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Still running 12 volt halogens? Our licensed electricians take out every old can and its transformer, fit an integrated IC-4 LED in the same hole on the same cable, and leave a ceiling that runs cool, costs less to light and can finally be insulated edge to edge. Across Melbourne, 7 days a week.
Tick two or more and it is time to book — every one of these gets worse, never better, on its own.
Open the manhole of a Melbourne home fitted out between the late nineties and about 2015 and you will usually find the same thing: a row of 12 volt halogen downlights, each with its own small transformer resting on the plaster beside it. The lamp runs hot, because most of the power it draws leaves as heat rather than light. The can around it is open at the back, so the fitting is a hole straight through to the roof space. And because a halogen cannot be touched by insulation, every one of them sits inside a cleared circle of bare plaster.
Three problems, one fitting. The first is heat: a halogen turns most of the power it draws into heat, some into the room and the rest into the cavity, which is why a kitchen with ten of them feels warm with the lights on. The second is the transformer: it is a wearing part, it hums as it ages, and when it starts to fail the fitting flickers or drops out. The third is the gap. Twenty cleared circles across a ceiling add up to a large patch of missing insulation, and heat moves through those gaps in both directions all year.
None of this is fixed by a brighter lamp. It is fixed by taking the halogen fitting and its transformer out and putting a sealed, insulation-rated LED in its place. That is the job this page is about.
There are two ways to go from halogen to LED, and they are not equal. A retrofit lamp is an LED shaped like the old halogen globe that pushes into the existing holder. It is cheap and quick, and it leaves everything that matters exactly where it was: the transformer stays in the roof, the open can stays open, and the fitting keeps whatever rating it had, which for an old halogen can is often none at all. Many transformers also need a minimum load that a low-wattage LED lamp may not reach, so the lamp flickers, buzzes, or refuses to dim. And because the can is still not rated for insulation contact, the clearance gap around it has to stay.
An integrated IC-4 LED downlight is a different object. The light engine and its driver are built as one sealed unit, connected to 240 volt mains through a plug base, with no transformer at all. It is rated for insulation to touch and cover it, and it is sealed so air does not pass between the room and the roof space. The batts can go right over it.
We fit the integrated unit as standard. If your ceiling is going to be insulated, or already is, a retrofit lamp does not solve the problem you have; it just makes the problem a little cooler. If you only want a couple of rooms brighter and nothing else, tell the office and we will say so honestly.
The swap itself is simple when it is done properly. The electrician pulls the old fitting down, disconnects and removes its transformer, and checks the cable feeding it. In most homes the cable is fine and is reused; where it is heat-damaged or brittle, you are told before anything else happens. The new IC-4 fitting connects through a plug base, presses into the same hole, and its spring clips hold it against the plaster. No patching, no new holes, no dust in the room beyond what falls out of the old can.
Cut-out sizes. Many halogen cans in Melbourne homes sit in a 90 mm hole, a size most current integrated LEDs are made for. Older 70 mm cut-outs, or holes that have been chewed out over the years, get a fitting sized to suit or a slim trim ring, so the finished ceiling looks like it was always that way.
The driver goes where the maker says. Even on a sealed fitting, the small driver box that comes with it is placed to the manufacturer’s instructions, above the insulation with clearance around it rather than buried. That detail is missed on a lot of ceilings, and it is one we photograph.
The old gear leaves with us. Every can, lamp and transformer is bagged and taken away. Nothing is left live, loose or forgotten in the roof space.
Every halogen fitting in a ceiling needs a clearance zone around it, typically 100 to 200 mm depending on the fitting and the era it was installed, plus a gap around its transformer. Across a whole house that is a surprising amount of bare plaster, and it is the reason a home can have thick batts in the roof and still feel like it has none. Our guide on downlights and insulation safety goes into the detail.
Once every fitting is IC-4 rated, the clearances vanish and the batts can be laid over the whole ceiling. That matters more from 1 October 2026, when the Victorian Energy Upgrades ceiling-insulation discount opens to all Victorian homes: a ceiling with fittings that are not IC or IC-4 rated is not eligible, so the halogens come out first. We arrange that discount through our accredited installation partners, and we do the downlights and the insulation as one booking if you want it that way.
Is there a rebate for the lights themselves? No. Victorian incentives for household lighting upgrades ended in early 2023 and have not returned, and we would rather say that plainly than let you plan around a discount that is not there. The halogen swap pays for itself through the lower running cost, the lamps you stop buying and the insulation job it unlocks. The office quotes it over the phone at no charge.
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The whole fitting changes, not just the lamp, and the list below is the job as we do it every time.
