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Project Difficulty:
Moderate
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Recessed lights come with a half-dozen or so standard parts, and the better ones also are offered with three to five options. Top-grade recessed lighting systems allow you to interchange some parts like trims, louvers, and diffusers so that you can alter the look of the fixture and the way it lights a surface. Let’s look at each of the parts and its function. (Fig. 1)
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1.
In the Ceiling
Housing
This is the part of the recessed light above the ceiling line. On some models, the housing and the reflector are the same thing. Some fixtures have housing that are designed to allow air to pass through to the space above. These may not be suitable if you live in an area with codes that restrict energy waste.
Mounting Frame
This metal support attaches the housing to the ceiling structure. Most often, the frame connects to the ceiling joists, but special frames are designed to attach to plaster and dropped ceilings as well as sloped ceilings. For retrofits, the frame may even clip to the existing ceiling.
Ballast
You’ll only find this part on fluorescent fixtures. The ballast controls the amount of electric current that’s sent to the bulb. It may be located outside or inside the housing (the latter for retrofitting). On some units, the bulbs have built-in ballasts so there’s no need for a separate one in the housing.
Lamp Socket or Lamp Holder
This is the electrical fitting into which the bulb or lamp goes.
Aperture
The opening through which light is directed, the aperture may be anywhere from 2 inches in diameter on up, and in various shapes including round, square, and rectangular.
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2.
Below the Ceiling
Reflector
The reflector typically is made of aluminum, silver, gold, bronze, or white-painted steel. It directs light out of the housing. On some units, the housing itself may have a reflective surface. On other units, the fixture has no reflective surface; instead, the unit is designed for use with reflector lamps.
Baffle
A series of light-absorbing ridges ringing the lower portion of the fixture’s interior, the baffle reduces glare when you view the light from an angle.
Lenses or Diffusers
These glass or plastic coverings are designed to fit under the flange trim to distribute the light in a pattern. Often, there’s more than one lens style available for a given fixture.
Louvers
Used instead of a lens or diffuser, louvers are made of thin metal or plastic strips in vertically oriented parallel strips, grids, honeycombs, or parabolic shapes. Like a baffle they reduce glare when you look toward the light.
Flange Trim
This ring covers and seals the edges of the opening in the ceiling into which the recessed light fits. The trim can be part of the reflector, or a separate plastic or metal ring.
Specialties
Special trims and adjustable fixtures are available if you’re using a fixture to "wash" a wall or as accenting lighting. The most obvious of these are the "eyeballs," which have a partially recessed sphere that you can rotate and tilt to direct light.
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