Easy/Good LED Can Light Retrofit

Home Depot is selling a nice and easy LED retrofit for a regular can light.  We decided to try one as we have lots of can lights that would benefit from an efficient retrofit.  This page gives a rundown on the installation and the results.

Bottom line is that we are very pleased with it so far -- after all of 6 hours :)

easy LED can light retrofit

This is the Home Depot listing for the light...   Cost is $40 -- kind of steep, but see the payback calculations below.

The rated output is 575 lumens, and the light consumes 10.5 watts.  The color temperature is 2700 Kelvin, which is a nice warm light.  Color accuracy is 92%. 

 

Installation

In our case, the light went in quite easily. 

Basically, the new light has 3 spring clips that stick out as shown in the picture below.  When you slide the light up into the old can, the spring clips engage the walls of the old can, and hold the new light in place.  The clips are designed such that when you rotate the fixture CCW, the clips rotate inward and release the light. 

installing led can light retrofit

The step by step:

  1. Get a work light, and turn off the power to the can you are replacing.
  2.  Pull the bezel on the old can light down -- on ours this involved disconnecting some springs that hold the bezel in place.  Take the old bulb out.

       

  3. Take out whatever is holding the bulb socket in place so the the socket is just on its wires, and can be pulled down a bit.  On ourst, this  just involved taking off a wingnut  and a sheet metal clip -- a minutes work.

         

  4. In our case, I took some time here to seal up all the holes and slots and cracks in the old can light.  I used aluminum tape on the open slots, and silicone caulk for the gap at the sheetrock and a couple other places.  Our cans are already insulated over in the attic, but if yours are not you might consider this.  If concerned about having insulation right up against the cans, you can buy fire treated boxes that are made for covering cans before insulating.    Anyway, this is your chance to seal up the big thermal hole that can lights cause in your ceilings.

         

  5. Screw the new fixture into the old can light socket.  I'd check that it works at this point before pushing it up into the can.
  6. Pull the spring clips out so they are perpendicular to the light fixture, and push the light fixture up into the old can.  On ours this was surprisingly easy to do. 
  7. Turn on the light and have a beer under the nice warm light.

 

 

 

Results

The light is

Reviews

There were 117 reviews on the Home Depot site.  The overall score was 5 out of 5 stars.  There were many 5 star reviews -- comments like: "Fantasic Light", "Blows away CFLs", "Awesome".  There was one titled "Beautiful light, but pricey", which pretty well sums up our opinion.  The only negatives I saw in a quick review were: 1) did not work well with some dimmers, 2) does not fit all cans.