Staircase / dimmer channels / tread lights

So you guys have made me welcome, here is my next topic for questioning...

I will have a staircase, and intend to place (wonder what you would call them) small rectangular type wall lights to shine down on each tread... You know those cute lights that site a few inches above the tread that a recessed into the wall.

Yet to work out how many I should use, one per stair tread / landing or one every second tread.

But the question in my mind is will I consume one, two or more dimmer channels. Yes I would like to use a dimmer, just so I can ramp them up, instead of turning it on full immediately (if your going to have this stuff - you need some things to show off).

Having said showing off, no I am not going to do crazy things like 1 tread = 1 channel, just so I can have the saturday night disco effect of them flashing on and off in a particular sequence (It could be fun to play with - but not in my house!!)

Now I have not selected the lights - so they may be low voltage or not / they may be LED or not - they may be leading edge or not...

What experience has anyone had with this type of setup - use 1 channel for the first set of lights to the landing in the middle, and another channel for the next set to reach the top floor ?

I realise it does depend on the number of treads / then type of light etc - but the question is really about best practice for this purpose.

(of course any pointers online to actual lights might help me decide on what I will install - there just appears to be many TV ads for lots of 'cheap' lighting shops going out of business, but not much information of what is actually available on the web !!!)

 

I was going to suggest 1 light per channel, so when you turn the lights on from the bottom the lights will follow you up the stairs, and vis versa coming back down - now that's cool

Ok, so you're not sold on that idea; what about 2 channels with every second light on the same channel. That way you can still have some fairly cool effects with different levels, as well as being able to use logic to control if all the stair lights come on or just half.

 

Peter - I like that... every second tread on a differnet channel - half light effect....

I like it when someone thinks outside the box !!!

(What no suggestion on differing colored bulbs on each tread all controlled on differing channels, so on a summers day, they get lit up in blue, for nice refreshing feeling, and red for winter to make you feeling warm and welcome)

Light chasers for stairwells.... Nah!

 

Well you could use Osrams system or similar. It can run DALI so you can programme it and the easy 60 system can be interfaced to run colour changing.........

 

Amber,

It's a house, he doesn't want to have 1 channel per tread, so I really think DALI is out of the question

 

I've done heaps of jobs using those. Be aware that the halogen ones from china are rubbish, as they overheat the lamps.

I'd use fittings rated for 20W G4 halogen, but run 10W lamps in them. Or, if you don't mind the light being "yellowish" you could use 20W lamps but set the max on the dimmers to 50-60%... that way the lamps would last forever.

You will go crazy if you use the 240V G9 halogen lamps, as the filaments are so fragile that vibration from the stairs will see them blowing continuously.

Transformers for the ELV ones must be remote. Use a quality Atco Speedy or similar - a 105VA will run 10 x 10W off a single 1A dimmer channel. Make sure the trannies are in a cuplboard etc and accessible - don't let the electrician "chuck them in the wall cavity"

I guess you could use LED too, but dimming them "properly" is going to be a bit expensive. If you decide to do that, get a proper controller from Osram, VS, Tridonic, etc and match it to the lights. You'll then need a 0-10V or Dali interface to do the dimming.

After the novelty wears off, you'll only use these lights for night lights anyway, so don't go too crazy

 

Was thinking more along the lines of giving a dimmable LED setup controlled from CBus, DALI is one way or there is a 1-10v setup available too. Could give some interesting effects.

I dont think its worth it myself, I'd just do one LED unit per tread and split them alternate steps on each channel, so one stringer would have two channels used and just switch em on depending on how much light you really need.

Im doing something similar in a new build project with stairway and in/floor lighting on a galleried landing.

 

I found that with low voltage hallogen step lights, one light unit for every 3 steps works very well, positioned over the middle of each 3 step group, at a height just slightly higher than the upper of the 3 step group. They have sufficient spread of light to allow this.

If you have them all on one dimmer, you can easily set it to half brightness, or whatever you need, rather than wasting another dimmer channel for every second light.

In my view it would only be worth going to multiple channels if you went to 3 or more for a chasing effect, with one light on each tread, and that would better suit a disco than your house.

It is easy to get carried away.

Good luck with your project.

 

Depending on the fitting this may be possible, and accessable in the future, better to have the trannie close to the light, rather than far away.

Couldn't agree more...

 

I support everthing already said. I have 17 treads on two sections of a staircase with a landing. I used a wall-mounted 12 V 10 W halogen light to cover three steps mounted 300 mm above each second step and two on each side of the landing. A total of eight lights on two 105 W transformers connected to a dimmer with a maximum setting at 35%. Works fine.

 

Similar setup with our staircase (curved geometric stair), we went for a total of six lights on eighteen treads. I used LED so that they could be low profile (small depth), 3W and low heat.

I think often for these projects you have to think about the angle of the light beam, directional angle and light spacing more than dimming. I suspect for some people that once the novelty wears off, even dimming becomes a less important facet than the actual light itself.

 

i dont suppose we could see any pics of this set-up or others that others have done..................