What sized recessed lights

3 years ago

Doing electric walkthroughs on a new home construction.

Contractor said they typically do 6" recessed lights (I've asked them to send me the specific model number they typically use), but I feel like I've seen smaller lights in newer homes.

Is 4" more of the standard today? My understanding is the larger cans were more popular when more lumens were needed, but with modern LEDs, can get the same Lumens/spread from 3 or 4" cans?

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Comments (4)

3onthetree
3 years ago
You can get some 4" integral LED recessed fixtures with the same lumens as a 6", but that doesn't mean you want to substitute them 1:1. What you need to see is an electrical plan, so you can review all things electrical: receptacles, switches, lights, etc.
stm25rs
Original Author
3 years ago
Other new question on this subject. I see there are canless lights available. I'm not talking about the flat stick-on looking wafer lights (I think those look weird), but basically what looks like an LED trim for a can, but it gets installed directly to a hole in the drywall.

Is there any reason not to go with that style? Does having a can make it easier for eventually replacing the light when it fails?
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3onthetree
3 years ago
If you go with an integral LED fixture, there is no reason to install a traditional "can" housing first. It is installed as a remodel fixture, meaning after drywall.

The "easiness" you might hear or read refers to replacing a 'bulb' in an Edison style socket that can only occur in traditional "can" housings. It's obviously simple enough for a 5 year old.

The "difficulty" you might hear or read refers to an integral LED fixture (integral means it has a trim, lens, diodes, and the transformer all as 1 complete formed unit) that when fails has to be matched - the trim profile/color, lens opaqueness/shape, diode placement, and color temperature. But it has little to do with a "can" housing above it, if there were one.
stm25rs
Original Author
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Got it, thank you for the explanation, I understand the difference now!

Our electrician prefers t ogo with the can housing + retrofit style, I think because then the drywaller puts the holes in, rather than the electrician coming back through and cutting spots for the canless integral LEDs.

He typically uses Halo LT56, but since I want to go 4", I see they have an LT4.

I've got a good kitchen layout figured out but not trying to figure out spacing for the rest of the house.

Electrician said he doesn't use 4" for general light because "it's a very narrow beam" but I checked the photometrics of the LT4 vs LT56 and they're very similar.....

So I think I need to provide some guidance for spacing changes of 4" vs what he proposed for the 6"