Monthly Archives: January 2012

Many of you are familiar with the "KISS" method? Keep it super simple (well, there is another version out there-the "keep it simple s-----", but we won't use that language here!) Sometimes simple is the best. One of our clients that does large trade shows in the fashion industry came to us with a dilemma. They had three days to light a huge color banner of one of their models for a trade show in Austin, Texas. The trade show facility vendor wanted to rent them $1800 in LED lighting for the three days they were there- which was way outside of their budget. They needed the banner to stand out and be seen, but the quoted rental fee definitely put it out of reach. The owner of the fashion company called and talked with our lead lighting designer, Mark Scott. Mark has been in the lighting industry for 30 years and has wonderful and creative solutions to just about any lighting dilemma. His simple solution got the banner to stand out with even, bright light all for under $300 total. The client also got to keep the lighting fixtures for their next upcoming show too. Sometimes a simple solution is the way to go. So, what was the simple solution? They used two 500watt wide flood Par64 fixtures with bulbs, and one PAR64 flood to highlight the banner on the top left so it would be slightly brighter there.

Easy solution, and boy did that banner stand out-it was easily seen from the other side of the convention center. No matter what your project is, from kitchens to landscape lighting, good lighting can make all the difference in the world. The staff at Total Lighting Supply are not about just selling part numbers on box, they are about getting you the light you need to make your project sparkle.

Looking up at the par lights above the trade show booth

Full view of the poster (well lit, we might add!)

We here at Total Lighting Supply are on a mission to demystify lighting aspects one bulb, one fixture at a time.

Want to be demystified even more? Go to our You Tube Channel and check out the informational videos that we've made for you.

This posting is in response to a very long thread on the Garden Web Lighting forum (Disappointed With My LED Recessed Lighting)-the original post was from 2008. Our lighting designer and guru was fascinated by all the comments an remarks and varying levels of input from the community at large. He thought it was time he should weigh in and we'd thought we'd share his insights and knowledge with you. To see the original thread that this post was based on, please be sure to use the link through for Garden Web.

"I know this post has been around for a while-please forgive me in responding to such an old post, but the technology has changed so much since then that I thought I'd weigh in. The improvements made in LED recessed lighting has addressed so many of these issues that I find it no longer disappointing. In addition, I get questions related to kitchen lighting all the time and thought I might be able to provide some quick insight from a lighting designer's point of view.
First of all, it seems that many lighting designers shy away from kitchen lighting, although I'm not sure exactly why. I have done hundreds of lighting designs for kitchens and I always take the approach that kitchen needs to have at least two different levels of lighting along with under-cabinet lighting. The quality of light is very important in any space-particularly the kitchen.
Kitchen  light needs to be bright, white and even.  In most cases, halogen lighting will not work. Halogen is a specular light source and tends to create harsh shadows. Not to mention the heat that it produces in addition to the heat that you get from the stove and the oven.This is something that an electrician or a contractor is not likely to take into consideration.
Fluorescent light can work well if done right, but you have to select your housing, trim and the color temperature of the lamp very carefully. As for the color temperature, we like to use lights that are 30K (or even higher) in color. The light output at this color temperature is closer to daylight.
LED fixtures now offer many choices of color temperature but most of my clients seem to like the 30K range the best. After years and years of looking at various samples we finally have found a LED module that seems to meet everyones needs.  First and foremost, it fits just about every recessed housing out there. It actually fits both 5" and 6" line voltage recessed
housings.  And even though I do not believe in dimming a kitchen light, the LED module can be dimmed with a number of common dimmers. Just know that a dimming system will add another level of complications to your lighting system.
I prefer splitting the kitchen lighting into at least two parts of lighting levels (and on two different on/off switches), if you will. One level is a 'support level'-providing light for ambiance and resembling having dimmed lights and the second level (along with the first) is the full on work mode that is needed for food preparation, cleanup, etc.
In addition, LED fixtures are at such a low wattage and are very energy efficient that they can be left on all day. In fact, the circuit in the LED lamps like to be left on and over time, can loose their efficiency by being turned on and off all the time. Turning LED lamps on and off frequently throughout the day will actually shorten the life of the LED driver in the fixture.  Another great addition to your kitchen lighting design is under cabinet lighting. Adding a quality LED under cabinet lighting fixture as a third lighting level option can also help to create an even distribution of light in your kitchen. From a design standpoint and from a user standpoint, offering at least two to three levels of lighting will make all the difference in the world and eliminate the 'need' for having to dim your lights."

