Soffit Lighting

It is generally thought that having a spacing of two metres between outside downlights on a single-storey home will give you plenty of light. Even so, the amount of external downlights that you will need is a matter of personal taste and individual needs of your home. Deciding this will depend on a few factors, including:

• HEIGHT OF THE SOFFIT. Consider how high up the soffits are. If you want to install them on a low building, you might not need many lights at all; the illumination has less of a distance to shine down, meaning fewer soffit downlights can cover more area at once.
• STYLISH EFFECT. What aesthetic appeal are you hoping to create? Would you prefer light beams overlapping one another to give complete coverage of the area? Does having single-focused beams of light shining separately sound more appealing to you? One will require more soffit lights than the other, so this is a major decision to be made at the very beginning stages of planning the project.
• CONSIDER THE ANGLES. Typically, exterior soffit lighting will shine a wide beam angle of at least 30 degrees. Knowing this, you can whip up some rough drawings using calculations to estimate just how many you may need to have.
• The number of outdoor downlights you need to have may be directly proportionate to the wattage of each of them. Pay attention to the wattage amount of each bulb and the subsequent number of lumens emitted when choosing your outdoor soffit lights.

Much like any other kind of lights, outdoor downlights come in a number of different wattages. As a general rule, you can expect that one watt of LED light will output between 80 and 100 lumens. To apply this to real world wattage amounts, consider the following:

• A 3-watt LED bulb is the equivalent of a halogen bulb with 25 to 30 watts.
• A 5-watt LED bulb is the equivalent of a halogen bulb with 45 to 50 watts.
• A 9-watt LED bulb is the equivalent of a halogen bulb with 60 watts.

Simply put, you don’t have to sacrifice the brightness of a halogen bulb to reap the benefits of an LED light. The only thing that truly changes is the reduced energy output, which is a perk. LEDs can shine as brightly as halogen bulbs but with 80 percent less energy needed.

Some projects around the house can be tackled by a DIY enthusiast, but lighting of any kind is not one of them. Because of the intricate aspects of LED soffit lighting installation and the dangerous element of electricity, it isn’t a good idea to take it into your own hands. You should always get the assistance of a qualified electrician to install exterior soffit lighting for you.