Downlighters - a minefield

Having sorted our wood burning stove the next item in our dinning room redecoration is the removal of and old ceiling and the fitment of down lights in the new plasterboard ceiling.

The choice is bewildering from £3 to £63!

Having done some research I have narrowed it down a bit, just a small bit. I need to have fire rated ones as there is living space above, and frankly for the small extra they are worth the peace of mind.

My requirements are that they must be dimmable. I don’t care about tiling or any other feature. The surrounds/ bezel should be chrome too. I need 7 for the room, one of which will be on its own circuit.

But now the trouble starts….

Low voltage vs high, Halogen, GU10 fittings. LEDs….

Then there are the brands, which ones are good etc.



My experience with down lighters is 3rd hand, but everyone I know who has then has an issue with the burning out, fusing, getting through bulbs at an alarming rate or just not working. Reading and seeing these issues it seams that in a ceiling you do not want control or transformer boxes that you cannot access without removing floors etc.

The electrician has quoted £80 per light, that it’s the cost of the light and the fitting and all electrics. Seems high but says that the lights cost more as they are the latest LED type.

Any advice as always is welcome

Not much advice but more of an agreement from me, I'm affraid.

We've just had my house re-wired and after looking at costs plus the ever expanding list of decisions to be made (as part of a full renovation) we went for the easy option and stuck with the standard pendants.

Seemed great but I now I'm waiting for my girlfriend to choose lampshades. You can't win.

Hi bockers I've got my own electrical business and from my experience only use 240v mains down lights as they don't go wrong. Only the bulb to change. I use jcc down lights there fire rated and look great brushed chrome or polished chrome, White etc. These are around £15 a light and I've fitted 1000's of them with no probs at all. They even come with the bulb and it's good quality.

Only fit good make bulbs or they don't last five minutes this is prob with people fitting cheap you pay twice as much.

Just started fitting led lamps and they look very smart.

The fittings are gu10 and are dimmerable and you can fit led lamps if you wish.

Give me a call if you want and I can give you advice if you need no probs.


Hope this helps.

All the best Shaun

The light unit is only held in with springs and easy to remove once the bulb is out.
The transformer can then be readily accessed if it needs replacing.

The main issue is one of ventilation as they do get really hot so if you have insulation there needs to be an area big enough scooped out [if solid block foil-backed insulation bricks] or a "no-go" zone presumably if ordinary rockwool. I wouldn't fancy having the latter close by personally and it may even be frowned upon.

With the low voltage lights you have two things to go wrong and you may need a electrician to sort the problem if not comfortable looking at electrics. With the main voltage 240v lights you only have the bulb to worrie about.

I've fitted these in show homes/ HMV/ loads of places and only ever had two faulty fittings.

I have these every were in my own home and they do zone 1 lights aswell for wet zones so you can keep things the same.

I've recently gone for LEDs throughout. I have 20 downlighters, at £8 a lamp (not including the fittings!!) they were not cheap (Phillips Myvision I think) but I hope they are worth the investment.

4watts each equivalent to 35w halogens, so 80watts total as opposed to 700wattts with halogen if they're all on. Apparently last for upto 25 years also, and they run significantly cooler. It's hard spending 160 quid on lamps in one go but hopefully I'll break even in about 10 years!!!!

For a number of reasons, we are seeking a release from our current tenancy. One of the expensive things about the house is that there are 42 halogen downlighters. I looked at the cost of changing them for LEDs, then realised I could buy a sensible family saloon for the same money.
Given our landlord's track record, I would guess that these are probably the cheapest, least safe lights money can buy.
Take crazylegs' advice!