How to install spotlights

When planning lighting, we want it to be even. Of course, we want the light not to be too bright, so that it does not cut eyes, does not distort colors, and does not interfere with perceiving the surrounding reality.

Needless to say, the traditional Ilyich’s bulb suspended under the ceiling in a carbolite cartridge cannot meet all these requirements. The most beautiful and spectacular chandelier will not give the necessary lighting: it will probably only attract too much attention, and you won’t be able to avoid relatively dark corners in the room.

All problems are resolved with using spotlights. High-quality and even lighting of the working area of ​​the kitchen, soft and soothing light in the recreation area, lack of darkness and comfort for the eyes - all this is fully possible using this special type of fixtures.

The popularity of spotlights is constantly growing, their diversity is becoming increasingly widespread, and each electrician already has his own specific set of knowledge and skills that help him quickly and efficiently install the so-called "lighting points".

Spotlights relate to recessed fixtures. This means that they can only be installed on hollow structures.

The most common case is installation in the casing covering the ceiling, that is, in the cavity of the inter-ceiling space. Then spotlights replace the usual ceiling and pendant lights. But spotlights, first of all, are good precisely because they can be installed absolutely in any design, including even floor.

Today, spotlights of various shapes and sizes are available. There are lamps with lampholders E27 (for a familiar light bulb), E14 (minion), G4, G5 and G9 (two straight pin electrodes). The standard size of the lamp base and lamp socket plays an essential role, since it affects the overall dimensions of the lamps. For example, if the inter-ceiling space is limited to only a few centimeters, then it is better to refrain from using fixtures with E27 and E14 cartridges.

If the space behind the ceiling or sheathing is not more than one or two centimeters, then preference should be given to spotlights with built-in LED lamps.

LED lamps are generally the most convenient for use in spotlights due to their reliability, efficiency and almost complete absence of heat generation. Their only drawback today is the relatively high cost compared to other types of lamps used in spotlights.

Compact fluorescent tubes, known to everyone today as “energy-saving”, as well as the good old incandescent lamps are not always acceptable in size. Incandescent and compact halogen lamps consume a large amount of energy and, as a result, heat the surrounding air. This may seem like an insignificant problem, but if you have several dozen spotlights with such lamps in your apartment, you will very soon feel a change in the microclimate in the direction of warming, which is very undesirable.

Therefore, if the apartment is lit mainly by spotlights, it is better not to stint and stop at the LEDs: Features of the installation of LED spotlights on a suspended ceiling

So, we chose the lights, decided on their number, location and power. What do we need for installation?

Most likely you will need:

- small slotted (flat) screwdriver - when using screw terminal blocksin;

- terminal blocks - one for each lamp (in the absence of standard);

- a set of crowns for wood (for installation on wooden, GKL and GVL designs) or a set of circular saws for metal and scissors for metal (for a rack ceiling;

- drill (can be cordless);

- junction boxes - one for each group of fixtures;

- pencil - for marking;

- pliers and wire cutters (what a wiring without them!);

- mounting knife.

Installation begins with wiring. Mounted junction box, and so that it has constant access during subsequent operation. Then cable lines are sent from the box to the approximate installation location of each lamp. The cable must be protected from damage. using a corrugated pipe.

Many electricians neglect the junction box during installation, simply forwarding the cable from one lamp in the group to another. It saves time, effort and materials. But this is still not entirely correct, since it loads the terminal strip of the first luminaire with excessive current, and when installing luminaires with halogen lamps and incandescent lamps in general can cause a number of separate problems.

As a cable for the installation of spotlights, you can choose the well-known VVGng 3 * 1.5, especially here you do not need to be smart. Structures in which the fixtures will be mounted are sewn up only after the installation of cable lines.

TO direct installation of fixtures You can start both before and after the finish. In the second case, responsibility will simply be slightly higher.

Before installation, the position of each lamp is marked as accurately as possible. Then, a hole with a centering drill bit is cut into a size sufficient to install the lamp. If the lamp is square, then you have to cut the corners to give the necessary shape. In drywall, this can be done with a knife, in a tree with a small (saber) saw or a jigsaw, and metal can be cut with scissors.

After that, it is necessary to catch the cable in an empty cavity inside the structure. The simpler the larger the mounting hole here. The rack ceiling for this operation can even be dismantled.

By pulling the end of the cable out, you can tackle the lamp itself. Their designs are diverse, for example, the cartridge for the lamp base G is often located on a separate leash of two thin wires.

This design is typical for lamps with conical LED lamps, or halogen lamps in the same ceiling. In this case, we put two wires on the terminal strip, to which we connect our output cable. A lamp or lampshade with a lamp is fixed in the luminaire with the help of an expanding spring-retainer inserted from the visible side of the luminaire.

After this, it remains to insert the lamp into the cartridge. The luminaire itself is mounted in the mounting hole with spring clips, which should be taken up and released already inside the structure. Fixation is more than reliable.

There are other design options for fixtures with a cartridge for a lamp with a cap G - when the cartridge is rigidly mounted on the lamp housing. This, most often, is some kind of decorative fixtures, decorated with some rhinestones or just glass. In such a lamp, the lamp is simply inserted at the end of installation. The main thing here is not to forget that halogen lamps should not be touched with bare hands, otherwise they will work for a long time.

A separate line should be mentioned installation of lamps with 12 volt halogen lamps. To supply such lamps, installation in a branch box is necessary special electronic transformer. The transformer is selected according to the total power of all the luminaires in the group, and since the voltage drop in the low-voltage circuit can reach a significant magnitude, the length of the cable lines of all the luminaires should be approximately the same. Otherwise, the lamps will not shine with the same brightness.

Spotlights for lamp base E, of course, are much easier to install, but do not look so impressive. For their installation, as a rule, even terminal blocks are not needed: the cartridge has its own screw clamps.It turns out this way: they cut a hole, removed the cable, stripped it, connected it, inserted it using the same spring clips and screwed in the lamp - it’s nowhere easier.

The installation of spotlights in a suspended ceiling differs fundamentally. A stretch ceiling is a plastic film, it is unlikely that it will be possible to firmly fix something in its holes. Therefore, a spotlight on a stretch ceiling is mounted on special fittings hidden behind the ceiling film. This fixture may include, for example, a special acrylic mounting box that attaches directly to the ceiling.

On a special screw to this box, you can attach the installation ring on a special metal structure. The screw adjusts the position of the ring in height so that it is flush with the plane of the stretch ceiling film.

All this is done before the installation of the ceiling itself, that is, it is only preparatory work, as well as cable installation. After the film is tensioned, a fixing ring is installed in the place of installation of the lamp, inside of which a mounting hole is cut. In this hole, a fixture is mounted on previously prepared fittings.

Alexander Molokov

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