LED Stairway Lighting

[Monk]

I am looking for low watt LED lighting for a stairway. We had considered rope lighting but thought one light per stair might look better. I am going to be closing the right side wall next to the stairs sometime this winter - the left side is inaccessable so maybe it will need to shine from the right to the left only. The underside is inaccessable as well.
I found these that are adjustable and thought they might work OK and the ability to aim them would be good. Kind of expensive if I use 1 per stair - there are at least a dozen stairs.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Spotlight-EyeBall-LED-Fixture-White-LED-Downlight-for-Auto-Truck-RV-Boat-/280954988089?pt=US_Car_Lighting&hash=item416a38e639
 
These are adjustable also and might be a better choice - I get the feeling this website is not in the US...
http://www.ledluminous.com/1-watt-mini-led-recessed-light-p-208.html
 
Thoughts, comments? Pictures of your own install would be welcome!!
 
Thanks!

 

[pete_c]

I installed backlight glow strips everywhere in the house in the midwest.
 
You don't really notice them and they do provide enough light in the hallways and bathrooms when there are no lights on.
 
I have never illuminated the stairs as I would have to put some electric in which would be easy though.
 
The ones that I purchased are larger than the links I have posted. 
 
I will take a picture of one at night to give you an idea of the illumination.
 
Its a very subtle illumination.
 
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/EL-15/EL-BACKLIGHT-GLOW-STRIP-2.8-X-2.2/1.html
 
http://360glow.com/Electroluminescent/
 
http://www.ellumiglow.com/el-tape

 

[Monk]

Thanks Pete! I will appreciate a picture. I did not know this stuff existed. Looking now at the unfinished side of the wall, I see that there may be studs in the way - preventing me from using the ones in the links i posted. More measuring will be in order. Here are the stairs and a look from the unfinished right side.
 
 
Rats - pics are too big. Will resize them and attach later.

 

[Monk]

Here are the pics, sized down a bit.

 

[pete_c]

Looking at the offerings of EL lighting you can go with a very thin strip from top to bottom and power the entire strip from one side top or bottom of the strip. 
 
How are you going to finish the stairs themselves; carpeting or just finishing the wood.
 
In my old home I removed the carpeting from the main floor to the top as my stairs were finished and I liked that look better than the carpeting.  The carpeting though was good to have when the kids were small though.
 
There I would have put strips under the steps. 
 
Here in the current home I have carpeting and thinking of redoing the staircase; but its a mixture of white trim and oak right now; so it'll be more difficult. 
 
I would though if I left the carpeting in place go with a long strip from the base to the top of the stairs.
 
I am not really good at decorating stuff relating to colors et al though.  I really do like the EL glow though and put these in after playing around some with using the PIR's / Occupancy sensors for the lighting of the hallways and such.
 
It was too much light and very low on the WAF. 
 
That said though I put a PIR in the garage such that the garage turns to daylight (literally) when there is any motion there which I like.
 
I do also have battery charged LEDs everywhere such when the power goes off they all light up and these are all over the place in just about every room and hallway.
 
Now wondering if I should just add more of the battery LEDs rigging them up with the HAI OPII panel such that they get triggered on from the panel..

 

[Monk]

Well - my wife thinks carpet would be horrible. So I guess they stay wood. That EL wire is so small I could run it across somewhere and do both sides. If it were LED though we could play with the colors.

 

[tmbrown97]

I've been wanting to take a strip of the 16' reels - thought about using a router to make a channel the full length of my stairs in the moulding and making a little grove with a lip above to put a piece of diffusing plastic above it - during the day it'd be almost invisible, while at night providing great light.

 

[tmbrown97]

Well - my wife thinks carpet would be horrible. So I guess they stay wood. That EL wire is so small I could run it across somewhere and do both sides. If it were LED though we could play with the colors.

That may work out even better - because you can go across the underneath of the tread above and go the full width of each step - that's where EL would probably look pretty good; or there's a great assortment of holders for the 16' rolls I mentioned.

 

[Monk]

That may work out even better - because you can go across the underneath of the tread above and go the full width of each step - that's where EL would probably look pretty good; or there's a great assortment of holders for the 16' rolls I mentioned.

I think I get what you are saying. Sort of like this pic I found on LifeHacker?
Only without all the wires hanging about!
 
What do you mean by "holders"?

 

[Monk]

I have found tons of the "EL Wire" in thin "wire" as well as "tape". I am thinking these do not emit enough light but might get a small bit to test - also, they all seem to run on 3v - I suppose a wall wart would power them sufficiently?

 

[pete_c]

I have the very thin flat stuff.  The pictures I have seen of the wire/tubing make it look a bit like neon tubes. 
 
The thin flat stuff I have glows; it's bright enough to light up the hallways and bathrooms.   
 
Its all been on some 24/7 now for maybe 6-7 years. 
 
I would say purchase a small sample of each and compare them.
 
Yes; no real power draw at all.  The ones I saw came with little battery packs.

 

[tmbrown97]

Yeah that's kinda the concept I was thinking - but of course much cleaner...
 
For mounts - there's a ton of variety nowadays for mounting solutions that make the LED Light strips look a ton cleaner; although they often cost more than the LED's!  Here's just some examples:
https://www.google.com/search?rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&q=aluminum+led+strip+mount&um=1&hl=en&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.52434380,d.cGE,pv.xjs.s.en_US.RJfod4swqLE.O&biw=1603&bih=756&dpr=1&wrapid=tlif137988661920410&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=LGY_Uu_fAsycigLamIGAAw

 

[Monk]

Thanks Work2Play! I didn't realize they made those. More to think about for sure.

 

[Neurorad]

My house came with 2 step/stair lights installed along the stairwell, each is about 4 x 8".
 

 
The stairs lead to the kitchen, which is being remodeled.  The louvers (incandescent) shine very brightly, so I've had them removed.  I will replace with 2 bipin halogen dimmable 5W step lights, on order.
 

 
 
 
2-3 small lights along the wall are all that is needed, IMO.  These Eureka Deneb step lights can be LED or halogen, and fit in a single gang box.  To provide simple (no hassle) dimming, I went with the halogen version, rather than LED.  If they are too bright, I can dim them (with Lutron RA2).
 
Edit - I went with 110V replacement fixtures, because of the existing 110V louvered step light fixtures.  Cheap and easy swap.
 
Edit - link to these Eureka Deneb step lights  http://www.eurekalighting.com/productDetails.aspx?productId=10099G&Cat=E1C

 

[tmbrown97]

I had those louvres in one of my houses... They worked pretty well but for some reason those night-light bulbs were burning out constantly! I switched to some 2W LED's (long before the box stores started carrying LED) and those were perfect. Now they're night light bulbs in the kids' rooms