Note: ALWAYS USE A LICENSED ELECTRICIAN (not your buddy) AND TO ALWAYS CHECK THAT YOUR PROJECT IS IN COMPLIANCE WITH LOCAL BUILDING CODES. WE WELCOME BLOG TOPIC SUGGESTIONS: SEND US YOUR 'Q'S' AND WELL GIVE YOU AN 'A'. AND, WE WELCOME YOUR COMMENTS AND WOULD LOVE TO SHARE YOUR 'BEFORE' AND 'AFTER' PICTURES (send them to us!).

We just introduced a LED Retrofit Module and Trim (aka: universal LED Retrofit ) to our line about a month ago and it is soon becoming one of most popular and most sought after items. Want to know why?

-First off, if you have an EXISTING 5" OR 6" recessed light fixture, this retrofit can be used to replace what is already in there. Its application is for remodel and for new construction.

-It fits shallow AND regular IC and Non-IC housings.

Are you impressed yet? Wait-there's more:

-It's energy efficient: it is 14W: to equate it to what you've been used to, which would be the 65W incandescent bulb. That translates to a 75% savings on energy consumption, so this is a very 'green' choice by way of lighting. It also has the Energy Star rating AND meets the California Title 24 requirements.

-It is bright: 620 lumens (remember that lumens is the measure of brightness and not wattage: see our article that explains how this works). Not to mention that has a color temperature of 3,000K-which is a very good approximation of daylight.

-Long lasting (because it is LED): it is rated for up to 50,000 life hours.

-If you so desire, it is dimmable. Although, our lighting designer frowns on installing dimmable lights-instead, he recommends that you create several 'layers' of lighting. For the sake of aesthetics and for the sake of longevity of the fixture (as dimmable switches come with their own set of issues).

This fixture is dimmable with these dimmers:

LUTRON: Ariadni, Diva, Skylark, AY/TG Series,DV Series, S Series Electroic Low Voltage: Diva- DVELV-300P, Maestro MAELV-600, Nova T-NTLV-1000, Nova T-NTELV-600

LUTRON System Homeworks HW-RPM-4A-120

LEVITON Dimmers IPIO6-1LX,6673-10W,6631-LW and IPE04-1LX, 6615

Note: Use of 600watt incandescent dimmers will limit maximum number of fixtures to 4 and 7 for 1000watt incandescent.

We recommend using electronic low voltage dimmers for better performance.

-This fixture is also rated for WET locations: such as, your shower or under eave lighting.

-This LED Retrofit Module and Trim can easily convert most 5" and 6" incandescent recessed lighting cans to an energy saving LED fixture. There is no other product out there that has this versatility.

You can see how easy it is to install and change out your fixtures here:

We don't know of any other product out there that can do all of these things: be used in remodel and new construction, fits shallow and regular IC and Non-IC housings, that can also be used in a wet location, that can fit an existing 5" or 6" recessed housing, that is energy efficient, that is rated for 50,000 life hours, meets California's Title 24 code, and is Energy Star rated. Do you? I mean, this fixture gives you a lot of bang for the buck and you will not find anything like this in the big box stores.

If you already have existing 5" or 6" recessed incandescent fixtures, you can now go green with the existing housing with this LED Retrofit Module and Trim.

So, if you are looking for ways to cut your energy cost and consumption of your existing 5" or 6" incandescent recessed lighting fixture, this is the way to go: with Total Recessed Lighting's  LED Retrofit Module and Trim.