What are dichroic lamps?

Posted on 1st August 201329th July 2021 by Andrew Evangelidis

Last updated on 29th July 2021

The term ‘dichroic lamp’ almost always refers to low-voltage MR11 or MR16 halogen spotlights. The interior surface of these lights is designed as a multifaceted reflector (MR), with the purpose of gathering up the widespread light of the burning tungsten filament and projecting it forward through the front of the lamp.

Invariably the surface of this reflector is manufactured in one of two ways; it’ll either have an opaque aluminium coating or a dichroic coating. The purpose of an aluminium coating is uncomplicated: it projects as much light as possible forward without discriminating between visible light and invisible UV or IR radiation, either of which can potentially be harmful.

A dichroic coating is essentially a thin layer of non-metallic film, sometimes referred to as interference film, which reflects visible light from the filament forward whilst filtering infrared radiation and allowing it to pass through the back of the lamp. Since IR radiation is a significant source of heat, the net effect of this is to make the beam much cooler.

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Dichroic compatibility

When buying or installing a dichroic lamp you first have to ensure that the light fitting or lamp-holder can dissipate the back-firing heat. Any recessed or enclosed luminaires that cannot accommodate such a lamp should be marked with the IEC 605598 ‘No Cool Beam’ symbol. If your light fitting is labelled in this way you’ll need an aluminium reflector lamp.

Benefits

The beam of a dichroic lamp is significantly cooler than other halogen spotlights, which extends its usefulness drastically for displaying heat-sensitive objects such as paintings, photos, leather goods, food, and wine.

A second potential benefit of a dichroic coating is that it can be used to remove longer [redder] wavelengths of the visible spectrum to create a halogen spotlight with an unusually cool temperature. This has some appeal, because it’s ordinarily uncommon for a filament lamp to output anything other than a warm light, but there is a trade-off in colour accuracy and a lower CRI score. Most dichroic lamps remove only IR radiation and maintain their maximum CRI 100 rating for colour rendering.

Low-voltage MR11 or MR16 halogen dichroic lamps have other inherent advantages that complement their IR filtering properties admirably. With a relatively compact filament they are optically very controllable with minimal spill light, and deliver a focused, crisp beam. What’s more, they’re very affordable, and rarely more so than with the bargain-priced Lyco Halogen MR16, which is dimmable, highly colour-accurate, and might last you two or three years – all for mere pence! Looking for Low Voltage spotlights ?
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Other forms of dichroic lamp

Though dichroic lamps are mostly low-voltage, they can occasionally be found as mains spotlights. The common GU10 reflector is really an MR16 lamp with a ‘twist and lock’ 240V mains-connectable base. Cool-beam versions of the GU10 can be found with a dichroic coating, although they are known as ‘GZ10’ lamps. Great care needs to be taken in ensuring these lamps are installed into a fitting with sufficient heat dissipation.

The future of cool-beam halogen

The very need to handle unwanted heat in a lamp is, of course, indicative of poor energy-efficiency, and that places dichroic lamps in something of a precarious position. In Australia the common low-voltage 50W MR16 has already been subject to a phase-out, and there have been one or two reports in the UK of its imminent European demise. When this does come to fruition – and it seems only a matter of time – it is believed the more energy efficient IR-reflecting and Xenon-filled 12V halogen spotlights will remain available.

MR16 lamps have existed for over 30 years, and the threat of their extinction has caused some disquiet among lighting designers worldwide. With the more energy-efficient models seemingly safe for at least another three years or more, we might in that time expect LED alternatives to have been further improved and for their prices to have finally toppled. In the meantime, you can still reap the benefits of a crisp, bright, vivid, colourful, pretty cool halogen source of light!

For more advice, inspiration and news take a look at our Lighting Advice section.

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Andrew Evangelidis Head of Buying

Andrew is an experienced buying professional who takes an entrepreneurial approach to identify new lighting solutions and ensure Lyco have first-to-market ranges for our customers. Having previously worked for well known brands such as Wickes, Carphone Warehouse and Toys R Us, Andrew has now turned his hand to sourcing commercial lighting and ensure our customers receive top brand quality products at marketing leading prices. He manages a team of commercial and decorative buyers who travel the world finding new products that our customers don’t even know they need yet.

Hospital lighting – caring with efficiency

Posted on 10th July 201319th October 2023 by Andrew Evangelidis

Last updated on 19th October 2023

Patient Bedrooms
Receptions
Wards
Waiting Rooms
Corridors
Upgrading to LED lighting

Nursing with light

Hospital lighting has changed much since the days of the Florence Nightingale. The founder of modern nursing, she worked under appalling, hopeless conditions at Scutari during the Crimean War. For those under her care, her passing dim light was symbolic of hope even amid their final hours. For her tireless work, often in 20-hour stretches, Florence became known simply as ‘The Lady with the Lamp’, and 160 years later this image of utter selflessness endures.

In the relative security of modern healthcare environments, the same noble spirit prevails; long hours are still worked and lighting still has an important part to play. Today’s hospital lighting is important to the safety and psychological wellbeing of patients, residents, and staff, and its economy is also important, so that healthcare trusts can meet financial targets and channel funds where most needed.

A new kind of light

Over the years, Lyco have been proudly instrumental in a number of lighting overhauls for healthcare providers. Always watchful of current trends and developments in the lighting industry, we are well-placed to advise on money-saving measures for hospitals, hospices, and care homes, and we do that without obligation. We offer game-changing tailored lighting solutions that improve the experience of patients, residents, and staff. We can make your energy-expenses much less onerous and your carbon footprint smaller.

Because healthcare environments are invariably threaded with high-circulation areas needing 24/7 illumination, their lighting costs are typically colossal by any normal standards. It can account for up to 40% of a hospital’s energy costs. Even low-circulation areas can be unnecessarily problematic, since light tends to be always on when it might easily be controlled by motion detectors.

