As an electrical contractor with over 40 years of service experience i always worry about getting my hand in the hole for service 4" is good 3" is hard.

Our house was completed in early 2022 with 4” LED down lights used throughout the house. I have a backgrounds in construction and photographic lighting so I worked with the builder on placing them both for aesthetics of the patterns and even coverage per the inverse-square law. In the kitchen, walk in closet and laundry room I wanted 12” x 48” flat panel LED which are adjustable for color temp-3200°, 4000°, 5000°-via flipping the wall switch and wound-up sourcing them myself from Home Depot because the electrical supplier the builder used couldn’t seem to find them. 🤷🏼‍♂️ I’ve had two of the 4” lights fail already. When the first one failed I found and bought six identical spares for <$10 ea. That is something builders using these types of fixtures should do-supply a dozen spares and show the home owner how to change them so a burnt out bulb doesn’t wind up requiring a $200+ and two trips by and electrician to change. Thankfully since no twisting of the bulb is required it now only takes one electrician, not the two additional to turn the ladder. 😂

2700K is my favorite

What about vaulted ceilings with slopes up to 45 degrees? How does the trim mount flush to the ceiling while the light still points down? What is the the beam spread angle? What are the available color temps? What will the replacement availability look like in a few years when so of these fail?

I would never install 6” so ugly 4” all the way.

P

If you have a recessed light remodel fixture like a HALO 6" H7RICAT or HALO 5" H5RICAT, and you screw in a wifi bulb with features you like, is there any third party product that would at least let you cap the fixture with a lens? That would help to 1) diffuse the light; 2) hide the ugliness of a bulb inside of a can; and 3) help to airseal the fixture. That could at least partially address your concerns, while still giving us the flexibility to select high-end technology for the bulb, which could then be periodically changed out for better technology.

LED lights are awful. They’re way overpriced and only last a fraction of the time printed on the box… and they give people headaches, hurt the eyes… and some studies have shown that LED light grow tumors. Bring back incandescent light bulbs!

I have 6" can lights in most of my house. For those who have a problem with them, there was a movie that addressed this problem called "Don't Look Up". Seriously, I have 9' ceilings so I rarely notice them and if you have higher ceilings, they would be even less noticeable. They put out an excellent amount of light, and it's so simple to replace a bulb that fails. Plus, if you want the same amount of coverage, you need more small lights. Maybe I would like smaller lights if I had them, but I've got no problem with 6" lights.

There is much to consider regarding all types of lighting for residential/commercial use. HEWilliams‬ has an excellent web page. You are scratching the surface; excellent content.

Your HE Williams lights are great until the style changes or you need parts that are no longer available.

Very helpful video. Thanks ❤

You don’t need a retrofit. You can buy LED equivalent flood lights to screw into the light fixture. I added recessed lights in my previous house. I wouldn’t do it today. Times have certainly changed. LED light technology is changing so fast, it makes no sense to add it right now. They’re selling wafer lights. I wonder if they can just do a surface mount in the future.

That shelf is killing me

Okay I watched your video about the recessed cans 6” vs small retrofit. But, there is no way that a 2” or 3” down light is going to cast a wide beam of a 6”. Obviously smaller down lights are more pleasing but the cost you mentioned $100-300 per light hmmn not everyone will be willing to spend that. You can spend more on a good bulb and middle of the road recessed fixture with a good trim and achieve good results. Please comment thanks

Any advice on using vertical tape along bookcase sides to prevent glare and best way to position to maximize lighting?

I am a lighting nerd too. Thank you for making this fantastic video. I look forward to implementing your led color temperature test.

What do you think of Soraa MR16 LED bulbs for recessed fixtures?

Blue light and high Kelvin very bad for you at night!

Don’t use a white inner baffle. A black baffle greatly diminishes glare from ceiling lights and is much better looking.

Hi I'm a kitchen and bath designer and outsource most of the construction for our projects. This leaves me vulnerable to their level of education in new products and their level of quality vs quantity :) I would like to find out what a residential recessed down light for 9' - 10' ceilings would be that can provide light that is bright enough in conjunction with under cabinet LED tape lighting and maybe a couple of pendants. I want my client to be able to do surgery or a romantic dinner. I live in a backasswards part of the country and there is very little advanced thinking in construction. I need help with LED tape lighting as well. HELP!

