The most common lighting fixtures we can see in almost every home is probably the recessed downlighting fixture.
I will walk you through the basics of recessed LED downlighting in residential applications.
There are so many benefit of using the recessed downlighting as it can easily provide the clean look, fuss-free, avoiding glares, the aesthetic and multi-function at the same time.
The recessed lighting includes the following three major components:
1) the Recessed Housing that typically has a metal conduit whip to connect to the junction box where electrical power feed in.
2) the Light source (PAR bulb or LED light fixture) which sits safely inside the housing and power up by the power feed from the housing.
3) the Trims ( include baffle, gimbal, wall-wash type trim or lens optics options) that sits below the ceiling and visible portion of the fixture from room side.
The Housing can be categorized into New Construction and Remodel housing, with varied sizes on the trims( from 4inch to 5 and 6 inches).
Here is a typical new construction housing.
It can be easily installed in between Joists with the existing mounting assembly before the ceiling is installed.
Here is a typical remodel housing which can be used in case where the ceiling is existing.
It typically requires to cut holes on existing ceiling and feed the housing through the cut out hole.
There are also other specific type of housings :
Shallow( overall height is few inches shorter than typical housing ,use in shallow ceilings where 2 in. x 6 in. joist construction is used ), slope ceiling type(see below example).
The light source will be the led light fixture or traditional light bulbs. It typically connect through a E26 socket adapter to the power supply within the recessed housing. The light fixture below has incorporated the Baffle trim into the fixture. It can also including Gimbal feature to function as wall wash light.
The fixture have mounting torsion spring clips to be secured in place the housing.
The recessed LED downlight design needs to be certified to US (UL1598) and Canadian safety standards( CSA C22.2 No. 250.0).
There are also 3 unique features in some recessed housings and recessed downlight fixtures.
1) IC(Insulation Contact) rated or Non IC rated , whether the housing can have direct contact with insulation or not. IC rated housing can be installed in Attics where they are insulation applied. for non-IC rated housing and lights are great for areas where insulation isn’t necessary.
2) Damp location, Wet location rated; Damp-rated lights are used in places that have some contact with moisture, but not in areas with constant or direct exposure to water. Wet location rated is for used in places with direct exposure to water such as most outdoor lights in deck or patio, also indoor like showers. The main reason to use damp and wet-rated light fixtures is safety as the accumulating moisture within fixtures could create electrical shock and light failures.
3) Airtight rated for housing and lights; Airtight rating provides for additional insulation between conditioned space and unconditioned space to save energy.
There is also a trend in both new construction and remodel to go for canless led light fixture or retrofit lighting kits. The major driving factors are significant cost saving and much easier installation process.
Here are couple of these canless concept fixtures on the market.
Lithonia OneUp fixture features a unique canless design with even the junction box integrated into the fixture and simple installation process .
it takes only 2 minutes to get it installed in a retrofit setting.
Another example is IC rated ,canless recessed downlight with a remote junction box. It also features selectable color temperature from 3000k ,4000k and 5000k.
The recessed LED downlighting is also getting more versatile with selectable lumens output and configurate color temperature. The over profile has come to more slimmer than before.
here is one example of ultra slim canless recessed fixture.
There are more downlight fixtures which embedded with wireless control features that give it more features like tunable white color and full accent color .
The wiz light is such a retrofit downlight that can be fit in typical 5inch and 6 inch recessed housings.
It compatible with WiZ apps and products along with Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Siri shortcuts. The major complains concern about the product is around the unstable Wifi connection.
here is the overall look of wiz downlight from Philips.
In summary, we went through some of the basics of recessed downlighting for mainly the residential market and the some of the trends of canless type downlight and adoption of smart light.
