Browsing Amazon.com ahead of Black Friday and stumbled upon this:
https://www.amazon.com/Ensenio...d=A61CMNCK0JTGW&th=1

Not that I need this, and I do not know how good a product it actually is as a matter of execution, I just like the idea very much.

Flat and compact recessed ceiling light using LED technology, comes with a switch that lets you select five color temperatures, from 2700K "warm" to 5000K "daylight".

Now if they can add a dimmer and allow multiple units' temperature controls to tie back to one central slider switch on a wall and may be extend that to a remote, that would be perfect. (But no, do not make it 'IoT' or Internet capable, that would make it too unnecessarily complicated.)

I have never found an LED that, as warm as they claim the light to be, is as warm and comfortable as incandescent.

Nevertheless, because of the energy savings, I've switched over. But I prefer LEDs with lamp shades.

We've been installing a lot of the color adjustable puck lights. They seem to work well.

I don't think the adjustable color feature is something is supposed to be changed by the end user; it's more to keep suppliers (and contractors) from having to stock different color temperatures.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:

I don't think the adjustable color feature is something is supposed to be changed by the end user; it's more to keep suppliers (and contractors) from having to stock different color temperatures.

Makes total sense!
Thought as an end-user, I like to be able to vary the temperatures.

quote:

Originally posted by QuirtEvans:
I have never found an LED that, as warm as they claim the light to be, is as warm and comfortable as incandescent.

Nevertheless, because of the energy savings, I've switched over.

Same here, though I have to say that the 2700K LEDs I've been finding recently seem much better than their predecessors.

We installed LED flat panels in our basement, replacing the old 2'x4' fluorescent fixtures. The new LEDs are cooler than I normally like, but they're instant-on and they illuminate the basement really well. Plus my aging eyes appreciate the abundance of light.

I recently bought some Phillips LED bulbs off the discontinued/clearance rack at my local grocery store. They claim to be 2700K. They are physically very large and like a lot of them only put out light across about 200 degrees of arc. I put them in the fixture over the dining room table which has three sockets in a horizontal Y orientation. They seem quite nice and pleasantly yellowish.

A local hardware store had some SATCO LED bulbs on sale a while back. They were about 50 cents each and I bought a bunch of them in different color temps and wattages. I noticed that some of them had a dim ring near the bottom of the diffuser. I popped the diffuser off one and saw there was another diffuser ring around the circle of LEDs. I unscrewed that ring and snapped the diffuser back on. About twice as much light came out. I similarly modified all the bulbs. Twice the lumens for the same electricity. Bonus!

You consume all that electricity to make light, then block half of it with a piece of translucent plastic.

Makes me think... in some fixtures, I might as well ditch the diffuser completely. Ikea sells some with a clearish bubble instead of the translucent diffuser. If they’re not in a fixture where you can’t see the bulb, again you might get more lumens per watt.

I've been wanting to replace an old flourescent (24" X 24") kitchen ceiling light with a flat LED fixture, maybe recessed. I'm just afraid it would be too bright. Do they ever come dimmable? The attached dinette - not DR - has a dimmable (candle flame) fixture and that works perfectly especially given the candle shape.

If the LED fixture were too bright (how to tell in advance?) I've always had a problem choosing overhead lights. Especially in a big lighting department, it's next to impossible to tell just how much light I'm going to get from a given fixture once it's installed in its destination in my home. Such a PIB to return one to the store if it doesn't work out. I'm especially remembering one in a bedroom. It had a lovely wooden frame that turned out to block most of the light once in place. I still have to have the holes filled in.

Nearly all of the newer LEDs are dimmable. Verify the spec and use an LED rated dimmer.

Some of the commercial ones require a separate set of dimming wires (called 0-10v). Avoid those to keep from having to open up walls.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
Nearly all of the newer LEDs are dimmable. Verify the spec and use an LED rated dimmer.

Some of the commercial ones require a separate set of dimming wires (called 0-10v). Avoid those to keep from having to open up walls.

I was afraid that (as with previous fixtures) one always had to open up the walls to wire for dimmability. I don't understand - is there something right in the switch that effects the dimming at the end of a circuit that's wired ordinarily?

That reminds me that only last week that dimming switch I mentioned - the one that controls the candle bulbs failed (the round kind of switch that rotates and can be pushed on and off). It still goes on and off but rotating it makes no difference in brightness.

How might that be fixed?

Truth to tell , I have two other dimming switches which have also stopped working picture perfect (these are ordinary shaped switches whose brightness is regulated by slight changes in the switches' position.)

That very slight variation has gotten very finicky in both, requiring fine tuning in their positioning and sometimes only yielding simple on/off.

Do these switches just fail over time? (They were all put in over 20 years ago.) As I recall, all needed to be wired by "fishing " - i.e., labor intensive and costly.

Sorry this got kind of complicated. Thanks you for your prior comment! It would certainly be great if the prospective LED light could be dimmed, especially without fishing! (That would relieve my mind about what fixture to choose.) Likewise, if the failing dimmer switches could be repaired at minimal expense.

Oops, still another question.

There is water damage in the ceiling near the failed fluorescent fixture (from a short-term leak from a sink above it, bubbled the paint). The leak was fixed ages ago.

I guess the order of operations, would be
1) to repair the bubbling in the paint,
2) replace the fixture,
3) repaint the ceiling (and walls too, for that matter).

Yes?

I still have to do other partial fix ups in the kitchen - next would be replace the counter-tops which have become damaged over time and last, refinish the hardwood floor which has naturally gotten spotty and stained over time. (Despite all the many coats of polyurethane, it didn't hold up in the kitchen when all the house floors were refinished also about 20 years ago. The moisture in the kitchen caused (predictable) damage. - only there. (Well, also a few stains from missed puppy training. )

I guess this ought to be several threads, and if it's too involved to advise about please just reply about the switches! (Not knowing how to proceed has radically held up these inter-related repairs, some of many needed to ready the house for sale - delayed remediation! So much surgery and other roadblocks held things up.

Dimmer switches do fail over time, but they're fairly cheap to replace. There are different kinds, so make sure you get ones rated for LED lamps/fixtures as that is the direction things are moving.

If it were me, I'd replace the fixture then repair the ceiling and paint.