Recessed lighting has recently become a popular style choice among home owners and builders, as well as for commercial buildings. It provides a neat and clean appearance that provides light without interrupting the flow of the room or the lines of the ceiling, or in some cases a wall. There are a few things you need to know if considering using recessed lighting either as part of a new home being built or as a renovation project in your current abode.

Design Choices

The design choice of recessed lighting provides clear advantages over other types of lighting. There is less chance to make a “wrong” choice, as the fixture itself doesn’t present as traditional lighting. A bit of the frame may show and you can pick the color or material, but there aren’t really shapes, sizes and style choices that aren’t readily apparent as what befits the room. Typically a plain white that matches the flat white of your ceiling paint on either a square or round frame is going to match any home. It’s an especially great choice for the neutrality of adding lighting to an investment home.

Installation

The installation of recessed lighting does require a bit of planning in order to be conducted properly. Of course it’s always an option to replace traditional fixtures with recessed lights, but it’s really easier to plan them with a new building or during a major remodel while the walls are torn down. The lights have to be placed properly to both provide their function of lighting the room while maintaining a notable aesthetic that doesn’t detract from other focal points in the room.

Usage

Pay as you go electricity plans allow consumers to pay for their electricity in advance. The plan, which uses prepayment meters, helps consumers to monitor and control the way they use electricity. This saves on energy costs.

Keypad based prepaid meters: This meter has a keypad to input the electricity token number. Consumers purchase the credit using a variety of methods. These include visiting the agent, paying through banks or mobile payments in some countries.

Key meter: Consumer uses an electronic key loaded with the tariff information and credit.

One way card system: Uses a disposable card. The user purchases power with a reloadable debit card. The loaded card is then passed near the meter, which has an in-built card reader.

Two-way card systems: Uses a smart card and the meters have a real-time, two-way communication capability. It is one of the most secure, but more complex and expensive methods to implement.

These allow consumers to interact with their meters and query balances using their mobile phones by sending an SMS to a monitoring system. In addition, the user is able to track electricity use by the hour, day, month or annually using the phone or online access.

These smart prepaid meters offer easier top up options. They include online payments or by text, as well as scheduled and auto top-ups.

When using a prepaid meter, the customer must keep track of the remaining credits and replenish to avoid disconnection.

Ensure there is enough credit when going away for long periods. The meter will continue collecting the standing charges even when on no load. Consumers should ensure they have enough credit to last until they return.

Some crooks will take advantage of the consumer’s lack of knowledge and offer them cheaper credits than those bought directly from the utility company. For example, they will sell their credits at half price. This is more common with Key Prepaid Meters and the crooks will usually have master Keys, which they use to top off the consumer’s meter.

If the energy company finds out, the consumer ends up paying twice for their electricity; first to the crook, and then to the energy company.

To avoid falling victim:

If you are looking for a place to escape from life’s every day hustle and bustle,Look for IP (Ingress Protection) rated fixtures that are waterproof, meaning dust-tight and protected against long immersion in water, rather than simply “water safe” or “wet location safe” options.  Waterproof fixtures are meant to be submerged and will prevent water from entering them due to sealed assembly.  Take the precaution to ensure that your fixtures will meet all safety and application standards for an underwater environment prior to purchase or installation.

Ingress Protection (IP) ratings specify the environmental protection the enclosure provides.

The IP rating normally has two (or three) numbers:

An “X” can used for one of the digits if there is only one class of protection, i.e. IPX1 which addresses protection against vertically falling drops of water e.g. condensation.

IP First number – Protection against Solid Objects

IP Second number – Protection against Liquids

Voltage Requirements

When weighing your options on which type of fixture to choose, cost, convenience, and the size of your project are important. If one were to complete a large project for the grounds of a grand hotel, for example, line voltage (120V) would be the ideal option as vast distances may exist between the focal point and the fixture itself.

While it’s also true that standard incandescent bulbs can be found at virtually any hardware or household goods store, in an age where environmental awareness is important to daily life, technology and the public are moving in tandem towards different solutions. Since line voltage lighting consumes much more energy and will typically require the expertise of a licensed electrician, more homeowners are choosing low voltage (12V) options. Low voltage fixtures are notably the safer and less hazardous of the two choices, are often smaller, and easier to conceal within a natural landscape. They also have the added benefit of lower cost over time. Note that a transformer is required to convert to the lower voltage for fixtures which will be used underwater. You may also make use of photocells and timers to save on electricity consumption costs even further.

Let’s take a look at some examples of the different types of submersible low voltage products available today:

Low Voltage Halogen

This LED lights consume approximately 75% less power than incandescent units for the same amount of light output. This amounts to a sizeable savings over their life span. Moreover, standard underwater LED fixtures consume about 1/5 of the power as standard incandescent bulbs!

Besides energy savings, the nature of LED production makes them ideal for underwater applications. There are no bulbs to change as LED fixtures typically come in a permanently sealed housing. Sealed construction means underwater lights may be left in a permanent location with no concerns about extra cable allowances, or making provisions to change bulbs. They should, however, be accessible in order to clean the lenses during regular pond maintenance.