It won’t surprise many people to find LED at the heart of most modern lighting solutions. LED is, quite simply, one of the most revolutionary technologies to have emerged in recent times – arguably in our lifetimes. It has the power to affect people’s lives, regardless of their standing, across the world.

That LED is vastly more energy-efficient than incandescent lighting is a well-documented fact. It might cynically be construed as something of a mismatch, but fluorescent lighting isn’t spared from the LED salvo.

The best of high-frequency fluorescent luminaires are extremely energy-efficient, but in replacing a dated fluorescent lighting scheme with LED, and installing money-saving measures such as dimmers and occupancy detectors, your premises might easily achieve a 60-70% reduction or more in energy bills, whilst also drastically reducing carbon emissions. That figure increases substantially when replacing tungsten lighting systems.

Less energy, less bacteria

Installing LED into a healthcare environment will have a drastic effect on energy consumption and your carbon footprint, but it can also be useful in preventing the spread of bacteria and germs. Because lighting maintenance is virtually eliminated, there’ll be no regular changing of bulbs to unsettle dead bugs, bacteria, and dust. For the same reason – because LED units don’t need to be accessed – their housing can be comprehensively sealed and thus protected against bacteria.

Many areas of the healthcare environment can be catered for by Lyco. Here a few a few ideas:

Patient Bedrooms

In a patient’s bedroom a warm-coloured light can create welcoming, soothing effect, whilst also flattering skin tones and providing a general feeling of wellbeing. For overall bedroom lighting, recessed downlights such as the Luceco F-Eco offer a high specification, and using just 5W of power they’ll potentially save heavily on energy costs.

The Luceco ceiling luminaire is tightly sealed against dust or water with an IP65 Ingress Protection rating, and it’s also fire-rated to 90 minutes. Dimmable and non-dimmable lights can be bought in this range, with dimmable lighting allowing further opportunity to simultaneously create ambience and save energy.

Also for bedrooms, dedicated reading lights will encourage patients to pick up a book, especially since they’re invariably switched and easy to turn on and off. Wall-mounted LED reading lights are space-conscious, and extremely energy-efficient. Take a look at our Edit Eye ranges of adjustable white or black and gold reading lights, any of which offer long term value for money as the last for years. A 5-year manufacturer’s guarantee gets you started with any of those.

Wards

Wards pose particular problems, since bedded areas need to be individually lit for examination with privacy curtains closed. Wall-mounted, bed-head lights with minimal glare are often used over beds, which are specialist medical lights.

For general ward lighting, recessed ceiling lights are an option. Recessed flat panels leave no surface for bacteria and dust to gather, and with lifespans of over 40,000 hours, they require little maintenance.

LED ceiling panels are a good fit for many areas of a healthcare environment, so you might also consider them for corridors, bedrooms, and waiting rooms.

Corridors

Special consideration has to be given to corridors in a healthcare environment. The elimination of glare is an important factor, especially since patients and residents are sometimes likely to be seated in a wheelchair or supine. So lighting needs to be sufficiently diffused.

To comply with European 12464-1 Standards, users of any building should not have to pass from a bright-light area, such as outdoors, or a projection-room, into a darkened corridor. For healthcare premises the recommended corridor illuminance is 200 lux at floor level, though it can drop to 50 lux at night.

One of the more significant ways a hospital or other healthcare building can save money is to use occupancy detection technology in little-used corridors, stairwells, or utility rooms. Essentially this allows you to keep lights almost permanently extinguished in areas where they were previously kept on!

An occupancy-detection solution can be installed with products such as the Luceco Eco LED Flush Light, which is configurable as a master and slave lighting scheme, where the master light initially detects movement and triggers all other lights in the circuit. In other words, when someone approaches or opens a door to a corridor it will be immediately lined with light, which will automatically switch off in the absence of movement and after an adjustable amount of time.

The Prodisc ‘master lights’ use a microwave movement detector, which is beneficial for being discreetly concealed inside the fitting. Also in the Prodisc range is an emergency light, which can be seamlessly blended with regular lights for the sake of visual harmony!

As previously mentioned, LED Panels are also a good choice of corridor lighting, with a diffused output that provides good coverage whilst being absent of any glare.

Receptions

Receptions need to be immediately identifiable, so here more than anywhere else in a healthcare environment, lighting can afford to be a little more decorative and eye-catching. Pendants are a commonplace solution for lighting the counter. Contemporary solutions from Edit such as the Edit Cone might suit here, which can be fitted with a lamp such as the Envirolight 10W Warm White LED GLS Screw Cap for energy efficiency. This shade focuses light where it’s needed, whilst shielding the lamp from easy vision for minimal glare. A bayonet version of the same bulb exists, for any existing shades in reception or waiting areas.

Recessed downlighting is also commonly used in reception areas as general lighting. Dedicated LED downlights are usually super-efficient, because they’re built from the ground up for performance and luminous efficacy. Because such lights require no maintenance they can be comprehensively sealed, so no dust gathers, and water cannot permeate.

Accent lighting can also be used in reception areas, to highlight artworks, or simply architectural features for added visual interest. We have a range of track and spot lights that have 360% rotating light head. With flexible lighting such as these, you can shine light to the areas you choose and reduce glare elsewhere.

Waiting rooms

Some of the previously mentioned LED ceiling panels and downlights provide high quality, balanced lighting in waiting rooms. A warm light in these areas helps patients to relax, though it should be used in conjunction with natural daylight wherever possible, which helps to connect visitors to the outside world and makes them feel less isolated. Dimmable solutions can work well, because then ambient light can be controlled in accordance with the intensity of incoming daylight. The ceiling panels, however, produce a wonderfully diffuse and evenly spread light that looks very natural, and these can be easily installed into existing 600mm x 600mm ceiling grids.

Depending upon the type of waiting room, lighting in these areas can be more decorative, and designed again to make people relax. Coffee tables and wall, table, or floor lamps are not uncommon adornments, and in many cases will be served well by one of the previously mentioned LED lamps. The Parma 160 LED Wall Light is a dedicated fitting from Astro requiring something of an up-front investment, but once installed will yield many years of unmaintained service, thanks to its brace of top-quality Cree LEDs. This light produces a relaxing up-and-down effect and has a beautifully smooth plaster finish.

