Trying Cooper HALO SMX Edgeless LED Edge Lights, Without Buying Any

I am informed by dates of Home Depot customer reviews that SMX  families of Cooper HALO Edgeless LED Edge Lights have been available online at homedepot.com, since December 2024. At this writing there 3,939 Home Depot customer reviews, averaging 4.6 stars. 

Tunable White: Field-SeleCCTable color temperatures (2700K, 3000K, 3500K, 4000K, and 5000K) and Dim-to-Warm options that transition from 3000K to 1800K, perfectly mimicking incandescent lighting.

The only useful color selection is in close proximity to 3000°K. 5000°K is absolutely useless. 1800°K? How could that be useful?

I am interested only in circular shapes. 

Dimensioned side views are presented, including need-to-know dimensions, for four of the five sizes offered.

SMX 4

SMX 6

SMX 8

SMX 18

There is rotate-o-mate engagement with a mounting plate upon a junction box. Be wary that very large lights centrally captured, may not seat firmly on the ceiling plane.

Cooper HALO SMX Series Edgeless Surface Mount LED Downlights (More details are copied from the offered Specifications.)

The HALO SMX families brightness choices are very much not related to the illumination potential at diameters greater than 5 inches. Luminance of 0.05 lumens per square millimeter, that of the Moon, is borderline comfortable to gaze upon, not glaring. It would make sense to offer that luminance for all families, and to let lesser illuminance be achieved always by dimmer control. There can not be a demand for light power control by climbing upon ladders to reposition luminaire control switches. Dimmers do the job, and that is that.

Lumens output at fixed diode power, in proportion to diode tape circumference if 633 lumens at SMX 4:

Perhaps Cooper/ HALO might innovate usefully against edge light limitations.  Get more lumens out of LED edge lights by adding luminaire depth, with multiple diffuser lenses and diode strips. Just maintain a luminance limit of 0.05 Lm/mm2. Or, teach that bigger luminaires don’t add up nicely in illuminating a room; then prefer better light distribution with many smaller lights.

Lighting Junction Box Kits

Retrofit Lights Wiring With Junction Boxes

Don't wish for something less intrusive, somehow just finding wires at-hand that enable screw attachment of a surface-mount luminaire. Pulling wires demands at least the access of a forearm at most wished light positions. Then, know that joist interference is usually avoidable. Accept that a joist must never be notched to accommodate a junction box. Want the freedom to place a light anywhere distant from a joist. Want freedom to place lighting with limited access to ceilings including an attic floor.

Want this box to be sealed airtight in the ceiling for a purpose including blockage of bugs that would be drawn to any lighting leakage above a luminaire. 

Opportunities for junction-box-mounted LED lighting include the replacement of a can light or a clip-in edge light. There, place the junction box in a patch ideally employing the divot of the found luminaire. Hope that a thoughtful person had placed the divot nearby above the ceiling.  We must learn that lighting will be replaced with new technology and style, over time. Let that presumption be stated in building code!

For ceiling lights wiring, prefer a RACO 175 steel octagon box, 2 1/8” deep, offering ability to securely capture wires that enter the box, from within the box. Do not prefer plastic or fiberglass boxes that won't accessibly anchor the involved wiring cables and that defy airtight sealing and fail to block bugs against seeking light-as-guiding-stars, in a luminaire below. There is no economy in using octagon boxes 1 1/2" deep. Find no reason to electrically ground this box. Where this ubiquitous box is designed for capture of jackets of heavy Romex cables, let there be imtermediate jackets that surround and restrain cables much smaller than 14/2 Romex. Wish further that, as in Japan, lighting wire cables should not include ground wires. Absent ground wires, metal lighting device safety is preserved if a circuit has ground-fault circuit breaker protection. A grounded junction box is only a maintenance hazard, where there are temptations to work despite absence of circuit breaker panel labels, or to avoid work in room darkness.

Here is a new ceiling cut or an opening provision in drywall of a ceiling patch kit.

