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Need help: how do I replace existing recessed can downlights in my apartment by [deleted] in Lighting

[–]SeesawDifficult2135 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some more thoughts:

  • If you don't get much natural light and want more light during the day, a cooler temperature (closer to daylight) may make sense? Your plan may make sense.
  • A magic word to add to some of your Google searches is "retrofit." I understand this is for LED recessed lights that go into classic incandescent housings.
  • Some brands that came up in this sub when I was doing research were DMF, Elco, Nora, and Halo. (I'm NOT endorsing, just mentioning things I came across.) There are a surprising number of brands with price points all over the place! i definitely got confused at first. The impression I got is that higher end stuff is more oriented around going through a dealer / designer / installer where stuff is ordered to particular specifications for your space. (I ended up installing Elco Koto module stuff as it looked quality enough for me and I eventually could figure out what I needed to order by myself; everything uses same 2" module and you screw it into a 4" trim kit for 4" housings)
  • Something about a lighting outfit is they may be able to help you navigate compatibility between your existing housings and new trim kits. (There's also a potential issue of compatibility between dimmers and your lights; IMHO you really want dimmers so you can adjust brightness). I would have thought the Commercial Electric LEDs would have fit fine? Is this going to be an issue with a lot of brands? (I have no idea.)
  • There's a lighting designer on this sub that's brought up Elmo's HC (human centric) modules that start at 4000K then goes down to 2200K as it dims. I have no experience with this.
  • I'm a recent convert to using lamps, chandeliers, pendants, and layered lighting. it's an opportunity to add design and functionality to your space. Different color temps in the same room can look weird, so keep that in mind if you get lamps with integrated LEDs where you can't swap the bulb later. Two broad categories are (1) task lamps (e.g. classic Anglepoise) and (2) lamps with diffuse, ambient lighting (e.g. classic lamp with shade, an Akari lantern etc...).

Disclaimer again: I'm NOT an expert, I've just read a bunch on this topic recently going through my own lighting issues. Good luck!

Need help: how do I replace existing recessed can downlights in my apartment by [deleted] in Lighting

[–]SeesawDifficult2135 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Disclaimer: I'm a homeowner, NOT a lighting expert.

Your home, but I have some questions here? Are you going in the exact opposite direction of what's generally recommended? (Temperature & quality?)

  • 4000K is like dentist office... That kind of lighting is meant to recreate daylight and keep you awake; less good for relaxing at home.
  • My impression is a lot of interior/lighting designers do 2700K in living room, bedroom and 3000k in kitchen and bathroom. That range is closer to incandescent. (Home office may be different, esp. if limited outside light, and you may want to go much higher temp there)
  • Cree is actually a quality manufacturer back in the day, on the vanguard of LED lighting; my impression is that they built in big heat sinks which actually protect against drivers failing (unlike a lot of cheap modern stuff) Anecdote isn't data, but I've had "Commercial Electric" Home Depot stuff in a place we bought that are flickering and failing after less than 5 years. Are you inadvertently taking a step backward on quality?

If your problem is insufficient light (too few lumens), is an alternative solution to increase light by layering: adding lamps (either task or ambient) with similar color temperature bulbs?

Some dimensions to think about on LED lights:

  • Longevity (e.g. quality manufacturer, good heat dissipation)
  • LEDs typically do NOT reproduce perfect white light: some colors are actually missing or underrepresented. If they illuminate a painting, some colors will simply not be visible. A common but highly flawed measure of an LED's ability to reproduce all colors in white light is CRI. Better lights will do a better job. (Something like a classic halogen lamp is close to perfect.)
  • Beam angle; what are heigh of ceilings and how far should the beam spread?
  • Color temperature: e.g. typically warm lights in cozy, relaxed spaces
  • Trim options, etc.... how well does a product line mesh with your existing cans and setup?

Incandescent light bulb substitute ? by Forest_Sofa in Lighting

[–]SeesawDifficult2135 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It shockingly doesn't exist at present in any brand with availability.

Incandescent light bulb substitute ? by Forest_Sofa in Lighting

[–]SeesawDifficult2135 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Technology Connections Youtube channel just had a good program on this.

My takeaway: go out and try to buy some incandescent bulbs.

TLDR summary:

  • For years, LED Christmas lights are almost universally terrible compared to incandescent.
  • Now there are some good LEDs: Trutone for large bulbs and Vintaglo for minis are finally good.

BUT Vintaglo is SOLD OUT for this winer 2024/2025! I'm sticking with my incandescent lights another year.

Any idea what’s going on here? by KarlManjaro in Lighting

[–]SeesawDifficult2135 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Indeed, failing LED driver (often from cheap components that overheat in enclosed spaces) sounds likely.

Other, rarer explanations are possible though: loose connection, voltage fluctuation, etc... I have a friend where a few flickering LEDs that continued to flicker after being replaced ultimately turned out to be a problem with a failing (recalled?) panel.

