Hi, I've seen showroom, hotels,cafe, ID using eyeball for their lighting instead of the safer/conventional downlight.

I know downlight have wider angle of lighting and generally makes the house brighter while eyeball's light is more focused and smaller angle of lights.
Planned to go for eyeball as I like the cozy feel and ambiance in cafe/show room, I will be having some light trough for additional supplementary lighting too.

May I know if anyone have installed eyeballs in their house can share their experience? What watt gu10 eyeball are you using and what color temp?

My main concern:
- the eyeball might be too bright/sharp for eye when we look slightly upwards in the house?
- will it be hot?
- it won't be bright enough (my contractor insist on this)
- it might look nice at the start, but for long term everyday living, it is not ideal

Thanks.

better to go with conventional downlight.

Downlight don't cheap out and put just one super bright concealed downlight. It become very annoyingly glaring and harsh.

Remember the downlight stuff was used in hotel ballroom with tall ceiling and many many output locations.

If you like the soft glow, cosy kinda feels from a single source can consider surface mounted diffused lights/uplights. This tend to diffuse the light better.

- the eyeball might be too bright/sharp for eye when we look slightly upwards in the house?
It's not bright enough for working area, esp living room. But when you put two eyeball above the sofa, then it will be too bright like you're sitting under spotlight because of the limited angle of 36 deg.

- will it be hot?
It's not hot as the watt is small. The max watt of GU.10 that I could find in the market is about 7-8 w, 560lm.

- it won't be bright enough (my contractor insist on this)
My bloody ID lady also insisted and forced me to take it. Told her i want bright enough (at least 1000lm) in the toilet , she just ignored and installed one GU10 at the toilet. I gave up arguing with her and fed up.

- it might look nice at the start, but for long term everyday living, it is not ideal
Indeed it's not ideal for daily use , esp at working area like kitchen, study room. But it's fine for ambient like living room or bedroom. Make sure you have other conventional light source (not spot light) that bright enough where you need to carry out some daily task or work, like preparing meal, cleaning, or even sewing a button etc.

For GU10, the normal watt in the market is about 4-5w - 400lm; max can be found is 7-8 w, 560lm, all 36 or 38 deg (cant remember exactly the number). Hardly find one with 120 deg.
Temp color, for ambient go for 4000k (slight yellow), for working go for 6500k (white), dont take 2700-3000k, with small watt and weak lm, the yellow is very dimmed.

Just sharing, I have installed both downlights & eyeballs for my units. Feel free to compare.
The lights have different set of switches, so I can 'on' the lights based on my needs/feels





This post has been edited by C_ST: Aug 4 2022, 02:24 PM

Warm light (3000k) is ok for living area and bed room if you want that cozy and warm ambience

But 4000k above is a must for toilet and kitchen. Not a fan of 6500k (white), feels a bit outdated and ugly aesthetic wise but its the most practical if you want the best brightness for working light

This post has been edited by ZeneticX: Aug 4 2022, 02:40 PM

How many watts are your downlights and eyeballs?

Will the ceiling fan create shadows when your downlights are on?

This post has been edited by ZeneticX: Aug 4 2022, 02:41 PM

Downlights 18w - cool white for living & dining room, daylight for kitchen (the 2 lights far most end of the photo)
Eyeball 5w - all warm white

Maybe coz i blurred my photos. The photos are captured with fan on, and to your answer, no shadows. My contractor helped to do 'calculation & measurment' to make sure no shadow.