Questions about planned LED lighting

Hello,

we are planning to illuminate most of the house with LED ceiling spots. Now the following questions arise: - Can you dim LEDs and if so, what is the price difference between dimmable and non-dimmable LEDs? Do you need any special additional equipment (price?) or is a simple dimmer enough? - Are there now real warm light LEDs? It would be nice if the light is not so glaring and cold. A few years ago, this was still sold as warm light for LEDs.

Thank you very much!

Hello, I have had the best experiences with LED from Toshiba and Philips. These are dimmable from the start, usually it works with a simple dimmer. Better would be a special dimmer. I would always recommend high voltage lamps, without additional transformers. The light color has become really nicely warm white, but you have to spend at least €25 per LED. If the spots are to be installed in the concrete ceiling, special mounting boxes are still needed. Best regards, Andy

Hello,

Until the beginning of this week, I was also facing the decision of which ceiling spots to install in our new build. There are boxes in the concrete ceiling that would also allow the installation of a transformer tunnel. We have now decided to go with "normal" high-voltage recessed spots with a GU10 base, into which we can alternatively install classic halogen or LED spots. The pure LED recessed spots (without the possibility to change the light source) would have cost about three times as much per spot (90 instead of 30€), plus the costs for transformer/driver. If you want dimmable LEDs, the cost advantage of HV spots is somewhat offset, as syricsandy already mentioned, since these are considerably more expensive than non-dimmable ones. I hope the decision was good, but as with so many things, we'll only see that later.

Depends on what you "want" ...

In the past weeks, we equipped the entire upper floor with LED spots.
I already posted a detailed description here:

https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/niedervolt-spots-in-decke.7273/

Maybe it helps with idea finding.

Regarding your questions:

Can LED lights be dimmed and if yes, what is the price difference between dimmable and non-dimmable LEDs?

Dimmable LEDs can indeed be dimmed.

We used non-dimmable 6.5W LEDs (GU5.3) ... €21.60 each (bulb)
Comparable dimmable LEDs from the same manufacturer currently cost €21.95.
However, there are also some (from the same manufacturer, no no-names) for €14.95.

So I don’t see any significant price difference between dimmable and non-dimmable.

Do you need special additional equipment (price?) or is a simple dimmer enough?

A dimmer should be enough as long as you use GU10 sockets/LEDs and the LED is dimmable.
If you go for GU5.3 sockets/LEDs it should work as well, but I would make sure the transformer can handle it. Cheap transformers (often included in LED multi-sets) tend to start buzzing.

Is there now genuine warm light with LEDs? It would be nice if the light is not so glaring and cold. A few years ago that was still sold as warm light with LEDs.

Yes, there is. Usually "warm white" is stated in the title or description. Up to 2700K you can call the light a pleasant warm white, from 3000K it clearly tends more towards hospital lighting.

Regards
Andi

Addition or remark: (why can't I actually find an "Edit button" here?):

GU10 spots usually require a greater available installation depth than GU5.3.
For GU5.3 (low voltage), you need a corresponding transformer, which, however, at 19-70 € (depending on the number of spots to be operated), in my opinion, is completely reasonable in terms of price.

I just hope that the LEDs will pay off over time.
1. LEDs inherently last significantly longer than halogen spots (at the moment, we replace 2-3 halogen spots in the bathroom once a month)
2. For example, with 4 x 6.5 W LEDs (equivalent to 30-50 watt halogen spot) in the bathroom, I need a transformer for max. 30 watts and not one for 200 watts as with equivalent halogen equipment.
3. I consume only 26 W of power with 4 x 6.5 W LEDs. With halogen, it would already be 200 watts ... over time, it should eventually be worthwhile (hopefully)

As my predecessors already said, LEDs are definitely dimmable, but not all of them. You have to look carefully. We have also only had good experiences with Philips LEDs. For example, we installed some Philips ones in the bathroom - they are also dimmable and have a pleasant, bright light (which is definitely an advantage in the bathroom ). Philips also offers many other LEDs with different light colors.
It’s best to get advice from an electrician on how strong the LEDs need to be in the individual rooms to illuminate them adequately!

Best regards,
Marion