SEMILON. LED LIGHTING ADVANTAGES

Is it really a wise decision to invest on LED lighting than on a conventional light engine? Here we will discuss some relevant points that will throw light on our pathway to LED lighting.


Life of LED

It is calculated that LED chips will give a long life up to 150000 hrs compared to 10,000 hrs of CFL and 1000 Hrs of Incandescent bulbs. But the life of LED s is dependent on the make of LED, thermal management of the LED fixture and LED driver life. If anything of above said is not matching the criteria for good performance of LED chips and according to the specs given by the manufacturer, the LED's life drastically reduce even if it offer a very long life in the datasheets.

Long life of the LED light engines means you don't need to replace a LED light for 17 Hrs even if you are using it for 24 Hrs a day. So there is no burden of replacing the damaged products and you can save money buying new products for replacing damaged one and also maintenance costs will be very low.

Environmental friendly

LEDs uses 50-70% less power compared to conventional luminaries. One should be very careful in choosing LED light engines to achieve the above said. Since the LEDs are available offering 30-160 Lm/W, the customer should select atleast 105 Lm/W LED to achieve an equivalent performance of CFLs  which offer 60 Lm/W . Since the LEDs are directional and radiating in a narrow beam angle, say 120 Degree it will create more impact on performance compared to conventional fittings which is radiating in 360 Degree where there is a loss caused by the reflector or shade we use integrated with the light engines.

Customers should also choose a good quality driver having higher energy efficiency and power factor, built in with long lasting electronic components to enjoy the max power saving and long life.

Moreover LEDs contains no toxic substances like Mercury which is there in CFLs, disposal of these light engines have a lesser impact on the environment.

Other benefits are 

• Shock  proof: LED lights are shock resistant compared to the conventional light fittings and chance of damage is very less.
• Dimming compatibility: LED lights can be coupled with ambient light sensor or manual /automatic dimmer to achieve even more power saving.
• Radiate less heat: Contains no infrared and ultraviolet radiations.

SEMILON, LED LIGHTING FACTS

What are the facts we need to focus before purchasing a LED lighting product. In this blog you can read some of the most important lighting facts customers need to know before taking a decision to choose a product.

Luminous efficacy

Do you know that High Bright LEDs offer different lument output for same power? Yes LEDs are available in the market that offer 30-160 Lm/W(Lumen /Watt). Lm/W is commonly reffered to the term Luminous eefficacy.This means that for the same power two LEDs having different efficacies can offer different lumen output. 

Customers  may not be aware of this fact. Normally LED lighting products in the market are compared on the basis of output power of the product.  This may mislead them to choose a product with lowest price comapred to high priced products so that the products choosen may not be delivering sufficient amount of light customer need, since the price of the LED lighting products generally depends on light out put of the product.

So it is a good thing to compare price/lumen than price/watt when we decide to purchse a LED lighting product. It is more surprising to know that choosing a product with lowest luminous efficacy wont help you to save electricity considerably like you think, since you need to install more light engines having lowest efficacy compared to a high efficacy product, which in turn will increase your initial investment and power cost. It is a best option to choose a product offering lower price/lumen and higher efficacy.

Key words: Lumen(Lm): Unit to measure light 

LED driver efficiency

 When calculating luminous efficacy we should consider luminous efficacy also, since the total power consumed by the LED driver considerable vary with the efficiency of LED driver. For example consider a LED driver is having a power output of 8W and with efficiency 90% , total power consumption of the product will be 8+10%=8.8W. Customer should consider this point while choosing a LED lighting product since the drivers are available with efficiency from 7 to 98%, choosing a driver with lower efficiency will lead to higher power charges compared to a driver with high efficiency.

• Saving money on a poor quality driver is a false economy since it will cost you more in the long run.

Power factor: A number for the future

Power factor generally denoted by PF, gives an idea about how effectively a driver utilises the electricity given to its input. PF has an effect on the country's electric grid. It is a number given between 0 and 1 and it is best to choose a HPF product always. Quality LED drivers are available with a power factor greater than 0.9.