An LED conversion

Though LED lighting is expected to eventually fall in price through cheaper industrialised processes, the money businesses and institutions burn through inefficient lighting schemes makes the waiting game an expensive one! An LED conversion requires a significant up-front investment, but without exception all investors in LED conversion see a payback on that investment within a short space of time.

Healthcare ‘businesses’ of all types, including healthcare trusts, private hospitals, hospices, and care homes, can vastly decrease energy usage and carbon emissions with a switch to LED. If you’re running an outdated incandescent or fluorescent lighting scheme, you are very welcome to get in touch with Lyco, who will survey your premises free of charge and without obligation, and deliver a document detailing the likely return on any investment.

From there, if you’re ready, we can take you through the various stages of an LED conversion, including product selection, finance plans, project planning and scheduling, and installation. From that point onwards you’ll be saving money, and we’ll provide you with ongoing support to address any of your future lighting concerns or needs. Call us today to learn how we can help!

“Little as we know about the way in which we are affected by form and colour and light, we do know this: that they have an actual and physical effect.” Florence Nightingale

For more advice, inspiration and news take a look at our Lighting Advice section.

Andrew Evangelidis Head of Buying

Commercial lighting – the basics explained

Posted on 30th May 20132nd September 2022 by Charles Barnett

Last updated on 2nd September 2022

Ivela High Bay Light - Translucent/Black

Every designer and electrician whose work brings them into contact with commercial lighting will be well aware of the vast range of suitable fittings and equipment available to them. They will also be conscious of the importance of choosing the right commercial lighting fittings for the project in hand. Similarly proprietors of businesses commissioning such work will have their own quite clear ideas as to what they need and expect from their new commercial lighting.

Lighting contractors will naturally have kept up to date with the exciting developments seen in recent times in lighting systems. Their customers may not however so it may be helpful to highlight some of the benefits they bring to users of commercial lighting.

Better lighting, better economy

Low energy lighting has been with us for some time now with its benefits of lower consumption of electricity and longer bulb life leading to improved economy in use. These benefits were achieved by the use of compact fluorescent bulbs but they were frequently criticised for being bulky, unattractive and producing light of lower intensity than expected. These lights still suit many situations but awareness of the other options that have become available more recently is essential if the right decisions are to be made.

With the advent of energy-saving halogen bulbs, metal halide lights and LED systems, light of greater brightness and intensity than was ever available from traditional incandescent bulbs and fluorescent tubes comes with dramatically improved economy. Every business needs to keep costs to a minimum and energy bills can account for a considerable proportion of overall operating costs. The high energy efficiency of these new forms of commercial lighting can bring about a significant improvement in the bottom line.

Examples

To show you exactly what we mean we have selected lighting examples from four broad categories of commercial lighting (retail display, high bay lighting, low bay lighting and including flush fittings) that suit all locations. We recommend suitable fittings for each situation.

Retail Display

The lighting here needs to clearly illuminate all areas of the sales area to enable customers to see everything clearly, move around safely and to deter thieves. The goods on display should be highlighted so that they are shown off to best advantage.

Metal halide lighting is perfect for this. Its bulb produces up to 115 lumens per Watt of electricity consumed compared to 35 for a traditional incandescent bulb. It lasts 20 times as long too, so economy comes as standard. These lights can light up a very large area or they can provide high intensity light on a small area.

A fine example is the Zeta Metal Halide Display Light from Robus in cast aluminium. You get a lovely crisp white light which really brings the display to life and showcases the products to best advantage.

Also ideal for situations such as shops are flush fitting. Flush mounted on either ceilings or walls they will illuminate large areas. These lamps use low energy bulbs for economy. For ultimate economy, LED versions are available.

High Bay Lighting

Here we are looking at lighting installed at heights of 20 feet (6 metres) or more above floor level, which may be in a warehouse, a sports hall, or maybe a large restaurant, even a pub or large retail sales area.

Recommended light fittings for these installations would include the 100w LED Linear High Bay Light. These high efficiency lights with their excellent economy are equally at home in High Bay situations where they are extremely effective.

Also extremely versatile and particularly suited to high bay installations are Solid Slim 200w LED Circular High Bay Lights. These are IP65 rated so they can be used where dry conditions cannot be guaranteed.

Low Bay Lighting

LowBayis required in situations where the lights are to be installed 3 to 7 metres or about 10 to 23 feet above floor level. Dextra’s Low Bay Lights – Metal Halide 250W are designed for just this purpose. These lights provide all the benefits of the latest metal halide technology as highlighted in the high bay lighting section plus a hinged gear tray which makes them quick and simple to both install and later maintain. The time thus saved represents a further saving in overall cost. Their robust construction makes them ideal for commercial lighting purposes particularly in factories, hangars, warehouses and loading bays.

Flush fittings like the Carina Flush Fitting LED White provide an excellent alternative in a low bay situation. The more limited the headroom available the greater the benefit of using flush fittings. We take a look at flush fitting lights next.

Flush Fitting Lights

Flush fitting lights are the maids-of-all-work of commercial lighting. We have two examples which show you just how versatile these lights are. Carina Flush Fitting LED White is the LED version of the Carina flush fitting mentioned under retail display. It provides all the advantages of flush fitting in that it protrudes very little from the surface it’s mounted on and can be wall mounted or ceiling. It is IP65 Rated which makes it ideal for hotel bathrooms, shower- cubicles and pub toilets or outdoors exposed to the elements.

On top of all that it is an LED light. LEDs produce beautiful white light, with the lowest of all energy consumption and the LED arrays outlast every other type of light source except the sun! Installing LED lighting is one of the few things a business can do which reduces costs whilst actually enhancing quality.