As a new cut through textured ceiling drywall, the divot is valuable for the freedom to reconsider lighting positions, then resetting the divot and gouting it in, invisible. Practice and expect to find, placement of a divot near the hole, atop the drywall.

A kit tips into place easily with 2x8 framing. Bevel cuts help.

Here is a junction box kit including patch-out of a can light. 

A RACO 175 kit with a can light patch ring can be inserted even within the 5.5" space of 2x6 framing. With kits, a luminaire upon junction box may be placed as remodel anywhere with box center more than 1 3/4" from the face of a joist. Joists must not be notched for insertion of a junction box. With evolving lights technology, expect that most lights will be installed as retrofits. Avoid the difficulty and imprecision of fitting ceiling drywall to accommodate preset junction boxes.

Where a new luminaire doesn't fully cover a patch, be prepared to duplicate the found ceiling texture. Learn to achieve this with the grout material. Any texture detail is easy with my kitchen-compounded Flexible Grout . At the link please find mention of readily-available Custom Fusion Pro grout as an alternative to the grout material invented by my twin brother, Paul Norman. Paul's grout material has many other uses due to its sandability and formability as any kind of texture.

Luminaire replacement needs include rectangular patches. Here an over-sink light bulb luminaire box was with very thick texture upon a ceiling with electric radiant heat. For each opportunity, choose appropriate wood scraps to achieve the patch and ceiling alignment.

This kitchen had very dim illumination from silly bulbs in can lights.

At this stage I have quickly replaced four of the cans with large LED edge lights wired to junction boxes set with drywall rings.

The fifth light resists replacement where, as is common, the light over the kitchen sink is something odd. 

This arrangement surely is in violation of building codes. Any light or fan appliance must be capable of replacement without demolition of the ceiling.

The contraption must have been expensive. I have hacksawed-away much of a square plate that supported the circular can already disposed. At last I am able to twist plate and junction box remnants through the 8" cut of the drywall. 

This inexpensive junction box upon the ceiling will look perfectly ordinary, sealed airtight, patching invisible. I should create a little business manufacturing the drywall rings of a variety of diameters for inexpensive sale to anyone. Is lighting a job exclusively for electricians?

Should lighting and fans ever be installed before ceiling drywall, inviting the nasty capture of appliances? 

Sometimes a cruelly-captured can light may be extracted in a large ceiling cut demanded for added wiring.

A junction box accessible only by demolition, is a crime.

There are very many new light-on-junction box positions. The ample access cuts will be patched with invisibility. Would an electrician subcontract the patching?

The work can be an inexpensive assembly-line process.

Sometimes a can position is abandoned. There is a patch for that.

This is  a sewing projects room. The better lighting, to last now without service, forever, adds great function and value to the home.

700 Lux was wanted in the work area. Symmetry demands it everywhere.

See a summary of needed lux levels. 

(Here is a portion of the Google search result.)

Recommended Lux Levels by Activity and Area

Lux Level [1, 2, 3]	Space / Activity Type	Example Applications
0 – 50 lx	Ambient / Low Light	Security lighting, outdoor parking at night, pathways, and bulk warehouses.
50 – 150 lx	Orientation & Casual	Hallways, corridors, building entryways, warehouses with casual perception of detail [Recommended Light Levels
150 – 300 lx	General / Continuous Use	Dining rooms, public toilets, bedrooms, archives, and general retail sales floors Mastering Lux Level Standards: A Complete Guide to Office & ....
300 – 500 lx	Regular Work Environments	General office work, classrooms, libraries, meeting rooms, and domestic kitchens.
500 – 750 lx	Detailed Work & Retail	Supermarkets, laboratories, RECOMMENDED LIGHTING LEVELS - General Lux and standard engineering tool shops.
750 – 1,000 lx	Precision & Technical Tasks	Technical drawing, Mastering Lux Level Standards: A Complete Guide to Office & ... electronics assembly, and detailed ROOM ILLUMINATION LEVEL GENERAL BUILDING AREAS ... mechanical workshops.
1,000 – 2,000+ lx	Highly Detailed/Specialized	Operating theatres, jewelry making, very fine soldering, and quality control inspection.

