Using Low Voltage Lighting Inside The Home

Homeowners are very fortunate nowadays when it comes to interior design as there are lots of different products to choose from that cater to a wide variety of tastes and preferences.

As a result, you can now design your home in virtually anyway that you please whether it be the color of your walls, the style of your furniture or the appearance of your garden, if you know what you want, then there is a very good chance that you can have it done.

One particular area of interior design that homeowners are especially spoilt for choice is with home lighting equipment as there are a seemingly never ending assortment of light bulbs and lighting fixtures available to choose from.

In fact, home lighting has experienced a surge in popularity within the past decade largely as a result of the advent of low voltage lighting .

Low voltage lights allow for greatly reduced energy consumption in comparison to regular incandescent bulbs, which has subsequently made it affordable for people to use light to add character and flare to the inside and outside of their home.

For example, you may have noticed homes that have solar powered lights along their driveway or in their back garden, or been inside homes that have a very modern and stylish feel to them because of the way that lighting has been used within that home.

The truth is, that lighting, if used correctly, can have a massive influence both on the way that your home looks and the type of atmosphere that it emits.

So if you are interested in using light for home design, or simply wish to upgrade your existing lighting equipment, then you may find this article interesting as we are going to be talking about the most common types of low voltage energy saving home lighting and where best to use it.

Hopefully, this should then give you a much better idea as to the type of home lighting solutions you have available to choose from and how your home may benefit from using a particular type of lighting technology.

The Incandescent Light Bulb

For the most part, incandescent light bulbs should not be used inside the home if you are looking to reduce your homes electricity usage as they are very inefficient and use up a lot of power.

However, incandescent bulbs are still useful in certain areas of the home. For example, an under-stairs cupboard or bedroom closet are two places that would benefit from using incandescent bulbs due to the short amount of time that such areas need to be illuminated for.

The reason why incandescent bulbs are appropriate in such situations is because their lifespan is not affected by how rapidly you switch off a light after turning it on.

With fluorescent light bulbs, their lifespan can be substantially reduced if they are only used for short periods of time, as they work best when left on for longer rather than shorter periods.

As incandescent bulbs are so cheap to purchase, you can get yourself a pack to use for underneath the stairs or for a closet and those bulbs will last you for years. Also, because you will only be using them for a very short period of time, using them is not going to significantly raise your electricity bill.

One word of warning though, if you are planning on buying incandescent light bulbs then make sure that you do so soon, as many countries are now starting to phase out incandescent light bulbs with the intention of banning them altogether.

Some people are predicting that when incandescent light bulbs are banned, that the cost of energy saving fluorescent bulbs will go up.

So if you only have fluorescent bulbs to use under the stairs or in your closet, then it could end up costing you more for all the replacement bulbs that you will have to buy compared to the electricity that you will save by using them.

Fluorescent Tube Home Lighting

Fluorescent tubes are most commonly found underneath wall mounted kitchen cupboards to provide task specific lighting to the work surface below.

Another possible location for fluorescent tubes are ceiling mounted designs in the kitchen or hallway, although the large size of the tubes may detract from the overall appearance of a room which is one of the main reasons why fluorescent tubes are not used very often in people’s homes.

In office buildings however, the size of fluorescent tubes tend to be less of a problem. As a result, it is quite common to see fluorescent tubes with reflectors used in both offices and in hallways.

Smaller fluorescent tubes are sometimes found fitted above, or to the sides, of shaving mirrors or general purpose bathroom mirrors.

Overall, fluorescent tubes are a very low powered and energy efficient form of lighting. But due to their size, they are probably not something that you want to use inside your home unless you are using small fluorescent tubes or can hide the large tubes out of view.

Energy Saving Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

The energy saving compact fluorescent light bulb is designed to replace standard incandescent light bulbs and provide a more energy efficient form of general lighting.

As a result, you will find energy saver bulbs in both bayonet and Edison screw fittings, and so installing them should just be a simple matter of unscrewing your old bulbs and replacing them with the new.

Some people however, find that their existing lighting fixtures are too small to be used with energy saving bulbs and so end up having to purchase new lighting equipment such as lamp shades, chandeliers or desk lamps so that their bulbs will fit.

Energy saver bulbs are definitely recommended for providing your home with general light as by using them you can substantially reduce your electricity bills in comparison to if you were using incandescent bulbs.

Compact fluorescent bulbs can be used throughout the home, although they are most commonly found as ceiling hanging arrangements in bedrooms, hallways and living rooms.

Overall, if you are looking for a low energy form of general lighting, energy saving bulbs certainly are the way to go. Just don’t expect to use them for task or specific lighting though, as they tend not to be as good at providing directional light as halogen bulbs are.

Low Power Tungsten-Halogen Lights

This form of low voltage lighting is commonly used in ceiling or floor mounted designs.

Good locations for halogen lights include kitchens, bathrooms and living rooms where they can provide a concealed yet stylish form of general lighting.

For general lighting, you should use one 20 watt wide beamed halogen light for every square meter. Or one 50 watt for every 1 1/2 square meters.

In addition to general lighting, tungsten-halogen lights can also be used for specific lighting, such as with spotlights or recessed ceiling lights to highlight particular features within a room. In addition, they can be used very effectively for task lighting such as in a desk lamp or wall mounted swivel reading lamp.

Halogen lights are also a popular form of low voltage outdoor lighting, where they are used in security lights and for general outdoor lighting.

Halogen lights are especially suitable for outdoor lighting, such as garden lighting, as they are capable of providing strong intensity highly directional light which makes them ideal for drawing attention to particular features of your garden such as plants, trees, ponds, fountains and statues.

And unlike fluorescent lights, the lifespan of halogen lights are not affected by duration of use, so you don’t have to worry about shortening their lifespan by using them in security floodlights for example.

Tungsten halogen lamps are currently the most versatile and cost effective form of low voltage indoor and outdoor home lighting.

If you want to use light to design your home, or need highly directional light for tasks such as reading or writing, halogen lights are your best option until the cost of LED bulbs become more affordable.

LED Lighting

LED lights are becoming increasingly popular as they are the most energy efficient form of low voltage home lighting that you can purchase, and are also the longest lasting at 50,000 continuous hours.

Early uptake of LED lighting was hindered somewhat due to the fact that the first generation LED bulbs suffered from poor color output and short lifespans.

Current generation bulbs however, have largely eliminated these problems and so LED lights are now just as good as other types of light bulbs in terms of the quality of light that they emit.

The major downside to LED lighting though, is the relatively high cost of the bulbs. Due to their high cost, they are at present not cost effective to buy because you won’t make back the money you spent on the bulb from the electricity savings that you make by using them.

But when LED lights do come down in price, they are definitely the type of bulb that you want to be using as much as possible in your home because they can be used for all forms of lighting such as general lighting in recessed ceiling lights, specific lighting in spotlights or picture lights and for task lighting in desk lamps.

Also, LED lights are not affected by duration of use, so eventually you will be able to use them underneath your stairs or in a closet without having to worry about shortening their lifespan. When that happens, you will then be able to throw out your old incandescent bulbs for good!

Finally, due to the very low power requirements of LED bulbs, they are currently cost effective to use in portable lighting devices such as torches or solar powered garden lights.

Summary

• For general lighting, compact fluorescent light bulbs are most effective.
• For specific lighting, tungsten-halogen or LED lights are most effective.
• For task lighting, tungsten-halogen or LED lights are most effective.