To replace downlights, turn the lighting circuit off at the switchboard, ease the fitting down and see what it connects to. A globe or a plug-in LED fitting is an owner’s job. A hardwired downlight needs a licensed electrician in Queensland.
A globe change is a homeowner job. A fitting change usually isn’t.
What type of downlight do you have?
How to replace a downlight comes down to which of the three types is in your ceiling.
Type | What you’ll see | Who replaces it |
Replaceable globe (MR16/GU5.3 12V or GU10 240V) | A separate globe held in the fitting by a ring or clip | Owner |
Integrated LED, plug-in | A sealed unit whose lead ends in a plug, connected to a ceiling socket | Owner |
Integrated LED or halogen, hardwired | A lead running into a junction box, terminal block or taped joint | Licensed Electrician |
An LED fitted in the last ten years or so is often sealed, with no globe to take out. Downlights with replaceable bulbs tend to be older, and plenty of them are 12V halogen downlights running off a separate transformer.
With the power off, pull the fitting down a few centimetres and follow the lead. The socket usually sits within 20 to 30cm of the hole, so ease it out gently. If the lead won’t come, or something else comes with it, treat the fitting as hardwired and leave it alone. Our LED downlight installation work covers those hardwired points, along with old halogen fittings that need to come out.
How to change downlights safely
Turn the lights off at the switchboard. The wall switch isn’t enough.
Find the circuit breaker for the lights before replacing a downlight, and switch it off. Now try the wall switch. Nothing should come on. If one light still does, it’s on a second lighting circuit, which is common in larger homes, and you’ll need to go back to the board.
Put masking tape over the breaker while you’re up the ladder.
The safety switch won’t make this safe with the power on. Halogen globes stay hot for a few minutes after they go off, so give them time.
How to change a downlight bulb
Changing downlight globes needs no tools. The method depends on the base, and you should buy the same base and voltage as the one you take out.
How to replace a downlight globe on an MR16 fitting
An MR16 downlight holds its globe behind a locking ring. Turn the ring a quarter turn anti-clockwise and lift it out, then draw the globe forward and pull it off its connector. Some fittings use a clip you pinch instead.
How to change the bulb in a downlight with a GU10 base
Push the globe in, twist it anti-clockwise, and it drops free. A GU10 downlight can let go of its clips while you do this, so hold the face of the fitting with your other hand.
Replacing downlight globes doesn’t touch the wiring, which is why this part stays with the owner. An LED downlight bulb going into an old halogen fitting is the exception worth pausing on. The problem is the transformer.
How to remove a downlight from the ceiling
Use your fingers when removing downlights. Metal tools mark the ceiling and have no place near a lead.
Support the plasterboard beside the clip and pull evenly, never hard on one side. Sound plasterboard rarely cracks when you do this. Keep a firm hold on the downlight spring clips as they clear the hole, because they snap shut hard enough to catch a finger. A cable tie or a loop of string will hold them compressed.
Painted-in rims are the usual problem. Score the paint line with a sharp blade, then get your fingernails under the rim. Clips you can’t reach from below can sometimes be reached through the manhole, and a fitting that still won’t move is a sensible place to stop.
Queenslanders are their own case. Spring clips are designed around a limited ceiling thickness, and VJ boards don’t behave like plasterboard, so check the product’s maximum ceiling thickness before you buy anything.
How to replace an LED downlight that plugs in
Changing an LED downlight of this type is the one fitting swap an owner can do. Once the plug base exists, each light takes about two minutes.
- Isolate the circuit at the switchboard and tape the breaker.
- Remove the old fitting, unplug the lead and measure the hole.
- Set the colour temperature switch on the new fitting while it’s still in your hand.
- Plug it in, leave it hanging, restore power and check the lights.
- Switch the breaker off again, compress the clips and push the fitting into the hole.
- Turn the power back on.
Step 4 saves the most trouble, since a dead unit is much easier to deal with before it goes back up. An integrated LED downlight has its driver built in or supplied, so a plug-in downlight won’t need the old transformer. That part stays out.
Can you replace downlights yourself in Queensland?
Only where the job involves a plug and socket or a globe, with no fixed wiring touched.
Section 18 of the Electrical Safety Act 2002 treats replacing electrical equipment as electrical work, and it excludes connecting equipment through a flexible cord plug and socket outlet. A plug-in downlight sits on that side of the line. Queensland’s Electrical Safety Office takes a harder line in its public advice, telling households to use a licensed electrician for electrical work, including light fittings.
Hardwired downlights, new light positions and converting a hardwired point to a plug base all need a licence. Rules for replacing downlights in Australia are set state by state, so a forum answer from interstate may not apply here. Extension leads and double adaptors in the ceiling are no shortcut.
