Indirect lighting in the living room? You can do it. At the same time, general lighting was also installed. The lighting was made two-level by attaching LED light strips to the beams. Read here how the installation was done and see the pictures!
Easy indirect lighting for your living room with temperature adjustable LED strip light
The LED strip used was a SOLO 14.4W high colour rendering index (CRI98) LED strip with adjustable colour temperature. The advantage of a colour temperature adjustable strip is that it always gives you the right temperature in the living room, depending on your mood or the outdoor light.
A metre of SOLO CCT 14,4 W/m LED strip gives approx. 1 000 lumens, so there’s plenty of light output for a high room, but fortunately it can also be dimmed to suit the mood. The lighting was installed in two different control groups.
Overhead lighting: indirect lighting for the living room. The light is directed upwards towards the light ceiling and from there it is reflected downwards through reflectors.
Downlights: direct general lighting in the living room. The height of the light is 260 cm and the LED profiles open the light at an angle of 110 degrees well into the living room, providing general lighting.
LedBand for the living room, made in the LedPajka or at home
When the need and desire for a living room lighting system arose, the following steps were taken. For this project, LedPaja prepared everything as agreed and the steps were as follows
- Led strip light selection
- Transformer and button selection (ZIgbee)
- Checking the dimensions
- Cutting profiles
- Cutting the Led strip light to the right length.
- Measuring the connecting wire to the transformer and soldering it to the LED strip light.
Since the led profiles are 2,5 meters long and the length of the beams is more than 3 meters, the led profiles were made in two parts and the led strip came ready to roll.
Moving to the installation site
The installation took place in the living room and of course the first thing we did was spread out our stuff as if we were at home… Then the installation started. The installation proceeded as follows:
- Matching the lengths of Led profiles to the installation site.
- Screwing the Led profile brackets in place approx. Every 50cm.
- Pressing the Led profile into the brackets. Note that one bracket always goes to the extension to fix the parts together!
- Led strip light installation on led profile.
- Mounting the cover in place. Note that the seam of the cover comes at a different point than the seam of the profile, which reinforces the extension point!
- Running the wires of the Led strip light as unobtrusively as possible to the transformer.
- Connecting the wires to the transformer on the low-current and mains side.
- Wireless control pairing between the controller (Zigbee) and the transformer.
Installation of Led profiles
The Led SOLO CCT strip is 12mm wide, so the 8mm low profile is perfect for this application. Black was chosen as the colour of the Led profile. The inner groove of the profile is 12,5mm, so it is made for this LED strip. The beams were quite narrow, only 45mm wide, so the profiles were centred.
First, a visual check was made to ensure that the profiles were the right length and the point where the profile extension joined was marked. The brackets were screwed to the bottom of the beam, as well as to the top. One bracket should always be placed at the joint to ensure that the profiles continue straight and neatly. The brackets were attached approx. every 50 cm. Then just the profiles were pressed into place with “NAPS”.
Led strip lighting installation
Once all the LED profiles were in place, the installation of the LED strip lights began. The heat-adjustable SOLO tape has a heat-conducting double-sided tape ready for use. First, the debris was wiped off the bottom of the profile and then the LED strip lights were glued into the groove.
First, the gluing of the LED strip started at the power supply end and proceeded from there towards the end. This is because if for some reason the tape is, for example. too long, you can cut off the excess at the end.
Secondly, once the led strips were in place the covers were pressed into place. The insertion of the Led profile cover was started in reverse, first at the shorter end, using the cover of the full length profile (2.5 m). This provided a solid and straight extension to prevent the aluminium extension point and the seam of the lid from hitting.
Temperature adjustable led strip needs a transformer suitable for the type of strip
Once the LED strips were in place, the installation of the transformers began. Fortunately, at this location, electricity was easily accessible on the wall near the beams in the living room. The power is always on, but that’s a good thing with these Zigbee transformers, which are controlled by wireless radio buttons. The transformer comes with three wires at the low-current end, so not all transformers are compatible with the colour temperature adjustable LED strips.
The three-pole wires from the led strip lights were taken to the transformers, one transformer always has two led strip light wires. The lower LED strip lights came on their own transformer and the upper ones on their own transformer. This allows the lights to be used at different times. At the same time, we checked that the LED strips were working 100% correctly, and that no joints were broken, for example. Sometimes, during transport or installation, an accident occurs and the wire tears off the copper base of the LED strip light.
Finally, the wires were cleaned up with a masking tape.
Create a cosy atmosphere in your living room with easy colour temperature adjustment
The brightness and colour temperature of the light can be easily adjusted to the desired Kelvin level with a wireless controller. For example, warm dimmed light just to create a mood, or a slightly more neutral and brighter light for reading a book or socialising in the living room. The controller is a wireless Zigbee controller paired with a Zigbee receiver/transformer.
The controller, a wall button, works with a pair of batteries and the signal works on radio frequencies from up to 20 metres away. Separate buttons were fitted for the top and bottom lights, and both were mounted in a Schneider EXXACT 2-piece frame set. Convenient and neat. The buttons are also available in black. The button acts as an easy control and has two memory slots for easy storage and use of your favourite settings. Just hold the button down and save the situation. One press brings up the saved situation.
If you want to time and program the light to behave according to sunlight, for example, you also need a Zigbee bridge or hub, such as Philips Hue, Samsung Smart Things or Homey. That is, any Zigbee 3.0 bridge.
Indirect lighting in the living room – the result pleased
The customer was very satisfied with the result. The lighting in the living room underwent a complete makeover, becoming atmospheric yet practical, serving all occasions.
The transformers were sized to allow for the possibility of adding one more light to the middle beam later, but for now the experience of using those two LED strip lights down and two up was sufficient.
Amount of light in the living room
For a living room, 150-200 lux is usually enough for general lighting, but for reading, +500 lux should be enough to avoid eye fatigue. In this case, the light came to the sofa below approx. 250 Lux and it was perceived as a huge improvement on the old. The amount of light is sufficient for a normal stay and the kitchen will provide additional lighting for the space. And of course there are still possibilities, because lights can be added to the middle beam afterwards.
Indirect lighting in the living room can never be the only source of light, as the lighting should consist of three layers. Indirect, general and task light. All complement each other. So, in this solution, indirect lighting was provided in the living room (upwards) and general lighting (downwards).
Other destinations
Not everyone has beams in the ceiling, of course, but you can also get indirect light into your living room with wall profiles. Indirect light to the ceiling with a retrofit profile can also be achieved at the edge of the ceiling or lower down on the wall (light in two directions).
You can also do drop-down elements on the ceiling, creating a very graphic look and elegance, as in this twin renovation.
Led lighting expert
LedStore has been an expert in LED lighting since 2010. We have our own product design, so our products are technologically state-of-the-art.
We focus on light colour temperature controlled and high colour rendering index lights. We do around 500 lighting designs in a year.
We offer a service of custom made led strips, i.e. custom made led light strips in profile. Also installed.
Remember that we are always ready to offer our help to you along the way, by email (myynti@ledstore.fi) and by phone (045 251 4510). Feel free to share photos of your own projects on social media #ledstorefi on IG and ledstore.fi on FB. We love to see the cool things done by our LEDs, and it also helps to provide inspiration for those who are not sure about the power and awesomeness of LEDs. Did you know that we already have over 3 500 pictures of our LED installations in our Gallery!
Gallery of Led lights:
Product gallery: Pictures of products in different installation locations
Indirect light: Indirect light in different spaces
Room-specific: Light in different rooms
References: Complete houses that have been photographed
