Contents
After some trial-and-error we finally found what (we think) are the perfect recessed ceiling LED lights! The first LEDs we ordered were WAY too bright as the glass was clear instead of frosted. Even with a dimmer, the light was shocking for the eye. Then we stumbled on the Acegoo LED lights…
We installed 10 Acegoo Warm-White LEDs: in terms of lumens, 6-8 lights should be enough. We installed 10 in order to get a more uniform source of lightning (so when an overhead storage door is opened, we’re still getting light from somewhere).
The LED lights are operated with a dual zone dimmer; the bedroom zone has 4 lights, and the kitchen zone has 6 lights.
The 10 lights draw 1.3 amps total at 100% intensity, 0.1 amp total at minimum intensity. For reference, we will set the intensity to 100% when washing dishes, being productive, etc. We will set the intensity to approximately 10% for quiet moments.
What we Like about the Acegoo LED Lights
- They are dimmable (with an appropriate LED dimmer, see below)
- The frosted glass produces a soft & diffused light
- The spring mechanism makes it very easy to install and remove the LED from the ceiling
What we Don’t Like …
Nothing to see here!
Models & Where to Buy
Dimmer
LEDs MUST be dimmed with an appropriate LED dimmer. If you’re in the market for a 12V one, good luck! They are either super expensive or super ugly. After countless hours of research, we found the perfect match for our great LEDs! It’s a two-zone dimmer, so we can control the bedroom/kitchen LEDs independently. The sliders feel great and hold in place as they should. The lights are off when the sliders are completely down:
Installation
It doesn’t get easier than this…
Using a 2-3/8″ diameter hole saw (Buy on Amazon), we prepared the cutouts in the paneling:
To install the LEDs, pull-up the two springs and then the LEDs just “snap” into place (and can later be removed easily).
For the wood paneling installation write-up: https://faroutride.com/wood-paneling/
Electrical Wiring
The lights MUST be wired in parallel (series won’t work). Here is the wiring diagram:
(Note: to size your wires, please read: Electrical System Design)
Material shown in the sketch above:
- Fuse Box
- 3M SCOTCHLOK Quick Splice Wire Connector – Blue Gel – 14 AWG
- 3M SCOTCHLOK Quick Splice Wire Connector – Yellow – 12 AWG
To have solid and reliable electrical connections with different wire diameter (14 AWG vs 22 AWG), we used:
Random pictures:
Voilà!
Runner Up
As mentioned in the introduction, we first ordered LEDs from Superbrightleds.com. Why didn’t we used them? Because they are, well… SUPER-BRIGHT! The clear glass will not diffuse the light, and we found this to be very irritating. Also, we prefer the spring mechanism of the Acegoo LEDs; we feel they will hold better and can be replaced more easily. Don’t get us wrong: the quality of the superbrightleds.com is just fine. In fact, we would certainly use them at a location where the light is not directly in our eyes (such as the cargo area). But because of the clear glass, we would not recommend them for a living area.
Conclusion
We’re stoked with our Acegoo lights/Dual-Zone-Dimmer combo! If we were to start over, we would go the exact same route!
