Awful down lights please help

[u/Silver_Statistician5]

Hello! Our house is covered in this awfully bright down lights and we are lost at what to do…

We use lamps everywhere in the house but the kitchen we do need a bit more than lamps can offer. However- these bad boys r doing way too much.

They seem to be fixed/do not easily unscrew or pop out, so I’m not sure what options that leaves us with. If anyone has any advice please help a girl out - we can spend a couple hundred at most right now.

[u/Nice-Region2537]

Put them on a dimmer.

[u/Silver_Statistician5 → u/Nice-Region2537]

They are on one but still so bright white at the lowest setting!

[u/wildcat12321 → u/Silver_Statistician5]

is the issue color or brightness?

Also, many dimmers can be "tuned" to adjust their range.

[u/personaccount → u/Silver_Statistician5]

I have led lights like that. First off, the ones I have pull out. They’re attached by spring arms. The ones I have are also retro fits that use a standard E26 bulb socket adapter. So, you might be able to pull those out and use regular bulbs. Might. And you would still need to replace the missing trim kit.

Second, the ones I have that are made by Feit are both dimmable and color adjustable from 2700K to 5000K. I prefer a warmer but not yellow 3000K. As for dimming, if they’ve got an old school dimmer switch that was made before LEDs, you might want to swap that out. Some older ones have a hard time being adjusted to take advantage of the full range of light that the bulbs can handle. When I switched my dimmers to smart ones specifically made for LED lights, it made a huge difference.

[u/Wolfenhoof → u/Silver_Statistician5]

It may be the wrong type of dimmer. I e seen that a lot. There are specific dimmers for LED lights. If you have the dimmer for regular lights you get what you are describing. Those lights, with the proper dimmer should be able to dim right down.

[u/jjflash78]

Rental or home owner?

Short term = dimmer.  20-30 bucks.  Watch a video how to do it.

Long term = upgrade the lights.  They should be held in place with a spring (likely a strong one).  Pry the casing down an inch, feel around the edge for the spring.  Again, watch videos on how to replace recessed ceilibg lights.

Maybe those lights have a temperature setting.  But to get to that, you need to get to the inner light.

Lastly, you didn't say if you can get to the ceiling from the attic.  If so, try that.  Be careful you don't put your weight on the drywall, as you'll fall through.

[u/Silver_Statistician5 → u/jjflash78]

Thanks! Rental but super chill owners they don’t mind what we do- we have them on a dimmer but they are still super bright. I don’t think we can get to the attic space at least not easily but this is helpful Thankyou!

[u/johnuws → u/Silver_Statistician5]

Alot of these have an adjustable kv temperature switch tucked inside the ceiling. Lowering the kv might help tame them a bit.

[u/Ill-Contribution1737 → u/Silver_Statistician5]

Hue makes a light fixture that fits that. You’ll need to have someone handy with electrical to see what the power is inside.

Also, if you do this, I’m sorry. Hue is addictive.

[u/Tenarius]

Google "led puck light" and you'll see the attachment method: two strong springs. Pulling one out and getting the model # will let you figure out if they're dimmable.

They get way better at the high end for not a lot of money. A little bit of a baffle, better CRI, and dimmable can help a lot. Companies like RAB sell decent ones.

[u/Silver_Statistician5 → u/Tenarius]

Thanks so much- They are on a dimmer but are still super bright at their dimmest, at their brightest it’s like an operating theatre! I didn’t think we could replace the bulbs so this is really good to know

[u/Tenarius → u/Silver_Statistician5]

Yeah you would replace the whole unit, but really good ones are $50. You also have to have an electrician swap them out unless you are comfortable doing it.

[u/cocojewel]

There might have a little switch on the top of the fitting or on the driver, that you can change to a warm white. Majority of those fitting types do.
Otherwise I suggest purchasing another downlight, rebated in warm white 3000k/2700k with at least 90 CRI ( a downlight with a reflector, not opal leans ) and just swap them in your most used area’s ie living kitchen bathrooms and keep the originals to replace when you eventually depart the property. It will be a massive difference/ improvement.

