How to calculate the number of spotlights for a room

Lack or excess of artificial lighting is considered a significant disadvantage of the room. In the first case, the environment does not allow full rest and work, negatively affecting the quality of vision due to its constant stress. An excessive amount of light is the cause of a significant waste of electricity. Specialists in the field of repair and design point out the need for a competent calculation of the quality of lighting. It is recommended to select the number of lamps, depending on their power, in accordance with the requirements of the current edition of SNiP 23-05-95 "Natural and artificial lighting".

Calculation of the illumination of premises for various purposes

There are several ways to calculate the required number of fixtures:

• Numerous online calculators posted on the pages of specialized sites for the construction and furnishing of the interior. The user needs to enter the required room data. The built-in program will calculate the required number of lighting devices and their recommended power in a matter of seconds. This method has significant drawbacks. As a rule, the company that owns the site develops a calculation scheme, taking into account the lamps available for sale. The buyer is "tied" to a specific type of lamp and is deprived of the right to choose.
• Calculation by the formula. It is necessary to have a table of illumination standards for different types of residential premises at hand, in accordance with the current rules of the SNiP. It's easy to find it on the Internet. The illumination of the working area should be at least 300 lux, for living rooms the norm is 150 lux, for auxiliary and utility rooms - at least 50 lux. It is worth noting the special requirements for a children's room, the calculation of lamps for which must be done based on the mandatory norm of 200 lux.
  
• Counting taking into account the power of lamps and the area of ​​\ u200b \ u200bthe room. Gives relatively accurate results, but can only be used for LED luminaires. In addition, the calculation formula does not take into account the coefficients of dimming, unevenness and margin, which have a significant effect on the intensity of the luminous flux.

When calculating lighting, it is important to consider the temperature of the light. The higher it is, the higher the spectrum of artificial light. As a result, the room will be brighter without the use of additional sources. Two lamps of the same wattage, but with a difference in light temperature, give a different effect.

How many spotlights do you need for a room of 16 meters

The calculation of the number of units is performed according to the following formula:

Where E - the norm of illumination of a particular room according to the SNiP tables, S - its area in square meters, F - luminous flux of one lamp in lumens, H - the height of the stretch ceiling. For the last parameter, the following coefficients were calculated:

• for ceilings up to 2.7m H equal to one;
• for ceilings 2.7-3.0 m H is equal to 1.2;
• at a height from 3 to 3.5 H equal to 1.5;
• for higher ceilings H paven 2.

For LED luminaires, a table has been calculated for linking power to the value of the luminous flux.

If you intend to choose other types of lamps, the data for calculating the number of lamps can be specified in the table:

The result, obtained by formulas and online calculations, gives only the minimum level of illumination of the room in accordance with the requirements of SNiP.If one of the luminaires fails and you cannot find a replacement immediately, the illumination will significantly decrease. Therefore, the best solution would be to calculate the number of fixtures depending on their power level.

Calculation of the number of fixtures in a stretch ceiling

This calculation method is recommended only for LED spotlights that will be installed in a living room with a standard ceiling height. Changing one of these parameters will entail a significant distortion of the result.

The general rule that must be followed when working with the formula is: for every square meter of area there should be 5W of artificial light.

The high accuracy of this calculation of the number of LED lamps per square meter is confirmed by numerous consumer reviews. The quality of the resulting luminous flux will be comfortable for work, daily activities, and rest. In addition, if over time you decide to install dimmers for more comfortable lighting, the power reserve of the installed lighting devices is quite enough to regulate the luminous flux.

An important parameter that must be taken into account is the presence of a chandelier that provides general lighting in the room. If it is decided to abandon it, the entire burden of creating a comfortable environment will fall on spot lighting. If you are planning to purchase a chandelier, the number of additional lighting units will decrease.

How to calculate spot lighting

To calculate how many spotlights you need for a room of 16 square meters without a chandelier, you need to perform two steps. The area of ​​the room is multiplied by the lighting rate of 5 watts. The result is 80 W of the total power of all purchased and installed devices. Now it remains to select lamps of suitable power, and then divide the total power by the power of the unit of the device. For 8 W lamps, their required number will be 10, for 10 W lamps - 8, for 15 W lamps - 6. In the latter case, an exact mathematical calculation gives 5 units with the remainder of the division. It is recommended to round up the total.

This method of calculation provides the buyer with freedom of choice. If the design of the room provides for the installation of a small number of lamps, it is worth giving preference to lamps of increased power in order to reach a total figure of 80 W according to the calculation. If you want to create the effect of zoning space precisely due to spotlights, you can choose lamps of lower power, but in larger quantities.

If you plan to hang a chandelier in the center of the ceiling, the calculation must be adjusted. It is not difficult to do this: the proportion "5W per square meter of area" remains the same, but when multiplied by the area, the finished result is halved. For this example, the calculation will look like this:

• 5 W * 16 m2 area = 80 W of the total power of artificial light devices;
• 80 W / 2 = 40 W of power will be needed for spotlights.

Similar calculations are carried out for lamps that are planned to be installed in a chandelier. According to the above calculated data, it accounts for 40 watts of total power. If there are 5 horns in the selected chandelier model, 5 lamps of 8 W each are bought. If the chandelier has three arms, the exact dividing result will give 13.3 watts per lamp. Since such models are not available, it is worth giving preference to 15 W lighting devices.

Regardless of the design of the room, its orientation to the cardinal points, the chosen type of chandelier, it is important to comply with the above standard - 5 W per square meter of the room.If it seems to you that there is not enough light in the room, you should additionally purchase a stylish floor lamp or table lamp that will decorate the recreation area thanks to its original design.

By giving preference to low-power spotlights, you can purchase an increased number of them. With the help of such a spotlight, you can create an interesting pattern on the ceiling and highlight the recreation area, making it somewhat lighter than the main space of the room.