The other example is actually another version of the same light. The Carina LED Flush with Microwave Sensor – White. Here you get all the benefits already described plus the microwave sensor. The light can be mounted outdoors to light up walkways, steps or other areas either for safety or convenience. It can also be a security light.

Its microwave sensor detects movement and turns the light on only when needed. It can be adjusted to become active only when the ambient light falls below a pre-set level and its sensitivity can be varied between 1 and 10 metres so that it only detects movement in the relevant area. The time the light remains on when activated can be pre-set to between 10 seconds up to 30 minutes.

Indoors these are the ideal lights for rooms or passageways that are not in constant use. As someone enters the area the lights obligingly turn on. One extremely useful benefit of the microwave sensor when compared to the PIR type of movement detector is that the microwave sensor can see through doors! One advantage that gives is that when someone approaches a closed room the sensor inside the room detects their arrival outside the door and turns on the light ready for when they enter the room.

All LED lights cost very little to run. These only come on when needed and remain turned off and costing nothing the rest of the time.

Update to save

It’s not only new business premises or those undergoing extensive refurbishments that can benefit from these developments in commercial lighting. All businesses need to be alert to changes that can reduce trading costs and in many cases the cost of updating their lighting installations could be repaid many times over in the long term by the savings in running expenses.

Take a look at our full range of Commercial Lighting

For more advice, inspiration and news take a look at our Lighting Advice section.

Charles Barnett Managing Director

Charles started Lyco in 1995 with just 4 enthusiastic employees and has grown it considerably over the past 25 years. Charles is also the Managing Director of Lighting Direct and newly acquired Online Lighting. He now has a team of 50 lighting experts working on growing Lyco Group to be the UK leader in lighting for both businesses and homes. Away from the office he is a keen cyclist and is proud to have cycled 1017 miles from Lands End to John O’Groats to raise money for a new residential centre for adults with multiple learning difficulties.

Spa lighting solutions

Posted on 23rd May 20132nd September 2022 by Andrew Evangelidis

Last updated on 2nd September 2022

The word ‘spa’ is sometimes erroneously said to be derived from a Latin acronym, but is actually stolen from the Belgian town of Spa – a veritable ‘water city’ known for its healing cold springs since the 14^th century. Spas became fashionable in England during the 18^th and 19^th centuries when the upper classes were finally convinced of the benefits of bodily cleanliness, but by the turn of the 20^th century they’d dwindled in popularity again, with seaside resorts such as Blackpool, Brighton, and Margate being more fashionable places to splash about!

The carnage of the First World War created a brief though ill-gotten resurgence in spa popularity, as innumerable maimed and afflicted soldiers ‘took the cure’. By that time, though, many disused spas had already been commandeered as military hospitals. It wasn’t until the 1990s that spas truly made their comeback, and they continue to thrive today, perhaps fuelled by our frenetic lifestyles, longer working lives, greater stress levels, and a general disconnect with nature and our own well-being. There’s a need to occasionally detoxify, reboot, get more in touch with who we are, and be shamelessly pampered!

Types of Spa

The various types of spa are many, but they can be primarily broken down into two categories: hotel spas (also known as resort/destination spas) and day spas. The former is a spa with stay-over facilities, or indeed a hotel with spa facilities, whilst the latter specializes in treatments that can be administered in just a few hours.

Services typically offered in either type of spa include: saunas, steam baths, bathing, hot springs, mud baths, body wraps, massages, hairstyling, manicures, pedicures, makeup application, facials, skin treatments, waxing, and aromatherapy. Many spas offer ‘signature services’, comprising of complementary combinations of these and other treatments.

Spa Style

When planning to open a spa you’d generally be well advised to engage the services of a spa consultant, who will lend expert advice on specific markets, viability of services for your area, physical layout, and often interior design. Depending on the services you intend offering, you’ll need equipment such as a reception desk, computer system with scheduling software, massage tables, salon stations and stools for hairstyling, manicure tables, pedicure chairs, facial equipment, linens, mirrors, pillows, plants, slippers, robes, and heating.

To help create exactly the ambience you require, and one that accentuates the style of your spa, particular care should be taken when choosing light fittings. Spa styles can vary considerably, with themes such as glamour, contemporary, traditional, organic, wood, and Zen. Remember that spa customers tend to gauge their experience as much by the way they feel as they do by the services themselves, so it’s vital that you create an experience that customers will want to return to.

Spa lighting areas

Reception

As your customers enter into the reception of your spa, so they’re also gaining a first impression of your establishment and its ambiance, so lighting can be a mixture of task-oriented and decorative. The Endon Harmony Wall Light fulfils the role of decorative lighting perfectly, with its diminishing geometric pattern very restful in its effect and ideal for contemporary or ‘Zen’ settings. Also contemporary in its appeal, the stunning Aperture 65 Shade by award-winning designer Claire Norcross is a great centre-piece pendant that’s guaranteed to steal attention. With its adjustable apertures you can modify the output of this paper-made lightshade to provide just the right amount of light for your needs.

With the Ultra Slim Dimmable Downlight from Integral you get a practical downlight with relaxing warm white output, ideal for putting customers at ease whilst also providing directional light for reception desks. Compatible with dimmer switches, you can control the output of these lights to create ambience and simultaneously make them even more economical to run. With an IP20 rating this light is suitable for the dry areas of a spa, but being fire rated it safeguards the integrity of a ceiling in the event of a fire.

Swimming pools

Pool areas in spas are sometimes outdoor, often indoor areas where discreet downward lighting is ideal. With an IP65 Ingress Protection rating the Dimmable Spotlights is ideal as over-pool lighting; the dimmable light provides plenty of scope for setting mood, with the warm white version particularly good for a relaxing evening swim. Choose cooler lights for an enlivening feel closer to daylight. These lights are fire-rated, and comply with Part B (Fire Safety) of UK building regulations, so in the event of a fire the intumescent filling within the fitting expands to help prevent flames immediately taking hold.

