Any person who has made repairs in his apartment is inevitably faced with the need to install proper lighting for all areas. Today, the market offers a wide selection of lighting devices and designs. Flat ceiling lights are considered one of the main and popular solutions for this issue recently.
Sometimes it is quite difficult for a person to navigate in all this variety and make the right choice that would be justified in this particular case. Of course, the average buyer cannot do without outside help and having the necessary information about the technical characteristics and other specifics of light sources. We will try to help in this matter by describing the main flat ceiling lights and their modifications, which are widely used by many buyers.
Varieties
At the moment, there are a number of variations in this segment of flat ceiling lights, which differ among themselves according to different criteria.
Raster ceiling lamps
This type of flat ceiling lights can have different designs, but one of the main ones is a parabolic grid. In this design, the transverse slats will consist of mirror aluminum, which allows you to play well with the space in which such a lamp will be located. Parabolic reflectors in this case will be responsible for scattering light radiation. In such a variation, the scattering of light will directly depend on the number of transverse lamellas – the more there are, the better this scattering.
In addition, raster lamps are divided into two categories: overhead and built-in. It is absolutely clear that the version with invoices will be much more profitable in terms of ease of installation. In both cases, LED and fluorescent lamps are used for lighting.
This type of lamps is mainly used in various industrial and office premises, as well as in school and preschool education institutions.
Flat chandeliers
The word “chandelier” is already familiar to many generations of people who are used to imagining it as an openwork structure with many light bulbs and decorative components. However, this idea is not entirely true now. After all, they began to produce many flat chandeliers that can fit into the interior of any apartment, without drawing too much attention to themselves.
Flat chandeliers can be equipped with a control panel. With its help, you can not only turn the light on and off, but also arrange different color illumination.
This type of ceiling lights is very easy to install on a surface, be it a plasterboard or an ordinary concrete ceiling. This is a very profitable solution, especially when it is not possible to build a light source into the ceiling structure. Installation takes place with the help of self-tapping screws or dowels, which are connected to the metal base, which is previously mounted on the ceiling.
Flat built-in lamps
This type of lamps can be mounted in any ceiling structure. In this case, the wiring will also be hidden from view. It is installed in a frame that is lined with plasterboard, wooden panels or plastic plates.
If the choice fell on built-in ceiling lights, then you need to know two important aspects:
- If you have a stretch or suspended ceiling, then in such lamps you need to use lamps no higher than 24 W. After all, with a stronger lamp power, there is a danger of overheating the ceiling surface.
- It is necessary to move the power supply unit outside the ceiling structure in order to conveniently control the light source.
Surface-mounted lamps on the ceiling
This type of lamps has many forms of execution: oval, rectangular, square, round, etc. This circumstance allows us to consider such lamps not only as sources of light, but also as a full-fledged decorative part of the interior.
In addition to the appearance, flat overhead lights have another advantage – they are very easy to install on the ceiling surface. Depending on the design, it can be installed directly on the ceiling itself or on an additional frame.
LED panels
LED panels can be square, round and rectangular. The thickness of such panels will be no more than 14 mm, which is very convenient in terms of their use. This circumstance allows you to mount them on the ceiling itself and inside, in the ceiling structure.
The use of LED panels is very wide. They can be used in shopping centers, offices, industrial and residential premises.
The main advantages of LED panels:
- High efficiency – more than 50% electricity savings.
- Very high lighting indicators of these panels, which are able to provide light for large rooms.
- The appearance of the panels, which can be incorporated into any interior of the room.
- There is no need to replace lamps, which is again reflected in cost savings in further operation.
Features of the design and selection of light bulbs
Depending on the design of various flat ceiling lights, different types of lamps are used, including: halogen lamps, incandescent lamps, fluorescent and LED lamps, etc.
In raster lamps, for example, energy-saving lamps are used – fluorescent and LED. This is due to the peculiarity of the design of raster lamps, which is a flat panel installed on the ceiling.
In flat overhead ceiling lights, it is theoretically possible to use any type of lamp, be it a fluorescent, halogen, LED or incandescent lamp. The only thing is that the incandescent lamp heats up very much, so its use is undesirable near suspended and stretch ceiling structures.
A very good solution for all flat ceiling lights will be the use of LED lamps, which have a number of advantages, such as energy saving and high efficiency. The only obstacle can be the relatively high price of LED components.
In a flat chandelier, a great solution would be to use halogen lamps. They heat up less than incandescent lamps, but are inferior to LED lamps in terms of characteristics. However, the low price can be the main argument in their favor.
Flat lamps as part of the interior
For a long time, flat lamps have not only the shape of an ordinary convex plate, which in itself is boring and does not add any design addition to the interior. Now you can find different variations of forms for every taste. In the living room, for example, the use of three-dimensional geometric compositions, which have an original appearance and soft light scattering, is justified. Such a design is suitable for both a traditional interior and a more modern one, in Hi-Tech style.
In a traditional style, where wooden panels or wallpaper with their imitation prevail, flat lamps with various details similar to tree branches are perfect. And the hi-tech style, for example, involves more relaxed forms. But here there is no strict instruction, you can combine any options in the most different interiors.
LED panels and flat chandeliers are perfect for rooms with low ceilings. This solution allows you to save space, in some cases, even artificially increase it. Such an opportunity, for example, is provided by the use of raster lamps on the ceiling. Due to their mirror structure, they visually increase the height of the walls in the room.
If we talk about the modern interior of the rooms, minimalism in all its manifestations is increasingly prevailing. In such cases, the use of openwork chandeliers and sconces is not always justified, based on the style of the room. Therefore, the use of flat ceiling lights fully justifies itself. After all, they very harmoniously fit into any stylistic interior of a certain room, without pulling the blanket over themselves, but just favorably emphasizing the design of the room.