Stair Lights

Why a staircase needs low-level light

A staircase is hardest to use at night, when a bright ceiling light is either off or too harsh for someone half awake. Stair lights answer that by putting a small, steady pool of light at tread level, low on the wall, where it falls across the step rather than into your eyes. Each fitting gives only a little light, from around 10 to 30 lumens, which is enough to show the edge of a step and the turn of a landing without waking the house. Left on through the evening, a run of them also gives a hallway or stairwell a calm, finished look that a single overhead light cannot.

12V fittings and the driver behind them

Most of our stair lights are low-voltage fittings that run at 12V, so they need an LED driver to step the mains supply down. One driver can usually feed several lights, as long as its rated output covers the combined wattage of the run, and with every fitting drawing under 2W that total stays small. Put the driver somewhere it can be reached later, such as the void under the stairs or a nearby cupboard, rather than sealing it behind plaster. A few of the range connect straight to the mains instead and need no driver at all, which keeps the wiring simpler where only one or two lights are planned. Either way, fixed wiring for new lights is a job for a qualified electrician.

Set flush into the wall

Almost every stair light we stock is recessed, so the body sits inside the wall and only a slim square or round face shows beside the tread. Most faces are around 75mm across, small enough to sit neatly between the tread line and the handrail. Recessing keeps the flight clear of anything that can be knocked and gives the tidiest finish, but it does mean cutting into the wall for the fitting and its cable. In a new build or a refurbishment that is simple to plan before the walls are finished; on a decorated wall, allow for making good around each opening.

Spacing the lights on a flight

The simplest plan is one light for every step, set at the same height on each, which marks every edge and reads as a deliberate line up the stairs. On a straight flight in a home, a light on every second or third step still shows the way with fewer fittings and cable runs. Keep the lights low, a short way above the tread, so the pool of light lands on the step rather than on the wall. Put one at the top and one at the bottom of the flight, where a change of level is easiest to miss, and carry the same fitting along the landing so the route reads as one.

Warm white or cool white

Most of our stair lights come in warm white or cool white, in close to equal numbers. Warm white at 3000K has a soft, slightly golden tone that sits well with timber treads, painted walls and the warmer light of a lived-in home. Cool white at 4000K looks crisper for the same output, which suits stone or tiled stairs, white walls and commercial stairwells. Whichever you choose, match it to the other lighting you can see from the stairs, because a cool line of step lights beside warm lamps in the hall will look out of place. Once you have picked a tone, use it for the whole flight.

Motion sensors and switching

Some of our stair lights have a PIR sensor built into the face, which turns the light on when someone approaches and off again once the stairs are clear. That suits a flight used now and then through the night, or a landing where nobody wants to hunt for a switch. The rest wire to a switch or a timer like any other light, and a run of 12V fittings can share one switch on the supply to their driver. You can mix the two on one flight, but the sensor in each fitting controls only that light, so plan which positions need one.

Faces, finishes and where they fit

The faces come in black, stainless steel and white, in square and round shapes, so you can match the stair lights to the handrail, the switches or the wall colour. Black suits dark joinery, steel sits well beside chrome or nickel switch plates, and white almost disappears into a painted wall when the lights are off. Most of the range is rated IP20, which means it is built for dry indoor positions: staircases, landings, hallways and split-level rooms. For a porch, a patio or garden steps, choose one of our outdoor step lights instead, which are rated for the weather. Each product page gives the face size, light output and finish, so a matching run is easy to order.