Use of colour in a spa is vital – as it helps customers to relax. Coloured lighting is especially effective in conjunction with water, so you might like to consider the LED Flexi Strip. Resistant to jets of water, these low-powered strips are suitable for poolside use and are colour-switchable and dimmable when used with a separately available controller and amplifier.

The Garland LED Walkover Lights are great for illuminating decking, but with an IP68 rating can also be submersed around the edges of a swimming pool or used in conjunction with water features. Use of LEDs in these lights makes them extremely tough, so they can be walked over and are shock resistant. Please note: the accompanying transformer is weather-resistant but is not submersible.

Changing rooms

Ideal for conserving energy, the Carina LED Flush with Microwave Sensor only switches on when it detects movement, and unlike a PIR sensor the microwave sensor is unobtrusively concealed within the fitting. With its IP65 rating this wall or ceiling-mountable light is suitable for installation in areas exposed to water, so it’s ideal for pool changing rooms, for instance.

An alternative offering ideal for changing room installation is the Carina 17w Colour Selectable LED Flush Light from Eterna Lighting. With an IP65 rating this fitting is suitable for wet changing room areas on either walls or ceilings. The Carina is constructed with polycarbonate and a polished chrome bezel. This bulkhead is also easy to install and comes with an integrated LED lamp.

Another Lyco recommendation is the Mirror Light from Eterna. One of the particular advantages of this product is that it provides balanced illumination for the face, and avoids the harsh, unflattering shadows that can occur with more directional lighting. This stylish mirror-light is also IP44 rated, boasts an LED lifespan of 50,000 hours, and integrates a convenient on/off pull cord.

Treatment rooms

Ideal for enhancing mood in a treatment room whilst also being unobtrusive and discreet, the Hove Wall Light from Dar Lighting casts an attractive up-and-down pattern of wall lighting. Finished in white plaster, this fitting comes complete with two G9 halogen capsules for a crisp yet warm and relaxing output of light.

The Edit Rise Uplighter Floor Lamp delivers strong upward illumination for reflecting off a ceiling for a softened overall spread of light. It comes in a smooth plaster finish so would suit an array of rooms and areas.

For those task-oriented treatment rooms and salon areas of a spa, a halogen downlight is ideal. The illumination is bright and crisp, and despite a typically warm output halogen is inherently colour accurate with a continuous spectrum of light. The Eon Directional Downlight with its 15° swivelling head is ideal for tasks such as hair styling and makeup treatments whilst also being attractively priced. An IP65 rating means this light is also suitable for wet areas (unsuitable for submersion or steam rooms) whilst its fire rating tells you it will protect a ceiling against flames for up to 90 minutes. The Eon comes complete with a 35W mains-powered GU10 halogen bulb.

Form and function

When designing and equipping a spa it’s worth considering what it is exactly that visitors want from such a place. Of course they are interested in the services and facilities, but more than anything else frequenters of spas are looking for a sensory experience through sound, sight, smell, touch, and perhaps taste. The five senses.

Our motives for visiting a spa have altered. Around the year 1800, Bath in Somerset became one of the largest cities in England, largely through its association with good health and habitation by a comparative legion of pharmacists, doctors, and surgeons. Nowadays we live in a different, more secular society; we’re longer-lived and likely to be seeking spiritual refuge rather than a miracle cure.

Lighting has an invaluable part to play in creating all-important atmosphere in a spa. If you think of Chinese yin-yang philosophy where all things in the universe are perfectly balanced by their opposite component, so it is with lighting. Shadow cannot exist without light, and contrasting areas of light and dark create ambience — just watch a film noir movie for proof!

With that in mind, wall-mounted uplights, downlights, and bi-directional up-and-down lights are great for accenting décor and creating mood. Discreet recessed ceiling downlights – often tiltable – can be directed onto the many embellishing features of a spa, such as plants, urns, tables and chairs. You can use light to define space. Dimmer switches are great for setting the overall mood of a room; it might be said, somewhat pretentiously perhaps, that this creates a canvas or foil for subtler, gentler effects from decorative lights such as candles.

The colour of white

It’s also worth considering the colour temperature of light, which causes an emotional response in humankind. Calling upon the Kelvin scale of a theoretical black body radiator, a traditional wax candle has an extremely warm temperature of 1800K, which has a wonderfully calming effect on us. A cosy log fire has similar soothing appeal.

Slightly cooler in colour than a natural flame is an incandescent light bulb, with a typical temperature of 2700K. This is also considered a warm light, more suited to relaxing than lamps with cooler temperatures of 4000-5000K. But in areas where you might like to induce a feeling of invigorated alertness, a cooler light may suit, and will blend more harmoniously with ambient light.

Steam room lighting

Unfortunately Lyco do not stock any products suitable for lighting a spa steam room or sauna. This is a very specialist area owing to the sheer pervasiveness of moisture and extreme fluctuations in heat, with dedicated vapour-proof, low-voltage downlights and fibre optic systems being typically required. We advise consulting with an established sauna and steam room supplier for your needs in this area.

For more options, our indoor lighting section offers a few alternatives to the above selections.

For more advice, inspiration and news take a look at our Lighting Advice section.

Andrew Evangelidis Head of Buying

Coloured bulbs – when to use them

Posted on 15th May 201329th July 2021 by Charles Barnett

Last updated on 29th July 2021

The coloured light bulb is hardly a new technology. Indeed many people might remember them from teenage years, as they are perfect for customising your room, being cheap, easy and quickly reversible, so they wouldn’t make your parents scream. While there is a lot more to coloured bulbs than simply popping in a purple one in so you can listen to Pink Floyd, there’s still an undeniable truth in there. Coloured light bulbs are a cheap and convenient way to completely change the look of a space.

Coloured bulbs for all purposes

The classic coloured GLS bulb is still available, in a wide range of colours, not to mention energy-saving and G9 halogen variants. But rather than blitzing the entire room with one colour, like an 80s nightclub, why not use the palette available to you creatively? For a peaceful sanctuary of a room, mix up green and blue bulbs, while a games room or bar would suit bright, vibrant reds and oranges. Interestingly, if you’re planning on a bit of poker, red lighting apparently encourages people to gamble more boldly.

