LED Basement Light For Unfinished Ceilings 

I’m glad you found the video so helpful! Thanks for watching!

Me too

Awesome! Glad you found it helpful.

Thanks for watching! Good luck

You’re welcome! Thanks for watching!

Thanks! We’re starting to have second thoughts about painting the ceiling. Mostly worried about sound so we might do drywall actually. Good luck!

Good idea!

Agreed, so much easier to pre-assemble the entire thing, wire it up and then mount. My preference would be to box in the open ends as well (another pair of 2x4s or some plywood). Provides a more finished look.

That’s a good idea too! Our plan is to paint the exposed ceiling black so I’m hoping the structure that holds the light will blend in and disappear. I was trying to avoid a lot of extra stuff in the ceiling which is why I didn’t want a lot of wood up there or a giant conventional can light. If you try it how you mentioned I’d love to see it!

You’re welcome and good luck! Thanks for watching!

Thanks for watching! Good luck

You're so welcome!

Most recessed lighting will have technical information about how far they project light downwards. It also depends on the space you put them in; some areas need more light than others. That’s all I really know about it! Hope that helps

Lotus LRG6-30K but any recessed LED light would work

Lotus LRG6-30K but any recessed LED light would work.

@@handymanandthehound5213 thanks for the reply and thanks again for the video! Happy new year to you and your family

You’re welcome! Thanks for watching.

They are!

Thanks! I used 14 gauge romex. That’s more than enough wire for LED lights. I wasn’t tying any outlets in after that part of the circuit so it didn’t require 12 gauge.

@@handymanandthehound5213 14 gauge wire is fine if it's on a 15 amp circuit breaker or fuse. Where did you find the lights? I like the style.

@@rshoe1023 how many of these led lights can you put on one circuit with 14 gauge and 15amp breaker?

@@unclefreddieDied Probably quite a few of them. But I wouldn't go crazy with it. Usually LED's draw a fraction of an amp per fixture, you would have to look on the fixture to see exactly what the amp draw is.

@@rshoe1023 I'd probably be safe with 10, right? Says 34watts. Saw some equation volts x amps = watts... probably could double the amount of leds... thanks for the reply

To insulate the wall. It’s a split level home so only half the basement is below grade. Insulating the walls with foam board saves on energy and keeps the house more comfortable.

@@handymanandthehound5213 ..Thanks. did you leave them exposed or install framing and drywall in front of them?

Framing and drywall. This type of foam board requires a fire barrier to meet code and drywall meets that requirement.

That would work! Thanks for watching

It’s actually not finished yet! And we’ve decided to drywall the ceiling instead of paint it. There’s just too much sound transfer from floor to floor.

@@handymanandthehound5213 i hear ya! I live alone so it doesnt really affect me. Plus my ceiling is only 7'6"

That’ll work! Did you do anything with the unfinished edges of the drywall?

That was our plan but ultimately decided to drywall it to help dampen sound from the first floor.

You should check the technical specifications of the two different sizes. The manufacturer should list how much area a specific fixture will light. This should help you determine what you need! It has more to do with placement and square footage of the room you’re lighting.

You add another wire and connect the black wires together, white wires together, and ground wires together. This is called wiring in series. Look up parallel vs series circuits. That should help explain it more

Those thin unfinished metal frames are exactly the look I was trying to avoid. Thanks for the recommendation though!

Into existing electrical. Running a new circuit to the box just for LED lights is kind of a waste of space in your breaker box. You might consider pulling power off another light fixture in the area but consult an electrician if you’re not sure!

Okay thanks for the info!

​@Handyman And The Hound Did you connect these in series? If yes, how did you achieve it? Also, what is the name of the tool that you used for stapling the wire? Which wire did you use? I am planning to take the output from an existing socket...

To add a light in series you need to connect it to this light. All black wires together, white together, etc. I hesitate to answer more of your questions because I fear you don’t have enough knowledge of basic electrical circuits to do this safely. You don’t need a staple gun, you can hand nail clips. And if you’re pulling power from an existing circuit it needs to be an appropriate gauge that is determined by the amperage of that circuit. Most common outlet circuits are either 15 amp or 20 amp. Wires are different sizes for each respective circuit. You can not mix wire sizes.

Good luck!

Sanded plywood

It sounds like your house has conduit so you will need to run new conduit to the light. You cannot mix wire types and use Romex usually. I would suggest calling an electrician if you are unsure about it.

I did that at first but my wife wanted them to be flush. This looks better in my opinion but it’s more work.

As long as you follow your local building codes it will!

Thank you!

I’ll have to check on the exact model tonight but they are Lotus 6” led lights

Short answer: I think it looks better and I got these lights on a great deal. Long answer: I didn’t want a big bulky can light since we weren’t putting up drywall or a drop ceiling. These will look nicer once we paint the ceiling. And some of these You can change the color temperature of the light with a switch on the driver. Much easier than buying different bulbs to see what looks best.

The stranded wires from the manufacturer are soldered and I’ve found if you don’t solder stranded wires they can get mashed up with inserting into a Wago style connector. I’d like to see a video from you doing it unsoldered if you can! It’s a pain to do it my way so I’d love an alternative.

⁠@@handymanandthehound5213 I’m a commercial electrician we don’t solder any stranded wires whatsoever there is no time to solder wires when we have to wire up hundreds of lights. So the trick is twist the stranded wires with your linemen or your hands. Make sure the wire is nice and stiff. Then you can insert it to the wago, or we like to call them quick connect. I agree it’s a pain sometimes. But if you insert the stranded wire just like how it comes then yeah it will mash up and not go in. Just twist the wire first then insert and you’re good, that’s how we do it.