I’m like binge watching your videos because I’m a new cinematographer and this stuff is just critical to learn

I would drop the word "these" from the title and redo the entire video. Recessed lights are overused and misused by designers, with little consideration given to their total costs of ownership, including maintenance and limited utility. Interior designers may walk around looking up at ceilings but home occupants rarely do. Occupants look at what they are interested in USING, which is on counters, walls and floors, mostly below seated eye level. Permanent ceiling fixture glare is only an issue when a spot fixture is incorrectly located to be within a NORMAL field of view, like near a video display or fireplace where that is the primary feature of the room. When a single fixture is used to light a large area, it MUST be higher lumen output than a group covering the same area, WILL be a glare issue and WILL create shadows. Recessed ceiling fixtures are notorious for creating both utility problems for occupants. The major issue with integrated fixtures is cost. LEDs do not last forever and when they unpredictably fail it is inconvenient and the fixture needs to be replaced. With a recessed fixture replacement is relatively slow and expensive; you pay for both a fixture and an installer. In contrast reduction bezels are available for 6-in cans to use smaller edison base reflector floods like PAR 20, where all that shows is the face of the lamp, which can be moved higher in the can to reduce the angle of the light cone and side glare. imo The best "permanent" integrated LED fixtures are low profile surface mount. Available as spot or flood, these use an electrical box that is flush with the finished ceiling and can be easily replaced by a homeowner for an intermediate cost with ANY surface mount fixture including track or aim-able spot. The advantage of surface over recessed lamps is FUNCTIONAL NOT DECORATIVE in rooms where the occupant may change the layout over time - nearly any room other than a kitchen or bath.

what is the difference in cost between what you get in the box store and what you showed us here?

Let’s Go Rangers

At 20 secs basically says no point asking him, OK.

I think you should just use fibre optic cables from one lamp in a closet, or a miner’s helmet with 4 AA’s. My experience is 200,000 downlights installed.

Now add in there color rendering

I tried 2700, 3000, 4000, and 5000. 5000 is tooo white and bright. 2700 and 3000 are yellowish. 4000 is just right but harder to find. We put 4000 everywhere in my house. Very pleased. If you’re unsure buy 3000, 4000, and 5000 or a bulb that does all three with a switch, the replace all fluorescent and standard bulbs with dimmable LED 4000 lights like I did

I'm going through a renovation right now, and have struggling to describe the lighting effect that I'm trying to achieve. The description and sketch from 4:17 onwards is exactly what I have been looking for! Thank you for making this video.

My shop was built with flush LED lights. Sure they put out a lot of light. But they suck when they go out. I just had to replace 7 panels and 2 drivers. Luckily when they built the shop they purchased 10 replacements. They are Chinese junk and no longer in production. They are also 8” diameter so I now cant put in 6” cans. If I had standard recessed cans I could just screw in new LED lights and there will always be retrofit kits for the older cans. The new stuff only seems to last 5 years not the 20 as advertised. To upgrade to newer technology I need to replace 80 fixtures. UGG. I wish they were just screw in bulbs.

Can you give an example of a better 6" retrofit led? I have about 20 old school 6" cans in my kitchen and dining area and would like to go LED.

Daylight everywhere in my house, hate the old amber look

My house was built 4 years ago and all down lights are 3" or 2". I like the look of them better that the huge 6" ones especially in a modern house. They're all LED and no failure so far.

Why not 6”?

Very informative; I didn't know about that macular degeneration thing, but sounds logical.

Any chance he makes a living in some aspect of the lighting business? Does he come home from work and decide that his calling in life is to make lighting related videos?

I hate how cheap contractors are for original builds. STOP BEING CHEAP. You don’t need to go top shelf, but at least install stuff that doesn’t need to be replaced in 5-years for a fortune. It screws the future owners over because you’re stuck with shit windows, crappy down-lights… etc.

What would you suggest for a small 14x10 bedroom converted into home office with 8ft ceiling? I also have olive green walls and ceiling so I’d like to be able to paint the light trim (or at least have it black). Def can’t be white. Also would like something that can change into colors.

If you want to be kept up at night, white or blue If you want comfortable and sleep ready, orange.

Very appealing!

Putting an electronic driver in the attic for this design is the downfall of this idea.

Philips vs Soraa, how you see Philips perfomance ?

Wow the example is his face

Very helpful and well-explained, thank you! I'm redoing my kitchen. The house is in a wooded area with little direct sunlight. The medium sage green cabinet sample appeared to be gray when I brought it home. Am I right in assuming I need 5000K lighting in there? I want dimmable lights for the ceiling and undercabinet lights. Any other suggestions are welcomed.

I just wanna know what light bulb to use in my bathroom vanity, kitchen , living room and bedroom. Thank you!

5:16 Needs correction… Daylight with clear sky is about 5000-6500K, Overcast/Shade/Heavy Overcast from 6500-10000K

Sorry I didn't learn anything from you. Who built the chicken coop you were standing in while making the video?