Celebrations

Coloured bulbs are also great for seasonal celebrations – deck out a Valentine’s Day party (or a small girl’s bedroom) with pinks and reds, while greens and reds are great for truly festive feeling Christmas, and blue and green light will create a suitably monstrous Halloween.

Change the context

Don’t just limit yourself to using coloured light bulbs on their own. You can achieve amazing results when combining them with more traditional white lights, to add context and life to a room. This works particularly well when you’re trying to make a dull-looking room really pop. If you have a hallway, bathroom or other area that could best be described as ‘institutional’, replace the central lighting with coloured bulbs, and then use white spotlighting or table-lighting to create smaller, more intimate pools of light.

To break up long expanses of plain coloured wall, use splashes of colour to make the room interesting and break it up a bit, again using brighter spotlighting if you want to create smaller, more cosy feeling areas. At the other end of the scale, make a small room seem larger by shining coloured lights into every corner of the room.

Coloured spotlights

For subtle splashes of colour, spotlight bulbs, available both in halogen GU10 and LED GU10 types for standard spotlight fittings are perfect for adding a delicate flush to surroundings. Spotlights in particular are great for highlighting ornamental items, architectural features and art, as you can pick a shade that will really bring out the colours in whatever you’re illuminating. Best of all, spotlights can be recessed unobtrusively, so you can achieve some startling effects. Mount spotlights in narrow alcoves in an otherwise brightly lit room, for striking red or green features to break up the space. And if you can’t decide what colour you want, just get colour changing bulbs that change colour between red, green and blue.

Festoon finale

Finally, don’t forget those festoon lights. Yes, draping multi-coloured ones all the way round a garden or patio can make it look like a 70s holiday camp, but there are ways to use them strikingly. One of the most effective is to use just a single colour, such as all red or all white. This works particularly well with golf ball or pygmy bulbs, but is effective with coloured GLS bulbs too. Also, don’t just leave them outside.

Stringing up festoons around a living room or dining area can give it a bit of a festival bodega feeling, which works well if you have a basement living area. Don’t feel bound to string them up in the traditional fashion either – a great alternative is to wrap festoon lights around a pillar or beam, something best done with LED bulbs, as they hardly heat up.

If you’re looking for a different type why not take a look at our full range of coloured bulbs.

For more advice, inspiration and news take a look at our Lighting Advice section.

Charles Barnett Managing Director

New build home lighting part 3 (Kitchen / Diner)

Posted on 7th May 201329th March 2022 by Charles Barnett

Last updated on 29th March 2022

A new build represents a blank canvas – a chance to set the tone for the whole house from the ground up. Your choice of lighting for new builds is a major part of what that tone will be, and is the filter that so much of the rest of the house will be viewed through.

So far our series on lighting for new builds has focused on the living room and hallway and then bedrooms and bathroom upstairs, Now we return downstairs to finish off the interior of our imaginary 2-bed starter home by stepping into the kitchen/dining room.

Choosing your lighting: the basics

Obviously one of the key factors in choosing lighting for any room will be the size and scale of the room itself. It might be the deciding factor, for example, in just how grand a chandelier centrepiece is in the dining room, or how extensive a set of cabinet downlights is in the kitchen.

However, that is a universal principle that applies in any room, and so doesn’t need special consideration here. Suffice to say, the larger and more attention-grabbing a lighting fixture is, the more space it needs around it – ignore that rule of thumb and you’ll overpower the room instead of illuminating it.

The same counts for brightness, although with the kitchen being typically one of the brightest rooms in the house you’ve got more room for error. That said, it’s a cardinal sin to under-illuminate a kitchen, so especially if you’re thinking of cabinet downlights make sure they’re close enough together and there’s enough of them (if there’s no other lighting in the room) to light up the entire kitchen.

New home kitchen / diner lighting ideas

There’s a wide range of kitchen / diner lighting products to choose from in the Lyco range. Here we highlight some of the most popular options available, and some of our personal favourites, to give you a sense of the choices available:

Retro style pendant: timeless class

Elstead Provence Rise and Fall Ceiling Pendant Light – Polished Nickel

This classic adjustable rise and fall pendant is the perfect multifunctional kitchen/diner light, bringing together old-world charm and class and contemporary styling complete with polished nickel finish.

Dimmable LEDs: high-tech kitchen lighting

View range here

Nothing gives a new build kitchen that ultra-modern look like LED spotlights, and the Fireguard LED7 range comes in various colour/warmth combinations so you can create just the right look for your kitchen. They’re available in fully dimmable form, and are IP65-rated and fire-rated for both commercial and domestic applications. Plus, the high-performance LEDs mean just 7W of power output matches of a 50W halogen for light output, but with an 80% energy saving.

Cabinet downlighting: low energy, little effort

View our range of cabinet lighting here

Cabinet downlights provide focused illumination on a specific area and are really simple to install, so it’s easy to see the appeal. In the case of the Aurora Mica LED Cabinet Light, you get the added advantage of a white light that’s rated for 50,000 hours and uses far less electricity than any standard light bulb. These LED lights can be surface mounted or recessed and come with 2m of cable included. You will however need an LED transformer, which is sold seperately.

Flexi striplighting: fun, decorative and versatile

View our range of cabinet strip lights

If you’re willing to put in a bit of effort and apply a bit of creativity, flexible striplighting is a clever and highly versatile way of lighting your kitchen – or any other room in the house, for that matter. Each 5M Flexi Strip incorporates 300 LEDs, and can be cut every 3 LEDs to suit just about any application. The strips are flexible and the LEDs come with a 120-degree beam angle, making it an ideal discreet lighting solution for shelves, alcoves, kick boards, cabinets… just about anywhere you can think to put them, in fact. We’ve chosen to highlight the “daylight” colour option here, but strips also come in warm white, and blue, as well as an RGB colour changing option.

