Lack or excess of artificial lighting are considered significant room deficiencies. In the first case, the situation does not allow to fully relax and work, negatively affecting the quality of vision due to its constant tension. Excessive amount of light causes a significant waste of electricity. Specialists in the field of repair and design indicate the need for a competent calculation of the quality of lighting. It is recommended to select the number of fixtures depending on their power according to the requirements of the current edition of SNiP 23-05-95 "Natural and artificial lighting".
The calculation of the illumination of premises for various purposes
There are several ways to calculate the required number of fixtures:
- Numerous online calculators located on the pages of specialized sites for the construction and arrangement of the interior. The user must enter the necessary room data. The built-in program in a matter of seconds will calculate the required number of lighting devices and their recommended power. This method has significant disadvantages. As a rule, the company-owner of the site develops a calculation scheme taking into account the fixtures available on its sale. The buyer is “tied” to a specific type of lamp and is deprived of the right to choose.
- Calculation by the formula. At hand you need to have a table of lighting standards for different types of residential premises, in accordance with the current SNiP rules. It is easy to find on the Internet. 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 the children's room, the calculation of the fixtures for which must be done based on the mandatory norm of 200 lux.
- Counting taking into account the power of the lamps and the area of the room. It gives comparatively accurate results, but can only be used for LED lamps. In addition, the calculation formula does not take into account the coefficients of dimming, unevenness and margin, which have a significant impact on the intensity of the light 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 lighter without the use of additional sources. Two lamps of the same power, but with a difference in light temperature, give a different effect.
How many spotlights do you need per room 16 meters
The calculation of the number of units is carried out according to the following formula:
Where E - the lighting rate of a particular room according to the tables of SNiP, S - its area in square meters, F - luminous flux of one lamp in lumens, N - the height of the stretch ceiling. The following coefficients are calculated for the last parameter:
- for ceilings up to 2.7m high N equal to one;
- for ceilings 2.7-3.0 m N equal to 1.2;
- at a height of 3 to 3.5 N equal to 1.5;
- for higher ceilings N rAven 2.
For LED luminaires, a table for linking power to the amount of luminous flux is calculated.
If you intend to choose other types of lamps, the data for calculating the number of fixtures can be clarified by the table:
The result obtained by formulas and online calculations gives only the minimum level of illumination of the room according to the requirements of SNiP. If one of the fixtures fails, and you cannot immediately find a replacement for it, the illumination will noticeably decrease.Therefore, the optimal solution would be to calculate the number of fixtures depending on their power level.
Calculation of the number of fixtures in a suspended ceiling
This calculation method is recommended only for LED spotlights that will be installed in a residential building with a standard height ceiling. Changing one of these parameters will entail a significant distortion of the result.
The general rule that you must adhere to when working with the formula is: for every square meter of area there should be 5W of artificial light.
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- The layout of the fixtures on the ceiling
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- Schemes of spotlights with a chandelier
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- Schemes of spotlights without chandelier
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 received luminous flux will be comfortable for work, daily business and leisure. In addition, if over time you decide to install dimmers for more comfortable lighting, the power reserve of the installed lighting devices will be enough to control 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 whole burden of creating a comfortable environment will be on the spotlight. If you plan to purchase a chandelier, the number of units of additional lighting will decrease.
How to calculate spot lighting
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In order 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 watts of total power of all purchased and installed devices. Now it remains to choose the lamps of suitable power, and then divide the total power by the power of a unit of the device. For 8 W lamps, their required amount will be 10 pcs, 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 involves the installation of a small number of fixtures, it is worth giving preference to high-power lamps in order to reach a total of 80 W according to the calculation. If you want to create the effect of zoning of space precisely due to spotlights, you can choose lamps of lower power, but in larger quantities.
If it is planned to hang a chandelier in the center of the ceiling, the calculation must be adjusted. It is not difficult to do this: the proportion of “5W per square meter of area” remains the same, but when multiplied by the area, the finished result is halved. For the considered example, the calculation will look as follows:
- 5 W * 16 sq.m. area = 80 W total power of artificial light devices;
- 80 W / 2 = 40 W of power will come from spotlights.
Similar calculations are carried out for lamps that are planned to be installed in the chandelier. According to the above calculation 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 there are three horns in the chandelier, the exact result of the division will give 13.3 watts per lamp. Since such models are not available, it is worth giving preference to lighting devices at 15 watts.
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 the room is not light enough, you should additionally purchase a stylish floor lamp or a table lamp, which will decorate the recreation area thanks to the original design.
Having given preference to spotlights of small power, you can purchase their increased number. With this spotlight, you can create an interesting pattern on the ceiling and highlight a relaxation area, making it somewhat brighter than the main space of the room.