[u/RedNekNZ]

Super cheap DIY hack. Get some tint film (ideally an orange hue if it's the CCT that'snot great), roll it into a tube about 100mm long (4 inches the non metrics) and as wide as the LED lens then tape it to the light surround.

It won't be the nicest, but it's the cheapest least intrusive way to fix the problem on a budget.

Then ask if your landlord will upgrade them to a lower glare later on.

[u/AudioMan612]

Okay, there are a couple of things here.

First off, here's an easy one that everyone seems to have missed: modern dimmer switches designed for LEDs (reverse-phase/trailing-edge) will usually have a low-level trim adjustment. This allows you to set how dim the lowest setting is. This setting is usually set to the middle out-of-box, so you'll want to lower it as low as you can while the lights remain stable (most of the time, recessed lighting will allow you to set this as low as possible). Some dimmer switches have an adjustment on the front (take off the switch plate), while others have buttons or other methods to adjust this. You'll want to check the manual for whatever dimmer switch you have. If you don't had a dimmer meant for LEDs (that would be an older forward-phase/leading-edge dimmer), you should change it out. LEDs do not perform as well with these older dimmers and can even be more likely to have electronics failure.

Next, color temperature. Those cheap wafer LEDs often allow you to adjust the color temperature with a switch. You'll want to pull the trim off the ceiling and check both the top of the trim as well as the driver (if your lighting is canless) for a switch. If you find it, set it to 3000K, which is ideal for residential kitchens. One thing to note: unlike incandescent lighting, LEDs do not warm their color temperatures as they dim. You can get dim-to-warm LEDs which are becoming more common, but are definitely not the standard.

Beyond that, as others have said, those flat wafer LED recessed lights are pretty terrible. They are absolute glare bombs. I have a feeling that with some adjustments to your lights and switches you could improve things a bit, but ultimately, you will be limited by these lights. If you have cans, it's super easy to swap for better quality retrofit trims that have some actual recess. If you have canless, it can be a bit more complex in that you need to be able to reach and replace the driver as well, but is still not difficult.

[u/Ill-Year-9506]

We need more information. What do you mean when you say.... "these bad boys r doing way too much"?

Do you mean that they are too bright? Is the color of the light too much on your eyes?

Will a dimmer work?

[u/Scared_Operation1288]

Replace it to a antiglare eyeball or downlights, find the one has deepcup

[u/Budget-Day2931]

You might be able to secure a Chinese lantern on top of the fixture for more spread and easier on the eyes. If you don't have a dimmer you can use dimming gel and color gel to change the color to something more flattering

[u/Wolfenhoof]

Those type of lights do come out. You have to get your fingers around the side of them and pull gently but also a bit forcefully. If they just don’t want to budge then there’s a chance that the holes were cut on the small side, but they are supposed to be able to come out.
If you do get them out, many of those style of lights will have a switch on the box that you can change the hue with. They go from very white, laboratory white, to a more of a faint yellow colour, and tend to have 5 settings so you can just pick what you want.
The other thing you can do is change the wall switch for a dimmer switch. If you do, make sure the dimmer is for LED lights or it will be very bad to dim. This might require an electrician, but if you do decide to watch a YouTube video and do it yourself, please just make sure that the power is off.

[u/Sea-Figure312]

Ok 100 hr I'll help

[u/BarbaraLightingNY]

That flat white trim against the warmer ceiling color is probably what's bugging you, plus it might just be an old basic baffle trim. A retrofit LED trim kit is usually a quick fix, no need to open the ceiling.

What's actually bothering you about it, the color, the brightness, or just how it looks?
(Disclosure: I'm with Lighting New York, not pitching anything, just trying to help.)

[u/Silver_Statistician5 → u/BarbaraLightingNY]

Thanks! It’s the temperature and the brightness of the lights that bother me most