# Wafer lights



## Majewski (Jan 8, 2016)

plumvactrician said:


> don’t have a lot of experience with lighting design. Boss man wants to install a drop ceiling and new lights in one of his rental buildings that will be used as a store. He doesn’t want to pay for troffers and instead wants to put wafers in the tiles. Is this feasible or will it look bad and cost the same as troffers by needing more to produce the same amount of light?


if you dont suck at it, it wont look horrible


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## plumvactrician (Dec 10, 2021)

Fair enough lol I guess I was referring to weird shadows with floor fixtures or light coverage, but I’ll make sure to practice a few times to lower my level of suck as well.


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## Majewski (Jan 8, 2016)

plumvactrician said:


> Fair enough lol I guess I was referring to weird shadows with floor fixtures or light coverage, but I’ll make sure to practice a few times to lower my level of suck as well.


meh fk that noice, its a damn rental. sooooo rough the wiring... once that grid is good to go, u gotta figure ur tiles ur gonna put the wafers in. carefully holesaw or whatever ur holes....then get the wafer brackets installed to the grid..... only thing u need to do is connect the buggers, boom bobs ur uncle


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## Majewski (Jan 8, 2016)

Hard to tell it has brackets but you get the idea


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## plumvactrician (Dec 10, 2021)

Majewski said:


> Hard to tell it has brackets but you get the idea


That does look cleaner than I thought it would, and you make a good point on it being a rental. Thanks! What kind of spacing did you do on the tiles?


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## Majewski (Jan 8, 2016)

plumvactrician said:


> That does look cleaner than I thought it would, and you make a good point on it being a rental. Thanks! What kind of spacing did you do on the tiles?


the spacing that the customer wanted lol. seriously be careful on those pos tiles. have EXTRAS!


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## plumvactrician (Dec 10, 2021)

Lol I will definitely have extra, I’ve broken my fair share cutting registers in to them!


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## Majewski (Jan 8, 2016)

plumvactrician said:


> Lol I will definitely have extra, I’ve broken my fair share cutting registers in to them!


i exclude em, fk that mess...... yall can mess em up and be hard on yourself, aint my fault no thaaaaaank you boss


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## yankeejoe1141 (Jul 26, 2013)

Majewski said:


> Hard to tell it has brackets but you get the idea


Wago’s I see? Didn’t they put you in your grave on another thread?


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## Majewski (Jan 8, 2016)

yankeejoe1141 said:


> Wago’s I see? Didn’t they put you in your grave on another thread?


sure did! but they were full and the waiting room was a real chitshow! so i came back for now


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## 205490 (Jun 23, 2020)

I remember there's a thread about some brand of wafers breaking easily in the casting by the spring, can't remember which brand


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## Majewski (Jan 8, 2016)

CA C-10 said:


> I remember there's a thread about some brand of wafers breaking easily in the casting by the spring, can't remember which brand


at this stage in the game, so many of the 10-20usd are good enough or better than a lot of the 30-60usd ones


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## yankeejoe1141 (Jul 26, 2013)

CA C-10 said:


> I remember there's a thread about some brand of wafers breaking easily in the casting by the spring, can't remember which brand


I saw that too…it was because where the spring attaches to the wafer was made of plastic and others are metal, I only seem to find the plastic ones and haven’t broken one yet.


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## nrp3 (Jan 24, 2009)

Been using the Halo ones or the Lithonia ones. Both seem to work well.


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## splatz (May 23, 2015)

It really depends on what people are doing in the room. If it's an office or shop you want something totally different from a residential living room. Some places it's more important the lights look nice, some it's more important they actually light the place up. Retail or restaurant could go either way. If it will look ok for what they're doing in there, I'd rather 2x4 LED panels.

Then you have to look at the ceiling height and the distribution pattern to determine the spacing, them make sure you have enough lumens to achieve the level of lighting you want at the level (height AFF) you want. You may or may not want to adjust the position around the contents of the room (cubicles, aisles, etc.) but if it's just wide open space for a general purpose commercial rental it's probably better to just go for nice even lighting.


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## NoBot (Oct 12, 2019)

Buy a hole saw to match the diameter of the lights. Use a right angle drill to prevent a kick back. Take a stack of tile and drill them on top of a garage can, letting the circle drop into the can.
It's more efficient to drill stacks at a time. I'm not sure about just setting them on top of the tile. Do they makes ones that snap into the grid?


