How many LED lights are required for proper lighting in a finished basement/

[politics123]

Hey everyone --

After a brief diversion (kid #2), I'm back to house projects... want to finish the basement and quarantine all the toys downstairs. Rather than put up normal cans, I want to install Cree LEDs (CR6). Suggestions on how much sq ft each will light on its own?

The basement is going to be a big open area... a small wet-bar area along the wall, a kids area, and then a home-theatre (but not walled-off from the rest of the space)


Thanks!

 

[Mark S.]

The Cree LR6 puts out about the same amount and spread of light as a 65W BR30 incandescent. You can determine the number and spacing of 65W cans using guidelines from Halo or Lightolier. As I remember, I used some tools on the Halo website.

Mark

 

[ceady]

Depending on your ceiling height, wall and ceiling color and floor type this answer can vary quite a bit. Assuming a light paint color and an 8 foot ceiling height, you would need about 21 CR6 fixtures in a 20 x 20 room to get an average of 30 foot candles on the floor.

The Cree CR6 fixtures do not put out a lot of light (575 lumens), you may want to consider another LED fixture to increase spacing.

 

[gatchel]

Cree also has a new high output LR6.

LR6-DR1000

http://www.polar-ray.com/Cree-LR6-DR-Serie...CFYp_5Qod3mpy1g

1000 lumens
CRI 90

They have to be bright as hell...comparing them to the LR6.

 

[programmergeek]

Also depends on how high the celing is, wall color, carpet coler etc. To many varables. My advice is put in severl switches so you can turn zones off. try soem out see how mush area they light and how far they through light. Also we have been installing one light as a leave on at night so you don't need to have the entire room lit if you are walking around the house.

 

[justinm001]

I'm doing a similar thing with a 14x30 ft playroom basement area. $80+ per housing does not seem appealing if i'll need 10-20. I'm doing a suspended ceiling with 2x2 tiles and was thinking about instead of housing buy bulk cree LED's with lenses($6) and just putting them spaced around the ceiling with independent heatsinks. I plan on wiring 6 LED's to each buckpuck ($15) and having a total of 30 leds and 5 buckpucks which is $255 plus $50 for a large 12v power supply. Many people use this in reef aquariums to run only 100w's of LED's vs 1000w of Metal Halide lighting.