DIY changing Batten fitting to Recessed LED light.

goldgurl, Jun 1, 1:27am
Currently have a batten fitting in a room, hubby is set on replacing with recessed LED, is this someone we can legally DIY - capable and competent hubby. Own home. Likewise, in the lounge and dining, we have hideous light roses (? is this what they're called?) (set of 3 spotlights!) we would like to change those to batten fittings. *sigh* I have searched online, asked in store. and getting no straight answers. just more confused. TIA :)
russ18, Jun 1, 1:39am
You can legally replace light fittings etc yourself in your own home. Replacing a ceiling light with one downlight may not light the room very well.
tweake, Jun 1, 2:29am
typically you have quite a few downlights in a room.
also batten fitting is fixed to a wooden batten in the ceiling. you would have to move the location of the light, move the cable and fix up the hole.
pay to speak to a sparky first and make sure you can get into the ceiling to run new cables for the downlights.

should be able to change the triple spots to a batten and fit lampshade etc.
howgoodisit, Jun 1, 2:49am
I did this in our place, instead of having to patch the hole of the old batten in the center of the room i left them and just ran a new cable down to the switch and put double switches on the walls.
Top switch for the led lights and bottom switch for the existing batten.
howgoodisit, Jun 1, 2:51am
Oh and regarding what you are allowed to do yourself.
Pretty sure you can do pretty much all power points and lighting but if you are running new feeds you have to get a sparky to connect it to the switchboard.
t_naki, Jun 1, 3:06am
In this case since you are altering the cable then you would need to either get a sparky to do it for you or do it yourself and get an inspector. If you are going to do it yourself it would pay to get an inspector round to run you through how the work should be done so he can sign it off. In reality it will likely cost more to get the inspector to do all his work for a job like this that to just get a sparky to do it.
t_naki, Jun 1, 3:07am
Not trying to be funny but I would find out the facts before posting on this topic, guess work has the potential to really hurt someone and leave them with a unsafe wiring.
fordcrzy, Jun 1, 9:25pm
im gonna post the obvious here. the battens are screwed to timber behind the gib. for a downlight your gonna need to cut a hole which aint gonna be easy with the batten timber there. more often than not the recessed fitting will need to go in a different position than the batten meaning wiring re-route and ceiling gib repair.
rotormotor7, Jun 2, 1:29am
^ ,tweake covered that in his post above.

usually if ceiling not going to be replaced or lined over, I suggest a surface mount light remain in centre and downlights wherever suited no timber.
gpg58, Jun 2, 5:30am
but if you are running new feeds you have to get a sparky to connect it to the switchboard.[/quote]

Incorrect, a homeowners procribed electrical work (laying cables etc)can only be connected and certifided by an inspector, not just any sparky.

drat should have read next posts before repeating there comments
stevo2, Jun 2, 12:46pm
Is the ceiling gibbd or pinex?
kevlight, Jun 3, 12:17pm
the main problem with recessed lights is the fact that they are open to the ceiling/roof space ,you are infact cutting six or so holes in your ceiling aand letting all the heat out of your room ;
?
russ18, Dec 24, 11:49am
Downlights have come a long way, the typical LED downlight I install is sealed so there's no air flow thru them and can have insulation over them so they are not like holes in your ceiling.
Some don't spread the light much others actually do and can provide fairly good general lighting, you get this from the rated angle, I find 90 degrees works well, have used some that were 155 degrees.
I still don't usually recommend downlights to my customers for general lighting but sometimes it's what they want.