# Forum Home Renovation Electrical  Distance between downlights

## nberry83

Hi All, 
I have done a quick search and not really found much apart from distance away from insulation. I am hoping that someone out there is able to help. I am getting a sparkie to put our downlights in but, to help save on the cost of labour, I am marking out and drilling the holes in the ceiling for them to go in.  
Does anyone know the minimum/maximum spacing recommended between each light - lights are low voltage 50W 60degree aluminium backed globes?  
In the kitchen, I spaced them 800mm from the walls and 1 metre apart. I am moving on to the family room(main living area) and lounge next. Family room is 4200 x 3500 and was thinking 4-6 downlights at 1m in from the wall and 1.2m spacing and lounge is 3800 x 5300 and am thinking 6-9 down lights at 1.2m in from the wall and 1.3m spacing. Each of these will be on a dimmable circuit. Probably do 2 circuits in lounge and one in family.  
Does anyone know if this will provide enough light? I know it is hard to determine how much light is enough but base it on being able to see the paper/tv guide. 
Cheers 
Nathan

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## NigeC

Sounds the same as mine and my spacing is about the same too.
The kitchen needs plenty of light, the lounge will need a dimmer as they burn your head after about 9pm. same for family room.
Use a laser level or string line to line them up and not a tape measure.
Make sure there is no timber above (or tophat) above before you drill!!
I normally go front half of the house on one circuit, back half on the other.

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## Andy T

Hi Nathan - I assume you are set on halogen lighting despite the amount of energy they consume. It may be worth reading some of the other posts on halogens, LED and CFL downlights. A better alternative if you are going to fit halogens is to use the 35W IRC globes which will consume less power for the same 50W light output (but a bit more expensive) 
There are some tables which give the illuminance at various distances such as the following link  http://www.virtualdaylight.com/pdfs/lamp%20data.pdf 
for example 50W 60 degrees would give 150 lux at a distance of 2m from the source and a spread of 2.31m 
if yo want the 1.2 metre spacing you may be better using a 36 degree spread which will give more illumination and still be adequately lit within the coverage cone 
What is your ceiling height? How much illumination do you require? Personally for specific tasklighting - kitchen benches halogens are OK but for general lighting in say a lounge room there are better options. 
have you considered the Jupiter CFL downlights? 
cheers 
Andy

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## nberry83

Thanks for the replies. At the moment the missus is pretty set on the halogen downlights becasue of the price the sparkie could get them for. Later on when the globes fail, hopefully we will be able to change the globes to more energy efficient ones.  
Andy, 
The ceilings are 2400 high and we require enough light to be able to read without straining and the missus is a school teacher, so enough light for her to be able to mark work and plan her lessons. 
Thanks  
Nathan

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