Retrofit Recessed Lights

Ringdale Installs Lighting Fixtures in Parking Lot Facility

The 52W ActiveLED parking lot fixtures replaced 1000 and 400W metal halide fixtures in the parking lot that covers over five acres. The metal halide fixtures were replaced with the ActiveLED parking lot and SL series street lights. The illumination project was completed in the year 2010 and the ActiveLED lights saved a total of 229,241 kWh in its first year.

The successful installation of the ActiveLED lighting fixtures led to more number of lighting retrofit projects at the Texas plant. Wall packs, walkway bollards, recessed can lights, and ActiveLED flood lights replaced the existing lighting solutions to light up the plant’s buildings. The company’s LightSpace management products offer additional energy savings by using intelligent controllers.

Source: http://www.activeled.com/

Intematix, developer of patented phosphor parts and phosphors for superior quality LED lighting solutions, has introduced its latest ChromaLit technology with three-dimensional features to enhance the illumination quality of lamps, bulbs and advanced luminaire designs.

Recessed Lighting – Retrofitting Recessed Lighting

I recently discovered your podcast and I love it. I’m working my way through the archives, but I don’t see an episode on adding recessed lighting to a room. I know that there are many ways to go about this, but my home does not have an attic. It does have crawl space for the lights, but not one that I can access from above. I would need to cut holes into the ceiling and place the lights in the ceiling from below. I know that there are different types of lights based on new construction versus not, and I know that I would need to run wires, which could prove difficult since I don’t have access to the crawl space. I will be having my roof replaced shortly. Would it make sense to cut the holes and then as soon as the room is off, drop a lot of wire? Also, what are the appropriate types of lights, how many, and how far apart should they be in the room, etc. It’s a family room, so there will be tv watching, reading, kids playing, etc.

Thank you again for a great podcast. Rob

The Handyguys initially responded via email to Rob but decided to dedicate a show to the topic. Listen to the show!

The hardest part of retrofitting lighting is running the wires. You typically would cut into the drywall at every point where you needed to drill through a joist to enable fishing the wires back to your electrical panel. In the podcast we discuss some other options.

As for the number of lights, pick up a good electrical book to help determine how many lights per circuit is possible (it will depend on the light used, other loading on the circuit, the wire and codes).

Try and pick areas where they wont glare on the TV or in your eyes and provide the light where you need it. Dedicated lighting stores sometimes have lighting designers that can help you.

True value stores will have everything you need to do this project. Check them out, they are a great resource for local advice and supplies.

As always, listen to the podcast for all the discussion.

We were one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. We have been compensated for our time commitment to the program as well as our writing and productions about our experience. We have also been compensated for the materials needed for our DIY project.