Bathroom Downlights
Our range of recessed spotlights for bathrooms offers a variety of different flavours: LED, CFL (fluorescent) and halogen.
Technology Line-up
LED lighting tends to involve the greatest initial outlay, but counters that with substantial energy savings and a phenomenal lifespan. They provide instant-on illumination with no warm-up or flickering. Fluorescent lights generally have a lesser but still impressive lifespan, and are greatly energy efficient over incandescent technologies. Halogen is usually the least expensive option of the three with a lesser lifespan but intrinsically high quality, bright and colour-accurate light that is ideal for detail-oriented tasks and displays.
IP Rating – choosing the right fitting
In purchasing one of our recessed bathroom fittings you’ll need to pay particular attention to the IP Rating and how it affects the light’s suitability for various areas of a bathroom. The IP rating is a standard that describes the level of ‘Ingress Protection’ in any fitting—or in other words its protection against invasion by fingers, potentially hazardous objects, dust, and liquids.
When choosing for a bathroom, the second figure of the two is particularly crucial as it refers specifically to liquids. See below for some examples of various ratings you may encounter.
IP20: Protection against solid objects over 12 mm but offers no protection against ingress from water. Therefore this denotes suitability for illumination in areas not directly subjected to water.
IP44: Protection against solid objects over 1 mm and protects against water sprayed from all directions. A small amount of liquid ingress is allowed, so this rating denotes unsuitability for immersion or strong jets of water as opposed to spray.
IP65: Totally protected against dust, so a valuable exterior rating, whilst the ‘5’ denotes protection against low pressure jets of water—making this suitable for direct use in shower cubicles. If in doubt, check the IP Rating against the many reference sources available on the internet, or if you’d prefer feel free to give us a call for advice. We’re always ready to help!
Mains or low voltage
Most of our bathroom fittings are mains powered, but we do offer a selection of spotlights that are low-voltage. Counter-intuitively, low voltage lamps tend to burn slightly more brightly, but they’re also cooler running and safer in any situation where humans may come into contact with the electrical components. The downside is always that such lights require a transformer—so a decision to be made, but we stock a variety of transformers to suit your needs!
Other safety considerations
Also available in our range of recessed lights for the bathroom are emergency lights, which continue to function even in a loss of power. Fire-rated products are, simply put, ones that maintain the integrity of a ceiling in the unfortunate event of a fire, thus avoiding the easy spread of flames. Typically they’re constructed with expanding materials that help plug any dangerous gap.
Lyco assurance
We offer the above advice with the intention of helping you make an informed decision. If you have doubts about any specific aspect or product, please feel free to contact us for advice! Our 15 years in lighting retail make us well placed to be able to answer your questions. All part of a diligent and efficient service!