If you’re connecting multiple strips together, or want your Flexi Strips to be dimmable, you’ll also need an Inline Amplifier. Last of all, a pack of Link Leads will come in handy should you wish to reconnect your cut LED strips.

The right lighting for new builds

New builds come in all shapes and sizes, which means specific lighting requirements for the kitchen/dining room area can vary greatly – and that’s not even accounting for the vast spectrum of personal taste.

The options we’ve shown here represent some of the more popular new build lighting options available, but of course you could also go for fluorescent or LED solid striplights, as well as halogen or other variations on the lighting types we’ve covered here.

Just remember that while room size might be the first thing you notice about any home, the right lighting to showcase that room is equally important, whether you’re looking to have a house valued for selling or renting, or are fitting a property out ahead of moving in yourself.

For more advice, inspiration and news take a look at our Lighting Advice section.

Charles Barnett Managing Director

GU10 LED Bulbs – time to upgrade

Posted on 17th April 201329th July 2021 by Charles Barnett

Last updated on 29th July 2021

If you fit a lot of lighting, you’ll know the term ‘retrofit’. It refers to the new wave of bulbs that use the latest energy-saving technologies such as fluorescents and LEDs. They’re designed to look as much as possible like existing incandescent or halogen bulbs, perform as well as them (and ideally better) and most importantly fit into existing fittings, so you don’t have to replace anything in order to benefit from better bulb technology. That in itself wouldn’t be cost efficient.

Becoming popular

Retrofit bulbs for GLS fittings are already widespread, especially in energy-saving stick, spiral and GLS pendant variants, with LED GLS bulbs catching up fast. These of course have the advantage of a great deal of space to play with, as the large existing bulb shape offers enough room for the lighting elements and the circuitry that powers them. Plus they don’t even need to be standard bulb shaped, as GLS fittings are often quite open.

It’s not been quite so easy to directly replace GU10 halogen spotlight bulbs, however. A traditional GU10 is incredibly compact, thanks to the tiny but powerful halogen bulb inside. Because of this, GU10 fittings tend to be flush, especially to ceilings, with absolutely no space to cram in any extra bulk. Manufacturers have been working hard to find a solution to this, as there is a massive market for GU10 bulbs – think of all the fashionable bars, hotels, boardrooms and shops with a ceiling littered with flush spotlights – and they’ve started finding solutions.

LED is an investment

When you take a look at the listing for one of the newer GU10 LED bulbs, the first thing that you might notice is the price, especially if you’ve got a ceiling dotted with fittings you need to fill. So if these bulbs are multiple times the price of a basic halogen GU10, what are you getting for that cash? I hear you ask. Well…

Firstly, you’re getting a massive lifespan boost. The average GU10 LED bulb unit will last, depending on the model, between 25,000 to 40,000 hours. That’s up to twenty times longer than a halogen model!
As well as offering a massive long-term saving through longevity, an LED unit draws a fraction of the power drawn by the equivalent halogen bulb, so you’ll see your electricity bills plummet rapidly.
LED bulbs also give off a lot less heat than a halogen unit, so you’re less likely to see heat-damaged fittings, plus they can be used in situations where heat is an issue.</li

LED technology is improving fast

The sheer variety of LED GU10 bulbs has already eclipsed that of traditional bulbs. As well as current market-leaders in standard warm and cool white shades by Philips, Sylvania and GE, you can now get wide-angle and dimmable units for the first time. Or, if you have specific mood lighting effects in mind, you can not only get coloured bulbs but also ones that change colour according to a pre-programmed pattern. Surprisingly, these latter bulbs are far cheaper than standard LED GU10s, as they use a larger cluster of LEDs to provide the light.

LED GU10 bulbs have now even managed to achieve the same output levels as powerful halogen bulbs, with several 50-watt equivalents, and even a 65-watt equivalent on the market. This means there’s absolutely no reason not to replace power-hungry halogen bulbs with longer-lasting, cooler and cheaper-to-run LED units.

Take a look at our full range of GU10 LED bulbs.

Want to see what other LED light bulb options Lyco has to offer? Take a look at our full range of LED light bulbs.

For more advice, inspiration and news take a look at our Lighting Advice section.

Charles Barnett Managing Director

Energy-Saving Light Bulbs – a definition

Posted on 21st March 201329th July 2021 by Charles Barnett

Last updated on 29th July 2021

The light bulb was invented by Thomas Alva Edison in 1879. Back then, the UK population was a significantly less than what it is today, there were no cars on the roads and no planes in the sky. Any overseas holiday was a cruise of sorts.

The world has changed hugely since 1879, and so has the technology that goes into light bulbs. However, traditional incandescent bulbs were only truly usurped as the go-to bulb by energy-saving light bulbs a handful of years ago. This was well overdue, as incandescent bulbs expend over 90 per cent of the energy they suck-up in outputting heat, rather than light.

In an increasingly energy- and environmentally-conscious world, those old bulbs have no real place – and are in the process of being forcefully phased out.

Rules of energy saving

Although there’s no hard and fast rule in terms of the exact savings required by these new light bulbs, compared to the old type, to define them as ‘energy saving’, the two most popular technologies use between 70 per cent and 85 per cent less. And as they last much longer, the savings will be felt in your pocket as well as by the environment.

CFL – the good, the bad & the ugly

The most common type of energy-saving light bulb is the CFL bulb, which stands for compact fluorescent lamp. Oddly enough, the first type of compact fluorescent lighting was developed not that long after the first incandescent bulb – back in 1890 but never made it into bulb form until 1976, some 84 years later.

However, it’s only in the last decade or so that they’ve gained real prominence on the high street. In 2007 when the UK government announced the UK phase-out of incandescent bulbs, the backlash against CFL bulbs said that they produced weak, ugly light that took an age to get up to full power. CFL bulbs were admirable in their aims, but not always so admirable in their performance.

