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8 Things to Know About LED Lighting
There are a lot of LED lights on the market today, but buyer beware. Here are some items to consider.
Good, long-lasting LED lights are also available and will generally cost more.
Where’s the power supply? Most LEDs require low-voltage, so they must have an AC-to-DC adapter, transformer, or power supply to operate them. These can be internal or external to the fixture.
Color Temperature, or Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) refers to the appearance of the light. “Warmer” yellowish light like that from an incandescent bulb is in the 2700 to 3000 Kelvin (K) range, while bluish or cool light like that of some fluorescents is in the 5000K-plus range.
The Color Rendering Index (CRI) is a measure of the ability of a light source to render colors, on a scale of 100 - the higher the better. The CRI for many white-light LEDs is between 75 and 85.
How does the manufacturer define lifetime? Lifetime typically refers to the useful time of light output, also referred to as lumen maintenance. For white LEDs, lifetime refers to the time after which 70 percent or more of the useful light remains.
Does the quoted lifetime include the electronics and other components necessary to drive the LED source?
Does the fixture have any special features for heat sinking or thermal management? Though the light from LEDs itself is not hot, the backs of the fixtures can get very hot.
What warranty is offered? Beware of vague guarantees.
Does installation of LED fixtures include all the necessary components to operate the lights? Many LED fixtures require external components and controls in order to be operated.
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News · Home Automation and Control · Lighting · Spotlight · Lutron · Green · Led · Lighting Control Spotlight ·About the Author
3 Comments (displayed in order by date/time)
One thing which I feel is VERY important is the quality of the LED driver (the chip) being used. Don’t be misled by the overseas garbage out there - it is giving LED lights a very bad name.
A good quality, US or UK made, LED light will look excellent, last well over 50k hours if ventilated and has a much better color quality than the garbage being sold at Home Depot and other retailers.
I think we, as technology consumers and dealers, need to push for federal standards that will eliminate the poor quality product being made in China and other countries. This is an excellent opportunity to keep jobs here in the USA where a much better product is already being made.
Another thing that is misleading by this article is the statement that most LED’s require external components to operate - this is inaccurate and misleading.
Nearly any light can be replaced with an LED without any kind of modification or external components. We have seen replacements for everything from MR16’s up to Street Lights and everything in between.
The article should have also discussed some of the amazing benefits of LED lighting:
1. Environmentally friendly - not only do they consume less power per lumen (1/2 of CFL even!) they contain no mercury or other harmful elements.
2. The do not produce IR or UV light - excellent for Home Automation! No IR to compete with! They also do not harm your skin and clothing like Incandescent and Florescent lights do.
3. LED lights are cool to the touch. This reduces potential burns and fires as well as lowers the A/C usage where they are swapped out. This is something near and dear to those of us in Arizona.
I could go on and on. The benefits of LED lighting are plentiful - you just need to get the right ones for your project!
Here is the 9th thing, which is VERY IMPORTANT to CE Pros who would read this article….
~~ Dimming ~~
LED fixtures are NOT made to any standard at this point, so it’s any mfgs best idea as to how to implement them.
LEDs use a different form of a voltage/current regulation, called a driver. Although implemented similarly, this is different animal than the ballasts we see on FL and CFL lighting.
Some driver/LED combos are dimmable, others are not…
Some driver/LED combos suffer shortened lifespan and/or sudden failure when dimmed, others will be stable.
You cannot dim across the full range that you would see with incandescents or halogen fixtures. ALL dimmable driver/LED combos will need a minimum threshold adjustment. This feature is not available on basic wallbox dimmers, but is commonly found on centralized dimming platforms like Lutron HW, Crestron, LiteTouch, Vantage, etc.
I have not seen a fixture than can be dimmed below 10%, most say 15-20% as the min threshold.
Connecting these fixtures to basic wallbox dimmers (or failing to set the threshold on a dimming module) will cause flickering on settings below 15-20% and can ultimately reduce the life of the fixture.