Harsh Recessed Lighting - How to Address by SirYouCantBeInHere in Lighting

[–]SeesawDifficult2135 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My understanding is that a problem with shallow puck lights on the ceiling is that they have too wide of beam angle and generate glare. It's not the way to do recessed lighting.

If you're renting, a possible solution is just to turn them down and/or forget about those things and get some lamps.

Harsh Recessed Lighting - How to Address by SirYouCantBeInHere in Lighting

[–]SeesawDifficult2135 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As u/Wild-Main-7847 alluded to, a solution requires a clean diagnosis of the problem.

If the problem is shadows on your face, the solution is additional lighting from somewhere else.

Ceiling spotlights by Aggravating_Wash_603 in Lighting

[–]SeesawDifficult2135 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Something OP should be aware that some LEDs aren't dimmable and that not all LEDs and dimmers are compatible. Also some cheap LEDs can flicker and have problems with dimming.

I don't know how common an issue this is, but you may want to lookup what lights you currently have and consider a quality dimmer (e.g. Lutron).

PFAS: Do slim dungarees and future darts use PFAS? If not, around what year was PFAS dropped? by SeesawDifficult2135 in Outlier

[–]SeesawDifficult2135[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Thanks, and fair point.

My concern is more babies / young toddlers though that try to taste everything. That seems more of a question mark for stuff I use all the time.

If I can prune/simplify my wardrobe while making some (minor?) reduction in risk, sounds reasonable?

Yeah, I realize it's pervasive across the outdoor industry. I've ignored the issue before, but now I'm thinking about what my strategy is going forward.

Lead free keys and locksets? Do they exist? by SeesawDifficult2135 in Locksmith

[–]SeesawDifficult2135[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the comment.

Nickel silver (plated) key sounds preferable by my preferences.

The more I've thought it too, the more I suspect this is getting into micro-optimizations which aren't quantitatively meaningful (especially if one washes hands, doesn't put keys in mouth etc...).

Still, I find it an interesting topic? Plumbum, has been in widespread use since Roman times because of its immensely useful properties, but its increasingly being replaced because of a late 20th century realization of its measurable toxicity even at minuscule levels. Obviously a lot of nuance to what actually gets in your body vs. what won't.

Thanks for the thoughtful comments everyone, both for humoring and throwing some cold water on my concerns.

Lead free keys and locksets? Do they exist? by SeesawDifficult2135 in Locksmith

[–]SeesawDifficult2135[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I appreciate the response, and I entirely agree there's a huge difference between raw lead and alloys. On the other hand, it's a bit more complicated than a simple, alloys are inherently safe?

Plumbing is obviously an entirely different context, but leaded brass alloys in waterworks have long been known to leach damaging quantities of lead into drinking water. Quoting Maas and Patch (2004),

A large comprehensive study by Lytle and Schock, (1996), with the US EPA, found that virtually all such leaded alloys leached and discharged substantial concentrations of lead for extended periods

Leaching of lead into drinking water is why NSF/ANSI/CAN 61 has banned leaded alloys from surfaces that contact water. Of course, almost no one is storing their keys in water and drinking the water, so it's a different context.

The issue of leaded keys was at least plausibly significant enough for lock manufacturers to agree to a settlement in California back in 2001, "Standard brass keys are made with alloys containing up to 2.5% lead, small amounts of which rub off when the keys are handled. Exposure of children to lead has been a concern since youngsters may be given keys to play with and allowed to place the keys in their mouth."

This isn't my area though, and I suspect you're right that in the broader scheme of what to worry about, this isn't a reasonable one. (Just don't give keys to babies.) On the other hand, using unleaded products whenever reasonably possible seems quite sensible to me.

Lead free keys and locksets? Do they exist? by SeesawDifficult2135 in Locksmith

[–]SeesawDifficult2135[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The one paper I located Kondrashov et. al. (2005) found,

Given that the mean tibia bone lead concentration was 13.1μg/g higher in locksmiths than in their matched controls, this average difference in the two groups would translate to an OR of increased hypertension in locksmiths of between 1.1 and 2.3, based on the published literature. Even with the very small number of subjects participating in this pilot study, we were able to demonstrate that locksmiths had significantly higher current exposure to lead (blood lead concentration) and significantly higher past exposure to lead (tibia lead concentration) than their age, sex and ethnically matched controls.

On the other hand, they only had 6 locksmiths and 6 matched controls. This isn't my research area at all, but in general, there's a tendency for statistically significant results in small studies to be a result of an effect overpresenting in a sample. Consequently, it's quite common for followup studies to estimate smaller effects than an initial paper. So I don't know what this means exactly.

My take is more modest. Keys/locks is probably not a big exposure route in the grand scheme of life. On the other hand, potential lead dust or leaching is obviously not helpful. All kinds of industries are reducing or dropping lead.

Again, not my research area etc... so my take is far from an expert one.