Tell us roughly how many halogens there are and which rooms they are in. That is enough for a free phone estimate from the office.
The office confirms the price before any work and books a time that suits, 7 days a week.
The electrician removes each can and transformer, fits the integrated IC-4 LED in the same hole and tests every point.
You get photos of the finished ceiling and pay only when the job is done.
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Yes, and it should come out entirely. Integrated LED downlights run on 240 volt mains through a plug base, so the 12 volt transformer has no job left to do. Leaving it connected wastes power, adds a failure point and keeps a heat source in the roof. We disconnect and remove every transformer as part of the swap.
Usually, yes. The cable that fed the old transformer is reused where it is in good condition, and the new fitting connects to it through a plug base. Rewiring only comes up when the cable is heat-damaged, brittle or was never right in the first place, and the electrician tells you before doing anything about it.
For most Melbourne homes, yes. Each halogen draws several times the power of the LED that replaces it, the lamps stop needing replacement, the ceiling runs cooler in summer and, once every fitting is IC-4 rated, the insulation can finally cover the whole ceiling. It is a small job that makes the bigger insulation job work.
A retrofit lamp leaves the transformer, the open can and the clearance gap exactly where they were. Many transformers need a minimum load that an LED lamp cannot supply, so the lamp flickers or will not dim. If the room is going to be insulated, the can still cannot be covered. An integrated IC-4 fitting fixes all of that at once.
Not for homes. Victorian Energy Upgrades incentives for residential lighting ended in early 2023 and nothing has replaced them. The discount that does exist is for ceiling insulation, open to all Victorian homes from 1 October 2026, and a ceiling with non-IC downlights is not eligible for it, which is why the fittings come out first.
A typical Melbourne home with ten to twenty halogens is usually done in a single visit, and the office gives you the expected duration when they confirm the price. Larger homes or ceilings with awkward roof-space access simply take longer; nothing is rushed, and every fitting is tested before we leave.
Almost always. Most halogen cans sit in a 90 mm cut-out, which is what the common integrated LED downlights are made for. Where a home has 70 mm holes, or holes that have grown over the years, we use a fitting sized to suit or a slim trim ring so the ceiling still looks clean without any patching.
Only if the fitting is rated for it. An IC-4 rated integrated LED is built and tested to be touched and covered by insulation, which is why it is the one we fit. A retrofit LED lamp inside an old halogen can does not change the can's rating, so the clearance around it still applies.
Often, yes. If you book the halogen swap and ceiling insulation together, the electrician goes first and the insulation crew follows, so the batts go straight over the new fittings. If the insulation is booked separately, the ceiling is left ready and photographed so any installer can see the fittings are rated to be covered.
FreshDuct replaces 12 volt halogen downlights with integrated IC-4 LED fittings across metropolitan Melbourne. Licensed electricians remove every transformer, reuse the existing cut-outs and cabling where sound, and leave a sealed, insulation-ready ceiling. Free estimate over the phone, firm price from the office before any work, and you pay after the job.
A retrofit lamp in an old halogen can keeps the transformer, the open can and the clearance gap. An integrated IC-4 downlight replaces the whole fitting, connects to mains through a plug base and can be covered by insulation. That is the upgrade we quote, because it is the one that changes how the ceiling performs.
Every halogen transformer is disconnected, removed from the roof space and taken away with the old cans and lamps. Nothing is left live behind the plaster. The driver for each new fitting is placed to the manufacturer’s instructions, above the insulation with clearance around it, and photographed from the roof space on request so you can see it was done.
From 1 October 2026 the Victorian ceiling-insulation discount opens to every home in the state, and a ceiling with downlights that are not IC or IC-4 rated is not eligible. We swap the halogens, then lay the insulation, and arrange the discount through our accredited installation partners. There is no residential rebate for the lights themselves, and we say so.
All of metropolitan Melbourne, 7 days a week — and if your suburb is not listed, we still come to you. The office confirms the details for your address when they call with your free estimate.
New downlights, replacements and IC-4 fittings as standard, room by room.
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What the rating on the fitting means, and why it decides whether the batts can cover it.
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One dead in a row, flicker or buzz on fittings that are already LED, replaced and matched.
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If the new LEDs are going on a dimmer, the dimmer has to be matched to them; here is what that involves.
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Ceiling, wall and underfloor insulation, and the discount that opens to all Victorian homes from 1 October 2026.
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The clearances, the ratings and what actually has to happen before batts go near a fitting.
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Tell the office how many halogen fittings you have and which rooms. Free estimate over the phone, firm price before any work, and you pay after the job.
