OAKLAND — If you’re looking to update the lighting in your home, there are several available options, but the best lighting is always that which most improves your home’s functionality and energy-efficiency.
When it comes to choosing a light bulb, you essentially have four options:
1. Traditional incandescent is the least energy-efficient and is being phased out by newer, more efficient alternatives.
2. Compact fluorescent is the style originally designed to replace incandescent lighting. It provides similar light quality while using as little as one-fifth of the power. Compact fluorescent bulbs work better as a general light because they don’t adapt to specific applications as well as other styles.
3. MR16 (or multifaceted reflector lamps) have a halogen light source and come in a variety of beam spreads, sizes and wattage&#8217;s, making them useful for applications like track lighting, recessed ceiling lights, pendant fixtures and landscape lighting.
4. LED lighting offers many benefits, including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime and faster switching. While it’s currently the most expensive option, LED technology is changing rapidly and becoming more affordable as it gains popularity.
Another way to update the lighting in your home is by adding light switch dimmers, which can significantly reduce your energy usage. Additionally, if you have a room in your home where you’ve always wanted an additional light switch but don’t want to pay for the cost of wiring, wireless switching is a recent innovation that enables you to control lighting from another side of a room with a battery-operated radio receiver.

Updating Your Interior Lighting

Learn how to modernize your home with expert interior lighting tips, enhancing ambiance and functionality for every room.

Updating Your Interior Lighting by Dan Pitcock

by Dan PItcock, a Diamond Certified Expert Contributor

Understanding Your Electrical System

Video: Choosing The Best Lighting For Your Home

Are you ready to update the lighting in your home? First, you'll want to understand all of your options. So today, we're in Oakland with diamond certified expert contributor Dan Pitock of Roberts Electric Company to learn more.

You may be considering updating the lighting in your home to provide you more functionality in different areas of the house or art lighting. Whatever you're considering, there are four types in general. 

TR type incandescent light is the most clunky, I would say, and less energy efficient than the other styles. There's the MR16 which is usually a 4in aperture. We really like that because it's very flexible. The light bulbs come in many different beam spreads and wattages; really good for different types of lighting throughout the house. 

For general lighting, you can go for compact fluorescent. Obviously, good energy efficiency, color rendering is much better than it used to be, but it's more of a general light not so functional for adapting to specifics. And then LED is the most energy efficient and the technology is changing rapidly. It's becoming much more affordable. 

The types of light bulbs you'll see for LED, you can get good color rendering as well through the array. I should say not through a light bulb. If you're going to dim those, you should probably consider either a toggle switch or a paddle Decora style. 

If you have a location in your home where you've always wanted to be able to dim from across the room but don't want to pay for the cost of wiring, we now have wireless switching which allows you to put a little battery-operated radio receiver on the other side of the room. Put the proper style dimmer in and now you've got dimming control from both sides of the room. 

To learn more from local top-rated companies, visit our Diamond Certified expert reports at experts.diamondcertified.org.

Video: Understanding Your Electrical System


Whether a fuse box or a circuit breaker, it's helpful to have a basic understanding of your home's electrical system. Today, we're in Oakland with Diamond Certified expert contributor Dan Pitcock of Roberts Electric Company to learn more.

So, a quick primer on the types of overcurrent protection in your home. We have screw-in fuses, tamperproof regular – these are a little harder to find, and you need to make sure that this gets screwed all the way in to make contact. Cartridge fuse and knife Swiss cartridge fuse – you'll often find these out by your main service, by the meter. They're a little dangerous to replace because there's a lot of exposed metal there. You might want to have a professional do that. I recommend you have two of these on site at all times.

Then we have our standard circuit breaker, arc fault circuit breaker – which are required in most of the areas outside the kitchen and the bath of your home. This is for fire protection. This is ground fault circuit breaker – this is for protecting against shock. You also get ground fault protection from a receptacle, which you'll find in many places in the bathroom, kitchen of your home. They have a test and reset button, check to see whether or not to be reset if your power is out.

Then we have two other types of antiquated Breakers, Federal Pacific and Zinsco, which we're recommending be replaced. If your breaker goes out, you'll notice that it's probably in an intermediate position. It'll feel a little loose. You'll want to turn it all the way off and then reset the mechanism and turn it all the way on.

To learn more from local top-rated companies, visit our Diamond Certified expert reports at experts. Diamond Certified. org.


Dan Pitcock: High Voltage

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