Certificate of Compliance for Electrical Work is issued.
Every job is quoted after I have seen it — these are the things that move the number:
No — replacing the fitting is electrical work and must be done by a licensed electrician. Changing a lamp in an existing fitting is different, but most halogen-to-LED conversions replace the whole fitting, including the transformer.
Almost always dimmer incompatibility. Older dimmers were designed for high-wattage incandescent and halogen loads and behave badly with the very low load of LEDs. A dimmer rated for LEDs, matched to the fittings, resolves it.
Warm white (around 3000K) suits living areas and bedrooms; neutral white (around 4000K) suits kitchens, laundries, bathrooms and workspaces. The main thing is consistency — mixed colour temperatures in adjoining rooms look like a mistake, because they are one.
Fewer than most people expect, if they are the right fittings in the right places. Over-lighting a ceiling with evenly spaced downlights is a very common outcome and it flattens a room. I would rather plan the layout with you than fill the ceiling.
Yes. That means running new cable and possibly adding switching, which is more involved than reusing an existing point — but it is routine work and it is far better than accepting a bad position because it happens to be wired.
Based in Kellyville and working right across Sydney. These are the areas I am in most often.
Lighting Installation in Kellyville, NSW
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