For a deeper dive into the exact lighting metrics and building codes, you can consult the Recommended Illuminance Levels Chart | PDF.

Most homes have large needs of additional overhead lighting. Overhead lighting shall consist mainly of distributed not-glaring  LED disks. The US government must require conformant glare ratings among luminaire package labeling. Home and institutional lighting for the confined elderly shall have ample brightness, but with dimming.

Characterize Slochi LED Disk Downlights Sold At Amazon

I have purchased, tried, rejected and returned these surface-mount LED disk lights found at Amazon. 7.5" Slochi and 6.5" Slochi . My observations are a needed but barely visible counterweight to quite-positive Amazon Customer Reviews .  My review offered three stars for quality of construction and packaging. Reading negative reviews, see that criticisms tend to be incorrect and not informative. Another kind of reviewer is needed.

The lights are unbearably glaring and offer USA consumers nothing better toward ease of installation. For all LED lighting offered, we need counseling and labeling upon glare. We must wish for adjustable color only in a narrow spectrum near the 3000°K of still-loved old incandescent light bulbs. Pre-LED, we were not offered depressing blue lights. Where lighting is thus badly marketed, we shall wish that benign powers of government would offer manufacturer guidance and consumer protection.

They seemed to meet my requirements of five thin lights that would illuminate the rough attic of a year-1954 hip-roof ranch home. I returned the lights with vengeance in a 3-stars review, for the following reasons:

1. A 7" light should have output of not more than 900 lumens. The light output was not stated anywhere at the Amazon listing, on the box or in the box. The lens size and lumens output must correspond, with a luminance limit of 0.05 lumens per square millimeter. I found glare unbearable to look at. I suggested that output is 1200 lumens, then with luminance of 0.065 lumens per square millimeter. The measured lens diameter for this luminance statement is 153 mm, 6.02inch. How then can the light be called 7.5"? 
2. The deceptive listing photo indicates a pretty thickness of about 5/8". In fact thickness is 0.94".
3. The color temperature choices are adverse. We wish for adjustability-to-suit-individual vision within a band of 3000°K +/-, perhaps 200°K. No one loves 4000°K. 6500°K is awfully ugly.

That is it for complaints. I can praise the light for being cleanly dimmable, contrary to the listing stated as non-dimmable. Dimmability costs pennies and absence would be a bad decision.

At 5/17/2026 I have ordered this similar light offered by Amazon:

This light is still reported wrongly as non-dimmable. The rim diameter is reported as 6.5 inch, with output of 1200 lumens. Where output is determined by the length of the strip of LEDs within the rim, a bit more area than the lens, the 7.5" vs. 6.5" size listing implies increase of output from 1200 lumens to 7.5/6.5*1200 = 1385 lumens, luminance 0.075 lumens per square millimeter! 

See awful disinformation in the above About this item, that 1200 lumens is equivalent to a 100 watt incandescent bulb. A 100 watt incandescent bulb delivers about 450 lumens in end-on directional illumination. I contradict with the confidence of experimental observation:

The task illumination of a 100 watt incandescent bulb was only about 450 lumens. I suggested that the 70% waste of lumens with a point source light filament and frosting of the bulb glass might be expressed with equal Brightness Numbers, B4, where the hottest-allowed incandescent bulb was about 150 watts, B6. This standard has not caught on, and we are misled by Amazon: 1200lm led ceiling light is equivalent to 100W traditional incandescent light.

A 1200 lumens directional LED luminaire offers the task illumination of a cluster of about three 100 watt incandescent bulbs. 

The disinformation again expressed perhaps to deliberately devalue LED lights, was carried forward in the 2008 L-Prize competition. The residential lighting prize winner was this expensive,  foolish, heavy, wasteful contraption. 

