how to get rid of cool white led downlights?

Just bought a house and came to know that the led downlights installed are cool white which i absolutely hate . There are approximately 25 sharp white downlights installed throughout the house including living, dining, kitchen and stairs. Another problem i feel is that all the standing decorative lamps i have are all warm white. Both colors dont get along good. I have plans to put chandeliers or pendants as well, all in warm white. Please suggest me a cost effective solution to change these downlights to warm white.

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Accepted answers

MitchellMc

That's fantastic news @newbie25. I trust @ProjectPete will be excited to hear his solution solved your issue.

Many thanks for updating us.

Mitchell

All comments

Prof

Hi newbie25,

Best way to do it so all 25 sharp white lights are reduced to warm, is to contact an electrician and have him put in limiting resistors into your lighting circuit to reduce voltage..

The effect would be the same as when you use a light dimmer..

ProjectPete

There are adjustable downlights so you may get lucky and find that's what's in you house so I suggest you check this first. Simply pull them down/out from the ceiling (they're held it with a spring loaded clip) and on the side/back there's a small switch to change between cool and warm.

MitchellMc

Hi @newbie25,

Congratulations on purchasing your new house. It's great to see you've already received some helpful guidance from our members.

Could we trouble you for some images of the downlights in question? It would be beneficial to know what type they are in order to provide a solution. It might be a case of just retrofitting different globes; however, if they are a self-contained unit, the whole light might need to be swapped over. It would be worth following @ProjectPete's advice to see if there is a selector switch. As always if you are in doubt about checking this yourself, please enlist the assistance of a qualified electrician.

We look forward to hearing additional details of the lighting fixtures.

Mitchell

MikeTNZ

Prof,

I totally disagree with this idea,

Any resistor you put in the circuit will dissipate the lost energy as heat, this would require at least 10-20Watt resistors on a heatsink and possibly fan-forced ventilation, otherwise you have a fire risk.

I'm not sure any Electrician would want that on their conscience.

Also, it will not change the colour temperature of the lamps.

The best way to do this, is change the lamps to a different colour temperature, simple as.

Prof

Mike,

You can get resistors up to 100W. which would handle the load..but if the electrician can isolate the circuit for the LED'S only then 2 x 25W. resistors

would handle the load easily...

If the lights are able to be dimmed, then obviously the intensity would be reduced, which would have a similar effect to putting in warm globes..

Obviously the easiest way is to just replace the globes with warm ones..but at what cost for 25 globes !?

newbie25

Omg ,thankyou so much @ProjectPete . I just checked and found a switch behind the light. Switched to 3000k and it was all warm white.

Thanks alot, couldnt have figured this out by myself.

MitchellMc

That's fantastic news @newbie25. I trust @ProjectPete will be excited to hear his solution solved your issue.

Many thanks for updating us.

Mitchell

ProjectPete

Happy to help 😊

newbie25

Thankyou all , i changed all downs but the two on the stairs. They are way too high for any ladder to reach . There's a manhole nearby, but i am too scared that i might just fall through the plasterboard and end my life..lol. Any suggestion to reach these two downlights safely?

Jason

Hi @newbie25,

Apologies for the slow reply. @MitchellMc is taking a well-earned break at the moment and will be back in a week.

Let me tag @Prof, @ProjectPete and @MikeTNZ to see how they would tackle this job safely.

Thanks for your patience,

Jason

ProjectPete

Short of scaffolding, roof space is best way to go. Walking on the rafters is pretty easy @newbie25 - you could run a decent width plank of timber on too of the rafters so you have something to walk/balance on. Hope that makes sense.

MitchellMc

Hi @newbie25,

I apologise for the delay in my reply. It's great to see @ProjectPete has already addressed your question.

Since you have potentially saved yourself a great deal of money by finding that you can switch the colouring, perhaps it would be wise to splurge on a handy person's cost to finish the job. If you are not confident in going into the roof space yourself, I encourage you not to risk it and employ some help.

Mitchell

newbie25

Thankyou @ProjectPete and @MitchellMc for your advices. I agree with Mitchell ,and will hire someone to finish the job safely.

Thanks again .

Walzz

@ProfSorry Prof, that won't work.
The colour of LED lights is determined by the type of internal LED chips when they are manufactured.
Changing the forward current will have NIL effect on the colour.
With incandescent bulbs that was true - at lower voltages the became redder, and at higher voltages became whiter.
Resistors are never a good idea - they waste energy which you are paying $$ for and they create heat which CAN be a fire hazard.

As @ProjectPete said, on late model downlights there is often a colour temperature switch, usually 3 way for Warm-Cool-Daylight illumination.

It would be ironic if @newbie25 swapped out the old lights only to find later that they were adjustable after all.

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