Today, that’s simply not true. Most domestic bulbs are “instant on”, giving near-full power from the moment you flick the switch, and you can pick the colour temperature you’re after. Warm, or with a cool blue-ish tint – whatever you want.

There are many types of CFL bulbs out there. Perhaps the most familiar is the spiral. It’s cheap to buy and as there’s no extra layer beyond the fluorescent tube, its light output efficiency is excellent.

If you’re after something that has a look a little closer to the incandescent bulbs of old, we offer CFL bulbs that emulate both the traditional rounded bulb shape and the more elongated candle type. The latter is particularly strong as a decorative bulb – with a more elegant look than the slightly more efficient spiral shape.

CFL derivatives

There are CFLs that look almost nothing like light bulbs too. 2D bulbs unwind the fluorescent tube of other CFL bulbs to give even better light dispersal. They’re perfect for stair well, wall light or bulk head fittings, where function takes a lead over form.

Most CFL bulbs are designed to fit in exactly the same housings as old incandescent bulbs, but there are also pin-fit bulbs for fittings that incorporate everything but the bulb itself. The benefit of these bulbs is that they’re cheaper to produce – and hence cheaper to buy.

LED bulbs – not perfect but getting there

The other main type of energy saving lightbulb is CFL’s competitive and plucky younger brother – the LED bulb.

LEDs work in a completely different way to fluorescent bulbs, but offer comparable levels of energy efficiency. One of the key benefits of LED lights is that they do not contain Mercury, a poisonous substance found in CFL lights.

LED lights also solve one of the lingering problems of CFLs, whose lifespan drops significantly if they are turned on and off frequently. They also often offer better lifespan in general – LED lamps can last for up to 30,000 hours where some CFLs are only rated at 8,000 hours. However, this remains light years – or at least light days – ahead of incandescent bulbs.

The downsides of LED bulbs include that they’re generally significantly more expensive than the CFL type, and while they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, they’re not always available in as high-power variants as CFL. For example, you won’t find a 60W-equivalent LED candle bulb… yet.

Halogen – a low energy alternative

There’s a third type of energy saving bulb too. CFL and LED are the kings of energy saving, but we can’t forget humble halogen. We offer energy saving halogen bulbs, which don’t contain harmful mercury and generally cost peanuts compared to CFL of LED bulbs. However, they remain much less energy-efficient.

The savings speak for themselves

Forgetting their life-spans for a minute, the clearest way to work out the energy efficiency of a bulb is to calculate its lumens per watt rating. A lumen is a standard unit of brightness. CFL and LED bulbs work out at around 50-70 lumens per watt. Halogen bulbs can manage around 20, while old incandescents will struggle to reach 15 lumens per watt.

Over the space of a year, the energy benefits of using CFL and LED lights is obvious – especially as they tend to last 5-10 times as long. Consumer body ‘Which’ has calculated that a single energy-efficient bulb will save you over £30 on your power bill over five years, and their calculation didn’t factor-in rising energy prices or inflation.

As incandescent bulbs continue to be phased out across the world, we’re only likely to see improvements in today’s energy-saving bulb technologies. What we should all be looking forward to is improvements in LED lights that’ll see prices of LED bulbs start to tumble. For now, why not check out our huge selection of energy saving LED bulbs?

Take a look at our full range of energy saving light bulbs.

Alternatively, if you are looking for more inspiration, advice and news take a look at our Lighting Advice section.

Charles Barnett Managing Director

High Frequency Lighting – what is it?

Posted on 26th February 201329th July 2021 by Charles Barnett

Last updated on 29th July 2021

Think of fluorescent lighting, especially in an office, and your first thought will probably be of harsh strip lighting, flickering slightly, and with a faint buzz that’s almost outside the range of hearing, but not far enough so that it doesn’t irritate. While that fluorescent buzz and flicker is great if you’re Michael Mann, and are looking for atmospheric urban effects for your latest film, they’re not so good if you have to live with them every day while you work.

Flicker no more!

You don’t need to put up with that flicker and buzz any more, as high frequency lighting produces strong, steady light that doesn’t visibly flicker, and eliminates hum and buzz completely within the human aural range.

High achievers

High frequency lighting achieves these results by doing exactly what it says on the box – increasing the frequency of the electric charge to the tube. Standard fluorescent lighting operates at a frequency of around 50-60Hz, while high frequency lighting boosts that to 30 KHz. As well as reducing flicker and hum, this also increases light output, and that’s not all. They also start up much more quickly, offering full light output within one second – no more hanging about waiting for the light to get bright enough to be able to do anything.

No added expense

You might think that all these benefits come at a much increased energy cost, but you’d be wrong. High frequency lighting actually improves energy efficiency by about 10%. They also maintain peak light output for longer than a standard fluorescent tube, and have a longer life-expectancy, so they more than cover the initial outlay involved in fitting them.

Less symptoms

There are potential benefits for the many people who find that they suffer from headaches and eyestrain if they spend a great deal of time under fluorescent lighting at work or school, particularly migraine sufferers. Published studies have shown that under high frequency lighting reported symptoms of headaches and eyestrain were more than halved, and that people were more likely to use the lighting when conditions required it. As well as making users happy, switching to high frequency lighting could also improve efficiency and reduce sick days.

Options

Since the introduction of LED, problem with flickering have become less and less common. When replacing standard switch-start fluorescent lighting, we would recommend strip lights and recessed light fittings in offices and corridors . Stylish external lighting can also be fitted thanks to brick lights, which look absolutely stunning alongside a swimming pool, garden path or in a car port, among many other uses.

There are a number of options if you want to fit lighting that won’t annoy users with noise and flicker, and will also save you money if continuous use is required. These include emergency recessed fittings, golf bulkhead fittings and low energy bulkhead fittings, which are ideal for stairwells and walkways.

Take a look at our collection of High Frequency Lighting.

Looking for more news, information or inspiration? Try our Lighting Advice section.

Charles Barnett Managing Director

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