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## nrp3 (Jan 24, 2009)

The Halo ones have a frame you buy separately like a traditional can that has the spreader bar legs to tie to the grid. Lithonia may have a similar product too.


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## Majewski (Jan 8, 2016)

nrp3 said:


> The Halo ones have a frame you buy separately like a traditional can that has the spreader bar legs to tie to the grid. Lithonia may have a similar product too.


BUT!!!!! tons of em are a pita and also hard to source locally. Sometimes amazon is a good source.


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## yankeejoe1141 (Jul 26, 2013)

Majewski said:


> BUT!!!!! tons of em are a pita and also hard to source locally. Sometimes amazon is a good source.


Good 'ol Amazon. Can always count on them.


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## Majewski (Jan 8, 2016)

yankeejoe1141 said:


> Good 'ol Amazon. Can always count on them.


Lol not reaaaaalllly but in some instances you CANT count on local


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## yankeejoe1141 (Jul 26, 2013)

Jeffy B is always ready to fill the void.


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## Majewski (Jan 8, 2016)

yankeejoe1141 said:


> Jeffy B is always ready to fill the void.


Thats funny on two levels


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## yankeejoe1141 (Jul 26, 2013)

Majewski said:


> Thats funny on two levels


Get your mind out of the gutter!!


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## Majewski (Jan 8, 2016)

yankeejoe1141 said:


> Get your mind out of the gutter!!


I know a previous inspector named jeff b. That’s what i mean


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## yankeejoe1141 (Jul 26, 2013)

Majewski said:


> I know a previous inspector named jeff b. That’s what i mean


No personal jokes allowed...we all need to live..I mean laugh.


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## 99cents (Aug 20, 2012)

nrp3 said:


> The Halo ones have a frame you buy separately like a traditional can that has the spreader bar legs to tie to the grid. Lithonia may have a similar product too.


That’s probably just to satisfy an anal inspector who thinks a fixture that weighs a few ounces has to be attached to the grid. If you’re concerned that the springy thingies will chew into a soft tile, put a goof ring on top. I think it would work, maybe not.

Personally, I think if you look at labour and material, troffers win. Do we even call them troffers anymore?


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## plumvactrician (Dec 10, 2021)

Huge thanks to everyone!! Awesome info!!


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## yankeejoe1141 (Jul 26, 2013)

99cents said:


> That’s probably just to satisfy an anal inspector who thinks a fixture that weighs a few ounces has to be attached to the grid. If you’re concerned that the springy thingies will chew into a soft tile, put a goof ring on top. I think it would work, maybe not.
> 
> Personally, I think if you look at labour and material, troffers win. Do we even call them troffers anymore?


I think they’re seismic supports and not actually required by the NEC (not sure about Canada code) but required by building code based on the classification of the building and area…Point is we shouldn’t necessarily need supports just because it’s a drop ceiling grid.

I’m not calling them triggers anymore.


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## Majewski (Jan 8, 2016)

plumvactrician said:


> Huge thanks to everyone!! Awesome info!!


Anytime dooder. Im a huge wafer enthusiast and very opinionated so, i can be helpful…
Maybe, sorta… idk


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## VELOCI3 (Aug 15, 2019)

Wafers are not listed for that application. Also the fixture and driver module are not designed for emergency support independent of the ceiling. Check local building code or IBC. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## nrp3 (Jan 24, 2009)

Personally, I think if you look at labour and material, troffers win. Do we even call them troffers anymore? 

Was sitting having coffee with one of my builders discussing an upcoming remodel and were tossing this idea around. May end up doing 2 x 4 flat panels. I said the one extra with that with the additional wiring for 0-10v dimming, but as far as install goes in a tight ceiling, the edge may go to the flat panel.


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

Led lay in troffer lights are fantastically lightweight. Compared to the 1970's style fluorescent lights I have to remove or relocate, those things weighed a ton. Not the new stuff....


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

The other big advantage is how skinny they are. This is also going to result of course in GC's squeezing even more the gap between the ceiling grid and the ac duct work. Most new flat panels I put in are only 3/4" in depth. The old style fluorescent lights were around 4 or 5 inches usually.


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