Number of required spots (Halox) and which ones?

Hello everyone,

we need some help planning the appropriate spotlights for our ground floor.

We are not quite sure how many are necessary and how they should be arranged to have "reasonable" lighting conditions. Neither too bright nor too dark.
The entire ground floor should be equipped with spotlights, no pendant lights or similar, so no additional lamps.

We can only install the Halox housings into the ceiling; we have to "buy" the light bulbs etc. ourselves. We do not have a proposal for this yet. I would be grateful for any tips.

If you are working exclusively with recessed spotlights, I would go to the lighting planner. He can simulate it. Costs about 500-700 euros, depending on the size of the object. You will be very annoyed if you forget something here or if the ceiling ends up looking like someone shot it with a nail gun.

Make sure that the electrician under no circumstances cuts the holes for the Halox pots larger than DM=7cm. Otherwise, you will be very limited in the choice of spotlights.

It is important that you decide in advance which recessed downlights - presumably not spots but ones for area lighting - you want to use, because this determines where and how many installation boxes you should plan for. If you choose the simple recessed frames with GU10 bulbs, there are generally (significantly) more than with high-quality models, as the latter simply have more power.

Just as a reference point: We have - for a similar living/dining area - four above the dining table and four above the sofa/coffee table, which can each be switched in groups of two lights. At the lowest dimming level, you have a pleasant basic illumination; at full power, it is dazzlingly bright. I would probably plan for three more in the hallway and one each in the cloakroom and the WC. For the kitchen, we did not take recessed downlights so that the light source sits lower and can also be better directed. However, there are a total of eight lights plus under-cabinet lights on the wall units.

If you have absolutely no plan at all and also no desire to at least get a little familiar with the subject (luminous flux, brightness, beam angle, ceiling height, visual planning, ...), it would probably make sense to go to a lighting planner.

Best regards

K1300S

We only get the Halox housings installed in the ceiling; we have to "buy" the light bulbs etc. ourselves.

Hello MS-t-89

Are you getting a prefabricated ceiling or cast-in-place concrete?
For larger rooms, such as living rooms, I would always distribute the lighting over 3 switches.
Let’s say 6 each on the longer side. Then you have a total of 12. Then 2 each on the narrow side. 16 in total. You switch them on one after the other. In the middle, another row, which is switched separately.
I have 3 more in front of the window, again on a separate switch. They are equipped with 3-watt bulbs emitting a slightly bluish light. It’s pleasant when watching TV.
You can vary it infinitely.

Steven

The question that arises for me is whether you want a basic lighting like with normal ceiling lamps and/or accent lighting that is usually installed 20-30cm in front of the wall.

Now it should hopefully become clear how important the determination of the lights is. If I have calculated correctly with Steven, these are 21 spotlights for the living/dining area. That would simply be overkill for our model - and massively so.

One more point: recessed ceiling spotlights are probably only intended for general lighting. This will then be supplemented by accent lighting (floor lamp, wall lamp, ...). Keep this in mind in your planning.