Recessed lighting help

January 10, 2018 4:10 PM

My house has recessed lighting. I think it's installed incorrectly / missing a piece / got the wrong bulb / something, because it's way too dark and you can see up into the can from below in a way that looks wrong to me.

I know nothing about lighting, but the house was built in 2014 and several other things were done with shall we say a lack of craftsmanship, so I'm guessing the lighting was also installed incorrectly. This is what it looks like from below: https://imgur.com/a/RuDtu That looks wrong ... right?
The bulb is a 28W CFL bulb.
What can I do to make this look better and put out more light? (right now most of the light seems to get lost up in the ceiling). Different bulb, different trim?

posted by last_fall to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

There's a chance the fixture is missing a reflector, but no doubt in my mind you have the wrong bulb. You need a downlight bulb. I don't know what the base of that one looks like, but downlight or bulbs are available with different bases. Search "downlight bulb" images and find one with the right base. Diameter of the large part of the bulb will be important here too.
posted by rudd135 at 5:09 PM on January 10, 2018

I can't quite tell the depth, but it looks like you may want a PAR (reflector type) bulb. Can you remove the CFL bulb to see what the base looks like? That should give you an idea if you get to buy standard bulbs, or might need a more specialized or commercial type.

It's possible that you have fixtures with a built-in ballast for fluorescent lights.

Check out the base. If it's a standard base, try to get some measurements and compare to some common PAR bulb sizes. Here's a visual of Bulb Sizes (scroll down to PAR-Bulbs).
posted by reeddavid at 6:30 PM on January 10, 2018

Response by poster: This is the bulb I currently have. It's got a four-pin connector, and it looks like PAR bulbs with that base don't exist.

I looked for 4-pin downlight bulbs. Is this the kind of thing that would work? Seems like it's the wrong shape to hide the can.
posted by last_fall at 8:27 PM on January 10, 2018

Wow, that's weird and seems very uncommon for a house. Looks like this type of thing might fit? TCP 02707 - XR3014 Flood Pin Base Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002CYRXF2
posted by reeddavid at 10:31 PM on January 10, 2018

I have downlights. Mine have reflectors that are shiny, for the obvious reason. You have reflectors that are white(?), which I have seen but seem to me rather inconsistent with the objective of spreading the light. I have coiled CFLs replacing incandescents everywhere but the kitchen, but they are high end fixtures designed to work as downlights, and even though I am not using the proper bulbs they were designed for, they still work well. Sadly yours seem designed to merely look like downlights while throwing out some light. I also have a set of downlights in the kitchen using those PL-T CFL bulbs, but probably lower output - they are mounted horizontally in the fittings FWTW, and replaced a set of 12v halogens there. They are excellent lights, so it seems pretty clear your fitting is the real problem.

I think that LED may help, but it is hard to tell without seeing it in operation, maybe buy one and see how it goes. I suggest you visit a home lighting place, preferably one that sells architectural lighting and knows what it is talking about - not a big box store or similar. They should be able to give you solid advice on how to proceed.
posted by GeeEmm at 3:51 AM on January 11, 2018

Yeah, those look like the can lights in my house except we have a standard base. I think you want a reflector bulb, which would block the ability to see up into the ceiling, but with a 4 pin base. Maybe like this?
posted by thejanna at 7:43 AM on January 11, 2018

We have white reflectors but our bulbs cover the base. Another vote for getting a different bulb.
posted by amanda at 12:48 PM on January 11, 2018