Tips, inspiration & deco

We have already told you about the benefits of LED in another article, today we want to tell you about track lighting or LED spotlights.

The LED rails can be easily adapted to what you need, as they can be moved and focus the light point where you need it.

Currently this type of light is highly recommended for commercial premises, as proper lighting at the point of sale is proven to invite customers to buy.

The pleasant atmosphere of the room, correctly illuminated, achieves a relaxation on the part of the clients. A relaxed customer is more receptive to stimuli. It is there where playing with spotlights these items become objects of desire, focusing the gaze on certain points of attention (illuminated areas or products). By using lights and shadows in a planned way, special sensations can be achieved in the customer and this lighting causes the customer's attention to be drawn to them. 

What are the advantages of LED rails?

• Flexible: They allow the movement of the spotlight / projector and the orientation of the light beam.
  Its opening angle to illuminate, allows to focus all the LED intensity in a specific point, highlighting.
• Versatile: They adapt to different places: ceilings, walls, floors or can even be hanging.
• Decorative: They give a modern look to the room, with a more aesthetic or minimalist appearance.
• Compact:They make you save space compared to other luminaires, ideal for narrow spaces or small rooms.
• Anti-glare: Their design and brightness make them not dazzle customers.
  It has a high color rendering index, CRI: 90-100. This allows colorful products that are illuminated to stand out even more, looking very sharp. 
  There is a lot of variety, and therefore you can customize them to be implemented perfectly with your rooms.
  Their installation is very simple, you do not need to make a total renovation of the installation of the room or cut the ceiling.

Types of track spotlights:

• LED spotlight for spot lighting: its beam of light is closed, between 15 to 30 degrees. This accentuates the illuminated object above the ambient lighting.
• LED spotlight for dispersed lighting: Its light beam is wide, more than 40 degrees. So they illuminate specific areas but without giving so much intensity to the area, or with less enhancement than with spotlights.
• Adjustable track spotlight: Its light beam is adjustable from 15 to 60 degrees, which allows great versatility. It is possible to change the lighting environment and adapt it to, for example, changes in the decoration or design of a shop window. They are also widely used in museums, where exhibitions can be rotating (thus adapting to the different lighting needs of each object).
• Spotlights with lampholders: These spotlights allow the use of lamps that are not specific to the rails. They can take advantage of the wide variety of bulbs and sockets available on the market. For example, spotlights with E-27 or GU10 dichroic bulbs.
• Single-phase or three-phase spotlights: Suitable for each type of installation. The three-phase bulbs are usually made of better materials than the single-phase ones, they are a little more expensive, although there is more variety compared to the single-phase models, these are a little less aesthetic than the previous ones. 

All of these types of spotlights can be connected to recessed, surface mounted or suspended track rails. 

What is the difference between single-phase and three-phase track?

The three-phase installation has 3 independent circuits within the track, which allows you to choose which spotlights go to which circuit and therefore be able to switch them on independently.  On the other hand, with single-phase tracks, once we turn on the light of the track, all the lights of the track are illuminated. In the big stores they usually use the three-phase rails, since it allows them to turn on some at different powers or only at certain times.

How to know if the LED spotlight is of good quality?

We must look at the power factor, the factor indicates the amount of energy that is converted into work. This should be close to the value 1 as it is the highest quality, being 0 the null. In the vast majority of track lights with integrated LEDs, they usually have a factor of 0.90 and 0.95. This implies that the driver or power supply is of high quality. In the same way if we use a spotlight with an LED bulb, we must keep in mind this factor to make the most of the luminaire. 

How to install a track for spotlights?

Installing a track system is very simple:

• Plan where you will make the installation, you must take into account that the power supply of the rail is located at the end of it. Mark with a pencil on the ceiling where you will make the holes for the fastening of the rail, make sure that the rail when installed will be straight.
• Disconnect the power to avoid electrocution, try to do this installation on a bright day to take advantage of natural light.
• Make the necessary holes with the drill, and place the plugs where the screws that will hold the rails will go. Place the rail and fix it with the screws.
• Now strip about 0.50 cm from the power cable and the luminaire, it's time to splice! use a power strip to connect both ends in blue and both ends in black.  If there is a third wire (yellow or green) also connect it to the terminal strip and be sure to leave everything well pressed so that the wires do not come loose or touch each other.

How to install an LED track spotlight?

To install the spotlights on the rails:

• Depending on the type of spotlight it may have more or less parts, but they usually consist of: Locking lever (which fixes the spotlight to the rail), phase selector (usually numbered and can be rotated like a wheel or a switch to indicate which spotlights should or should not be illuminated), projector contact (must touch the protruding contacts of the rail contact rail), hooks (projections that anchor to the rail for better fastening).

Therefore it will only be necessary to fit the spotlight on the rail, taking into account to adjust the different parts mentioned above. For single-phase rails the lights will turn on at the same time, in the case of three-phase rails you will have to adjust the numbering on each spotlight.

• If they are LED bulbs you only have to turn on the light to put them to work, in the case of lampholders bulbs before you must accommodate the bulbs to the sockets. Something much simpler than what has been done so far!

In Prendeluz we offer you different accessories and connectors so you can adjust the installation of the different rails. Find the bulb that best suits your needs and ask us if you have any questions.