On my comparison test stand, 4" Glimpse at LHS, the Utilitech "winner" at RHS beaming end-on from a porcelain lampholder. End-on is of course the orientation of the LED board. The winning bulb has glass optics to deflect perhaps half of the directional light perpendicular to the A19 light socket, with presumption sideways illumination is wanted from a bulb pointing upward in a now-absurd table lamp. Please judge that my comparison test stand offers unambiguous assessments.

Here is test stand comparison of the 7.5" Slochi at 3000°K color temperature setting, with a 4" Glimpse, at fixed 3000°K color temperature. See the over-powered Glimpse at RHS.

This is the pretty 4" Glimpse, as illuminating as a 100 watt incandescent, with its box-mount keyways that draw litter of dead bugs to cloud the lens.

This is the thick appearance of the 7.5" Slochi as it would be flush-mounted on a drywall ceiling, joined to a recessed lighting junction box, RACO 175.

Here is the about 3000°K comparison of illumination upon a light-gray wall. Observe brightness and projected colors, separated by a divider plate.The Slochi is more than twice as "bright," and has lower color temperature. Both lights have intended 3000°K color temperature.

1200 lumens 7.5" Slochi at LHS, 450 lumens 4" Glimpse at RHS.

1200 lumens 7.5" Slochi set 4000°K at LHS, 450 lumens 4" Glimpse 3000°K at RHS.

1200 lumens 7.5" Slochi set 6500°K at LHS, 450 lumens 4" Glimpse 3000°K at RHS.

The 7.5" Slochi luminaire is keyed to three tabs about its wiring-obstructive mounting plate. Luminaire separation is quite intuitive. The plastic Slochi could not carry an electric charge; there is no ground wire.

The 6.5" Slochi has needless defiant mounting logic and very-confined wires passage. Instead of rotation to couple or uncouple at the ceiling, a bit of sideways displacement does the job  -  less intuitively, with much more difficulty and with less security.

The luminaire is set a not-pretty 1/8" distance from the ceiling.

The 6.5" and 7.5" Slochi have the same projection of color, compared to 4" Glimpse.

7.5" Slochi at LHS

6.5" Slochi at LHS

This is the 6.5" Slochi in process of installing temporarily on my kitchen ceiling.  See that the mounting plate is only a plastic bar. With a tiny 1" hole for wires, connections must be achieved before raising the mounting plate to a ceiling. The luminaire engages the mounting plate quite blindly and with frustration, with a precarious sideways capture. The luminaire is 0.71" thick and stands atop the mounting plate with a 1/8" gap to the ceiling. I do not like this engagement, and think it has no future, as a failed experiment. See that I install lighting air-tight, grouted-in RACO 175 junction boxes. In drywall, I see no advantage in lesser ceiling cuts - and absolutely none in the larger ceiling cuts of can lights or clip-in "canless" luminaires.

With the 1/8" gap, the 6 1/2" Slochi just looks quite thick.

I have set color temperature to 6500°K, here observed in nighttime darkness in comparison with many other lights 3000°K. 

The very bright blue light is very ugly as seen upon the luminaire lens. I can't say whether the gloomy blue is projected upon the floor, overwhelmed by the many other lights 3000°K.

The open space of a 4" octagon ceiling box is ample for pulling of wires within a joist bay. An airtight installation is easily opened for access with a stab saw. A light location needing to be abandoned is easily patched-out with a divot left in the attic above, for best match of ceiling texture. Know that lighting opportunities and needs change or may be found in-error.

Key to the easy box removal is the installation with a wood junction box kit , rather than reliance on finding useful hole proximity to framing. All ceiling  lights and fans are best installed after drywall, with wiring pre-positioned if possible.

There is nothing about the 6.5" Slochi that is an improvement upon the found 5" OD Commercial Electric 74203 , here being reset. Know that this light is no longer sold at Home Depot, or anywhere. 

After electrical connection with the very ubiquitous orange quick-connect, just push upon the lens to spring-load the luminaire upon the ceiling. The most intuitive action is to push or to pull upon the lens for installation and removal.