ᐅ Recessed downlights dimmable / non-dimmable beam angle

Hello everyone,

We are currently building our semi-detached house and have installed HaloX-P junction boxes in the plasterboard ceiling in the kitchen, hallway, bathroom, and WC. Now we are looking for suitable GU10 spotlights.

I have already spent hours researching online and have also read quite a bit in this forum, but unfortunately, I haven’t made much progress.

Our issue is that we need spotlights with a wide beam angle, at least 60°, preferably even 120°. In our semi-detached house, on the ground floor, there is only one door to the WC; everything else is open! In the kitchen, we have wired HaloX junction boxes above the countertop arranged in a U-shape, with a dimmer installed for these. Additionally, in the same room, there is a hallway light for the kitchen, which is not dimmable and has its own circuit. For this, we need recessed spotlights that look almost identical to the dimmable ones. In the bathroom, we need dimmable recessed spotlights again, but with slight splash protection since one spotlight is located in the shower area (though our ceiling height is 250cm (8 ft 2 in)).

So far, we have come across some very affordable models called Sweet-Led and Tevean, which, according to reviews, are supposed to be very good. Then there are more expensive options like Ledon, ELV, Ikea, Melitec (Aldi), Paulmann, Tevea, Osram, and Philips.

We would be interested to hear if you have any experience with various LED recessed spotlights. Which ones would you recommend, and which would you advise against? The biggest challenge, as I see it, is that both dimmable and non-dimmable spotlights need to be installed in the same room.

Thank you very much

Best regards, benkler1401

In fact, without exception, ALL integrated driver (230 Volt) spotlights are problematic and ALWAYS poorly dimmable or not dimmable at all (even if it says otherwise). They either flicker, buzz, or only dim down to about 50%.

The only viable solution is to use 24 Volt LED spotlights (12 Volt models are also not recommended) with proper power supplies (e.g., meanwell) and quality dimmers (e.g., eldoled 720d, which is currently the benchmark).

Regards, Steffen

benkler1401 schrieb:
non-dimmable and dimmable spotlights

You lack the basic understanding.

retrofit = never dimmable
12 volt, 24 volt = dimmable

Thank you very much in advance for your help.
Ok, great, thank you very much.
Would it be possible to operate the already 230V wired spots, which are supposed to be dimmable, with 24V using a transformer or something similar? The power supply in the HaloX should actually be sufficient.

And are there spotlights that are identical or quite similar as retrofit and dimmable versions?

Thanks

benkler1401 schrieb:
Thanks already for your help.
Ok, great, thank you very much.
Would it be possible to run the 230V wired spots, which should be dimmable, using a transformer or something similar to 24V? The power supply in the HaloX should actually be sufficient.

And are there spotlights that are identical or quite similar as retrofit and dimmable?

Thanks

Forget all the retrofit stuff. It doesn’t matter if 230 volts or 24 volts run through the cable. You can simply use 24-volt spots (I recommend the Constaled from Voltus) and install appropriate power supplies and drivers either centrally or decentrally.

The halox-p enclosures have additional transformer channels. Otherwise, the transformers probably wouldn’t fit inside the enclosure.

As far as I know, transformers cannot be placed arbitrarily far from the spotlights. I believe the cable length limit is just a few meters (yards). Am I wrong about this?

This is the first time I’m hearing that 230V spotlights are considered "trash." Could you explain in more detail what exactly is wrong with them? Are there any articles or sources that confirm this? I can accept that they may not dim well.

At my in-laws’ house, several spotlights with transformers operating at 24V are installed. When I turn the dimmer, it starts to hum.