What is the best way of replacing halogen downlights with LED?
New fittings. We’d take that option almost every time.
An old electronic downlight transformer often doesn’t get along with LED globes. You see flicker, a light that works for a couple of hours and stops, or nothing at all. A downlight transformer replacement costs about as much as a complete LED fitting. We don’t see the point of paying that and keeping the old fitting if you’re changing downlights to LED anyway.
One dead light gets the same answer from us. Fit a new light with its own LED driver. A new light on an old driver often fails again.
Start any halogen downlight replacement in the kitchen and living areas. A 50W halogen draws about five times what a 9 to 10W LED does, and a whole house of 44 halogens adds up to about 2.2kW whenever they’re all on. A toilet light that runs for minutes a day can wait until it fails.
The room deserves a second look before anything goes back up. Halogen layouts often used more lights than a room needs, and ten LEDs where six would do leaves it uncomfortably bright.
What should you check before buying a downlight fitting?
Cutout size
Holes run at 70, 90, 92, 110, 120 and 150mm, with 90mm the most common for old halogens. Measure yours before choosing a downlight cutout size. A hole that’s slightly small can be cut larger, while an oversized one will show around a smaller trim.
IC-4 rating
IC-4 rated fittings, tested to AS/NZS 60598.2.2, can have insulation against and over them. Old halogens need clearance from insulation, and running them without it is a fire hazard, so this matters more than the brand. Read the instructions anyway, because some exclude loose-fill insulation.
Fire rating
This is separate from the insulation rating. In an apartment or townhouse with a fire-rated ceiling, ask your body corporate or electrician what’s required before any downlight fitting changes.
The LED module
We prefer a recessed module to a flat one, which is brighter but glarey. LED fittings also throw a wider beam than halogens, so expect the room to look different. Tricolour models let you choose the colour temperature at the fitting.
Dimmers
Dimmable LED downlights need a compatible dimmer, and mechanisms that ran halogens happily often handle low LED loads badly. Budget for new ones if the room is dimmed.
Pierlite, Haneco, Melec, SAL and Trend are all decent brands to start with.
Why won’t a new downlight work, or why does it flicker?
A replaced downlight not working points to the driver, the transformer or the socket. Test the new unit on the lead before anything else. If a known-good fitting still won’t light, stop there, since the fault sits behind the plug and needs an electrician.
An LED downlight flickering after replacing is usually a dimmer or an old transformer left in the circuit.
How to replace downlights in a bathroom
Near the shower, the fitting needs an IP rating suited to moisture. A sealed front also stops steam from getting into the roof space.
Older bathroom and toilet ceilings need more care. Fibro sheeting in older Brisbane homes may contain asbestos, so stop and have it checked before anyone cuts or enlarges a hole.
What affects the cost to replace downlights?
Downlight replacement cost comes down to the number of points, the fitting you choose and how easy the roof space is to get into. A dozen fittings booked together cost less per point than a dozen separate call-outs, so batch the work where you can. We quote a fixed price for your home, and you’ll know the figure before work starts.
Having an electrician fit plug bases once is the option most owners overlook. Installing downlights this way adds to the first visit, and then every later swap becomes an owner job. Going by reports from owners, 44 lights on existing plug bases is about three hours’ work.
Booking a licensed electrician in Brisbane
If you pull a fitting down and find a junction box, push it back up, leave the wiring alone and book a licensed electrician. Call us on 07 3324 1447 with the number of lights and whether you know the hole size, and we’ll quote a fixed price. Every electrician on our team is fully licensed, and we clean up before we leave.
FAQs about changing downlights
For a hardwired fitting, yes. A plug-in LED is an owner’s job.
No. Running the cable yourself is unlicensed electrical work, and many electricians won’t take on someone else’s wiring. You can end up paying to have it redone.
Queensland’s Residential Tenancies Authority says the Act doesn’t specify who supplies and replaces light bulbs, so check the special terms of your agreement. As a general guide, tenants may handle everyday bulbs and the property manager or owner may handle specialised ones. A failed sealed fitting is one to report, not to pull down yourself, since any damage can come out of your bond. Smart bulbs in an integrated fitting mean new GU10 holders and an electrician.
Most clips hook into the housing and can be unhooked once the fitting is down. Spares are rarely sold for budget fittings, and a broken clip is a fair reason to replace the whole unit.
Yes, through an electrician. The new light connects to fixed wiring and needs a proper fixing point in the ceiling.
In rooms you use for hours each day, yes. There’s also the insulation clearance issue, which doesn’t fix itself with age.
