How to choose a lamp for a suspended ceiling?

It is better to entrust the design of the lighting for the suspended ceiling to professionals - an interior designer or electrical engineer. However, if you prefer to do this work yourself, then you probably will need information on how to choose not only suitable ceiling lights, but also lamps for them. It is about them that will be discussed in our article.

After the walls in the room are plastered, the electrician proceeds to the installation of electrical wiring, and places electrical outlets for future fixtures by tags or by design. After all the draft and finishing work on the walls has been carried out and the suspended ceiling has been mounted, proceed to the next stage - the selection of lamps for ceiling lights.

Examples of suspended ceilings include drywall constructions., tiled models, cassette type options, rack, stretch. The suspended ceiling gives ample opportunities in the choice of a form and a design both the covering, and ceiling lamps and lamps to them.

Currently, lamps for suspended ceilings can be divided into several categories according to different functional characteristics. Depending on the type of light source, the following types are distinguished: halogen, LED, fluorescent, incandescent, energy-saving. The peculiarity of their choice depends on several factors: appearance, security, direction of the light flux.

Such lamps are filled with buffer gas. Despite the fact that halogen bulbs are environmentally safe and have a long service life, they have high heat emission and do not save energy consumption, so it’s better to install them in places where light is needed periodically. It can be a bathroom, toilet, dressing room, hallway.

Inside the bulb is a metal spiral surrounded by halogen vapors of either iodine or bromine.Due to this, the metal from the helix does not evaporate, and the life of the lamp is significantly increased.

Advantages of halogen lamps:

• the light of the bulb itself is very comfortable for the eyes, eyes do not get tired in the room where they are located;
• consume not so much energy, economical option;
• longer used and do not require frequent replacements;
• wide range of forms;
• compactness.

However, they also have certain disadvantages.

• The heating temperature of the bulb may increase due to a number of circumstances, therefore it is not recommended to place them inside the suspended ceiling.
• If pollution appears on the glass surface, the lamp fails, because the glass in this place can reach critical temperatures and burst.
• It is important to remember that it is necessary to install such lamps only in gloves and extremely carefully in order to preserve their integrity. When selling halogen lamps, gloves are often included in the set in which it will be necessary to install the lamp.

The safest and most economical option in terms of energy consumption. Despite the fact that it is quite expensive compared to other types of lamps, they have a very long service life (15-20 years), are not sensitive to voltage surges, are durable and do not heat up.Due to their safety, such light sources are recommended to be installed in children's rooms, as well as in places where family members spend the most time, for example, in the living room, office, in the kitchen of an apartment or house.

Pros:

• energy savings;
• environmentally less harmful of all types of lamps;
• the light of these lamps is favorable and comfortable for human eyes, as it is as close as possible to sunlight;
• the number of on and off cycles does not matter;
• LED bulbs serve from 50 to 100 thousand hours in a continuous mode;
• a wide range of bulb shapes.

The only negative is the higher cost compared to all other types of lighting. However, the high cost is fully justified by the duration of use and the rarity of the replacement.

This is the oldest type of light bulbs. For more than a century, the brainchild of Thomas Edison has been pleasing people all over the world. It is a metal spiral enclosed in a vacuum flask.

The advantages of this light bulb, in addition to the antiquity of its invention, include low cost, as well as the ability to operate at different temperatures and humidity.But the minuses are much more, especially in combination with suspended ceilings.

Ecologically safe when used and when disposed of. At the moment, the filament is used, rather, in pendant lamps in the loft style. An example would be a lamp in the form of a large incandescent lamp or light bulbs encased in glass balls for interiors in a modern or high-tech style.

Now let's talk about the cons.

• These bulbs get very hot, and suspended ceilings can't stand it. If incandescent bulbs are built into the ceiling, then the heat that they emit will remain in the inter-ceiling space and spoil the design of the ceilings.
• Not economical. These bulbs convert only about 2% of energy into light.
• The lamp holder is large, so it can not be compatible with the suspension structure.

The omission of Edison’s creation in terms of economy was corrected, and these lamps came into being.

Pros:

• warm slightly;
• You can install them inside the suspended structure, if the power is small and outside, if the lamp is more powerful.

Energy-saving types have several disadvantages.

• They are not recommended to be switched on and off frequently. Such lamps have a certain number of cycles: the more often they turn on and off, the less they will work.
• Electronics is thin and incompatible with water and humidity, so this type of lighting is not suitable for bathrooms and pools.
• Human eyes are very tired of such lighting. The light of energy-saving lamps is very sharp and different from solar.
• If the lamp breaks, human health may suffer. Energy-saving lamps contain mercury, and poisoning with mercury vapor is extremely dangerous for humans. Therefore, in the event of damage to the lamp, you must carefully clean the room and ventilate it.

Due to the fact that the bulb of such a lamp is filled with mercury, any damage to it may entail serious health consequences. In addition, this type of lamp is sensitive to power surges and is unsafe for the environment, because they are difficult to dispose of because of the release of mercury vapor.

Despite this fact, they are much more economical than incandescent bulbs and are quite durable. They are recommended to be installed in industrial premises, at the entrances of residential buildings, in warehouses, in basements, that is, where a person is the minimum amount of time.

In addition to fixtures that are embedded in a suspended ceiling or mounted using a suspension, there is another option for lighting the room. When installing a suspended ceiling, plexiglass or frosted glass can be used, and the light sources themselves can be positioned both inside the surface (in this case fluorescent lamps or LED strip can be used), and the spotlights can be embedded in the coating itself.

LED strip inside the ceiling can change color. In this case, the surface itself becomes a great source of illumination. In this case, there are three options for lighting: with the help of a luminous ceiling, built-in lamps, or with the simultaneous use of both.

After examining all the light sources on the market, their pros and cons, it can be concluded that the most durable, economical, in terms of energy consumption, and environmentally friendly options are lamps that use an LED lamp. The choice of the manufacturer, method of installation, location, number of lamps depends on their own preferences, the purpose of the room, the stylistic orientation of the interior, the design of the ceiling.Fortunately, the modern choice of lamps and types of lamps to them allows you to simplify and facilitate this task.

All lamps for a suspended ceiling can be grouped by installation method: suspended, recessed, point, overhead, spot.

• Suspended so-called because they are mounted at a distance from the ceiling using special suspensions (cables, pipes). In addition, such lamps sometimes have the possibility of height adjustment. Such models can consist of one or more lamps, which allows you to adjust the brightness of the light, turning off individual light sources.
• Among the pendant lamps can also be distinguished a separate group - spots. A distinctive feature of the spot is the presence of a movable bracket, which is used in order to change the directivity of lighting. In addition, the spots are easy to install, visually expand the space, are available in various configurations that fit any style of interior, except perhaps classical and modern.

• Recessed fixtures crash into special panels in the suspended ceilings themselves. In the premises usually mounted several such devices. Among the built-in fixtures can be distinguished a separate group - point.

This type, in turn, is divided into two subspecies: static, with a constant angle of illumination and turning, the angle of illumination of which can be changed. Rotary products illuminate any selected interior area, depending on the direction of the light beam. Static models shine strictly down. Among these lamps you can also find samples of various shapes, colors and sizes.

Often, as a decoration, such lamps are complemented by hanging multi-faceted glass balls or other geometric shapes made of glass through which light passes and is refracted. For these models, lamps of different colors and configurations are used, for example, with imitation of a burning flame, in other cases the lamp itself is made in the form of a starfish.

• The overhead housing is attached directly to the ceiling itself.Often they are equipped with reflective elements in order to be able to illuminate a large part of the room. Models are presented in various forms.

You will learn more about embedded luminaires by watching the following video.